Hey Guys,

Sorry its been a while havent had a chance to get on the net much. Since my last post we travelled to Sihanoukville to a small town called Kampot which is next to the Vietnam border, we thought we'd stop here as we read that there was a few trips to do here. It was about a 4 hour drive and when we arrived we were taken straight to a small guest house which was more or less brand new and cost $5 a night with a tv and hot shower so we didnt complain. The place Kampot isnt a tourist area so there wasnt anything to do there in the days or the nights as there were no night life as such just a few small bars and restaraunts. From Kampot we spent 2 nights there and did a day trip on both days. the first day was a trip up this mountain through thick jungle to a ghost town which was populated by the king and rich locals in the 19th century until it was invaided by the french who occupied it. The journey was hell as it was up a mountain in thick jungle on a dodgy 4x4 truck and we travelled for 2 hours straight on a bumpy untarred track, it was hell to say the least but on the way up its wasnt too bad as we were on the back of the truck about 9 of us altogether and we werejust talking to the other tourists on the truck and had a bit of a laugh, we met two people brother and sister from Southampton but now live in Majorca and they were travelling in the quiet season of majorca which is pretty cool, they were a good laugh and we got on well with them and the other guys on there, there was a guy from Oz and a girl from Italy and two women from the uk. The journey up had amzing views as we were about 2000ft about sea level when we got to the top and some of the vies on the way up were amazing, but as we got to the very top we couldnt see anything as it was just cloud and mist which looked really eary but this cleared in the late afternoon.

When we got to the top we had to hike for about an hour and a half through the jungle to get to the deserted villiage, this was hard work in the hot sun but our guide, Wandon, was very funny and kept us entertained, we ate some local berries and saw soe monkeys on the way although i was concerned as there are still loads of unexploded landmines around the jungle left from the war and this guy was on his second week doing the job so that didnt fill me with confidence so i followed every footstep the person in front of me did so i didnt have any surprises, ha!!!!.

When we arrived to see the villiage, it wasnt really impressive at all there were a few big houses and an abandoned casino, would you believe, which the french built. We explored around them but at the end of the day we were just wandering around empty buildings which got boring pretty fast, the guide explained things what happend here during the civil conflict which was interessting and couldnt believ it was only about 30 years ago.

Then we had lunch, which was inlcuded, it was suprisingly nice rice and vegtable curry, and we were starving. The we had a 2 hour journey back down that bloody tarck to the bottom, i couldnt feel me arse by the end of it coz i was bumping round so much and a low branch came out of no where and smacked me in the face and took out my glasses so i lost them and ive had to buy another pair so im on my third pair of glasses now in 6 weeks, unbelievable.

When we got to the bottom we then had a boat trip down the river for an hour, that was really nice and peacefull, as the sun set and we all just talked on the boat with a few beers which i needed after that truck ride. Then we eventually came to the end and went back to the hotel. It was a really good day and one of my favourite of the trip so far, it wasnt the most spectacular but it was good to meet new people and go out all day and just have a laugh, the brother and sister, nick and rachel hung out with us that night and we went for some food, which was really good and then went to bed early as we all decided to go on another trip the next day to a town called Kep.