Huong Biew Hotel Phu Quoc Island

... br><br>(In case you&#8217;re wondering why there are no pics&#8230; See the next Phnom Penh entry: <br><br>&#8220;Unfortunately, when we later went to get our Laos visas, we needed some passport photos so went to a computer place who not only gave us some passport pics but also a virus on our camera memory card! We lost all our Kep pics, most of our Kampot pics and all our shooting pics. It was a horrible feeling when we realized what had happened&#8230;&#8221;

... aquamarine water and copious amounts of coconut trees to shade under. Our resort was slap bang in the middle of Long Beach which as it's name suggests was quite big. There were loads of other resorts and hotels both ways up the beach and so we spent our time visiting them to eat when we didn't fancy our own restaurtant. Cesca's favourite was a place called Cassia Cottage which did a really fantastic fried noodles and vegtables. When we weren't eating we hung out on the ...

... to cut our stay short we would be charged for one night&#8217;s accommodation, so we decided to hang out that night and figure something out for the rest of our duration on the island.<br><br>After an expensive lunch in the deserted restaurant spent eating with one hand and swatting clouds of flies with the other, we holed up in our room and watched HBO for the rest of the day and evening. The weather had once again become inclement with heavy thunderstorms, and it was actually a good ...

Waking up early we catch the 7.30 ferry out of Ha Tien for Phu Quoc. Getting on the ferry turns out to be fun, as we can only see the infamous slow boats (they sink..) and we've been promised a hydrofoil. Turns out that the ferry is hidden behind these boats and we have to clamber through them to get to it. This is no fun with our bags and I thwack my head, adding to the collection of bruises (things here are not designed with 6-foot people in mind...). The ferry turns out to ...

... is massive and rather dangerous with there being one bit where you had to climb over a chasm to get through to the second bit, that was infested with thousands of bats. The Batcave. After all this we head back have some foo (where Aly has steak, la di dah..) and book a tout to do a trek to an abandoned French Colonial on top of Bokor mountain. <br><br>The morning doesn't start brilliantly with our pickup turning up late and we all ...

... US a few times since then, raising money for her campaign and for some of the organizations she supports. She invited me to stay with her during my time here. She is developing, DEVI, an umbrella organization for three existing women's groups in Cambodia, Strey Khmer, Mea Kea, and Cambodian Women Grassroots for Change. I will work on the development of DEVI during my time here. It is a fascinating time to be here, as Sochua is in the middle of a law suit. The Prime Minister ...

... ride on red clay roads, through little hamlets, past pearl and pepper (the shaking kind) farms arriving finally at another long and lovely white sand beach. Our dirt biking friends would be in heaven. Fortunately for us, we had by then made the acquaintance of a charming Quebecois couple (Patrice and Stephanie-from Montreal, now living in Paris) who adopted Bryce for a Vietnamese family style ride (3 to a bike--we have seen up to 6 and sometimes ...

... having a dip in the sea, taking it in turns. Johannes, otherwise, had his nose stuck in a book. The beach, though, wasn't entirely clean; bits of garbage were floating in the water, and the sands were a bit grubby. Still, nice lingering around in the late afternoon sun, and Kep's a really nice place.<br>We rode back up the only thoroughfare, dodging Cambodian children on their bikes, and handed the motors back. We said we'd be back tomorrow for another excursion. <br>

Having learnt our lesson we are up and out for about 9 this morning, we went next door to the Sunset for breakfast, mainly cos i was too lazy to do that 10 minute walk into the town to have a look there for food. We both had tea, baguettes, butter &amp; jam - was nice and simple - bread was still warm as well :) As we were looking out into the road from the restaurant we noticed a woman with a stall selling what looked like baguettes, she was ...

... br>And now the fun begins because we have to try and find a room!<br>Off the ferry we were met by the usual touts who all had rooms and all had good price - not bothered with haggling we just got in a car with a tout and 2 other people who got off the ferry with us and went round hotels 1. finding ones that had rooms and then 2 looking at the rooms.<br>One of the ones we looked at was $31 per night and it ...