Our last stop in Cambodia, Ratanakiri Province, up in the far north east of the country, and we were based in the capital, Ban Lung. Home of "Cambodian snow", our trekking guide, Yok, gleefully informed us! No, not the white stuff everyone back home was getting at the same time, but the red stuff that billows up from the road and hangs in the air for an eternity when a vehicle goes past, covering everything in sight with an orangey-red film. Other vehicles, trees...

So on we went to Kratie, and what a fantastic example of the South-East Asian bus systems! Up at 5.45am (which I'm actually quite capable of these days, a fact that I know will surprise many of my previous travel buddies, to whom I had to delegate the job of getting me out of bed for things!), to get the 7.00am bus. An eight hour journey, so should be there not long after lunch; excellent, plenty of time to find a decent guesthouse. It was late, of course, and no...

Contrary to the apparent date and location of this blog entry, it's actually the 28th January and we're in Vientiane, the capital of Laos! Circumstances have conspired against blog writing, with internet access in North-East Cambodia and southern Laos being rare and, when available, the slowest I've ever experienced, our efforts to cram in as much as possible for Sara's remaining three weeks with us, the different social dynamic of our team becoming four (which I...

We stopped in Skuon on the way to Siem Reap for the sum total of about fifteen minutes, but I wanted to use the opportunity to comment on a couple of generic, non-place specific things without ruining the route on my blog map. And also, I thought there was no harm in mentioning that Skuon's local delicacy is fried spiders. A type of tarantula, about half the size of your hand, and there were trays piled high with them ready for hungry travellers as our bus pulled...

I'm still loving Cambodia! That's not to say everything we see is great, because of course it isn't. I'm sure extensive poverty, mass unemployment, widespread corruption and a legion of limbless beggars aren't on David Cameron's 2011 wish-list for the UK (well, at least three of those...). However, the current, general economic, political and social conditions aside, the people, cultures, cuisine and landscapes that we've encountered have been amazing. I guess I'...