Well the bus journey from Siem Reap to Bangkok was quite funny...we got loaded onto this tiny school bus and there was no room for anyones luggage underneath so it was all piled up down the aisle so no one could move an inch, then we were off. The road wasn't really a road but just a dust track full of massive pot holes!! It was a very bumpy journey and Kam decided to sit next to the window which he soon regretted! There was so much dust flying through the window that when we got off the bus at the border in Poipet his whole face had changed colour to a sandy brown colour!! We crossed the border fine and then luckily we changed buses to a really smart minibus, the driver was a bit of a nutter and we seemed to arrive in Bangkok in no time!

We had arranged to meet up with our freind Claire and her mum Heather in Bangkok and after a bit of going in the wrong direction a few times we finally found them! It was so good to see people from home after 4 months!! We got some dinner and a well deserved beer before Claire showed us the apartment that we were going to stay in. We were very fortunate to be able to stay in a proper house for the time we were staying in Bangkok. We couldnt believe our eyes when we saw the apartment, it was completely luxurious, on the 14th floor, it had amazing views over the city and it had 2 swimming pools!!!! We slept very well that night, knowing we were in a safe place with clean sheets and no checkout times...blisss

The next day we took full advantage of all the creature comforts we had missed out on like washing machines, bath tubs and sitting on sofas!! Heather was really nice and it was great to have a 'mum' who made teas!!!! We spent alot of time just chilling out, swimming etc we didnt realise how knackered we were from all the travelling...it really does tire you out!! We went with Claire and Heather to a massive shopping mall called MBK which was really good, we did alot of window shopping and then had lunch at this place called Mr Mengs which had really yummy noodle soup and dumplings...mmmm

It was really sad to see Claire and Heather leave on the Saturday, they went to Phuket and it seemed really strange to say see you next year to them. We spent a day sighseeing around Bangkok and went to Wat Pho to see the massive reclining Buddha, we had a river boat ride and visited Kho San road, we were really happy we weren't staying there, it seemed a bit grotty and not at all like the rest of Bangkok. We spent the next few days doing NOTHING! Bliss I tell you, we did have an amazing thunderstorm one night that seemed to be dirctly above us which was scary!

We really love Bangkok, we think its one of our favourite cities we've visited so far and it was so good to just relax for a while and catch up on some sleep! And so our South East Asia part of our journey is at an end and we have definately found it alot more laid back and enjoyable than India, it was so easy to get around and we didnt get any hassle at all. Its really cool to see how different each country is, we are still amazed by Cambodia and its history.

We will miss all things Asian, like tuk tuk drivers, stray animals, noodle soup, manic traffic, touts, dodgy Buses!, street food, squat toilets,oppressive heat., our silly sign language i.e when we ask for the bill pretending to open up an imaginary book!.........we really will miss all those things :-(

So the next part of our trip will start in Perth, Western Australia...not sure if we're ready for western ways yet, oh we don't want to leave!!!!