Jasmine Valley and the Cambodian jungle

17/02:Our bus journey began at Phnom Penh Central Station, and on bus number 17 we travelled five hours to the south coast. Our destination was Kep; a small fishing town, known for it's crab and pepper.
As soon as we stepped off the bus, we were circled by tuk-tuk drivers. Blair calmly walked through the parroting drivers. A man who had approached us with a laminated map of the peninsula wanted to help us find accommodation. We told him we had reservations at Jasmine Island, his face lit up: "I know dis, I know Jasmine Valley. I take you. Take five minute only". We negotiated a $4 fee. We threw our back packs on one side and climbed in to sit on the opposite. We drove back the way we had come, along the sea and passed a huge statue of a crab. We veered left and began our ascent into the Cambodian jungle.
The website had warned us of the condition of the road. But driving up it in a tuk-tuk was a gas! Blair has it on video; its the closest thing to an earthquake I've ever experienced. I was confident that the driver knew the way and had made this journey on several occasions, because his speed didn't alter accordingly to the craters in the lane.
I did get worried after about ten minutes when he kept turning to look at the back tyre. We came to a particularly steep incline, I couldn't see how we were going to make it. Our driver stopped. Blair was subsequently asked to walk this part of the journey because the tuk-tuk was unable to take his weight. We climbed and after another 500m, we stopped again. This was as far as we could go. Our driver reassured us the reception was close and we only had a short walk ahead. Blair parted with the $4, loaded the backpacks onto our shoulders and walked on.
Ahead of us were two tall hills of green canopies. It was really hot, we wiped the sweat from our foreheads and faces and took in the smells and sounds of the jungle. There was busy rustling in the plants either side of us. The only sounds were birds or muted buzzing of insects. It was beautiful.
We walked passed the open kitchen area and into reception. Friendly faces were there to greet us and promptly checked us in. We were invited to leave our bags next to their counter and take a seat. We were brought freshly made lime juices and cold menthol infused face towels. We were instantly refreshed!
Jasmine Valley is an eco-friendly resort. All buildings were made from mud and stone with thatched roofs. The treetop bungalows were wooden and decorated with pebbles and furnished with hanging wicker seats on the terrace. There was no hot water, and the water was collected rain, so we were asked to use as little as we reasonably could. There was only enough electricity for the bedroom and bathroom light, we were asked to us this sparingly also. In order to charge our phones, camera and tablet we had to take them to reception. We couldn't flush paper down the toilet either. This is actually something I've failed to mention earlier in the blog: I was first introduced to the bum gun (the name given to the small shower head by the Mad Monkey posters) in Abu Dhabi. Instead of using toilet role, you were obligated to use the 'bum gun'. Although in the UAE, you did actually have a choice. Once we had arrived in Mumbai and SE Asia, we were asked not to flush paper down the loos because of the sensitive plumbing system: remember the note in the grotty Rainbow Hostel of Khao San?

We were supplied with clean towels, a huge mozi net suspended from the thatched roof and a large glass jar of drinking water. If your accommodation wasn't enough to remind us that we were in the jungle, we were frequently visited by the creatures that inhabited the surroundings. Our first visitor was Lenny (all names were given by Blair). Lenny, quite frankly scared the absolute shit out of me. I went to lie down on the bed and as I rested my head join the pillow I looked up at the wall, and at the corner were big black eyes on a navy-grey hued head. My fear stemmed from the belief that I was eye to eye with a snake: one of my greatest fears. Blair reassured me it was a lizard and pointed out his arms. As he moved I noticed his body was covered in red spots. Next was Larry, a far more confident lizard, of the same species as Lenny who was lying on our clothes shelves. By the next day Blair had noticed that a huge hornet had started building a nest in the archway to our bathroom.

It was the perfect chill out spot. We spent our time reading, eating and on our second afternoon we went on we treck through the jungle. Jasmine Valley was situated on the outskirts of Kep's National Park. From the top we had a stunning view of the town. We were lucky to see a red squirrel, but not so lucky in that we spotted no monkeys.

We continued walking until we reached the sea and the crab market. We ordered stuffed crab to start and peppered crab and steamed crab as mains. The meal was really tasty, and watching the sunset made it even more idyllic.

When we were served our mains, the waiter immediately read our exchange of smiles as a complete unknowing of how to tackle crab in front of us. He showed us what to do, so we began our feast. The most off putting thing had to be that the table next to us had plaits piled high with crab for five locals. These mountains of crab made our plate of three with side salads look pewny. Blair explained that it was normal for tourists to be given one price list/menu, and locals another. This I understood, but still annoyed that we had paid $25 for a meal and neither of us were full.
We returned to Jasmine Valley where we had a second dinner, this time full fit to burst.

We settled down to watch a film (Lawless, I would seriously recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it). Blair wasn't settling at all and by the end he was in the bathroom and feeling awful. For the next few hours he endured relentless bouts of diarrhea and sickness. He had the shakes, sweating profusely and exhausted.
When the staff saw me come down for breakfast alone they asked if everything was OK, when I had told them of Blair's food poisoning they couldn't do enough for him. They gave me jars of water and sent up some ginger tea. Blair continued on a diet of ginger tea and solutions of dyrolite until we left.
Blair has since renamed Kep's crab market : Kep's crap market. He has sworn against crab, and has turned away from any 'fish section's' in menus.
Three nights was definitely enough for us. We had had our fill of the incessant ants at mealtimes (the staff were so fed up brushing the ants from the breakfast counter top and fruit bowls, they only did so when they same guests approaching, against nature you will always fight a losing battle) and grassy/earthy smell of the water.

I made the most of the huge breakfast selection. I gorged on bacon baguette, poached eggs, fresh watermelon and pineapple, muesli, water and coffee.
As we made it to reception, our tuk-tuk driver was waiting to take us down to the bus station where we were going to catch the mini-bus to Sihanoukville.
We were now leaving our jungle chapter of Cambodia and on to the beach part.