I headed to Bangkok by bus from Battambang. I'd heard not very good stories about people getting cabs to the border and there being no bus to get them on the other side etc. So I booked the bus from my hotel with the assurance it would take me to Bangkok. Haha how foolish I was! At the bus station I was told the bus only went to Poipet and from there I had to find a bus on the other side for my ticket. Joy. As Anna, the German girl, rightly said the night before 'ask 2 people, get 3 different answers'.

Anyway, the local bus was hot and packed but was interesting and only took 2 hours. The border crossing was relatively easy, and I found my minibus easily on the other side and we headed for Bangkok. It was supposed to take 6 hours, but the driver drove like a complete maniac all the way and we did it in just over 4 hours!

Bangkok is much like any other city with its Royal Palaces and cheap areas and big built up areas. I was quite near the Khao San Road, but far enough away from the noise. There were some nice places to eat and nice bars and interesting sites round that area, and it was pretty crazy, but in a nice way.

I was especially pleased to find that my hostel had hot showers. But the edge was taken off of this by the fact that I had ran out of shower gel and deodorant. So I headed out on the first morning to get some. I walked everywhere and tried in all sorts of shops, but couldn't find what I wanted. Then, just at the last minute, I saw it. At first I thought it was mirage, but I went closer and it was real. It was a Boots sign! An actual real Boots. Ooooh it was an exciting moment. So in I went and bought everything I needed (at inflated prices) and went away happy.

I won't go into detail about my Bangkok visit, as there isn't much to tell. I did the main temple sites - standing Buddha, Reclining Buddha, Gold Buddha, Dave the Buddha etc etc... - I didn't do the Royal palace as it was 10 quid to get in. I wouldn't pay that for Liz in England, I ain't gonna pay it for their king in Thailand. I also went to MBK and the shopping area via river boat and Skytrain, which was just like the DLR. But the shopping area was something else. Take Lakeside, put Bluewater on the next corner, put Westfield on the next corner, and the other Westfield next to that, and that's about a fraction of the size of the shopping mall area there. And it's all knock-off, copies and fakes. Final stop was the Jim Thompson house, who was some silk merchant who moved to Thailand, but then disappeared in Malaysia, and no one has ever seen him since. The house was in the traditional Thai style, but they didn't give much insight into his life.

Ooooh no, I forgot, on Saturday I spent the whole day at the zoo. The elephants were pretty poorly kept in a small pen in the entrance so people could feed them. And there was pretty much only one of every animal (lucky the floods weren't worse, they'd only have half-an-arks worth), but it was nice to see some different animals. And I fed a giraffe.

So that was Bangkok, and Asia. Where did that month go?!