I'm now about 30 hours and 3 countries into my journey from Cambodia to Australia and very very bored of airports, buses and people in front of me in queues with too much luggage and who don't know how to fill in immigration cards! But while waiting for my flight to Sydney I've had plenty of time to update my site so it's not all bad...

It's been a very busy last couple of days in Kampot but well worth it. Even worth the sweatiest taxi journey of my life with 7 people crammed in a Toyota Camry...

The first day I signed up for a tour of Bokor Hill station. The French built it as a cool holiday retreat back in the 20s but abandoned it when they fell from power in Cambodia and despite a brief bit of use by the King and later by Khmer Rouge guerillas and the Vietnamese army it's basically completely abandoned and falling apart. The journey up through the jungle was pretty spectacular - the road used to be paved but, like the rest of the town has been neglected so is full of craters and boulders and makes for an incredibly bumpy ride in the back of a pick-up.

But 2 hours of a sore bum were well worth it when we got to the top. First stop was King Sihanouk's holiday home which he quickly abandoned after the military coup. It's amazing how quickly things fall apart as there's almost nothing left, just a couple of rooms still with an amazing view across to Vietnam. Then it was on to the hill station itself which has survived a little better. There's a church, post office, various restaurants and guesthouses and the big casino hotel.

Anyone who hasn't seen or read The Shining may have to skip this next part... The first night in our guesthouse before going up to Bokor I dreamt that I was staying in the Overlook Hotel (from The Shining), probably because it looked like the bathroom door had been beaten in with an axe, and so was a bit apprehensive about spending the day at an abandoned hotel... It turns out the Bokor Hotel looks quite a lot like the Overlook! It was really creepy inside, especially the big empty casino, and looks very capable of coming back to life, especially as some witty person had written 'redrum' all over the walls! So after a quick look around I decided I'd better make a quick exit to avoid any more nightmares!

The good (?) news is Korean investors have bought the whole site and will be redeveloping the town into a fully working holiday destination again, complete with luxury hotel and casino. So far they're only on the first step of checking for landmines and rebuilding the road but in a way it seems like it'll be a massive shame as the town is really atmospheric as it is without slapping a few luxury hotels up there.

The next day I joined up with a group from the guesthouse who had rented a tuk tuk for the day to go on a countryside tour around Kampot province. First stop after a beautiful ride through the rice fields were the caves where we bravely chose the climbing route to get it. I was expecting a little scramble over a few rocks but it turned out to be very scary full rock climbing in the dark with the local children guiding/laughing at us! It certainly wasn't my favourite thing in the world, not being a fan of height or caves especially when they're combined but I survived! The Bat Cave was a step too far though... The 3 girls in our group got close enough to hear the sound of their wings beating and then all decided we'd had enough and would wait outside! Apparently it was well worth it as there are absolutely thousands in there but I'm afraid my bravery was all used up by the climbing...

After a few Khmer lessons from the local boys and carrying hundreds of flowers they'd given us we set off for the next stop - a pepper farm. Kampot is very famous for it's pepper but once you've seen a pepper plant going it's not actually that exciting. Much better was trying the stuff at lunch with really fresh crab right on the seafront!

We spent the afternoon at Kep which was where the French headed to the seaside but we all felt it was a bit of a let-down. It's a very European style beach with a long promenade but the beach itself is pretty small with muddy water so we had a token swim, hid in the water waiting for the group of local men who had conveniently gathered just as we were coming out to go away (Khmer women go in the sea fully clothed so our bikinis would have caused a bit of a stir!), and headed back to the guesthouse for a well deserved sleep!

And that was the end of Cambodia! In a way it would have been nice to have had more time and see a bit more of the country but at least I have an excuse to come back and do more...