Hello all. Have found some time in amongst my busy schedule to update u on the coming and goings of the last few weeks. I arrived in cambodia in phnom phen and founf a little guesthouse by the river for only $5 a night and then went off and explored the city. Unfortunately right in the middle of my trip to the kings palace it started to pour down and so i waited it out but it meant that it was closing so missed some of the exhibits.

The next few days were spent wandering around phnom phen and enjoying the city. Its quite a strange place as there are lots of poor run down buildings but next to them are amazingly beautiful buildings. I managed to see an elephant walking down the street with its owner 1 day and also took a tuk tuk to the killing fields and the main prison that pol pot used in Cambodia. It was a pretty upsetting experience and there were people walking round crying as they looked at it all, but am definately glad i went. The weather wasn't particularly great while i was in phnom phen and there were a few hours of torrential rain each day, so much so that the roads would get flooded and id be walking aruond in water up to my ankles!!

After phnom phen i went up to Battambang which is apprently the 2nd largest city i Cambodia but isnt really touristy so was nice to spend a few days relaxing there and i went on a tour around the surrounding countryside on the back of a motorbike. The scenery was amazing and some of the temples we visited we quite spectacular aswell. In the middle of the tour my driver asked if i wanted to go to a cambodian wedding as his friend was getting married so i ended up having my lunch with hundreds of other cambodians at this wedding with them all staring at me wondering why on earth i was there! It was a really good experience and felt very lukcy to have been able to go. The journey back to my hotel after the tour was pretty interesting as due to more rain lots of cars and lorries were getting stuck in mud and we had to do a bit of offroading!

The jouirney the next morning to Siem Reap was more of the same and ended up taking 2 hours longer than thought as the roads were in pretty poor condition aafter the heavy rain and lorries kept needing help to be pulled out of holes!

Once in Siem Reap i spent a day walkign around and exploring the city. There wasn't that much there apart from bars and restaurants as it is the place where all tourists stay when visiting the tamples of Angkor. I went out for a drink in the evening and ended up bumping into Paul from uni so went out with a few drinks with him and his mate. The next 3 days were spent exloring the temples and i had an amazing time. The first day i went to some of the lesser known ones on my bike and the next 2 days i had a tuk tuk driver take me aruond. It was quite breathtaking walking through these acient buildings and in some cases pretty much having the place to urself! I ended upo taking 250 photos in 3 days so will try and make sure i put the best up in a bit. On my last night i meet up with lilly and harriet from the china group and went out for a few drinks. The next day i had to get a bus back to phnom phen so i could get a flight from there into Laos.

I arrived in Vientiene in Laos pretty late and every guesthouse or hotel the taxi driver took me to ended up being full or way to expensive! In the end i found somewhere close to the river and had a pretty early night after all the travelling. Vientiene seemed very european but not that nice a place to spend days lazing around not doing much so i only spent 2 days there before heading onto Vang Vieng.

Vang Vieng is just a little town but is full of backpackers who go there t sit on rubber rings and float down the river visiting various bars on the way. I met a girl from Brighton on my first day and we went on the tubing experience together the nxt day. It was all a very surreal experience sitting on tubes floating past bars that were playing itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow bikini out load whilst amongst the wonderful scenery. It was good fun though apart from when it started to pour down and then it was pretty cold sitting on the tube! Apart from that there wasnt else much to do in Vang Vieng apart from lie in bars and watch friends all day! So after 2 days there i headed up to Luang Prabang.

Luang Prabang is another town where the french influence can be seen everywhere. Its a very rleaxed town with lots of cafes and bars where u can jst sit and read a book or watch the world go by. My first few days were spent doing exactly that and also visitng a couple of the Wats in the town. I also tooko a tuk tuk ride to one of the waterfalls near by with some peopel i meet on the bs from vientiaene to vang vieng. It was picture perfect and the weather was sunny for a change aswell so we all had a good time and enjoed swimming in some of the pools created by the waterfall. I also took quite a few photos thee so will update those as soon as i can. Yesterday i had to change my hotel room so that i could find somewhere with a tv to watch the champions league final as everywhere closes at 11.pm here. In the end it wa 5pm before i got to sleep but am glad i stayed up to watch it.

Tomorrow i leave for Thailand on a lsow boat that takes 2 days! Should be interesting, just hope that the weather stays pretty good for the majority of it.

Hope all is well at home, glad to hear that the wedding went well. Will try and upload some pictures when i arrive in thailand.