Hello my lovelies!

So I'm now in Bangkok - after spreading the good news about the Laos visa to all new arrivals in Siem Reap and checking with three different sources I decided to just come to Thailand. It probably works out for the best to be honest as I'd need to cross the border anyway if I wanted to spend more than two weeks here. New plan: go to Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and then Laos, spend as long as I want in Laos and then come back to Thailand and do the south, possibly Malaysia too depending on timings.

I went to Battambang after Siem Reap, and I'm really glad I went. The city itself wasn't too inspiring (though is one of the nicer ones in Cambodia, and apparently the second biggest after Phnom Penh, though it seemed tiny in comparison) but I did a moto trip on the second day which was really good. My driver was lovely (unlike my Angkor driver) and told me lots of interesting things about Khmer culture, and in return I taught him some slang. I like it when you meet a foreign person whose English is so good they just need to learn slang, it's really funny. Although I have taught a disproportionate amount of Khmer people to say "let's bust a move". It was nice to be whizzing through the countryside, I've gotten used to motorbikes now and the only time I get alarmed is when my driver turns around in his seat to have a conversation with me (which happens more often than you'd imagine). We saw lots of weddings en route. Weddings are funny in Cambodia, they just whack up a terrapin in front of the house, make lots of food and play very loud music. I've gatecrashed quite a few Khmer weddings just by wandering down the street and ending up in the middle of one. I may be in the back of several wedding photographs - a random confused-looking white girl.

It rained as well when I was in Battambang - I have never been so excited to see rain before. It was mad as it turned the road outside the cafe I was at into a river in five minutes. It also came through the roof. I got stranded for the afternoon but it was ok as the had good food and several books. They had porridge!

So then yesterday I got the bus to Bangkok. Well, I bought a ticket to Bangkok thinking it would avoid me having to stop at Poipet and get a moto to the border. I was the only non-Khmer on the bus (non-airconditioned - in 36C heat) which was fun, I got lots of funny looks. And we rock up in Poipet and they say "ok, you get moto to border, one dollar, then go through arrival and departure, then there is bus on other side". Great! I didn't really know where I was going but trundled through and made it into Thailand. When I came out the other side I could only see one bus which was a completely different company, but when I showed them my ticket they let me on anyway so it all panned out fine. I met two people on the bus who I'm now sharing a room with and hanging out with while I'm in Bangkok.

Being in Thailand is really strange, especially getting the bus into Bangkok, I could have been back home. I'm now back in a country where they drive on the left side of the road (not the wrong side), cars outnumber motorbikes, they have billboards (admittedly for goods such as "OK Condoms" - were I shopping around entirely on brand name I would want a bit more assurance than just "OK"), and they have Tescos - and Boots!

Thailand definitely has a big hippy vibe - there are lots of "free spirits" wandering around, lots of floaty clothing, dreadlocks and tattoos. Everybody said the roads in Bangkok are the worst in the world, but they have traffic lights which people actually pay attention to, and I have even had several cars stopping to let me cross the road, which has not happened since I left England. At first I wondered what was happening and just stood there expecting to get run over/tooted at. Oh, and they don't toot here! Amazing, peace!

I went to Chatuchak market (aka the weekend market) with Sarah and Jonas (my bus friends) today. It is huge - and they sell absolutely everything you could ever want, even things you don't think you need. It's another of those things where it's a good job I have to carry around my backpack for another four months otherwise I could buy a lot of things I don't really need.

Tonight I'm going to a ping pong show with Sarah, as part of my cultural explorations of the world...should be interesting!

Anyways, I will update on ping pong and more next time,

Tata for now :)