Today was a nice leisurely start to the day as Tony had hired a motorbike yesterday we were free to leave when it suited the both of us. The intention today was to visit the caves between Kampot and Kep and also go to a little beach called Ankaul Beach just the other side of Kep. The plan was to use a tourist map to get there and take the short cut...

We made it to Kep without finding the caves since there were no signs to turn off of the main highway (well not in English anyway) and Tony kept laughing because I was taking pictures of the random giant statues in town. Kep is famous for it's Peppered Crab so it was only right they have a giant Crab statue on the beach!

Now...the mad, crazy story behind the short cut idea. Someone had said before that there was a short cut to get to Ankaul Beach and sure enough it was listed on the map as a little dotted line. So we set off down this little dirt track across the salt flats of Kep. The journey is about 20 Km and it would have been fine if the road was marked and didn't turn into the most random little track where I thought I was coming off of the back of that bike! We did along the way see the most gorgeous little fishing village with all the boats out to sea and the little Cambodian children waving at us from their houses *smile*. It must have taken about 6 people to ask where the beach was and each time they kept pointing in random directions.

The funniest one was when we stopped at this little house on the 'main road' and all these little children came running over. One of them leant on the throttle as Tony hadn't put it in neutral and the bike moved. You should have seen her little face! She looked shocked and then her and all the other children burst out laughing! We took their directions and somehow ended up at the Vietnam border which is about 40 km away from Kep. (Which has a casino complex called Ha Tien Vegas...but no time for gambling!) Something told me we were never going to find this elusive beach. The guy at the border crossing had a good laugh at us but his directions to the beach were spot on, about 7 km back the way we came and down a little road we were there!

If the weather had been a little better and not so windy I can imagine this beach would be packed in high season. The sand was golden (apart from all the black sea weed everywhere) and the water temperature was warm. On the way back we stopped off in Kep and tried the peppered crab for a late lunch. It was lovely. A little spicy for my liking but lovely never the less. The crabs are that fresh that they're actually sitting in a little pond of water in front of the restaurant. If you ever go to Kep, go into a little place called Kimly which is on the hill near the crab market. Superb!

I wish I could say that the journey on the way back was uneventful but we almost got ran off of the road by a car passing too close to avoid pot holes. I will admit a little shriek came out of my mouth at that moment and despite being an experienced bike rider I think Tony thought we were going off road too at one point and he was the driver!

Getting back, I realised I was a little bit burnt, just on my face, despite putting on sun cream all day. I decided that I didn't need to go to Kep now as there really isn't much there, so booked my bus back to Phnom Penh to head north to Battambang and Siem Reap a few days early.

I also heard from home that my netbook has finally arrived back in the UK...not bad since I mailed it from Laos about 2 months ago! At least it got there I suppose!

Next instalment probably from Battambang, since I am spending so little time in Phnom Penh tomorrow.

The picture is me on the back of the bike on the road to somewhere...cannot be sure which stint of the drive this is from...proper biker chick with a buff and everything!