Day 173. Sihanoukville, Cambodia. Summing it all up.

Our last day on the beach and a good time to reflect on the past three weeks.

As far as our time in Southeast Asia goes, we feel we might just have saved the best until last. Cambodia has a bit of everything; from verdant National Parks to deserted tropical islands, from big, bustling Cities like Phnom Penh to curious out of the way places like Kep. Then there's the incomparable temples of Angkor, surely the jewel in the Khmer crown.

I recently wrote about how impressed we'd been with the Vietnamese people. How they'd recovered admirably from the hardship of war and transformed their land into a thriving, fascinating destination.

Well, if any nation has had it tougher than Vietnam in this neck of the woods it has to be Cambodia. Almost a quarter of the population lost their lives in the Khmer Rouge genocide, yet here we are 30 years later surrounded by the most happy go lucky folk we've met anywhere on our travels.

It's quite humbling in a way. You'd expect that with all the crap and abuse they've had to put up with they'd be a punch-drunk, tormented lot. But in effect, it's the opposite that's true; everyone just wants to kick on now and make the very most of their amazing country.

Of course it's not all a bed of roses. The poverty here is tangible, beggars and street kids are everywhere, and the shocking number of amputees serve as a grim reminder of recent violent times.

Given time though, you get the impression Cambodia and it's lovely, welcoming people could really hit the tourist jackpot. God knows, they deserve it.

Day 172. Sihanoukville, Cambodia. Monster bug.

Decided it was time to dust off the underwater camera gizmo our mate Steve gave us just before we left London.

Essentially, this is a waterproof casing that lets you snap while you snorkel and - in theory - it's fairly idiot-proof. A nifty idea really, and as long as the subject matter stays still, the results are normally pretty good.

So anyway, we end up with lots of shots of Wend's feet and a couple of me looking straight into the lens, but none of anything that isn't prepared to wait a few seconds while we fiddle with the focus (damn those fish and their sneaky swimming ways).

Said goodbye to Colm and Nicole in the evening as they had an early bus in the morning to the temples at Siem Reap. We've had a smashing time in their company (or 'grand', as they would say) and have vowed to stay in touch once we're all home.

High drama at bedtime as Wend spotted the biggest insect in Asia clinging to the mosquito net. Docile enough, and a fantastic bright green colour, the beast must have been 6 inches from his beady eyes to his bony backside.

He was great. Especially as he had the decency to pose while we took his picture.

Day 171. Sihanhoukville, Cambodia. Big beat bargains.

Colm pointed me in the direction of the Boom Boom Music Room this morning. A highly dubious establishment with a catalogue of several thousand albums that they'll upload to your ipod for 35p a pop.

Completely illegal of course, but completely fabulous too.

I show considerable restraint by ordering just the 40 albums. Some corkers included, a few rarities and one or two new releases that we weren't expecting to hear until we were home.

Can't imagine a better place to be listening to this stuff than the balcony of our beach shack (we upgraded to an eight quid room last night). Sand, sea, sunshine and the new Kings of Leon cd on the headphones.

Champion!

Day 170. Sihanoukville, Cambodia. Gunter Strummer.

No public transport whatsoever to Sihanoukville so we share a cab with the Irish. This gives us an opportunity to introduce Colm and Nicole to the delights of Scrabble. They're quick learners but appalling spellers - Nicole struggling with 'DOOR' at one stage.

We find it cheap digs on Serendipity Beach and settle down in the afternoon to some serious loafing.

Entertained in the evening by a crazy German playing showtunes on his acoustic guitar. After each song he shares some banter with the crowd, letting us in on the stories behind the tunes.

Being a geek, I find this kind of thing interesting; did you know, for example, that the song used in The Thomas Crown Affair when Steve McQueen is showing off in his glider was originally called 'Windmills of my heart' and Michel Legrand only changed it to 'Windmills of my mind' after the director decided it didn't scan.

Fascinating eh?

For me, yes. For Wend, Colm and Nicole, not in the slightest. So we neck our beers and leave.

Day 169. Kampot, Cambodia. A walk in the park.

Team up with an Irish couple, Colm and Nicole, and take an off road tour into Bokor National Park.

Our plan, which we fail to executed spectacularly, is to spend the day hiking across tricky mountain terrain while watching the indigenous elephants, tigers and gibbons eat each other.

Ended up taking a short stroll through some woods and spot two butterflies and a sparrow. This is scant reward for the 4 hours we've endured being thrown around in the back of a pick-up truck and our numb bums and glum expressions speak volumes.

Things perk up in the afternoon though as we reach the highest point in the Park and explore a deserted Hotel and Casino complex built by the French in 1925.

Straight out of The Shining, this grand colonial pile sits on top a hill in the middle of nowhere. It was first abandoned in the late '40's when Vietnamese backed locals rebelled against the French. Restored to former glamorous glory in the '50's, it was trashed again in 1971 by the Khmer Rouge who used it as a prison and one of their infamous re-education centres.

A nearby Killing Field is a sombre reminder of activities at that time, and our guide Kee reckons the ghosts of the victims now stalk the hotel corridors. He's not being melodramatic, Buddhist Cambodians believe that without a proper cremation their kin will never rest at peace.

The tour ends on a brighter note as we board a riverboat for a sunset cruise back to Kampot. Of all the waterways we've been on these past few months this stretch of the Teuk Chhou river is perhaps the prettiest. We're hot, we're covered in muck, and none of us can resist plunging in for a cooling dip.

Day 168. Kampot, Cambodia. Backpack overload.

Only 2 buses a day depart from sleepy Kep, so we decide to hire a Tuk Tuk for the 15 mile trip up to Kampot.

The slight problem is that there's only one Tuk Tuk in Kep, and 3 Belgians staying at our guesthouse have had the same idea.

Not a problem, says the driver, Tuk Tuk very strong and no big hills between here and Kampot.

A few things make me sceptical:

* The moped has a puny 100cc engine.
* One of the Belgians is 6'4"
* Five backpacks weigh more than a sixth passenger.
* The small crowd that's gathered are all grimacing and shaking their heads.
* Our driver might not be 6'4" but he has the physique of a man who likes a pie.

Well, sod my scepticism and curse the crowd, because we do it in some style. OK, so it might not have been the quickest journey, and at one point we all have to get out while the driver tackles a hump backed bridge, but by the time we hit Kampot's outskirts we're cruising. In fact, such is the on-board confidence in our pilot, that we rig up the ipod speakers and transform his Tuk Tuk into Cambodia's first ever moble disco.

Day 167. Kep, Cambodia.

Another day, another amiable Aussie couple to knock about with.

We'd met Rod and Sue last night while trying to photograph one of the dazzling sunsets they have here. Rod using his all singing all dancing Pentax SLR with filter zoom lens, automated light meter and built-in cappuccino making facility, and me using our little Canon compact which is dying a slow and painful death (it keeps annoying the hell out of me my deleting stuff without being asked).

We took a boat ride across the gulf of Thailand to spend the day on Rabbit Island, a gorgeous little place with a population of about 20 people, 30 cows and - as far as we could make out - no rabbits. A lovely lazy day, the highlight of which was tucking into a big plateful of locally caught crab.

Can't quite remember what our preconceptions of Cambodia were, pretty sure they didn't involve sitting on a palm fringed beach sharing a beer and a laugh with a pair of Sydneysiders though.