I sat in my Siem Reap Hotel waiting for my tuktuk which the hotel had arranged to pick me up for the 15 minute trip to the station to catch my bus to Battambang which left at 9.00am. After I had checked the tuktuks whereabouts again, at 8.45 I was told "oh sorry, mix up, tuktuk not coming...you must go outside and get one" Great. A frantic dash followed through the traffic to arrive sweaty at the station at 8.59. My bus though didnt end up going until ...

The bus trip from Phnom Penh took about 5 hours and was OK, but I was so pleased I had my ipod. We did stop for lunch but funnily enough I didnt fancy a fly and mosquito ridden restaurant, or the beatles and spiders covered in chilli sauce and sugar on offer outside. It was chaos at the bus stop but I managed to get a tuktuk that took me to my amazing value Angkor Star Hotel - spotless, big room and a nice swimming pool all for eleven quid a night plus (a dodgy) ...

Alarm calls at transit hotels at 3.15am are not a bundle of fun, but I got my flight from Bangkok and arrived in Phnom Penh at 8am on 3rd Jan. My taxi kept threatening to stop at some dreadful looking places but each time he kept chugging along until I arrived at the very decent 12 quid a night New York Hotel. Had breakfast there, no sausage, bacon or egg in sight but I could have an omlette, but it was laced with chillies which do atleast wake you up in the morn...

It was great to arrive in Singapore. To be somewhere so clean and effecient was such a relief after nearly two months in Sri Lanka and particularly India. The streets were spotless, there were no beggars and no pollution. My hotel was in the red light district, so not the best area of town, every night I was offerered services by both sexes and all ages. One evening all the prostitues ran past me in a panic, it wasnt clear if it was a dodgy pimp, the police or I ...

Hope everyone is having a brilliant Christmas, it was great to get several text messages yesterday. I spent Xmas eve with the barmy army remains in the Unawatuna Beach Resort, then as that was at least five paces from the sand obviously we had to find a bar closer to the beach so we moved just a few steps from the sea and enjoyed a few beers. I woke up Xmas day and it really didnt feel like it - so I got my xmas play list going ipod and opened my one card! Then...