🛖 Project Airbnb Cabin 🛏️ Hunting For Nature Pics With @Sreypov 📸 Steung Kach, Cambodia 🏞️
We are getting closer and closer to finishing our Airbnb cabin, even though it will be furniture-less minus the bed in the early stages.
Getting Back To Nature 🧘♀️
I still am not sure what kind of foreign tourists will want to rent our future Airbnb cabin but I suspect it will be foreign residents of Cambodia, not foreign tourists here with a tight schedule. It takes two days of traveling within the country just to get here, and there aren't really any famous sites or tourist attractions anywhere near us. That was my intention though, to provide an "get-back-to-nature" escape for those urban folks with busy lives.
There are many things to do here, number one being the whitewater river headwaters and the 8+ mountain creeks across from it. This is all in our backyard, and also there are some mountain summits that take 2-3 days to make a roundtrip hike, everything more or less revolving around nature. The Cardamom Mountains are already becoming a popular tourist destination, but the most of the development in this industry is nowhere near our place.
Photo Lovers Too 🕵️♀️
Our place also provides nature photographers with many opportunities, whether it be flora, fauna, or fungi. Because the cabin is not yet finished due to a lack of funds, I decided we should go for a swim with the excuse that this little venture would be for collecting Airbnb nature shots in order to demonstrate the surrounding area.
I really should bring my handheld camera across the river for some shots, but at the moment it's still raging a bit, and not a fun place to swim or be. With a careful wade across the main river though, the creeks are all still flowing pretty clear. I will first use some of these shots to make a pre-Airbnb offer for former Khmer language students and restaurant customers of ours back in Kampot. This group of folks will be okay with the fact that our place isn't completely ready for guests yet.
Frame The House 🖼️
As we went further up the creek, I kept entering the water to get the best angles of the cabin. Our neighbor's house looks extremely close to the cabin from certain perspectives, and I must say it's a bit of an eyesore in this natural environment. It's to the left of the cabin, but hidden by the trees, so this is a nice shot I may reproduce with a better camera.
You'll eventually see a pic I took of our neighbor's house visible behind the cabin, and then you'll understand why I have to stand in raging water to get some of the shots.
I'm no photographer, nor do I claim to be one, I am just a guy that likes to take pictures, but I am pretty proud of the above shot, got some symmetry with the reflection.
The View 🪟
From the balcony of the cabin and also the window on that side of the house, the view across the river looks right up the path of the most beautiful creek, and these are the views you get, it's really incredible here. I like the fact that families could let their children play in the creek and keep an eye on them from the porch.
The Neighbor's House 🏠
In the above shot you can see the kind of pic I am not trying to take. Without those trees on the left shielding the neighbor's house from view, it looks as those we are inches away, but in reality we are far enough away to not directly have to directly inhale their almost daily plastic garbage fire smoke.
It's All About The Water 🏊♂️
We know that as good cooks our aim will be to make this a "bed and breakfast meets base camp for mountain climbers" kind of place, and I think our chefery skills will be another great income provider because there are no restaurants or markets nearby. I would imagine guests will just play in the water all day and need some very hot and spicy food to battle all the cold water play.
I'm already used to the water now, but my wife still lets out an audible scream when she climbs in. To feel water this chilly in Cambodia is a welcome surprise, and I finally get to wear all my fleece clothing here that's been collecting dust for 12+ years.
The creeks are better than the river because they are totally private, no people, no houses. I enjoy just laying on my back and floating with the current, and also changing swimming locales every 10 or 15 minutes.
This leaf presented itself to me in the water, so I threw it on a rock, took a picture and called it "art." It's obviously been attacked by some kind of Cambodian laser gun, and I have to imagine it's those gosh-darned time traveling Khmer space pirates just doing some target practice.
Bokeh Anyone 🗾
When I've run out of photography ideas, I usually play with my phone and try to blur the background behind an image like in the above the flower pic. The results are pleasing, and it only takes a steady hand with very little skill. In English we use the Japanee loanword "bokeh" for this effect.
Here is the same technique again with some little ferns and moss growing on a river boulder.
🤿 New Favorite Swimming Hole 🕳️
This little spot has become my new favorite swimming hole. It takes about 10 minutes of navigating water and boulders to get here from our house, but the effort is well worth it.
Once you go upcreek far enough the window to the world outside the forest gets smaller and smaller, and you get totally engulfed by nature. It's nice being able to be this deep in nature but yet still located on a national highway. If there were any major medical problems, we can be on the highway in seconds and heading towards the Thai border for an emergency crossing and modern medical care.
My wife rarely swims because of her cold water aversion that I mentioned earlier, so she used this excursion mostly for flower harvesting and photography. I usually have to beg her to join me in the water, and on this day she lasted a full 30 seconds before climbing out and shivering until we arrived back home.
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You are surrounded by beautiful nature and I am sure that there are guests that enjoy the back-to-nature experience. As time pass, you may consider making the place more comfortable.
Once we have some guests renting the cabin occasionally, funding additional construction projects will be so much easier. I think you are right, slowly but surely we'll make this more comfortable in due time.
Incredible .. the natural scenery around your house, very beautiful. Trees, grass, flowers, wildlife and also a clear river and rocks. Everything is there. It's like, a piece of heaven's garden in this world is around your yard 👍
That's right my friend, you can manage empty rooms or empty cabins for rent to visiting tourists, and also complete with culinary tours. Of course you and Sreypov must be prepared with all hot and spicy recipes, because the weather is very cold there, isn't it 😄
But it's all a long term plan ahead, as you say. For the initial stage, I think you can start promoting your home location to your closest friends first, and then to your other connections 👍
You got it, many people have told us all the cold water, rain, and clouds will make spicy food the meal of choice for most guests. Luckily I have years and years of restaurant experience, and I'm much more comfortable cooking and serving than I am running an Airbnb.
I agree, initially we will do some Facebook promotion, and try get Cambodia residents to come and visit for a promo price. With the money from that, hopefully we can finish the cabin and make it Airbnb friendly.
A very pleasant life to be close to nature every day it's amazing you find a place like hidden paradise and not many people realize it but you and your family have a very suitable place for people like you who love nature completely.
It is a very special place, and we feel very lucky to have found it and also be able to live here. I can only hope the nature is preserved here for future generations, but so far the Cambodian people don't see the value in their last great forest. The people that visit this place leave trash everywhere and mostly go the border to gamble at the Thai border casino. There are always a lot of people losing money every day, so I am very careful when driving because I know the highway is full of angry VIPs in big cars who just lost thousands of dollars.
I hope ecotourism could develop here, but it seems China has different plans, and the area 40 minutes west of us is already been flattened and the forest clearcut to make way for Chinese buildings and real estate development, a vast wetlands full of biodiversity destroyed in less than a couple of years.
I am starting to feel a stronger and stronger calling to move out of my comfort zone ( whatever that means these days ) and to follow my intuition - to travel more ( finally outside of Europe ) and to visit and connect even more with friends like you. Just give me some time.
Sending you a big bug hug my friend!
Well, I sound like a broken record by now, but you know you're a welcome guest at our place, and by the time you'd arrive the cabin would be completely done, even with internet. When it comes to Southeast Asia, the main expense is often just the $500+ USD ticket to get here from Europe, but after that expenses are few as a traveler, and almost zero if you come stay with us in the mountains.
Give thanks knappe man.
That is amazing nature photo potentials you can offer to the guest. Hope you can attract more tourists in the future
We hope to build sustainable ecotourism because this place is so small, and I really hope to start taking reservations very soon.
It looks like it is moving along just wonderfully. It seems so peaceful and looks like somewhere I wouldn't mind staying for a while.
My work routine keeps me indoors more than I'd like, but every time I step outside and take in the view even just for a few seconds, I feel like I am an tourist on some kind of expedition. Today Monkey-B spotted some tiny furry white primates in the trees, our first sighting of any monkey-esque creatures, now I gotta google what they might've been.
You're always welcome if you come through, and if you wait a few more months, the border with Trat 30 minutes west of us will become an international crossing and provide an easy route.
OMG, that leaf with the perfectly round holes in it definitely qualifies as "art" 😮 That is absolutely beautiful and amazing! I've never seen anything quite like it!
I would wanna come for a "Hive meetup" if nothing else! 😁 But, I'm too old and too poor for that to actually happen. Other Hivers, however, younger and who have more resources, might be interested some day.
Besides the options of mountain hiking and whitewater rafting, your location would afford visitors a peek at the "real" Cambodia, behind any glitz that may exist in the capital and other common tourist haunts. It would probably require an overnight journey to see Angkor Wat and return, but then to kick back for a couple of days and enjoy the river, the lovely mountains, and the nitty-gritty villages would be a good-enough draw for many people. And heck, you and Srey-Pov once owned your own restaurant, so guests are assured some good Ital cooking while they're there!
You've got a great collection of photos accumulating of the river and the cabin, plus some other nice shots of the mountains, scenic overlooks, etc. Great job on them! 💜
You'd always be welcome if you ever chose to visit, no expenses after arrival. The initial plane ticket cost is the biggest expense to get here, but when compared to the average American vacation, the cost of the plane ticket to get here is offset by the very low daily living expenses in about two to three weeks. Never too old, a lot of my good friends here are American and Aussie retirees who've come for a higher quality of life because their pension/savings weren't enough in their home countries.
I have actually dreamed of an ASEAN Hive Summit, but we'll have to have more accommodation if we ever want to host something like that. Your mention of the real Cambodia makes me think I'd like to gently steer the soldiers away from illegal logging and into things like guiding people up the mountain, fishing trips, homestays, etc.
I think the yin-yang of having such wild and raw nature combined with equally wild neighbors and a safe chillaxed basecamp full of spicy food and be a winning combo.
Your photography is awesome and beautiful place! I hope tomorrow is stop rain and we can visit together my lovely husband.
I try my best, but I'm no expert like you with your insects.
The area looks wonderful. I do love calm streams and small waterfalls and as a kid I would endlessly play in them. Looks like you found a winner of a plot of land.
It is unreal, and there are endless creeks and streams to explore. We haven't even been up 4 of the big ones yet because we're very partial to a particular creek full of swimming holes that's also wide enough to let some sun rays in.
Ok I don't wanna waste time explaining how good these photos are, and you've basically described what you're trying to do. Bravo! Oh and the last shot, the wife looks like Lara Croft the Cambodian version 🤘
She actually knows the Tomb Raider movie, well not by name, but I know she's seen it a few times because it plays on public television quite a lot. Next time we're out together, I'll shout "Tomb Raider" and roll a rock down the hill towards her 😉.
hello MR justin it looks like this is a safe and peaceful place to live in, the nature is amazingly beautiful, the river is so clear accompanied by plants that may be difficult to find in other areas,
a few days ago I was silenced in this community, please if you can forgive some of the mistakes I made, please understand because I am a new person to this community.