We spent one night in a traditional rural home near Takeo. Unfortunately we didn't actually have much interaction with the family but it was a pleasant, relaxed day - they had put hammocks out for us and Phalkun taught us the 'hawk chases chicken' game in which we all ran around like kids. The family made us a nice curry dinner and we sat outside playing cards and drinking beer until well after dark. Phalkun told us some of the shocking stories of his experiences...

I don't think they are used to foreign visitors around Kompong Cham because everywhere we went we were stared at and lots of people would shout "hello" and wave - the children were so excited to see us and came running out to have a closer look. We hopped into some tuk tuks (like motorised rickshaws) for a tour of the surrounding area. We visited a Muslim village and saw how the ladies there weave silk on manual looms. I was shocked to learn that they ...

The bus journey from the Thailand/Cambodia border at Poipet to the city of Siem Reap was on such a bumpy road - it felt rather like being on a rollercoaster for four hours (at 30+oC!). The surroundings along the way were fascinating though - the landscape was flat rice fields as far as the eye could see scattered with palm trees. Many of the houses are built on stilts and there are cows wandering round. It's all very rural, even in the small towns. The roads are ...

I had a quick stopover in Bangkok (I'm going back to spend a few days there in mid-August). On the way into town from the airport I was surprised by how big, built-up and clean the city was.... and then I arrived in the Old Town, which was the dirty and poky side of Bangkok that I had imagined. I wasn't massively impressed with it, (apart from the fact that eveything is super-cheap), possibly because I didn't have time to see any sights - I just strolled around t...

Rain, rain and more rain... we caught the end of a typhoon and apparently Hong Kong's wettest month in recorded history - hooray - so I spent most of my time indoors, shopping and watching films. Happily I also managed to catch up with some friends that are working in HK. As we crossed the border from China to Hong Kong, Bobo had to be escorted by a tour guide from HK - I was shocked by the restrictions on Chinese people travelling to HK and I still don't fully ...