Sa wat dee from Bangkok!

Have been spending quite a while updating my past blog since it somehow went missing, and have been trying to upload photos, but it's proving quite a lengthy process. Have uploaded my Saigon pictures today and will try and do a few more albums over the next few days.

As for what I've been doing outside of this internet cafe, On Monday we took a bus from Siem Reap to Battambang, Cambodia's second biggest town after Phnom Penh. Stopped for lunch at a local NGO, a farm that teaches skills to disabled children from the area, such as sewing, weaving and so on. That afternoon, the majority of us took a four hour motorbike tour around the town. (All drivers were licensed and we all wore helmets, Omi and Opi). It was a great way to see the place and was an exhilarating ride. Clung on for dear life for the first hour, probably not my driver's best memory, but loosened up eventually and really enjoyed it. Got to the point where I was thinking, God, I'm really good at this, I should probably get one of these when I get home, but once the adrenaline rush had subsided, that notion disappeared with it. The only thing that didn't disappear as quickly was the massive dust marks left from the ride. My face was coated in orange, except for some prominent sunglasses marks. Gorgeous.

We travelled round several surrounding villages, where we saw how rice paper, noodles and rice are made, and went to a fruit farm where we sampled some produce, including the local rice wine. (Horrible). Ended the tour with a trip on the local bamboo train, a contraption consisting of a wide rectangle of bamboo, four wheels and a small electric motor, that rolls down rickety rails between villages. Had dinner at a local restaurant where a few Cambodians murdered Celine Dion on stage. They really love their love songs here, Sam's ringtone is Mariah Carey's 'Without You.' And his phone rings ALL THE TIME. Had another crack at some rice and stir fried vegetables. If I never see rice again, I'll live a very happy life.

Yesterday we spent all day on a bus between Battambang and Bangkok. Megan and I spent an hour having cocktails on out hotel's 24th floor rooftop bar and playing Scrabble with Sam before we had our final group dinner together. Had rice again so my pledge didn't last long. Most of us then had a few drinks in Patpong before going back. Kept getting a lot of offers to see sex shows by lots of horrible Thai men. You think it would be funny until you get here and it's all just a little too sleazy. All these girls in bikinis wandering the streets look so miserable and it's not very nice to witness such exploitation.

Despite that, I've had a great time on this tour and am definitely looking forward to my next and final one that starts in a few days. Though have realised, as much as I like meeting new people, I don't like saying goodbyes, and the next ten months are going to be filled with a lot of goodbyes. But luckily, Megan is meeting a few friends from home but not until tomorrow, so today she's checked into the same hostel as me and we've been slobbing all day. Lovely clean hostel with free internet, breakfast and DVD's so will be very comfortable catching up on my sleep before my next tour begins in a few days.

We're going to go for dinner later and maybe find a little jazz bar we've read about. Tomorrow she leaves to meet some friends and head to Ko Samui, hopefully our paths will cross before she leaves. Kylie and Jo are also staying for a few more days. They're off on a three day jungle tour at the moment, but I'm going to meet them for dinner on Friday. Am planning on spending the next few days doing a little sightseeing and a lot of relaxing, so will update when I've finally done something worthwhile!

Love to all

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