Day 21 - 'The Great British Bake Off'. A leisurely breakfast at the hotel with no fixed plans for the day. Apparently there is not an amazing amount to do in Kampot so we decided we would just have a wander round taking in the old French colonial buildings, pepper farm and prison.

Having returned to the room after breakfast and putting plenty of suncream on, we went downstairs to drop our key off. The words that came back across the desk were, "have you got suncream on as the sun is very strong here?". "Yep, I'm sure it will be fine" was my response. How wrong could we have been!! We went for a wander around and it was an absolute stinker of a day already and it was only about 09:30, really did feel like we were cooking, especially topping up from the beach burn yesterday.

We walked along the river front and after about 45 minutes we had to return to the hotel to get a bag, reapply the suncream and tip our invisible hat to the receptionist who was so right. After grabbing out hats aswell we set off to have a look at the prison, the governors house and also the old cinema. As it was so hot, it was almost impossible to keep walking around so we went to a nice cafe called Epicarts which is run by disable people mostly who are deaf. Ordering was interesting as you have a tick sheet which you have to fill in. Choc chip cookie, a chocy brownie and a couple of cold drinks later we had to venture into the oven again. We had gained a map from one of the bars last night and noticed an Olympic stadium on it so thought we'd check it out. It was next to the taxi and bus station, so walking along the road near the 'stadium' a guy literally came sprinting along the road towards us. Guess he thought we wanted a taxi to go and explore somewhere so he seemed pretty disappointed when I pointed to the stadium on the map and pointed across the road. It was so hot we probably would have appreciated the 10 seconds of air con we could have got from the taxi to the stadium. To the stadium itself, it consisted of a small entrance gate with the Olympic Rings above it and then.......a large field! No seats, no track, no sand, no javelins, no nothing, just a few circus tents!

Walking back towards the river it was time to seek shade again so we decided to have lunch at a small noodle bar that also doubled up as a cinema, yes, a cinema. The hand pulled noodles were made in front of us which was pretty cool and really impressive. Great meal and we had decided we would return and watch a film at 4pm, The Killing Fields.

A quick return to the hotel before we embarked on our mission across the rive to have a look at the Kampot pepper processing centre which produces the world famous Kampot pepper. Considering it was about 35 degrees maybe this wasn't wise but with hats, sunglasses and even an umbrella to protect us, what could go wrong. Within 100 yards of leaving the hotel we had been offered about 5 or 6 tuk tuks but declined as we didn't think it was too far, just across the river over the new bridge. Walking along the river side, we both began to flag so decided that we'd get a tuk tuk but ofcourse there were none to be seen when you actually want one but constantly bugging you when you don't. We carried on the walk, over the bridge and arrived drenched in sweat. Outside the farm was a tuk tuk so I decided we wanted a lift back so approached the driver. He said he was with a customer but would take them back and then return for us, life saver! We had a tour around the farm and small factory where 8-10 women sat around a table picking the bad peppercorns out from a large pile with tweezers, certainly makes you appreciate the pepper that arrives on our tables in our grinders and the hardship people go through to give us things we take for granted.

The tuk tuk dropped us at the hotel for $2 which was overpriced but didn't want to haggle as we would have paid double that just so we didn't have to walk. A quick cool down and shower before we headed to the cinema. Leaving the hotel we could see the sky had come over extremely black with what looked like a massive storm brewing. We arrived at the cinema / noodle bar, ordered a drink and waited in the restaurant to be shown to the screening room. About one minute after arriving, it started to absolutely belt down with rain so good bit of timing. We were shown to the screening room upstairs and it was really quite cool, a random selection of chairs, sofas and a large platform / daybed at the back. Best thing about it was, we were the only ones in there so the large bed type thingy it was. All this for $2.50 each. Sat there in darkness for a while before the film started. A moving film as it was so recent and so close to what we'd been learning about over the past few weeks, a few tears from one of us.

Dinner time! Luckily the rain had stopped so we wandered around the streets not really knowing want we wanted. After about 15 minutes of random walking back and forth we decided to go back and have a drink at a bar we went to last night to look at the guidebook and decide on our dinner venue. Two beers ordered, sunk and dinner venue sorted, we asked for the bill. 3 minutes later, 2 more beers arrived to which the waitress just laughed when we said, "no, the bill, cheque......but don't worry, we'll have them". Noticing that 19:00 had past and therefore happy hour had finished, we wondered whether we'd be charged full price, let alone free as we didn't actually want them at all. Funnily enough, yep, we were charged full price, only an extra 25c but that's not the point. Jumped across the road for dinner at one of the listed places in the guidebook and sat outside. Both got attacked by mosquitoes and general bugs, seems to be a lot more here than anywhere else on our trip. Couple of good meals and time to retire to the hotel, certainly takes it out if you all this hot weather. Off to Kep tomorrow morning in a minivan and the guidebook states the road as being in a very bad condition, can't wait!