Seems like the last blog was from when we were still in Vietnam, I didn't realise it had been such a long time! We got the ferry off Phu Quoc to Ha Tien and got on the back of a moped each to get across the border into Kep on the South Coast of Cambodia. You can immediately see the difference in development between Vietnam and Cambodia, here only the main trunk roads between a few towns are paved, the rest of them are dirt tracks ranging from smooth to near enough inpassable, although the busses still manage to fly along the supposedly inpassable roads. Kep was really quiet, we met up with Kris again there (Spent Christmas and New Year with him) and have since decided to all carry on together as we're all on a similar time scale! From Kep we took a trip out to Rabbit and Snake Islands, we snorkelled around snake Island, not 
something Colm or I had done before, it was good fun, although I found it a bit disconcerting when it got almost too shallow to swim over the top of the coral, had visions of getting stuck...! From there we went back to Rabbit Island (There only about 15mins off the coast, and about the same apart) and spent the night in 2 little bungalows! It was really nice and personally I preferred it to Phu Quoc. The next day we left Rabbit Island and headed to Kampot, spent the night there and booked ourselves onto a tour to Bokor Hill station. Cost us $22 (Pretty much everything is done in dollars here rather than the local Riel) and they took us to the bottom of the hill, we then trekked up for about 4 hours, getting in a truck at the top to be transported along the top of the hill to the hill station. It was built by the french in the 1920's as a retreat to get away from the heat, it was a very sweaty climb up but it was noticebly cooler at the top. Spent a few hours there and then the truck bought us back to the point it picked us up from and then we trekked back down again, only took about 2.5 hours on the way back down. That evening after the trek we left for Sihanoukville. We spent 2 full days there and had all sorts of grand plans for going to a national park and doing some more trekking, that sort of fell by the wayside in the end though, we ended up spending our 2 days drinking in cocktails in a bar on the beach and going to bed early! Had a good time though, being pestered by people to have bracelets made and buy fruit (we did both in the end). On day 3 we got up at about 6am and got the bus out of town to the capital, Pnomh Penh. Rob met up with Mao when we got there, the Cambodian who took him around last 2 years ago last he was in Cambodia. He took us for a Cambodian barbecue, you basically get the food (Beef and Seafood we had) bought to the table along with the veg and you all cook it together on a gas 
hotplate in the middle of the table. The picture of Rob and Colm is on the way back to our guest house after the BBQ. The following day we had a trip out to the shooting range where Rob had a pop with a rifle but the rest of us decided it was a bit too expensive. On the way back Rob went to see Mao again and Colm, Kris and I went to the National museum and the Royal palace. There are a lot of Hindu and Buddhist statues in the National Museum that have been removed from temples around the country for safe keeping, (The Khmer Rouge damaged a lot of them during their rule) most of the temples now have replicas in them. The Royal Palace was quite impressive however at this point I wasn't feeling too well, was having stomach cramps and the like so I probably wasn't in quite the right frame of mind to appreciate it fully.
I'll try and do another post in the next few days to bring everyone completely up to date with all our temple viewing, etc!
Hopefully talk to you all soon.
Paul, Colm and Rob.
ps. Simon, have you sold that van yet, you've been missing out lad!?!
something Colm or I had done before, it was good fun, although I found it a bit disconcerting when it got almost too shallow to swim over the top of the coral, had visions of getting stuck...! From there we went back to Rabbit Island (There only about 15mins off the coast, and about the same apart) and spent the night in 2 little bungalows! It was really nice and personally I preferred it to Phu Quoc. The next day we left Rabbit Island and headed to Kampot, spent the night there and booked ourselves onto a tour to Bokor Hill station. Cost us $22 (Pretty much everything is done in dollars here rather than the local Riel) and they took us to the bottom of the hill, we then trekked up for about 4 hours, getting in a truck at the top to be transported along the top of the hill to the hill station. It was built by the french in the 1920's as a retreat to get away from the heat, it was a very sweaty climb up but it was noticebly cooler at the top. Spent a few hours there and then the truck bought us back to the point it picked us up from and then we trekked back down again, only took about 2.5 hours on the way back down. That evening after the trek we left for Sihanoukville. We spent 2 full days there and had all sorts of grand plans for going to a national park and doing some more trekking, that sort of fell by the wayside in the end though, we ended up spending our 2 days drinking in cocktails in a bar on the beach and going to bed early! Had a good time though, being pestered by people to have bracelets made and buy fruit (we did both in the end). On day 3 we got up at about 6am and got the bus out of town to the capital, Pnomh Penh. Rob met up with Mao when we got there, the Cambodian who took him around last 2 years ago last he was in Cambodia. He took us for a Cambodian barbecue, you basically get the food (Beef and Seafood we had) bought to the table along with the veg and you all cook it together on a gas 
hotplate in the middle of the table. The picture of Rob and Colm is on the way back to our guest house after the BBQ. The following day we had a trip out to the shooting range where Rob had a pop with a rifle but the rest of us decided it was a bit too expensive. On the way back Rob went to see Mao again and Colm, Kris and I went to the National museum and the Royal palace. There are a lot of Hindu and Buddhist statues in the National Museum that have been removed from temples around the country for safe keeping, (The Khmer Rouge damaged a lot of them during their rule) most of the temples now have replicas in them. The Royal Palace was quite impressive however at this point I wasn't feeling too well, was having stomach cramps and the like so I probably wasn't in quite the right frame of mind to appreciate it fully.I'll try and do another post in the next few days to bring everyone completely up to date with all our temple viewing, etc!
Hopefully talk to you all soon.
Paul, Colm and Rob.
ps. Simon, have you sold that van yet, you've been missing out lad!?!
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