The journey to Phnom Penh was once again an interesting one. We were relieved to find that the road heading to the capital was much better than the one to Siem Reap and it seemed like the journey wouldn't be too painful. This all changed when we came to an unexpected halt about 3 hours in. With no air-con we all piled off the bus - the women and children to the shade of a nearby tree outside someone's house, the men to look at the engine. I took my place with the women and children, who all seemed to take [View Full Entry]

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Our first day in Siem Reap was taken up by recovering from the journey, getting some food, and recovering from the short walk to find food. It is swelteringly hot and sweatily humid here! After getting our bearings and finding out that the guesthouse we were taken to was a couple of km out of town we decided to relocate to a nicer place nearer the city centre. The major reason for visiting Siem Reap is to see the temples in the surrounding area, but we decided to chill-out and see the town for a couple of days first. It's easy [View Full Entry]

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After around six weeks in Southern Thailand I said a temporary fairwell and made the long bus journey to Cambodia, and specifically Siam Reap. The Thai side of the journey was shorter than expected, and things looked good when we found out that we were travelling on a half-full air-con coach meaning that we could stretch out over two seats. Getting visas proved straight-forward as we were taken to a place just before the border where they sorted them out in about 45 minutes as we ate lunch. Slightly more problematic was crossing the border itself. We were kicked off the [View Full Entry]

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Our second short trip in the Bangkok area was to the floating markets at Damnoen Saduak a short bus ride from the capital. We decided to make it an overnight trip to give us the chance to see the markets as early as possible in an attempt to avoid the majority of tourists who would be making a day-trip from Bangkok. The evening in the town was uneventful to say the least, and there is little to attract more people to stay there any longer than is necessary to see the market. Getting something to eat wasn't easy, the only choice [View Full Entry]

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Our first short trip in the Bangkok area was to Ayuthaya, 86km North of Bangkok which was Siam's capital from 1350 to 1767 when Burma conquored it. Now it is only of note for the remains of the temples that still stand from that period and have withstood the theft that has occurred over the years. The 90 minute train ride set us back the mighty expense of about 20p (cattle class of course) and a boat trip across the river to the town itself added another 6p onto the journey costs. The town itself is nothing exceptional, and the night [View Full Entry]

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The journey back up to Bangkok was a pretty long and sleepless one. The 3 hour ferry to the mainland was fairly pleasant, and we had a few hours to get some food in Chumphon before getting on the bus. However, the bus wasn't too comfortable, and this was added to by a noisy group of English lads (shamefully) who drank and shouted nonsense into the early hours. When we got kicked out, bleary eyed, onto a random street in Bangkok at 5am I was relieved to find that I knew where we were and we made it to a nearby [View Full Entry]

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Our next destination was the stunningly beautiful Ko Tao island to the north of Ko Samui and Ko Pha Ngan. It's slightly different to it's neighbouring islands as Ko Tao only has one long beach, the rest of the island is punctuated by pristine tiny coves in between the rocky coastline - and it is all the more beautiful for it! Having read that Ko Tao is a much newer addition to the traveller circuit I was expecting a pretty quiet, laid back place. However, this expectation was well and truly dashed when we were mobbed by taxi drivers the second [View Full Entry]

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The Ang Thong Marine Park is an archipelago of 42 islands covering 250 square km and is a 90 minute boat ride from Ko Samui. It's also the location of The Beach which I happen to be reading at the moment (cheesy I know). The only way to visit the park is by an organised day trip so we booked up on one which involved kayaking and snorkelling. Our first kayaking stop was for a leisurely lap of one of the islands with plenty of time to enjoy the views and the impressive coastline as well as briefly entering the couple [View Full Entry]

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The train journey from Trang to Surat Thani - the leaving point for boats to Ko Samui - was a pretty straightforward and comfortable affair. However, my main concern was that we were heading to a place where thousands of other people were also heading for the full moon party, plus it was thai new year so it was the biggest full moon party of the year, and we hadn't managed to book any accomadation. We decided that rather than wasting time in Surat Thani trying to make a concrete booking we should head straight to Ko Samui (the larger island [View Full Entry]

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After Ko Tarutao and a night in Pak Bara on the mainland (sharing our shower with a cockraoch and a frog!) we had to work out how to head towards Ko Pha Ngan miles further north and on the opposite coast in time for the full moon party on the 13th. The only obvious place to head to was Trang which is known for little more than being a transport centre for trips to the West coast. I actually found it quite nice to be in a city again (albeit a pretty small city) where there was traffic and noise in [View Full Entry]

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