Wednesday 14th November - Phnom Penh - First Visit! Whilst waiting in the foyer of Smiley guesthouse for our bus to arrive, we watched one of the tuktuk drivers zip out with scooter and carriage, and then two minutes later zoom back onto the driveway and run off, leaving the engine running. The other drivers gave him a puzzled look and switched the bike off, but then suddenly scattered - all taking an absorbed interest in newspapers in various hidden corners... ...

Siem Reap - Cambodia 6/11/07 We arrived at Pakse Airport about 1 hour before we could check in and it wasn't very busy. After some slight confusion over what time it was, (all the clocks we had or could see were diferent) we checked in without realising at the time the bags had not been scanned or checked in any way. Not that this had any further bearing, but we realised how easy it would have been to get anything on the plane. It didn't get any busier, and in th...

Thursday 1st November - Monday 5th November - Pakse & Don Kho HomestayAfter another lengthy bus journey, this one made longer because although the departure time was planned for 11am, the bus wasn't deemed to be full enough to leave until 12.30pm, we stopped unexpectedly and again in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere; our bags were hoisted off the roof in more heavy rain, and we followed them blindly to a much smaller, (and thankfully more water resis...

Wednesday 31st October - SavannaketAfter another early start and lengthy bus journey,we arrived in Savannaket and took the last room in one of the few guesthouses in town - this involved a great deal of lino, cold water and a toilet that although in the western style, was raised an extra foot off the ground for some reason... meaning that a bit of a climb was involved to make use of the facilities! Still, the door was secure, there was a fan and the bed didn't ha...

Tha Kaeke - Tuesday 30th OctoberAfter making a casual enquiry and agreement in passing the previous evening, we probably weren't that surprised to see a tuktuk patiently waiting outside our guesthouse at 5am, ready to take us to the bus station - the experience is the exact opposite of trying to get hold of a taxi at 2am on a Saturday night/Sunday morning in Wolverhampton!As we have experienced previously, everyone in the vicinity of the bus station seems to have...