Cassia Cottage Phu Quoc Island

... fired. There's nothing like hiking up hill for 3 hours, and then immediately loading into the back of an extremely crammed pickup with all your limbs tucked as closely as possible. We're pretty sure that's the opposite of the "stretching" you're supposed to do after a hike.<br><br>Anyway, our first stop was the Black Palace, one of [former-] King Sihanouk's palaces. Nothing much to say. Our destination (Bokor Station) was still another 40 ...

... agreed on $1.5 each to our hotel. Well, you do have to admire them for trying it on, after all if we were wealthy and ignorant of transport costs then that guy would have made a weeks wage in one trip!<br>We were dropped off at a large resort on Long beach which was included in our package. The resort catered more for Asian tourists but was up to western standards. The room was large, modern and clean, with nice extras like bottles of shampoo and sewing ...

... is because they wait until it is ripe before they harvested and then let it dry naturally in the sun. By comparison, in Vietnam they pick it unripe and then dry it. I bought some with visions of impressing people at dinner when i get back but forgot I've got to actually get it back first! The lady also brewed rice wine which I of course tried. With the notion that it was a wine I did take a gulp only to find that it was more of a spirit with a taste similar to ...

... thing about a mountain is that once you have climbed up you only can only climb down and the descent only took us a couple of hours. On the way back down I noticed a man in uniform, carrying a gun following us, it was because there were tigers, bears and wild elephants on the mountain so we had to have some security - umm great! The guide said he often saw bears when he took groups up, but luckily for us we didn't see any just a wild monkey. We got some food and went to bed as we were knackered!

... piece of recycling we have seen so far. On the beach were a couple of seating areas. This would be home for the next 6 hours.<br><br>We seemed to be the most prepared as we brought our books and a packed lunch from Botanica. Another couple didn't seem that impressed and were definitely bored. The weather was a little shaky to start with, but around 2pm it really brightened up. That was evident by the sunburn to my face. It was a unique island, as ...

... sure?'<br>'Think so.'<br>'OK, we'll head back.'<br>Back at the 'agency' we handed back the motors, paid any outstanding fees, and asked to book a bus to Sihanoukville tomorrow morning.<br>'What time will the bus call to our guesthouse?'<br>'About eleven o clock. Please be ready.'<br>And that was that.<br>On the bumpy side street on which the Ta Eng is situated, we also 'bumped' into a throng of school kids on bicycles, a ...

... and taking the match to it's inevitable sudden-death decider at 4-4. <br><br>The ants held their breath, the sun shone in a strangely distracted manner, the wind even stopped to watch the outcome of this titanic struggle. East against West. Vietnam against England. 20s against 30s. Skinny Sam against Lardy Larry. An epic battle on so many levels, but who would finish as champion?! <br><br>Fey the Fearless broke off, his balabushka break sending ...