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 the streets and markets of the Banglamphu district. There were loads of the stereotypical dreadlocks-and-nose-piercing type travellers.

In the evening I met up with my new group and trip leader for the Cambodian leg of the trip, Phalkun. After dinner we went for a stroll along the tourist strip of Khao San Road, had a cocktail with Sang Som (local rice whiskey) and some yummy beef/chilli/pineapple skewers from a street stall. There was a baby elephant being paraded in an attempt to get tourists to pay to feed it or have their photo taken with it, which was quite sad. We ended up in a club until the early hours of the morning so didn't get much sleep ahead of the long drive to Siem Reap in Cambodia the next day.