Last night I was so tired after all the steps and walking around on uneven ground, that I actually had my first bath in around 11 years! I do shower regularly though! I couldn't be bothered to eat anything much so I settled on a piece of chocolate brownie and a beer. Very nutritious!

I simply could not sleep last night and got up feeling a bit like pooh.

Today was the beginning of the long trek home. My flight was scheduled to leave at 3.30 so I was being picked up at 1pm. We were all on different flights with different pick up times, the first atb11am, then me at 1pm, the others had quite late flights, so they took a tuktuk back to the temples for another dose of templitis.

By the time I had eaten breakfast and shopped in the little souvenir shop, it was nearly time to say goodbye to three of our group. Celia, who was going to stay a couple of days extra in Kuala Lumpur and Suzanna and Lynette. Their flight had a huge 8 hour layover in KL which is why I made my own arrangements. It was quite sad to say goodbye really, after we had done and seen so much together. I very much doubt that we will ever meet up again though.

1pm was a funny time to be picked up, do I have lunch or grab something at the airport? I opted for the airport, hoping that I could grab a sandwich. My driver arrived slightly early and drove so sedately that I thought I was off to a funeral. Once there I wasn't able to check in until 2 hours before departure, so I hung around, looking decorative near the recycling bins!

Once checked in, my aim was to find some food. Al the choices were very ethnic apart from Burger King. Not my favourite but I can't afford to get the Tom t*** at this stage of my trip. So, some kind of Clunchy Chicken. Pick out all the salad, as you have no idea what they've washed it in, and take a bite....

Okay, so nothing like ours then.

The coating was laced with chilli and spices and nearly exploded through the roof of my mouth. I started picking off the offending coating only to discover a thin slice of gristle with hardly any chicken. Abandoning my Clunchy Glistle, I turned to the chips again, not like ours but worth a go. I haven't actually seen any potatoes growing either in Vietnam or Cambodia. What I thought were spuds turned out to be groundnuts (uncooked peanuts to you and me). The chips were fine but getting into the ketchup was like trying to force your way into Fort Knox.

I attempted to tear each side, eventually resorting to using my teeth. In no time at all I had a big red smile like a circus clown. Then I discovered I had forgotten to pick up any serviettes. Bum! Using the remains of my soggy burger bun, I managed to wipe most of it off before slinking up to grab a couple of napkins, when the server had her back turned

The plane was a bit late arriving but I wasn't really bothered because my connecting flight wasn't until the morning. I had picked out a small boutique hotel near to Bangkok airport, with a free shuttle service.

On board the flight to Bangkok, even though it was just a one hour flight, we were served a meal. Fresh fruit, cold sticky rice, wrapped in a banana leaf and a huge serving of roast chicken, a disgusting lump of set custard with what looked like tea leaves underneath, and a soft cheese portion with Ritzy crackers. Also coffee/ tea and free beer. By the time that was all gone, I only ate the cheese and crackers, the plane was almost due to land at Bangkok.

I was sat next to a middle aged man from Cambodia. His English was pretty good. He asked me what my Kindle was as he'd never seen one before. When I told him that I had over 200 books on it, he looked amazed. I thought everyone knew about Kindles. He must have been cut off from technology for quite some time, he looked a bit like a Buddhist monk in mufti.

Once more back on terra firma, it took quite a while to get through their immigration but it was still quicker than the US. Even so my bag was wandering around the carousel on its own like Billy No Mates, when I finally made it through.

Outside it was bedlam. There must have been hundreds of people trying to meet and greet. I had been instructed to go to the meeting point between gates 3 and 4 and sure enough, there was a sign with Mr Jill Frampton, well, it is Thailand and they do have a certain confusion with sexual identity!

It probably took about 15 minutes to get to the hotel. I was a little worried whan we turned into a kind of, well, sleazy looking street, more like a back alley. I wasn't that worried because there isn't a great white slave trade for aging grannies like me.

Once in the hotel, the Lilac Relax Residence, it all felt very cosy and friendly. I was called Madame and bowed to, a lot. I was in room 6 and travelled up to the 3rd floor, tipping the driver for his porter services. He made sure I was comfortable, threw open the fridge and said "Everything flee!" Obviously, my kind of hotel, with free beer, hot water, a/c and a comfie looking bed.

There was a restaurant in the hotel aacross the alley way but I was still full from my Gordon Ramsay lunch and plane snack so settled for a beer and an early night, especially after not sleeping the day before.

The bed was really as comfortable as it looked and I slept really well.