Bangkok and the start of my tour

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I arrived at my hotel in Bangkok tired but boyed by the fact that I would be starting my month long tour of south Asia soon. The hotel was the one which was featured in 'The Beach'. The place was friendly and full of travelers, with my room being about the size of cupboard. I dumped my things in my room, and made my way to the main tourist street (the name of which escapes me) which was about 30 seconds walk away. The street was bustling with tourists and people trying to sell you everything from your 'future', to suits, to dirty massages. I grabbed some uber cheap dinner for a about $1.50 and settled myself outside a bar to do some prime people watching. That night, i went to bed early, and was in bed snoozing by 10pm! The next day, the meeting for my tour was scheduled for 1830, so I had all day to see some of the sighs of Bangkok. I spent the day traveling about in a tuk-tuk (basically a motorbike with a sitting compartment attached) seeing Buddha in various poses at several locations and nabbing myself a made to measure shirt in the process. The Buddhist temples are very spiritual places - I certainly felt very humbled and at peace when walking about them. For whatever reason, I even felt moved to take off my shoes, get on my knees and bow, hands clasped towards a massive standing Buddha (don't worry though, I am not thinking about shaving my head, and relocating to Tibet anytime soon!).

After a tiring day sight-seeing I gathered my things at my current hotel, and jumped on the back of taxi motorbike (the best mode of transport in Bangkok during rush hour) and whizzed to the meeting point for the Indochina tour. I settled into my new, and much more swanky hotel, looking forward to meeting the people I would be spending the next month with. At 1830 I went to the meeting and met my fellow travelers. There were 14 of us in total, 11 girls and 3 boys; with nationalities ranging from British, Dutch, German, and Norwegian. We also met our guide for the month, a Cambodian by the name of Kevin. Immediately one could see that Kevin was certainly a bubbly personality, and would ensure we all enjoyed ourselves during the tour. Later, we all went for our first of many dinners together. There was no hint of awkwardness at all, and everybody seemed to get on (mind you, whether the girls could maintain such harmony with each other over a month would certainly be a challenge).

The next day we boarded our bus, and made the 4 hour journey to the Thai / Cambodian border. Kevin informed us that many Thai people ventured on a daily basis to Cambodia so as to go gambling at the nearby casinos (casinos are banned in Thailand). I stepped foot on Cambodian soil not knowing what the next week would hold, but almost certain that it would be an experience one way or another.

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