Wed 8th Nov 2006 - KampotAnother early start for our bus to Kampot. The bus seats were as hard as nails, there were no head rests and not enough leg room even for Jen (Cathryn was half sat in the aisle for 4 hours!), but STILL we managed to sleep.Arrived at Kampot and checked into our hostel which was blatantly an old hospital - a minor detail the Lonely Planet forgot to mention! But cheap cheap cheap. We were very proud of ourselves.Had a wander around Kampot town - took about 5 minutes - before having tea at Blissful guesthouse, where we SHOULD have stayed.Thurs 9th Nov 2006 Started the day with the best breakfast in weeks at the Epic Arts Cafe. Amazing fruit, museli and yoghurt. Beats alpen! Although we did feel guilty because a woman had to get out of the shower and start work early in order to make our breakfast.Set off on our day trip to Bokor Hill. We managed to get the seats inside the truck, which meant we weren't thrown around the back of the truck and our heads didn't get hit by trees every 30 seconds. Not that our fellow day-trippers on the back were bitter! Took 2 hours of driving on a dirt track to reach the top - tip: take a cushion to sit on.Went on a trek through tea tree plantation to Bokor Palace. Shame all the "ruins" were full of rubbish and covered in graffitti.On the return drive down the hill we stopped off for a wander through the jungle in the hope of spotting tigers or monkeys. No such luck! Unfortunately the men on our trip did not understand our discreet way of trying to say that we needed to answer a call of nature and kept waiting for us as we walked.After our sneaky call of nature, we lost our prime position in the truck and were on the back. Much to the delight of the bitter men who had been there all day. They then got even more bitter when we said "it isn't that bad" and when Jen had the idea of sitting on the comfy tyre.Our day ended with a sunset "cruise" on a long boat. This culminated in a stop off in the middle of nowhere of the river/sea for a spot of swimming - i.e. the european men undressing to their undies and jumping straight in. Grim! We think the swimming was more in aid of our guide who had a paddling pool and rubber rings "handy" in the boat for playing on in the water. One member of our trip did manage to find a star fish in the shallow waters though.On a whim, we then got a taxi to Sihanoukville with a french couple (who didn't speak) and an annoying Belgian man (who didn't know when to stop speaking). Cathryn managed to somehow get the front seat whilst Jen had the pleasure of being squashed against the annoying Belgian on the back seat for 2 hours with the fench couple.The Belgian and the French couple went for 5 star luxury hotel in Sihanoukville - Cathryn and Jen restrained themselves and checked in to the cheap guesthouse next door.

In desperate need of food to calm the beast of hungry Jen, we went for dinner on the beach front. It was possibly the worst meal of our trip so far. They couldn't even get our drinks order correct! Cathryn's mushroom omlette had unrecognisable meat in it. Jen received cold chips. When our meals were brought to the table the waiter removed a bit of stick from the plate, and explained it must be from the motorbike that had delivered our food to the restaurant! Yum!