Back to Thailand!

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The wonderful little hotel organised a taxi to pick us up at 7am so that we could be at the border by around 9am - a good hour before the tour buses started to pull up in their droves! They even offered to open the kitchen up 30 minutes early so we could have a proper breakfast before our long journey.



We sat down at 6:30 on the dot and we were greatest by staff in pyjamas scurrying off to get ready. Then we waited and lovely camp man brought us menus, took our order and then brought mine out 40 minutes later. Eireann (who turns into a gremlin if not fed promptly) waited another 10 minutes before being presented with a plate of chicken noodles. We had no time to correct the mistake as our taxi man was starting to get a little irritated by our lateness. The hotel staff were mortified by their mistake and as we were getting into the car they gave Eireann a packed sandwich. We were very confused as the sandwich was hot but looked to be a lettuce sandwich with chips at 7:30 in the morning. Turns out it was a fried egg sandwich and Eireann was loving it!! The taxi driver said he had a brother who ran a taxi company on the other side of the border. We were pretty sure it wasn't his brother but as the Poipet border is so very notorious for scams and all sorts of mischief against tourists we were quite glad of having someone to actually meet us on the other side. As we pulled up in Poipet a man in mud splashed trousers and a straw sun hat greeted the car and whisked us through the pretty confusing border system. We had researched how much the taxi should cost before we left so we knew his price was fair. He gave us a sticker to wear which we think was a sort of a "hands off" to all the "business men" and urchins who were looking for tourists to scam. The border was simple with his help and we were taken to a very nice SUV and introduced to a lovely man who was our driver. His English was good and he engaged us in conversation whilst driving like a maniac and telling us how lucky we were to be making such good time! There was luck involved but I think it was being used to get us past lorries 1/2 a mm away!!

Our hotel in Bangkok was adequate but far away from the city. We got on the sky train easily enough though and were whisked into the city to "pratanum" shopping centre. I asked loads of people for directions and eventually we found "Platinum" shopping market! I must have looked like I was taking the absolute piss!! We wandered and bought some jewellery we liked when we were last in Bangkok. Eireann managed to bargain in the kind of a shop with fixed prices and no haggling allowed. She is a woman possessed with the haggle daemons! We did some research on a bit of beach time and have decided to go to Koh Chang - a mere six hours away by bus - tomorrow. Then went to tesco for a few provisions for the trip.

Early night as we are just getting a little travel weary!

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