Ha Tien to Kep

Friday December 8, 2017, 27 miles (44 km) - Total so far: 2,442 miles

(3,931 km)

Rather than cycling straight to the border, we took a short detour around the Mui Nai headland. Very pleasant indeed - the beach isn't much to shout about but it was lovely to be by the coast, and the inland scenery is nice too. The road to the border is pretty rough and uninspiring, but not too long!

At the border, we filled in the necessary form and handed over our $35 for the visa.....I had read that it cost $30 so not sure if this was overcharging, or if they genuinely have gone up. Still, we followed Travelfish's advice to ' smile and hand over the requested money' to avoid any difficulties! We were also charged $1 by the quarantine guy for not having a vaccination certificate. Pretty sure this is unofficial but hey ho. All in all, it was fairly easy and non-confrontational, and we successfully entered our 4th country!

Once in Cambodia, we enjoyed quiet roads and lovely scenery all the way to Kep. It definitely looks different, with salt pans (we think) and houses in a very different style to either Vietnam or Laos. Once in Kep, we headed straight to Kep Coffee for refreshment, and to make use of their wifi for guesthouse-hunting.

We settled on The Boathouse, which we recommend. It's about 500m from the beach, has a lovely bar area and a nice (if small and basic) double room for $8 (cold shower). It was very very quiet - it looks like it could be quite sociable, but a few more guests would be required!

We had dinner and cheap beers ($0.50) at Beachside Tacos - can't vouch for the tacos, but the asian food was solid, and cheap. The beach is a lot nicer than I was expecting - as is the whole of Kep!! So much so we decided to stay another day.....!