Day 22 - A leisurely breakfast as our minivan wasn't picking us up until 09:30 to go over to Kep just along the coast. All the guidebooks say the road is terrible so we weren't quite sure what to expect. The minivan turned up about 20 minutes late and we climbed aboard to strap ourselves in. Only 6 of us on the bus which was good, had lots of space to bounce around. Just around the corner from the hotel, the driver stopped to pick a woman up who he obviously knew as she sat in the front, only problem was she did not shut up for the whole 1 hour journey! Whilst she was talking, the driver was juggling 2 phones on the go whilst trying to avoid potholes, roadworks, other vehicles, people and random animals that wander across the roads. Headphones were in to block it all out but all in all not a bad journey. We did stop to pick another couple up in Kep and we asked if he could drop us at the northern roundabout as this seemed to be the closest point on the route to our hotel. He asked where were staying so answered, The Veranda, "Ok, i drop you" was the response. We weren't sure if this was the roundabout or the hotel. Once he'd sped past the roundabout we were hoping he'd drop us at the hotel and after about 5 minutes we started ascending a steep hill and stopped outside a place on the side of the hill, our hotel. Good job as didn't fancy the walk up there with our backpacks.

Checking in was an interesting experience as the owner is really quite eccentric German lady, not quite sure but i'm sure we'll warm to Barbara 'Babs'. A nice little bungalow on the side of the hill overlooking the Gulf of Thailand which is a lovely view. Interesting bathroom as there is no division between it and the bedroom so if you're lying on the bed, you have full view of someone sitting on the toilet! We went for a quick look around the resort to seek out the pool and restaurant. Not sure how to describe this place but it is basically on the side of a hill, lots of bungalows, villa's and rooms all intertwined with wooden walkways between each section. The restaurant is in the middle with entrances from all directions. We actually got split up for a while as its easy to get lost in this place.

As it was nearing lunchtime, we thought we'd venture out down to the local crab market which sells lots of the local speciality many different ways. There are a couple of roads leading down to the market / seafront of which one was closed to cars. We thought this wouldn't be a problem on foot so carried on down. A local man was alongside us carrying a bag full of coconuts so we were confident. Reaching the bottom, there was a 360 digger and one massive hole in the road with no way across or through. Only way was to climb around the very edge of the hole which was about 1.5" feet wide and in flip flops, not a good idea......but we did it anyway! It was too hot to be going back up the hill and going the long way around. If a bloke with a bag of coconuts can do it so can we.

Making it to the crab market there were lots of locals clambering around some of the fishermen as they brought their crab traps up and I guess they were bidding to buy them as there was a lot of shouting and finger wagging in close proximity. Walking through the market and out the other side, there is a row of restaurants which are in sheds on stilts over the water. We settled on a place called Kimleys and got a seat right up by the water so we could look out and there were traps below us in the water. Only issue was that neither if knew how to eat crab so when ours arrived basically as a whole crab cooked how we wanted with the sauce, it was an interesting experience to say the least. I'm sure we missed lots of the meat but what we did get was really good and the sauces were delicious. Lucky she asked us whether we wanted rice because if we hadn't we both would have still been starving. More crab on the table than in our mouths I think!

After leaving the restaurant, we decided to have a walk along the coast to Kep beach which we thought wasn't very far away. Early on we found a bench to watch some fishermen who had just come to shore. When I say 'to shore', they had tied themselves to a tree that was jutting out into the sea and then climbing on it to get to the wall. They were restocking some things on their boat and doing this meant changing the water containers. A few moments later, one of the men tried to throw one of these containers to a man on the wall but sent it hurtling more towards us rather than his mate, "sorry sorry" was the shout from the boat met with smiles all round. Not sure we've ever been attacked by flying water containers before!

Carrying along the beach we came across lots of monkeys just wandering along the sea wall, a few just sitting by a food stall and one having a bath in a puddle. Along the way we spotted serval large ruined villas which had been abandoned during the Khmer Rouge era. Kep had been quite a smart seaside resort in its day.

We made it to the the beach was being topped up with imported sand and dozer which was moving the sand around. We had a quick stroll in the surf and then onto a wall with a large statue at the end. With it being stinking hot again, we decided to get a tuk tuk back up the hill. Finding one, we asked whether hen was ok to get up the steep hill, "yeah easy, one of you sit at the from though". We had full confidence in the guy until he got to the road which had been dug up as he obviously didn't know it was happening. We pointed him in a different direction and he set off up a dirt track pulling few wheelies and struggling away. Not sure our $2 will cover the cost of a new clutch but we made it. The driver then proceeded to have a look at a super tuk tuk that was parked outside our hotel, clearly jealous of the supposed power.

Desperate for a swim, we donned out swimming stuff and headed for the pool only to be stopped in our tracks by the sound of lots of screaming kids. We carried on praying that it wasn't coming from the pool but no joy, there they were, a group of loud, screaming school kids swanning around in the pool. We couldn't face it so we returned to the room a little peeved and chilled out on the balcony.

We hadn't really decided what we wanted or where to go for dinner but we had decided we wanted to go and have a cocktail and watch the sunset down at the Sailing Club which is the bar/restaurant attached the $200 a night hotel Alice wanted to stay at! Again its in an old fisherman's hut over the water but 'trendy' with a long jetty next to it.We knew happy hour was 17:00 until 19:00 so slowly walked down the hill again, around the hole, despite another English couple warning us and down to the bar. 16:45 unfortunately so "one water an one Angkor beer please". Slowly sipping these down and it came to 17:00, one Mojito and one Sailing Club Special. The Mojito was just pure rum from what Alice was saying and think it went straight to her head. Next on the menu was a Southern Slow and a Snake In Your Swimsuit which was amazing! Whilst drinking away, all 5 tables at the front of the restaurant had been reserved (one of them for 1 person!), presumably for dinner but no one was on them so we had a perfect view of the beautiful sunset occurring behind a distant island, we confirmed with the barman to be Phu Quoc. A truly majestic sight over the Gulf of Thailand. A few people had turned up for dinner but not the reserved table and had to sit behind us so we felt we should probably order some dinner. Really nice dinner of crab cake burger and a chicken curry.

A few cocktails, one beer down and the fact it was pitch black was going to make the walk back to the hotel interesting, especially the hole. Head torches on, we approached the hole and prepared to scramble round. Just as Alice went to take her first step, I noticed that they had actually put a lot of the earth back in the hole and we could just walk straight through. Could have been funny to let her go round and then when she was halfway just go through the middle but I couldn't do it to her! Getting back up the hill we reached the bottom entrance to the hotel where we were first met by a blooming dog that jumped out in front of us and wouldn't stop barking. Luckily there was a security guard there who managed to grab the dog as it was circling us. Good and bad guard dog I suppose in the fact that it alerts the guy but also won't let hotel guests in either. Escaping the the sanctuary of the hotel we ventured up the stairs and through the bar area where they were playing live acoustic music which apparently they do every night. We wanted some ice cream an a big if cake from the bakery in the hotel but dumped our bag first. Returning to the bakery we ordered a brownie an some rum and raisin ice cream. They put in from of Alice whilst I waited to sign the bill. We wanted to sit down in the restaurant area so Alice took the goodies down there, well she got halfway before sending the ice cream flying and onto the floor! $1.50 well spent! It was recoverable just about but lost a bit. Finishing that off in record time we retired to the room to get some sleep before our hill trek tomorrow.