The Dead Kennedy's once sang ''It's a holiday in Cambodia, it's tough kid but it's life, it's a holiday in Cambodia, don't forget to pack your wife...'' Well thanks to Jello Biafra and his merry men I did pack my wife and we have both, indeed, landed in Cambodia for another part of our ''holiday''. But, I hear you cry, first things first tell us about the last couple of days...OK here goes...

Left Koh Chang (miserable sods at our hotel - dear reader if you are ever in that area do not under any circumstances stay at Chai Chet bungalows...) and almost immediately we remembered that we had left something (our leather man - small pocket tool, akin to a swiss army knife but bigger and better, not some sort of gay action man) in our room. We went through all the bags and seeing as we knew where it was we rang and explained the situation. They went off for 10 mins to have a look but ''couldn't find it'' so we have lost our first item. To be honest they were bloody rude anyway and we were pretty pleased to be away from there but my leatherman...gutted! Anyway - on to Trat (the capital of Trat province - what a shock eh?) which acts as a stop off before crossing the Cambodia/Thailand border. We stayed the night in Trat - literally nothing to do. Got outwitted by a couple of middle aged Thai women in a market which is always a winner (you try doing the ''charades'' action for penknife...) and then went to bed pretty early in anticipation of a 5am start. At about 9pm heard a massive explosion (which genuinely sounded like a bomb) - ran out of our room to look outside to see a night market full of people just swanning around eating lizard (this is the local speciality along with rice with curdled pigs blood - we passed on both...) as if nothing has happened - couldn't have been that serious eh?

Anyhoo, we got up early as planned and got to the Thai/Cam border for about 7.15am (it opens at 7am) and then went through about 3 rooms full of Cambodian police who stared/chatted and stamped out passports and eventually we got to the ferry 10 mins after it should have departed...but hey, never the sort to not fleece tourists we duly got ripped off and boarded the ferry...4 hours later we arrived in Sihanoukville which is absolutely WONDERFUL...the people, the setting, our hotel, the food, the beaches, the cost - I could go on - everything about it (so far) is fantastic. We are staying at the same hotel the prime minister stays at (!) and it is 20USD (about 12 pounds) a night!!! we have already been on one elongated Moto (basically a kid on a motorbike with your rucksack in front of him and you on the back) ride (8km from the port) and as this is the preferred mode of transport I see it happenning alot more in the next few days. We also went for rice/noodles and chicken and a couple of litres (they don't mess with their beer bottles here) of beer for under 10 USD. We are staying here for at least a couple of days, but that will almost certainly turn into a week if we can sort the diving out...

Not alot else to report - the only thing is that the internet connection here is AWFUL which means we are struggling to download mail so if you have mailed us we will try to get back to you but they may be short messages and it might take a while to get back to you - but please keep writing to us - it is fantastic to get emails from everyone, especially those who have put up with reading this drivel...

Oh well better go, a swim just before the sunset is in order I think - it's about 30 degrees all day so sunrise and sunset are the nicest times to be out. Having a fantastic time, and we've still got Phnom Penh and Angkor to go - we are both agreed that we think Cambodia is fantastic already...

Keep those emails flowing...

D & J