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Don't expect a nice day out at the beach.

Kep beach 31/08/19


Photos Huy Bunleng

One thing I noticed about Kep many years ago is how low lying parts of the coast are. East of that beach part that many know are some salt farms and the sea appears to be only a meter or so below the adjoining land. Gives me the creeps being around a place like that, one minute you're chilling out and the next everyone is drowned and the soil is fucked for decades.

On a more positive note, this pleasant website on Kep is full of handy information - things to do, places to stay, where to find ATMs - but also great photos, and some really useful maps of Kep and surrounding areas.
It won't be raining forever.

Kep on the Coast

https://kep.bookmark.com/?fbclid=IwAR35 ... cy3R9OVw-Y

Kep is not a beach destination (unless you're from Phnom Penh and cram 20 people from four generations of the extended family into two Land Rovers and a pickup truck from Friday night until Sunday afternoon).

Cruisemonkey wrote: ↑Thu Sep 12, 2019 12:24 am Kep is not a beach destination (unless you're from Phnom Penh and cram 20 people from four generations of the extended family into two Land Rovers and a pickup truck from Friday night until Sunday afternoon).

Sounds like Geezerville in VN, but without the Land Rovers, and the PPers replaced by the Saigonese.

Vung Tau is the Kep of Vietnam... with infrastructure.

John Bingham wrote: ↑Sun Sep 01, 2019 2:19 am One thing I noticed about Kep many years ago is how low lying parts of the coast are. East of that beach part that many know are some salt farms and the sea appears to be only a meter or so below the adjoining land. Gives me the creeps being around a place like that, one minute you're chilling out and the next everyone is drowned and the soil is fucked for decades.

We are very fortunate in the Gulf of Thailand that the geography and geo-tectonics means we are very unlikely to get tsunamis and typhoons (inside the Gulf ).

Has anybody heard of instances in the past when the Cambodian coast has suffered severe inundation from causes other than local rainfall?

^^^
I better qualify my statement above, re tsunamis and typhoons within the Gulf.

Typhoons.
Bangkok is a relevant comparison.
No typhoons have hit Bangkok in recorded history.
However geological evidence suggests that may have happened in the past.
1650 AD being the most recent possible event.

Tsunami's.
Studies have shown that SE Thai coastline can be affected by tsunamis generated in The Manilla Trench area.
- from refracted waves.
Modelling suggests that an 8-9 Richter earthquake in that area, could raise sea levels on the SE Thai coast by up to .65mtr,
at a relatively slow speed.
Those refracted waves are unlikely to affect the less exposed Cambodian coastline to the same degree.

Nevertheless, a combination of tides and monsoon storms regularly pushes much more water over to this side of the Gulf than "normal".
The sea level is then noticeably higher than the tide charts indicate. Local heavy rain compounds the situation.
This combination is the most likely cause of the high water level in Kampot in the photographs above.

SternAAlbifrons wrote: ↑Thu Sep 12, 2019 4:22 am This combination is the most likely cause of the high water level in Kampot in the photographs above.

Kep and Kampot are different places.

Cruisemonkey wrote: ↑Thu Sep 12, 2019 6:21 am

SternAAlbifrons wrote: ↑Thu Sep 12, 2019 4:22 am This combination is the most likely cause of the high water level in Kampot in the photographs above.

Kep and Kampot are different places.

Sorry Cruise, my mistake.
but the principle holds for both places, and indeed for all of the Cambodian coastline.