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Here's the latest from what we've been up to, just put last weeks blog up so check that too!On 13th December we left Chiang Mai headed to Bangkok (leaving ellen in Nakhon Sawan where her family lives as she didn't fancy the prospect of Cambodia) We spent a night in Bangkok on the infamous Kao San Road- the ultimate backpacker destination in Bangkok. Found accommodation on the street which was idealy placed for bars,shops and food so we were very happy. After spending far too much on new clothes (was in serious need of some semi-attractive ones) we changed quickly into them and went out to sample our first thai bucket. (a plastic bucket filled up with alcohol and costing about 2 pounds) A good night was had by all. We left early the next morning and even though we'd only had two hours sleep we were very excited for Koh Chang the island which we spent a couple of days on and it seriously dsidn't disapoint! took a full day travelling and arrived onto the island about 5 in the evening, spent quite a while wandering about with our bags looking for accommodation but we seemed to keep getting beaten at the last post as peaople snapped up the last room before us. This resulted in possibly the worst room yet, it was behind a bar up a very precarious looking wooden ladder into a loft space of a whicker hut which consisted of a mattress on the floor. just before we were going back to sleep there the guy who had had the room the night before told us he had woken up with a rat next to his face- Fantastic. We later discovered that the room underneath our loft doubled as a drug den- needless to say we moved out asap the next morning into a pretty basic but really nice little hut near the beach. The beach was unbeleivably stunning, literally like a paradise. on the first night we went swimming at sunset which was amazing, one of those perfect moments which makes up for sleeping in drug dens and other not so pleasant aspects of travelling. Our first full day was predictably spent on the beach getting our tan (or in beccas case-sitting under a tree for shade and gaining a few more freckles) had a party on the beach that night - an amazing bar on stilts looking out over the sea with hammocks and cushions to sit on and very cheap buckets. This is probably where we went wrong and the night involved alot more flourescent face paint and energetic dancing than was expected. We stumbled out our hut about 2 the next day for a bacon sandwhich which just about sums up the night- yet another good night had by all! Unfortunately we could only spend two days here because of our visa issues but this was long of us for all 3 of us to fall in love with this place which was very difficult to leave. (look at the photos and you'll see what we mean) From Koh Chang we headed for Cambodia. Once we got into Cambodia we had the pleasure of a 5 hour journey travelling along one of the worst roads in asia and my god does it live up to that label. We knew it was going to be an interesting journey when within the first 5 mintues of driving we hit a bump, the boot sprang open and out fell lauras bag into the middle of a very busy dirt road. Much to her horror, the driver didnt seem to notice until 600 metres down the road and then casually stopped the car and sauntered (very very slowly) to retrieve her bag. The rest of the journey was pretty uncomforatable and involved being physically thrown from our seats onto the floor a few times. It also didn't help when we were dumped at a random hotel on the outskirts of Siem Reap where the driver obviously got commission. We stubbonly refused to stay here and instead shared a motorcycle tuc tuc into the main part of the town. By this point is was 11 at night so we were very happy to find a newly opened hotel with lovely rooms for only 7 dollars a night (past our budget but one of the cheapest rates in the city it turns out) The people were very enthusiastic telling us proudly they'd only been open 20 days and they took it upon themselves to totally look after us. We had 4 days in Siem Reap as althougth we would have loved to go elsewhere in Cambodia-it was pretty far to travel and expensive so we decided just to make the most of cambodia in this city. The first day was spent basically catching up on sleep and relaxing. there was satellite tv in our room so we ended up watching numerous films over the 4 days including- surfs up, gladiator and mr megoriums wonder empourium (seriously reccommend the latter). Siem Reap is a lovely city with loads of nice bars and restaurants including one called Angkor what? (witty eh?) which played the first decent music of any bar we've been in since we came away. Anyway, less about the bars and back to the culture... our second day in Siem Reap we hired a tuk tuk for the day to take us around the temples. We'd been told sunrise at Angkor Wat was an unmissable experience and we have to admit it was pretty amazing but waking up at 4 meant alot of the day was spent dozing. Despite this we managed to fit in the best of the bunch and particularly liked the Bayon temple (the walls had 70 giant faces, all different, carved into the stone) and Ta Phrom which is the set of Tomb Raider and the temple is being reclaimed by the jungle. Although we loved Siem Reap we wanted to see some of the real Cambodia which you didnt really get in the city so the next day we hired bikes to see get out into the countryside. Started as a nice relaxing bike ride surrounded by paddy fields and water buffalo but quickly changed when the manager from our hotel pulled up next to us on his moterbike and explained that if we wanted to go to the national park (where we were headed to see the floating village) we would have to pay at the entrance and he didn't want us to get ripped off so instead lied to the Cambodian police. The prospect of this worried us slightly but we smiled sweetly as he explained we were charity workers working for the PCL coming to see the boat we had donated. Surprisingly they bought the story and we got in for free. It was really humbling seeing the people living on their house boats, they were all desperately poor and 80% of the people living here were refugees from the Vietnam war so had very little. The school was also on a boat which rose and fell as the river did. Although Thailand had been a welcome relief from the poverty of India, we actually really enjoyed being back in a developping country again and would definately like to come back and spend more time in Cambodia next time we do South East Asia. Another full day on a bus, broken up only by a 2 hour queue at immigration in the boiling midday heat, took us back to Bangkok. We were all really looking forward to seeing Michael, our friend from school whose come over to see us for Chritmas and New Year, (and Ellen again obviously) but beyond agreeing to meet on Kao San road, hadnt made any concrete plans which we discovered was a mistake when we arrived and had no way of contacting them to meet up. We were stood on the side of the road trying to work out what to do now when who should walk towards us down the street but Micheal and Ellen. Pretty good eh? So so good to see them again, the journey back to Ellen's village in the back of the pick-up truck was spent listening to Michael and Ellen incessant banter, Michael filling us in with news from home and, of course, a spot of festive carol singing. Michael had kindly doubled as Santa for us and his giant suitcase (twice the size of any of ours despite it being for only 2 weeks instead of 9 months) was packed with clothes and gifts from home which we are going to put under the Christmas tree which we are planning on fashioning from a bush in Ellen's village. We think Christmas is going to be a very interesting experience. It's great having someone new to talk to, we still havent got sick of each others company and are getting on as well as ever but we have turned into a kind of 3 way old married couple and are seriously running out of interesting conversations. Its also nice that Michael is still extremely enthusiasic about the whole travelling thing and in the day he was here before we arrived back from Cambodia he had already rode an elephant and purchased a very attractive elephant hat and an inflatable giraffe. He also took more photos yesterday than we have probably taken between us in the whole time we've been in Thailand. We're heading to Big C supermarket now to do our Christmas shopping. Michael's making the Christmas dinner (we even have a Christmas pudding sent over from Ellen's mum), Laura and Becca are making a cake for dessert and Hannah has been trusted with nothing more than being the bar maid and cocktail waitress. We're planning a little party for the people in the village to spread Christmas cheer and say Thankyou for all the kindness they've shown us since we've been here. We all want to wish everyone a very merry Chrismas. It'll be very strange being away from home and know that we will miss everyone even more than we already are. Loads of love, speak to you all soon, Hannah, Laura and Becca xx
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