When we eventually arrived in Koh Phangnan after a long bus and boat ride we were rewarded straight away by meeting up with about 15 friends from Sheffield who are also travelling at the moment. We checked into their bungalows and headed straight to the absolutely packed out beach. You were literally towel to towel with your next door neighbour but I'm guessing this is just because the famous Full Moon party was taking place in a couple of days. We spent the next couple of days attending the Full Moon warm up parties (absolutely amazing) and chilling on the beach. The actual day of Full Moon we had to spend a couple of hours in the ahem 'very efficient' police station after coming home the previous night to find our room completely ransacked by burglars. Luckily they only got my extremely decrepit phone but unfortunately they managed to get Charl's camera. It turns out though that Koh Phangnan Crime Prevention Centre, as they like to call it is the height of the social scene as half of the island appeared to be there! After that small hiccup was dealt with we went back to the bungalow to uv paint ourselves up in preparation for the party. The party was excellent but I have to say the pre-parties were even better, probably because you weren't expecting so much. Also, pretty much all of the male members of the group were unlucky enough to get their wallets robbed by the infamous Thai 'ladyboys'. The next day we recovered and bought our boat tickets to hop islands to the neighbouring Koh Tao. We got up bright and early the following day (by which time quite a few of us were suffering the effects of some heavy nights out) in order to catch the boat. Our allocated boat came and went...and another...and another. When it got to 5pm after 7 hours of waiting at the pier, it became evident that we were going nowhere today. In the Thai style that we've come to know and love they had overbooked all the boats for the day...great! So all 15 of us trundled off to a nearby hotel and negotiated a good deal (this involved four of us sharing a room for two but hey ho) and then got ourselves firmly embedded in an Irish bar.

The next day we woke up at 6am determined to get on the boat to Koh Tao, even if it meant losing a limb. We were lucky enough to get on the first boat and later discovered that it was a good job that we didn't get on the last boat the day before as the crew kindly informed us that it nearly capsized! Our journey wasn't much better however, and the boat was swinging about like a pendulum for pretty much the entirity of the two hour journey. Charl donned a lifejacket and turned religious in order to try and keep herself alive and half of the party were being sick off the back of the boat. I was trying to keep my cool and mentally preparing my eulogy but when a rather large lady fell over and flattened me and a Chinese man hit me in the head with a bag of his vomit en route to the bin I decided it was time to join the others at the back of the boat!

All was forgotten when we arrived in beautiful Koh Tao. After walking around for about an hour trying to find accomodation but being told everywhere was full because of the influx of people arriving from Koh Phangnan after Full Moon we eventually managed to check into some bungalows a short walk from the main beaches. As we took up most of the bungalows it was almost like our own little community! We spent the next four days on Koh Tao enjoying some beach time and more parties. The time then came for us to part ways with the rest of the group as we headed to Koh Samui and they all split up again to head off to different areas of Asia. We had another four nights on Koh Samui, which is much more 'package holiday' than the rest of the Thai islands that we've visited but our hotel had a lovely pool so we enjoyed some time there topping up the tan!

We then caught a bus to Suratthani and then for the THIRD time in the trip, the Suratthani to Bangkok overnight bus where they just love to stop for hours for no specified reason and then you arrive on the Khao San Road at 5am to find your bags have been rifled through. Lovely. We made our way to a travel agent which for some reason was open at this hour and straight away bought tickets on a tourist bus to Siem Reap in Cambodia. We may have paid a little over the odds but we figured it was worth it so that we didn't have to spend a day hanging around Bangkok. We filled the three hour wait for the bus by popping into a ridiculously posh hotel and having a huuuuuge buffet breakfast for just 4 pounds! I don't think the maitre d was too impressed with our 'travel chic' look but we certainly made sure we got our moneys worth! We spent a good two hours at this hotel and then made our way to the bus.

We eventually arrrived in Siem Reap at about 8pm that evening where we checked into a guesthouse- The Hilton (!!) for a bargainous pound a night, complete with air conditioning and t.v! We had a quick dinner and then got an early night after not sleeping properly the previous night.

The next morning we got up and spent the day exploring the town of Siem Reap. One of the highlights definitely has to be the gorgeous food- fish amok and Khmer chicken curry are fantastic! We also all bought some lovely silver and amber jewellery and Cambodian silk pashminas at the market before heading back to the hotel. We went for dinner at the infamous Dead Fish Tower, which has live crocodiles swimming around at the bottom of the restaurant and then got an early night as we were being picked up by our tuk tuk driver at 4.30am to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat.

Although we were all shattered when we woke up in the dark the next morning we were all very excited about seeing one of the seven man-made wonders of the world. We paid our entrance fee and our driver 'Sky' took us to a patch of grass where we could see not only the sunrise at Angkor Wat but a perfect mirror reflection in the lake in front of it. It really was unforgettable and we were so lucky as we had a beautiful pink and orange sunrise, despite it being Cambodia's rainy season. Once the sun was up we spent the next 6 hours exploring the other temples of Angkor; Bayon and the "Tomb Raider" temple (where the film was shot) just to name a couple. At lunchtime we headed back to the guesthouse... the temples were beautiful but all in all we were very pleased that we only got a one day pass as we felt pretty 'templed out' by this point. We had a well-earned afternoon nap and then headed out that evening for dinner and drinks at the famous "Angkor What?" bar, where we were awarded with some touristy t-shirts due to the quantity of g&t buckets we consumed that night!

The next day we caught the morning bus to the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh. We went straight to the guesthouse that Katie and the girls had messaged us to say they were staying at and checked in there. We spent the late afternoon lounging around with them on the gorgeous decking that overlooked the Phnom Penh lake and after some food and films at a nearby cafe, went to bed- the early start that day wasn't conducive to the quantity of buckets we'd consumed the previous night!

The next day we took the advice of a guy that worked in the cafe we ate at the previous night and headed to one of Phnom Penh's poshest hotels where you can pay $5 to use their pool facilities all day. After a day of luxury we headed for a night on the town in Phnom Penh and were even treated to a slap up dinner when we returned at 5am- that's good service for you! The following day was less than productive but we said goodbye to the girls for the last time in the trip as they were heading to Vietnam. The next time we see them will be in good old Blighty! The next morning we decided to be 'good travellers' and hired a tuk tuk driver to take us to see the harrowing sights of the Killing Fields of Chuoeng Ek and Tuol Sleng prison. These were both places where under the Khmer Rouge system, Cambodians were systematically tortured and killed. Although it was very hard-going, it was interesting to see the history of Cambodia but all of us left feeling pretty stunned at how it had been allowed to happen just ten years before we were born. That night, our guesthouse was showing the film 'The Killing Fields' which followed the story of a U.S journalist from The Wall Street Journal and his Cambodian translator and how they coped under the regime. Again, the film was harrowing but very interesting and the fact that it was a true story made it all the more compelling.

We then caught the bus the following day to the beachside town of Sihanoukville, where we currently are. We've spent the last few days topping up the tan on the gorgeous beach, where you can't help but notice the remarkable English of the children who are selling things: "Open your heart and open your wallet Miss!" We also met up with the boys from Jersey that we met on one of our many Suratthani to Bangkok bus journeys. Yesterday was by far one of the highlights of Cambodia when we enrolled in a Khmer cooking school for the day. I am no Nigella Lawson but it was so much fun. We learnt how to make four traditional dishes: homemade spring rolls, banana leaf and steamed chicken salad, fish amok and banana fritters. We left feeling very full...

Today the weather isn't so great, reminding us that we are in the rainy season (hence the long update) and so weather-depending, we will either stay here for another day or head back to Bangkok tomorrow for the final leg of the adventure...