Sometimes jetlag is a good thing. Waking up at 3 in the morning had never been easier. A quick shower and then down to grab a cab to the airport. Amazing numbers of people sitting around drinking, talking, just sitting around - felt more like 8 in the evening than 4 in the morning.

Flight to Phnom Penh was ok - good leg room, free seating - Air Asia really is the Ryan Air of SE Asia .

We'd decided that we wanted to skip Phnom Penh to start with and head straight down to the coast for a bit of a wind down. We'd found out that there were share taxis that go from the market in Phnom Penh that could be chartered for around US$25, but then the taxi to get to the market was also US$7. The other alternative was the same 7 dollar taxi and then a US$4 (each) bus which would take 4-5 hours, went twice a day, the next one being in 4 hours. So we decided to try and get a taxi straight from the airport...

US$70...

No way!

Still, after a bit of bargaining he came down to $40. We figured that that it was worth it to get down here straight away. Just on 180km took 2 1/2 hours and we passed the morning bus on the way - can't complain about that!

Kristina had set her sights on a little guesthouse in Kep (Vanna Bungalows) but that turned out to be full . Ended up at a new place - N4 Guesthouse which was nice. Well built, clean, great grounds.

Kep itself was a bit more sleepy than we'd expected. We'd come down to relax and that was good - there isn't a lot more to do there. Took a walk to find some lunch, wandered past the Crab Market where you can buy fresh seafood by the kilo for crazy low prices.

Lunch was cracking. They have these picnic houses, which are really just a raised floor and a roof, which hammocks hanging on three sides. So you sit in your hammock and a Khmer girl comes over and takes your order going up to the local restaurant to get it. Blue crabs in pepper sauce for KHR25000 (US$6.25) were fantastic - nothing better than sitting in a hammock eating good food, drinking a cold beer.

Unfortunately, that was about it for Kep. No shops or anything, little bit too sleepy for us at this stage, so we decided not to stay two nights and move on the next day . Rabbit Island & Pepper Plantation tours aside, Kep is a great place to go and vege - with a bit of planning. In a few years it'll be once again the bustling seaside town that it was all through the start of the 1900's.

Today we moved on and are now in Kampot (only 30km up the road). Took the bus here from Kep (KHR6000 each), and then the back of a truck from where the bridge was being repaired (since the bus couldn't make it over).

One of the guys in the truck helps run a guest house, so of course we got the usual advertising spiel. We'd heard about the riverside at Kampot, and since his place was called the River View Guesthouse, we figured we'd give him a try.

Lovely little place, built right on the riverside. A bit north of the main drag, but that's a good thing here - noise is a combination of rural & big city - motorbikes, bars, roosters...

Tomorrow we're off up the mountain to check out the Bokor Hill Station - French built, abandoned resort town...