I got to Kep by taking a motorbike from Ha Tien to the border and onwards to Kep, about 40 Km from the border crossing. My driver, Thuc (I think!) took me to the border and I managed to cross it without any (real) problems. The border crossings between Cambodia and Vietnam are notorious for charging a little extra in commission, so I emptied my wallet and only had the exact amount for the visa in there. I exited Vietnam without any problems and got to the visa registration office for Cambodia. I filled out the form and gave them the required picture and then the bloke processing my application asked for the money. He didn’t specify how much, which was a nice touch, but then when I handed over $20, he asked how much I had. As I didn’t have any, we laughed and he let me through. Processing the visa was not a problem, but Thuc, the motorbike driver, gestured for us to skip the ‘medical check’ and just get on with the journey to Kep. Unfortunately, as I was getting back on the bike, the previous people came out and the medical professional asked me to step inside. He took my temperature and I was too hot, so I either had to sit down for 10 minutes and drink a lot of water, or I could pay him $1. As I had managed to get through all the complicated bits without having to pay any extra, I wasn’t going to be paying anything more at that point. Thankfully, he got bored after 3 minutes and started talking about football. I reeled off about as many names of football players that I could remember the name of and he let me go.

Once in Kep I got Thuc to drop me at a hotel and I hired a bicycle to have a cycle around. The area is full with abandoned colonial-era modernist villas, which makes for some great exploration. I spent the two days I had there walking around the National Park and wandering around as many of these villas as possible.