We arrived in Kampot at lunch time and got stuck straight into the sightseeing. We hired a driver, Bun Loung, to take us to see some local caves. We arrived at a small village and then headed up the hill to the cave entrance. We explored the main chambers and thought we had seen all there was to see, but then discovered that Bun had other ideas....we were to climb into holes, squeeze through small cracks in the rock and even do a little bit of rock climbing to see the rest of the caves! This was great fun, although Holly tried to be dramatic and almost threw herself off a cliff! We now know what Holly would be like in an emergency; she just squealed, closed her eyes and hoped for the best!

Once we had climbed to the top of the caves we had a great view over the villages and paddy fields. After a quick break to take in the scenery, we headed to another cave that had an Elephant shaped stalictite at the entrance. Once we ventured further in we found another one, that looked like a bird and a crocodile. The most impressive sight at this cave, however, was the small brick temple inside that dates back to the 7th century! Because it is housed inside the cave it is still in really good condition considering how old it was.

The next day we headed to Bokor Hill Station, which is set on top of Elephant Mountain in the Bokor National Park. We rode the 2 hour journey to the top in the back of a pick-up truck! So most of the journey was spent holding on for dear life and dodging branches from the jungle! At the top we visited the abandoned sites of the Black Palace, Kiri Hotel and Casino, Police station, Catholic church, Tea Plantation and Bokor Palace Hotel. The hill station has been abandoned twice, first when Cambodia fought for their independence against the French in the 1940's and again when the Khmer Rouge guerrilla's fought the Vietnamese in the 1980's and 90's. All the sites have been taken over by a bright orange moss and with the clouds swirling around us it was quite an eerie place!After the bumpy journey back down the mountain we took a boat ride back to Kampot, stopping for the guide to fish for some clams!!

On our last day we were picked up by Bun Loung again, for a full day of sightseeing around the area. First stop was another cave; Bat Cave! It got it's name, unsurprisingly, as it was filled with squeaking bats, which is quite scary when you can't see where they are, but can hear them swooping around you! We knew that rabies jab would be useful - particularly as we found out that bats not only eat mosquitos, but tourists as well!

After the cave we headed to a peppercorn farm (they also grew mangos, papaya, lemons, taurin and kept cows too!). We decided to buy a kilo of the peppercorns, which is apparently among the best in the world, and because, well, what else do you need when you're on an 8 month trip around the world! (We'll send it back with Rob and Dad on their next visit, so anyone who wants some, put your order in now!).

We then headed to Kep town for lunch, which is a small beach town with not too much to see, except some derelict palaces and markets from the Khmer Rouge regime. Afterwards, we headed for a cool off at the Blue River. We had a little swim in the mountain water before heading back to our hotel.

That night Bun took us to a Cambodian restaurant to try Khmer soup. There was a metal dish in the middle of the table, on a flame, which was filled with stock. Bun then added mushrooms, greens, herbs, pigs skin, beef, noodles, salt and pepper and let it cook. It was really tasty, but hiding in the stock was some strange looking fatty meat - looked a little bit like tubes and some balls too - we asked what this was and we were told it was cow's insides! Yummy! So after three bowls of the stuff and full bellies we were taken to another restaurant for 'animal' (he didn't know the English word for it), but we managed to find out that it wasn't cow, pig, lamb, chicken, rabbit, snake, tiger, cat or dog! So your guess is as good as ours!?? We had a fab night, though, tasting authentic Cambodian food, with a local!