Day 8 - An early rise to go down for breakfast at 06:30 and check out before getting a tuk tuk to one of the bus stations, although we weren't 100% sure which one. The one we thought we would be dropped at didn't materialise and we were dropped at a different ViP bus station, again one shack building and one parking space! We grabbed our tickets to Stung Treng and off we set on a coach only a quarter full. A few minutes in and a guy who worked on the coach approached us and gave us our Cambodia arrival cards to fill out. He told us it would cost about $7 at the border crossing for a health check and also 'visa handling fees', all sounded very dodgy. He said he would do it all for us if we gave him our passports. He returned about 10 minutes later asking if we'd finished the cards and to give him our passports, no chance, we thought we'd do it ourselves as we already had the actual Cambodian visa. He seemed a bit ticked off when we said we'd do it ourselves and as he walked off he said don't forget the $6 you'll need. This instantly made us think it was a scam as earlier it was $7.

First stop was the 4000 islands, a popular tourist spot and yep, there were loads of people waiting to board the coach, in fact, too many that the coach could carry. Not to worry, a few of the people working on the coach just stood.

We got to the border crossing into Cambodia and as the people who had boarded at the 4000 islands had given their passports to someone when they had got their tickets, they all marched off to the Cambodia side. We had to go and get our stamps out of Laos which was quite straight forward and cost €2 each. We then walked the 200 yards through no mans land to the Cambodia side where first we were met by the health check centre which was basically a gazebo with a table in it. We knew this was a complete scam but went with it for ease. You fill in a form and then a lady takes your temperature by putting this gun type thingy to your neck. All ok, funny that, but again €1. There were still some of the other guys on our coach sitting there having something stuck in their arms, we certainly weren't going to hang around to find out what it was. Then a quick stamp onto our Cambodia visa, another $2. These are all a scam but not a lot you can do about it so we just went with it for the sake of $5 each. A quick toilet stop in a filthy place which again they charged for, it was basically a wooden shack with a hole in the ground and stank!

After we'd got through the visa process, we had to wait about an hour for the guy who was supposed to speed the process up for everyone else to get through. All the while, everyone was sitting at some very small cramped food stalls next to the road. Again this was all a scam as I'm sure that their is a deal between the coach workers and the food stalls because all the time people are not sorting their visas they are spending money at the stalls. Considering it was pushing the high 30's in temperature any shade was welcome. We got chatting to a german couple in the shade by the side of the bus who had got told that their passports had not been stamped into Laos for some reason so had to pay $100 each or stay in Laos for 2 extra days. Once back on the bus, a security guard / policeman got on and checked everyone's passports but whilst doing this, the coach worker pulled out a wad of notes and handed him $10, I guess as some sort of bribe and off we set for Stung Treng.

Dropping us at the side of the road in Stung Treng, a guy with a tuk tuk was there to meet us from the Mekong Bird Resort where we were staying. Off to the ATM in town and then off to the bird resort over a massive bridge going over the mighty Mekong river.

Arriving at the bird resort, we were greeted by the guy who runs the place and who spoke pretty good english. We were shown our bungalow which was very nice, basically a bedroom, bathroom and balcony on stilts overlooking the river. We got chatting to the guy and arranged to go kayaking at 3pm but we were desperate for some lunch first. We wandered down to the restaurant which overlooks the Mekong with a large balcony area reaching out over the river. We sat and had lunch there before getting ready for kayaking. Donning some, what we thought, suitable clothes we headed back to restaurant to meet our guide. The kayak was lowered down to the water but put on a narrow boat (basically a 2' wide, 30' long boat that can sit 3 or 4 with an engine on the back. This took us up river as it was far too powerful to kayak up, bare in mind the river is about a mile wide at this point. We went up river for about 20 minutes where we stopped off at a sand dune. A short time to put the life jacket and helmet on and into the kayak we went. Our guide was going to go ahead of us and we were supposed to follow. Considering it was still about 30 degrees the going was tough. Although it seemed we weren't going very fast, the force of the river was taking us at quite a rate even without paddling. We went through some of trees and managed to get stuck in there as it was really hard to manoeuvre with the flow rate as it was. Wiggling ourselves free we were back into the massive open expanse with just us and a few others of these narrow boats for company once in a while. By the time we made it back to the bird resort we were both drenched in sweat and in real need of a shower. The guide had been teasing us the whole way with an ice bucket of beers and fruit so we felt it only fair to tuck into them out in the balcony of the restaurant before heading for the shower. We stayed here until the sun was setting as it goes down directly along the line of the Mekong. What a sight and with a bunch of kids playing in the river in the distance it made or some very good photo opportunities and for Alice to show what she learnt from her photography course!

We returned for a shower and then back to the restaurant for dinner. We were again out on the balcony on short tables and sitting basically on the floor with a cushion. It was much more comfortable than it sounds and we were right in the edge over the river. The resort put on a great dinner and they take great pride in their food. Washed this down with a couple of Angkor beers but can't have too many as I've got a stinking cold. So glad Alice packed 25 packs of tissues after I questioned why! During our meal, our guide had come over with his laptop and showed us a very interesting documentary in the building of Angkor Wat which gave us a taste of what's to come at Siem Reap.

Returning to the room, it was still really really hot and with only a fan for company we weren't that optimistic of much sleep. The electricity apparently goes off in the evening at some stage so not sure how long the fan will last.