From the lovely Chiang Mai we flew back down to Bangkok, landing in the early afternoon. Our cab into the city cost a small fortune, but by manner of some small miracle the driver did actually manage to get us to the hostel and only had to phone for directions once! As soon as he dropped us outside I was wishing we could get back in the cab. YHA Downtown Bangkok was the biggest (should I say smallest!?) dump I have ever seen. No joke. The guy behind reception was perfectly friendly as he ripped us off with the room rate and acted like he was the nicest guy ever when he informed us he'd already switched the air con on for us. I was very nearly fooled. Until we stepped foot into the world's smallest room. We were staying in a prison cell. Seriously, we've been in a few on this trip and I swear they were bigger. We had bunk beds which were far narrower than the average single, a crappy plastic stool and a tiny shelf with a mirror above it. That's it. Oh, and the bathroom was about 2ft wide and included all mod cons - a shower fixed above the toilet and a tiny little metal sink perched in the corner behind the door. I couldn't quite believe that we had paid only marginally less for this than for our lovely bungalow on Samui!

To escape the horrors of the hostel we set off in search of a travel agent who could book us onto the dreaded Bangkok-Siem Reap bus. We went in the first one we could find, and as the woman seemed sweet booked it straight away. I'm 99% sure she ripped us off as well as it cost a small fortune, but we were relieved to have it over with. The rest of the day in Bangkok was spent wandering up and down the street either looking for food or eating food, or trying in vain to upload photos. My mind was made up. Bangkok was not for me.

Early the next morning (as in 7.30am) we were picked up by a mini van outside the hostel. All seemed very civillised. Until they drove us a little further, made us get out and then proceeded to cram us and our bags into an already rather full mini van. We came to the conclusion that the trouble was the driver's wife and sons - without them there would have been enough space! The journey was fairly uneventful. We arrived feeling very stiff at the Thai border town where we were deposited in a cafe and told to wait for the taxi. They ripped us off (a running theme) on our Cambodian visas, but it seemed like there was little we could do about it. After a little while a guy showed up and gave us a few tips for the border crossing. We should expect to have small children beg us for money and food and be wary of pickpockets. I had expected him to lead us round the corner and into a taxi, but no. He led us all the way to Cambodia. We walked for what felt like miles, dragging our super heavy bags through the midday heat. We walked through the Thai immigration office to be stamped out then on further to Cambodian immigration to be stamped in. The whole process took far longer than it needed to because they insisted on taking us through as big groups, meaning we were constantly waiting for other people. This was what we thought we were avoiding by paying for a taxi! All ended okay though, we finally got put in a taxi and drove the 2 hours to Siem Reap. On the outskirts of town we swapped to a tuk tuk - an agreement between the taxi company and the tuk tuk guys - they drive us to our hotel for free under the understanding that we will hire them to drive us around the temples of Angkor. Seems like a fair deal.

Our hotel in Siem Reap, the Golden Mango Inn, was the nicest place we have stayed on this entire trip and made us feel infinitely better about the rubbish day we'd had! Napping in the bigger than single beds under the air conditioning was heaven and set us up nicely for the busy few days of exploring temples that lay ahead...