This is slightly delayed as we are now on Koh Chang, Thailand, and left Kampot yesterday morning. This is the blog i was trying to post from Kampot though, but internet played up....

Greetings from rainey Kampot!Nice for you all to hear im sure, it has now been raining for about 5days solid.Feels like England, but warm rain and lots of odd Khmer's everywhere!

Aside from the rain, still having a great time.After Phnom Penh we moved down to Sihnoukville, which was disappointing to say the least.It's basically a beach town, though not so much a town as just a beach…and with loads of rain and not a glint of sun the whole time we were there it was pretty boring and miserable.There was very little atmosphere also, everyone looked bored (fair enough, there is only so much fun you can have in a 'town' pouring with rain with nothing but a beach) so the feeling soon rubbed off.On the upside, we read lots and played lots of pool.…Joe beat me every time and I had several paddies!HUGELY on the downside, there was no alcohol in sight the whole 3nights we were there…for some bizarre reason the whole country comes to a standstill during election time (which were on Sunday) so no public transport (hence having to leave P.P. slightly earlier than we wanted and having to go straight to Sihnouk rather than Kampot as originally planned because of buses being booked up well in advance) and certain areas are not allowed to serve alcohol.I guess your all now beginning to understand why everyone in Sihnouk was so looking so miserable!There was also lots and lots of pretty gross-tastic old men with Thai brides, strutting around the guesthouse and on the grey beach in inappropriately no-one-should-have-to-bear-witness-to tightest of tight briefs…so all in all, Sihnouk rates about a 2 on our scale - the only thing that saved it from being a 1 was the oh-so-funny guy who worked at our guesthouse telling us on the morning we left about the dead gheko that had been hanging from the ceiling of the restaurant for about day, which upon becoming rather suspicious about he took a long stick to it only to dislodge the poor thing, discover it had well passed and threw it out the window….we were treated to actions of the hanging gheko and the throwing out the window.It was very amusing!

Sooo…determined not to let Sihnouk tarnish our so far beautiful impression of Cambodia, we decided to head to Kampot for a couple of days before moving onto Thailand.The fun began as soon as we left our guesthouse in Sihnouk!Buses were again full so we plucked up the courage to go with a taxi which were warned may contain 7 people (including the driver!).Ok, we thought, we've had worse, and it's only 2 hours.Lucky these lot are so small.I was also counting my blessings that at least I would be spared the horrendous Khmer Karaoke which they are obsessed with playing full blast and singing along to on all the buses, PLUS tv screen with the most painfully cheesy videos you can imagine.So, the journey cant be that bad...so we thought.My hopes were swiftly crushed when, only 2minutes down the road the driver cranked up the stereo and the sound of Khmer tunes induced a near-instant headache!I then caught a glimpse of a mini-tv in the front….and was shocked when I later noticed that none of the seatbelts worked and there was a HUGE crack in the windscreen which looked suspiciously like it may have been caused by someones head…no doubt due to the lack of seatbelts.But who needs working seatbelts and a solid windscreen when you can sing along to karaoke in the car!!!My best efforts to drown out the pain with Dire Straights playing full blast on my ipod were to no avail and I found myself feeling ashamed that I had given dad such grief on all those holidays to France to turn down Emerson, Lake & Palmer and 'put something decent on'…!It's funny the things im learning out here - there is always someone out there having to endure worse music than you, having to wear damp, musty clothes all day long doesn't matter when you're surrounded by other damp, musty travelers, being messy can be rewarding when you never need to clean up after yourself….the list goes on!Anyhow, god bless the Khmers for their consistently smiling faces and warm personalities, but they really should be ashamed of their music.Slight rant there, I will move on.Aside from the music, and the cramped conditions (yes, the driver did squeeze 4in the back, 1 on the passenger seat and what appeared like one mounting the gearstick?!) the journey was pretty amusing!I couldn't help but be amused by what im beginning to convince myself is a national hobby out here - 'soil the backpackers pants'!Our driver sped the whole way to Kampot, so we actually made it in an hour and half, drove mostly on the wrong side of the road, and barely slowed down on the 'roads' which looked and felt like we were actually driving off-road! All in all a serious contender for the title of most-interesting journey!

Arriving in Kampot we breathed a sigh of relief (mostly to be out of the taxi!) as we both felt instantly that the atmosphere here was a million times more welcoming than Sihnouk.Very glad we decided to pop over rather than going straight to Thailand.Our guesthouse is fantastic - really great Manchurian guy who thinks everything is 'lush' and has helped us out with loads since we arrived (including shamefully having to take a plunger to our toilet after Joe had dangerously occupied it for some time!), really lovely garden and communal chill-out area, great food, great room, generally really lovely.We spent all day yesterday lazing in the guesthouse; reading and playing scrabble, then head out in the evening for a FAB meal.I cant stop going on about how amazing the coconut battered calamari was that I had…..truly lush!We then rented a moped today and explored the surrounding area, some nearby caves in the mountain and another town along the coast, Kep, where we had another lush meal - fresh seafood.Caves were pretty cool (nothing like the hairy experience in Vang Vieng though!) full of rocks that looked like dragons, elephants, snakes, mushrooms, yada yada yada....or at least are supposed to; they think almost everything looks like animals, esp. elephants out here!These 2 young girls took us round the caves and we got into one where, yet again, shock of shocks, there was a rock that looked like an elephant, though this time it was just the body of an elephant - sooooooo, basically, it was a big, grey, round rock!!!!!! So funny, bless them!All in all loving it here and glad to have made this our last impression of beautiful Cambodia.Leave tomorrow morning for Koh Chang in Thailand, hoping for sun, but slightly concerned that the cost of things over there will be a bit of a shock.Will have to wait and see.Also, Joe has just warned me that reading blogs about Koh Chang lots of people mention how bug-tastic lots of the guesthouses are.Great!

On the bug front, the ant rage is subsiding (slightly) as they have left me in peace since Angkor though the mosquitoes out here are VERY VERY hungry and having a real feast on my legs…I don't blame them really they are pretty meaty looking!Like a naughty child im totally unable to resist itching them constantly so keep getting told off by Joe!A spider has been living in the corner of our bathroom since we arrived but (I cant believe im even saying this) has stayed put and so I have been shockingly able to tolerate its presence.I can almost hear the gasp from you mum!Because of all the water around there are loads of frogs hopping about and while strolling home to the guesthouse last night in pitch blackness I accidentally kicked one mid-hop as it crossed my path.Felt pretty bad but saw it carry on it's merry way so all is well!Bug update complete, I think that's all from us.

Will update some more pics as soon as possible, preferably when we get somewhere with speedier internet connection.

Lots of love, thinking of you all,

Vic and Joe

xxx

...so that was the news from southern Cambodia! We are now on our second night here in Koh Chang and both totally blown away as it has massively exceeded our expectations. I was never really expecting much from Thailand, thought we would just whizz through to go to Malaysia and was expecting a bit of a pretentious vibe to be honest, im not sure why. Anyway, even after just a coupe of days i can understand why this country is so thoroughly travelled, the atmosphere is fantastic people are great and (despite MORE rain!!!) it's so beautiful. Staying in a cute little hut, fair few bugs but nothing too life-threatening, nightlife is good but not too manic and busy. Planning to get a moped tomorrow and explore the island - waterfalls, more beaches, etc. Went out last night with 2 girls we met on the bus here, another 2girls who had met the first two in Siem Reap and 2guys, 2gals from Newcastle who really generously picked the rest of us up in the back of their pick-up as we were all heading to the same area. So all met in a bar, played cards, drank faaar too much and had a really good dance to quality tunes...brilliant night followed by a dodgy day today! Near enough recovered now, but will be on the soft drinks this evening as i think we are all meeting up again.

More pics to follow soon...the one for this blog is actually the beach in Hoi An, as i've nothing else to use...doesn't quite resemble the beaches here but you get the idea!

Internet is super speedy so will update again soon!

Lots of love

Vic and Joe xxxxxx