Today was our worst journey so far.

Seriously, you think you cover all the bases when you ask questions about your ticket and then 'bam', whatever you were expecting is never the reality you actually experience.

Rob and I thought hard about taking the fast bus (transit van) as it meant an early start, though decided that the benefits of saving 3/4 hours by coach and also the guide to help us through the VISA process on the Cambodian/Thai border was worth both the early start and extra money.

Our 'new transit van' turned out to be a not so new Mercedes small carrier and 11 of is were crammed into it.

For the first part of the drive I had someone's rucksack infront of me so I couldn't move my legs and poor Rob (we had to sit separately) was wedged into a seat with the wheel arch infront so he had to half fold himself to fit.

As usual an hour into the journey we stopped (despite everyone wanting to carry on) so we used this opportunity for Rob and I to sit together and I took the wheel seat to give him more leg room.

You kind of had to half twist your back and put one foot on the wheel arch to make sure your shoulders and legs fitted as there were four people crammed into the back seats.

Another stop before the border (the reason for it no one could figure out, though it may have been a rest or paperwork break for the driver as it looked sort of semi official with a shop attached of course, where you had to pay for the loo unless you bought something).

So, we are now 3 hours into our six hour journey (remember we took the fast bus) and we make it to the border - well a roundabout actually here we are asked to leave the bus and a friendly guy pops up and introduces himself as our guide (hurrah, this part is going to be easy.....right?!)

Well this guide of ours then waves his hand ahead of him and says walk that way and we approach the Cambodian departure booth.

Our guide then stands back as we try and figure out what the heck to do. (those smarter than Rob and I, which isn't hard to be fair, started to complete their departure cards in the queue).

Rob and I hadn't figured this part out as queued only to be handed back our passports which the official had taken out our stapled departure card from (doh!) and we then had to fill it in an re-queue. (wonderful! You know how us Brits love to queue, only with an 18kilo bag on your back and two day bags to carry, queuing tends to become less delightful).

After taking our finger prints (a canny scanner at the booth thank you very much), our trusty guide then waves his hand yet again infront of him and says walk that way. (Um ahead? Where it looks like a normal road?? - what?!)

After a walk in what we could only hope was the right direction we saw a building with 'Thailand immigration' on it (or something like that, it defo said Thailand, though at this stage, it could have been a sign advertising Thai water for all we knew).

As we walked towards it, with no other signs about how to get there we were ushered back the way we had come as we were walking on the main road for goods crossing the boarder (thankfully this section was a super short walk back to the pedestrian area).

So, we finally get to the right place where we join a queue in a cattle like pen.....

Now at first, this pen isn't too bad. After a good 45 minutes, it is bloomin tiresome, and the pen is just the beginning of one queue!

You may be thinking the same things I was - 'where is our guide?' , 'what about the faster process?'

Faster is like a mirage I have learned. There appears to be no such thing. There is slow and then there is slower. (I am sure there are many merits to this, it is just after waking up at 5:40am, being crammed in a tiny can of a can and then walking around without a clue on where to go and what to do to cross into Thailand, I must admit to not sensing any benefits to slow or slower at this point).

Once we eventually make it into the building, there is ANOTHER queue.

Now, it turns out that we chose the slowest queue inside the building as it took another 45 minutes to get our VISA.

This official even wanted to know the name of the hotel we were staying in (none of the others from the bus were asked this), so Rob gave the name of the hotel he stayed in years 10 ago).

Hurrah, we made it, relief relief (relief felt too soon.....).

So, thanks to our guide who smoothed the way for us to get out VISA (not), with VISA in hand we are stickered with red square (remember the cattle reference earlier?) and then waved ominously in a direction again and told his colleague would meet us.

Well this time our group (a new group of old and new people) went the wrong direction and then had to retrace our steps.

After yet another wait (outside a shop, though as they sold rootbeer this wait was bearable) we asked the guy how long we would be waiting and where our bus was.

His amazing reply was that they couldn't find our driver and someone had gone to find him.

We almost rebelled at this point!

He then miraculously and quickly found our driver and we piled into yet another small van, only this time our luggage was piled high in a seat near the front where, you guessed it, Rob and I had the luck of sitting right next to it waiting for the bags to land on our heads each time we went over a bump.

Bah!

One more stop to put petrol in (please all get out the van for safety said the handwritten sign the driver passed to the group) and then back on the road to complete the 4.5 hour ride of this leg (what?! The whole trip was mean to take six hours right ?! Carefully laid questions confirmed this - right?!).

After a 10, yes, 10 hour journey, we finally arrived in Bangkok and gratefully pulled ourselves out the van.

We found a dive of a hotel, booked it for one night as we couldn't face walking around and checking lots out.

Rob had a 'moment' when his sun glasses smashed on the bathroom floor (this is the time I discreetly went downstairs to check us in!) and after a short lie down we then went out for dinner and a walk.

We were both tired and, I admit, a little grumpy as we ate on a side street and had the worst Phad Thai (for me) and chicken fried rice that we soon discovered would give Rob the squits!).

A couple from the bus said hi as we were finishing up and we decided to all grab a few drinks together to get over the rubbish trip.

It was an excellent decision and we laughed, ate crickets, worms and larvae (I kid you not), bought tat from the local sellers, drank and played pool for the next few hours.

It was a great way to unwind from the day and we both really enjoyed their company.

We took their hotel card and agreed to meet them at 11:30am the next day to see the Palace and some other sites together.

Having arrived at our hotel (the pit version 3), we discovered the bathroom light didn't work (joy) and remained rather hot and had a terrible smell which made us even more grateful of our decision to book a different place for the rest of our stay.

So, day 1 of Thailand, let's call it an experience. Bangkok, let's hope you do better over the next couple of days :0