Am now living it up in my luxury hotel in Bangkok for a few days - well deserved after our final 2 days in Cambodia as all we seemed to do was travel...on Thursday we spent 7 hours driving to Battambang, stopping on the way at a silk factory and a families support centre that helps children who have been abused.

The plan was that, on arrival, 3 of us would go to a cambodian cooking class but it got cancelled. Instead we all spent 3 hours out and about on motorbikes with our drivers taking us through the countryside to visit a village where they make rice paper, another where they make fish paste (can still smell all those fish having their heads chopped off!) and then one where we got to try the local rice cake made inside bamboo. Just mix rice with coconut milk, sugar and kidney beans then place inside bamboo and cook over an open fire for about 6 hours. Leave to cool slightly, peel back the bamboo and then rip off hunks of very moist and tasty 'cake' - simple!

Our final stop was the highlight of our day though as we boarded the bamboo train and made our way through the countryside along a track that even British Rail wouldn't use (well not everyday...). The train consists of a bamboo frmae (think bed frame) with a motor attached which is then placed on top of 2 sets of wheels. Not a screw or ikea instructions manual in sight!! Passengers sit on a blanket and then are hurtled along, over rackety bridges, past villages and through beautiful countryside. If another bamboo train approaches on the single track the one that is lightest stops, is dismantled and placed on the side of the track. the other heads off and then the train is put back together again!!

The sun was setting as we made our way back and so we were able to stop fof photos and to let another train past. All that for $1 - as a certain plastic card would say- some things are priceless!!

Dinner was at Smoking pot cafe where, yes, happy soup was on the menu. Marijauna could be added to your soup in whatever quantity you wanted! I stuck to the curry...

The rest of the evening was spent playing pool with a few other travellers and a local we named 'big Jim'.

And then were on our way to Thailand...only 10 hours in the minibus which included a very long and tedious wait at the border and a 2 hour traffic jam once in Bangkok just to go about 1 mile. By the time we got to our hotel we were well and truly travelled out! So, to celebrate our last night on the trip a few of us went to a local club where we were the only westerners and livened up the evening for them. Within about 10 minutes we hd an entourage of about 10 thai dancing with us to the live band. Some of them then invited us to another club and so we danced away the night until 3am when it was time for the experience known as the bangkok tuc tuc. Formula 1 racing has nothing on them!! value all the way...

And so to my luxury hotel....will tell more about that later as it's time to soak up the rays and enjoy my upgraded upgrade! When i booked the hotel I got a free upgrade but, on arrival, they upgraded that and so I have a room the size of an apartment on the 53rd floor with a river view balcony. Life is so tough...