Change of plans

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Hey all!

So last time we left you we said we were heading from Phnom Penn to Viang Veng in Laos to go tubing... however instead we decided to head down south to the gorgeous, pristine beaches of Sihanoukville!! We decided this change because it would have taken us 27hrs to get to Viang Veng where we were only planning on staying a couple of nights, and about US$50 each... and then more of that long trip and money spent on the other side to get to Chiang Mai - we didn't really see much point in this when we could go to the beach and get a tan in 5 hours for US$6 each...

We had made two new friends in Phnom Penh who also happened to be doing this trip, Dom from Eastbourne and Tanya who lives just 2 roads away from Tam!!! When we arrived it was monsooning it down with rain which we obviously weren't too thrilled about... so the next day we made the most of the barely there sunshine through the clouds, only to find that you can get horrifically burnt through clouds... not fun times... this mean that for the next few days we had to stay off the beach (great) so we instead filled our time by going to the best cinema ever with sofas, sitting in the bar and applying huge amounts of aftersun and aloe vera.

On our 4th day we took a trip to Koh Ru "Bamboo Island" which was an hours boat journey away from mainland. We only spent the one night there as we were due to head to Bangkok for Dom's birthday, but what a night it was. The beach was beautiful, you could see for miles without seeing a single soul and no litter, deck chairs, anything! Our beach hut which we slept in was right on the beach with the sea about 2 metres away! The whole island only had the one 'resort' and the one bar where we sat playing card games and dancing. As it got darker and later the beach hut turns its lights off and we paddled out in the sea and watched the plankton glow neon bright as they were washed ashore - very magical! We were sad to leave but couldn't have spent any more time there.

The next day we headed back to mainland and bumped into a couple of Tanya and Dom's friends they had met while travelling, we all went out that night to celebrate our last night in Cambodia to JJ's Playground which is where Mark and Alex worked last year for a couple of weeks!! The night was very merry and eventful and ended up in bed at about 7am after watching the sunrise on the beach.

We then travelled to Bangkok under the pretences of a very comfy sleeper bus taking us the whole way in 15 hours. We realised this was not the case however and we were on 2 sleeper buses, 2 normal buses, and a mini van and it took about 23 hours in total... ridiculous.. but at least we made it in one piece and with all our belongings!

We stayed on Koah San road right in the centre of everything, it was always busy which we relished after our secluded beach time. We went out on the 31st for Dom's 21st birthday which started very tame having dinner in the pub to there being Tigger cake smeared over two beds... See pictures..

We stayed in Bangkok for just a few nights as we are returning there at the end of our trip. We are now currently in Chiang Mai in North Thailand after a 15 hour sleeper train. We spent today lying by a swimming pool trying to even out our patchy tans (due to the burns!) and then have been wandering around the Sunday market, which is HUGE, before getting massages each. We are spending tomorrow doing a Thai cookery course, and the next day going to see the elephants, tigers and monkeys!!

Due to flooding and visa issues we may not be making it to Full Moon on Koh Phanghan in the Thai islands, instead we may head to Laos and visit Luang Prabang and then go tubing in Viang Veng as previously planned. However this is still dependent on money, weather and if we can get our visas sorted without having to do a border run.

We will let you know what happens!!!

Speak soon

Emma & Tamara
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