Sunday 6th April 2008

We've heard that the roads from Siem Reap to the border are some of the worst in Asia, and can make for a pretty slow and uncomfortable ride. After the bus nightmares we've been having lately, we decided there had to be another way to travel... luckily, when we walking past a travel agents yesterday we saw that they were offering taxis to do the journey. The more seats taken, the lower the price, and as it was, another couple had heard the same horror stories, and we shared a taxi with them. They were called Matt and Nilu and were from Hawaii. At just after 7am we were on our way back to Thailand.

Even in a nice comfy taxi, the journey was almost unbearable. I don't envy ANYONE who has had to do it in a bus - especially a Cambodian bus. The roads have all been dug up and there's no sign of them being fixed anytime soon. Apparently one of the airlines is paying the government to delay the work - to encourage people to fly... shifty devils. Instead of six bum-crushing hours, our journey was just over four hours and pretty soon we were at the Thai / Cambodian border. It was pretty easy to cross over, which was good because the weather was awful. It was hammering down and the roads were really muddy. The people on the Cambodian side were really crafty - selling things for high prices, knowing people will want to use the last of their Riel, and then not 'having' change.

When we got into Thailand, the four of us had some lunch and tried to decide how we wanted to complete our journey to Bangkok. After some good old Pad Thai, which I have really missed whilst in the rest of Asia, we chose to travel by taxi, and settled into a big 4x4. We were in Bangkok about 3 hours later - and it was still grey, but not raining. We said our goodbyes to Matt and Nilu and walked around to the trusty Rambuttri Village, where we checked in for a couple of nights.

Being back in Bangkok was great! After a while, just wandering around, the things we loved all came flooding back. We spent the rest of the day just exploring, we went down little lanes we'd never seen before and generally just got lost. Tonight, we went for one of the final fittings on my suit and then for some lush curries, which we ate on the street... brilliant! Then we hit some of the bars on the Khao San road, (which someone has tidied up since we've been away), and watched the footie.

Ahh, good old Bangkok - it's great to be back!