The next day we got an early bus to Bangkok. The bus that took us to the Cambodian-Thai border was a complete joke!!! It was a small rickety bus that wasn't full coach size and when we first got on we thought it might just be a bus that picks people up from hotels and takes them to a main bus at a terminal! However, this wasn't to be and the lack of luggage space under the bus meant that all the luggage was put in the aisle!!! No joke! As per usual with long bus journies there were a few toilet/drink stops and everytime we had to climb over the seats (and luggage) to get out! Some people at the very back even climbed out the windows!!!!! After one particular stop, we 'broke down' and the driver told us in broken English that the brakes were broken! Karl and Sam weren't so sure though when they saw him pull out a wrench to fix the problem! Even so, we were back on the very bumpy road after a short stop. The troubles we faced on this leg of the journey were that it was sweltering but if we opened the windows we would get a facefull of dust as the roads were so poor (and extremely bumpy!!!) as Sam found out! He fell asleep and woke up to find his sunglasses caked with dust! I was sat near a window and Sam and Karl were sitting in front - Sam next to the window. By the time we arrived at the border Sam said he wasn't feeling well. The Cambodian side didn't take too long but at the Thai border about 500m further down the road there were about 5 queues for foreign visitors. We all chose different queues and Sam had gone through before I had moved about 10 paces!!! Karl and I got through at a similar time much later and we waited a while for our 'VIP minibus' to pick us up! I went to buy a fanta and was pleasantly surprised to see that they serve it in a plastic bag (small filled with ice) and a straw! By this time it was clear Sam was in loads of trouble. We got the minibus (which was really comfortable compared to the s***ty bus we had got to the border in). I got talking to a guy who lived in LA so have loads of places in mind to visit that aren't on the tourist route!!!! Although he did recommend we do the star tour where you get driven around looking at all the stars houses!?!?!?! Once in Bangkok, we headed to the famous Khao San road to find a hostel. The place we highlighted to look at in the Lonely Planet was full and so Karl and I (sam looked green by this stage) went on the hunt for another hostel. We found one right next to the main road which was fine, so we went back to collect a very ill sam! We think he had severe sun stroke from being in the sun (sleeping next to a bus window) and lack of water. He wasn't up to dinner, so Karl and I went out without him and had our first Thai curry! It was delicious! We couldn't resist a chocolate sundae from McDonalds (or McThai as its known there!) on the way back! We got back to find Sam still feeling really ill - being sick, having a rehydration treatment or eatinga small amount hadn't helped at all.

The next day we went to the Wat Pho temple, we had walked about 3/4 of a mile before Sam said he felt too ill to continue and went back to the hostel. The weather was scorching and I'm not surprised it was too much for him. Karl and I headed on and went to Wat Pho. It was amazing - my favourite temple of the trip so far! (This includes the hundreds we saw in China!!!!). We didn't bother going to the Royal Palace next door as from the view we got over the wall it wasn't as impressive as Wat Pho! We walked down to the river via China Town which was a bit of a disappointment, and got the River Taxi to the Central Pier. The taxi was an experience! A boat pulled up and you literally had to jump on before it sped off again! We were standing up and I nearly fell over a couple of times!!! Interestingly though, there was a spot on the other side of the boat that was reserved for monks! At central pier we got the sky train to the shopping centre, Siam Square. The sky train, despite being relatively new was just a concrete monstrosity from below. After we grabbed some lunch we walked all the way back to the hostel!! (This took some time!). We chilled and went out for dinner (with Sam!).

The next day we did a lot of the same stuff as the day before (so Sam didn't miss out!). We started by getting a tuc-tuc to Siam Square (see picture!). We went to the new Contemporary Arts Museum of Bangkok and looked around. The exhibition was really interesting - documenting the history, present and future of Bangkok in Art. We then walked through Little Arabia, got some lunch and then got the skytrain back to the Central Pier where we got the River Taxi again. We got off near the Royal Palace and Sam went to go to see Wat Pho. We then headed back to the khao san road, chilled and went out for some dinner. We had gone back to the hostel, and I was using the internet, updating this as it so happens (I had to abandon it and start again here in Malaysia!), and Tara and Justine (2 girls from our China Tour) turned up! They had got a message from me on facebook and come looking! It was really good to see them again and we went for a couple of pints and a 'bar' on the road. It was more a load of plastic tables and chairs, but the beer was cheap so it was all good! We caught up with all our travelling news then went our seperate ways, hoping to meet up again in NZ!

Let me tell you about the khoa san road....those who have been will know that it is crazy! It really comes alive at night and the street is cut off to cars as there are stalls lining both sides. These include clothes, jewellery, hats, bags etc etc. There are also loads of stalls where people can have their hair braided....people stopped us 5 or 6 times when we were walking down there to ask if we wanted tatoos...and I was offered tickets to the 'Ping Pong' show many a time!!!! NB - This is not table tennis!!!! There are LOADS of lady boys, mainly front of house on all the bars and restaurants enticing you in! Although some are blatently obvious, there are some which arent - but in the end we worked out that any 'female' dressed up in a short skirt and heels would be a ladyboy as the genuine girls were dressed casually!

The next day we left early to catch a bus to Kanchanaburi. The bus station was quite far away and so we needed to get a taxi. We left our hostel, and walked onto the Khao San Road to be met by about 6 different 'taxi' drivers - some tuc-tucs and some cars. They were intent on telling us the south bus station had moved and we didn't need that one at all we needed the east (despite the fact we had read we needed the south bus station in the lonely planet, and we were travelling west!!!). We went back to the hostel to ask the facts, and realising that the first set of taxi drivers were a load of lying ba****ds we found another driver of a bright pink taxi that told us straight away that if we were going to the south bus station we would be going to Kanchanaburi!!! (Tuc-tuc drivers are reknowned liars in Bangkok! We had been warned of this by Aoife {who we met on the China tour}, saying they will tell you the palace is closed so they can offer a tour of the city for stupidly high prices! So we knew to take anything they said with a pinch of salt!). At the bus station we got our tickets and boarded the bus. The journey was shorter than expected, taking only 2 hours.