Day 23 - 'Journey into the Unknown'. Another leisurely breakfast and what a breakfast it was. A massive buffet consisting of every type of bread you could want, pastries, cooked western, cooked Cambodian, cooked Thai, cooked Vietnamese, omelettes cooked with whatever you want, the list goes on. Anyway, the plan for the day was to go for a walk/hike into Kep National Park and do the 8km round Phnom Kep. Saw Babs and asked whether the kids would be in the pool again in the afternoon as we wanted to jump straight in on our return. Luckily she said they had all gone so should be quiet there.

On a full stomach and all kitted up for the hike up, we set off with temperatures not too high but humidity very high. We walked past the pay point as no one was there despite us looking round for someone and only finding a woman cooking some eggs who looked blankly. We walked up to the Led Zep cafe to get a proper map of the area but it was closed and we couldn't be bothered to wait as we 'thought' we'd be ok with our guidebook map. We started to climb up the side of Phnom Kep on the path and came to a sign with a map on it showing to turn off the path here to go to the summit. We pondered what to do and decided to carry in a round to the other side of the hill and then possibly take the only other path up to the summit. Wandering up and around the side of the hill, we passed many stunning viewing points and also signs with questions on with the answers being at the next stop. 4 questions around the hill and Alice won this game 1-0.

Reaching the other side of the hill (possibly mountain), we reached the point where we could turn up to the summit. The path leading up was named 'Jungle Path'. The sign sets out the specifics, distance, gradient etc etc and also stated, 'for experienced climbers only'. How bad could it be?! Looking at the start of the path it looked quite straight forward so we went for it. Roughly 10 minutes into the walk, the path started to get a lot steeper and it looked like we were walking up a gorge that would have water running in the rainy season. As we went on, it got steeper and steeper and it was much much harder than we expected. We came to a very very steep section with a sign saying 260m which we guessed meant for the next 260m it would be like this. The worst (or best) part about it was that there were ropes to help you up this pretty much vertical face. The ropes were attached to trees and you had to put your faith in whoever put them in but to be honest, without them there was no way you would get up. We had made the choice to go on as it seemed it would have been harder to go down than up. Sweating absolute bucket loads, and only having 2 small bottles of water meant we had to conserve water but not knowing how far we had left made this tough. Quite a few rests on the way up on very small ledges trying not to look down and holding onto the rope. On the way up, we saw a couple coming down so stopped for a while to let them past as there was only room of one person. Asking them how far left, they said we were about halfway, what!! To rub it in, they said there were no views at the summit but some good ones on the way down on the other side. Would much rather be going up than down though as then you really are trusting the ropes, as it was pretty much abseiling for them. Eventually, sweating loads and with our shirts and trousers a different colour through sweat, we made it to the top. Not sure we thought it through properly but there was no way we were expecting that, maybe should have paid attention to the sign! Quite an achievement and maybe we should have turned back when we had the chance. Sitting at the top for a breather and trying to cool down we decided we just wanted to get down so didn't go off to Sunset Rock which had good views and set off down the other side heading for the cafe, hopefully. Much easier on this path on the way down which snaked around the side of the hill, not a vertical 'path' like on the way up. On the way down we met the same couple going back up. Two things crossed our mind, good that they got down the other side safely and why were they going back up, surely not to do it again. Safely down the other side, we trudged wearily to the cafe, it was raining at this point which was a blessing. Falling into the chairs we asked for water and some sugary drinks before tucking into a couple of baguettes with a stunning view of the ocean. When we were leaving, the other couple were just coming in so we asked why they were going back up and unfortunately he had dropped his camera somewhere so were going back to look for it. He thinks it may have come out of his pocket during their abseiling experience!

Returning to the hotel, we headed straight for the pool to swim and chill out for a couple of hours. Heading back to the room ready for sunset at the hotel and fully expecting to have dinner at the hotel, we made a split decision that we would go back down to the seafront for sunset and dinner. We rushed down to the front before sunset, which was actually non existent as there was a bit of cloud, and sat having a drink in one of the bars. After a drink we headed for dinner but weren't sure where to go so walked up and down checking each place out. Finally ended up where we had lunch yesterday, Kimleys for more crab and fish all washed down with our last beerlao as its not available in Vietnam where we head to tomorrow. A quick stroll up the hill back to the hotel, past the scary dog, don't think it liked the head torch being shined straight in its eyes and off to the room.

We are off to Phu Quoc tomorrow and despite just being a few miles off the coast of Cambodia, is actually owned by Vietnam. A quick run to Ha Thien to jump on the ferry but obviously a border crossing first and we know how fun they are!