Bangkok – 18th December 2009

We arrived in Bangkok and got a cab to our pre-booked hotel close to the Koh San road. We weren’t too shattered but the energetic cabby was a bit too much to handle! Liam was wearing the Vietnam cap and in his really limited English he tried to relay the message that yes he liked Vietnam, he was in the war and he liked shooting!! We weren’t going to push him when he dropped us in the general vicinity of the hotel and not outside the door as preferred….

I must say (Aileen) that I love Bangkok….so many people you meet on your travels or in life say how dirty and horrible it is but I reckon I must be a city girl at heart, I love the hustle and bustle! Unfortunately our one night in Bangkok was not spent sampling the delights of the KS road but rather a look into the pristine interior that was Bangkok Hospital! Liam had been suffering again since Cambodia but after an attempt to find a hospital in Nha Trang in Vietnam and coming across two pretty poor offerings (think people lying on floors) he had given up the hope of medical attention until we reached the westernised world again. It was painful for him and expensive for us (still trying to sort an insurance claim!) but we had a good night in the hotel with some cheap cans of Chang and some really trashy movies on HBO!

Siam Reap – 17th December 2009

As we were pressed for time we only managed to go around the temples of Siam Reap for one day, some may be aghast at this but it was plenty of time for us! The thought of going around the temples over a week would be just too much.

We hired the tuk tuk driver who picked us up from the bus the day before to drive us around the temples for the day. He was a really nice guy and looked after us throughout the day. The Temples were amazing and the ones we enjoyed the most were the ones that the trees and jungle had begun to take over - a little bit disappointed with the main one Angkor Wat though. We decided to take a balloon ride to see the temples from sky - Liam was pretty happy when it came back down but surprisingly Aileen wasn’t scared!! After an early morning pick-up of 7am we were well and truly done by 1pm and got our spin back to town. Our driver (Joy) was willing to stay with us until after sunset at the temples but we gave him a tip and sent him on his way early! After booking him to pick us up for the airport in the morning we had a rest and a MASSIVE feed then early night again. I (Aileen) dreamt that I was soaring over temples so a great impression was made. Glad we got up so early to do it though as the HEAT by 10am was pretty stifling and thankfully by that stage we were getting to the more shady/jungley temples!

Siam Sleeper – 16th December 2009

Got the sleeper bus which was 10 hour trip back to Phnom Penh and then up to Siam Reap. Not the most comfortable of journeys but not the worst by a long shot. Got into Siam Reap at 6am and finally for the first time on our trip everything went well with the hotel pick up and our names were up in lights (ok written in pen on a board) to greet us and take us to the hotel. Managed to get a room straight away and so we had a good sleep. When we woke we got up and discovered a really nice chilled out town – we walked to the main part and sat by the river for brunch and had a beer. We then ran into people we had met in the booze cruise and had a couple more. Had dinner back at the hotel and got an early night for the next day.

Sihanoukville – 9th – 15th December 2009

We arrived in Sihanoukville to beautiful weather – Sihanoukville has a lovely long beach that stretches for about 4km – although the recent rains and typhoons have made the beach very narrow the sand is lovely and the water is almost crystal clear. So in Sihanoukville we relaxed for a week on the beach having lovely food and topping up our tans. We went to three beaches and the best one being Sokah beach that was a part of a hotel – its lovely beach was almost empty and so we relaxed by ourselves – away from other people and the hawkers who try to sell you everything and everything almost non-stop on the other 2 beaches.

We also did a booze cruise (11th Dec) but the pics will speak for themselves....we had a ball! (Those of you who had the pleasure of a personalised Christmas card may recognise the setting!!!)

Sihanoukville – 8th December 2009

With a sore head we made our way to Sihanoukville by bus - met a lovely Australian called Kevin on the bus who had been to Sihanoukville many times and he gave us a run down of what to do and where to go. We were shattered after the night before and the trip and so after a lovely bbq on the beach we had a couple of drinks with Kevin and had an early night.