Last call to lands I've never been to...

The best was saved for last!! A few days ago we made our first attempt to go to Kep and Kampot, but the bus broke down...twice! Luckily, it was right outside of Phnom Penh (we didn't make it very far)so we spent an extra night in the city after already waiting 2 hours for another bus to arrive. (we later heard that the bus DID infact arrive..only to break down AGAIN outside of Kep--glad we opted out). The next morning we made a 5 hour ride to Kep and was totally amazed!! Beautiful beautiful little town on the ocean coast surrounded by jungle. It was formally inhabited by the French, so there are abandoned burnt stone villas tucked away in the trees. The first day we arrived in the mid evening so we decided to eat at the "Reil bar" where i had the best gourmet pumpkin soup ever! We stayed at the Lida guesthouse, who was having a small party that night, so we hung out and chatted with some of the locals and a few backpackers. At night there are barely any lightposts so walking around at night is kinda scary but the stars are the most amazing i've ever seen. Along with the tropical atmosphere comes tropical bugs. HUGE beetles, praying mantis, spiders...even the ants were giant sized (and decided to nest in my backpack---hoping i got them all out) The next day we took a boat out to Koh Tun Say (aka Rabbit island) and WOW!! Isolated on a tropical island! We got bungalos on the beach surrounded by coconut trees. The locals were extremely friendly and so were their cow-herding dogs. :) The food was very good and i had my first experience with Kampot pepper (you wouldn't think pepper could taste so good) and fresh palm sugar smeared on pancakes. Spent the day trekking around the island and swimming in the salty SALTY ocean! Early the next morning we went back to Kep and stayed at Botanica which was a beautiful piece of land surrounded by gardens with little bungalos. We were able to borrow bikes and rode down to the market---it was a very long ride and my butt was very sore from the bumpy road! On the ride back we stopped at a little cafe and had jack fruit and durian ice cream. For dinner we found an amazing stone restaurant called "Eldorado" that served Hungarian food. I got Lettcho which consisted of egg, veggies, cheese and french fries--very good!! We spent so much time exploring Kep that we didn't even make it out to Kampot (heard we weren't missing much though). Now I'm back in Phnom Penh and going to the Killing Fields and museum tomorrow. I'm so glad Kep and Rabbit island were saved for the end--it was like the cherry on top of a wonderful trip!! I'll be home in a few days and I believe I'll be posting the pictures on this site (theres a photo section) although I'll send out a forward if this changes. Sorry to keep everyone waiting on the photos!