Thai Green Curry

Over the border in record time (there’s something to be said for travelling in small groups) we caught our first Tuk-Tuk since Pakistan to the train station. First thoughts were how expensive Thailand was compared to Nam and Cambodia. We could travel 100k in Nam for the cost of 10k in Thailand!
The train station was something out of the famous five books, leaded windows, immaculately uniformed staff and flower pots and window boxes everywhere. Bearing in mind the first paragraph, one thing that is cheap in Thailand is train travel – 200k from border to Bangkok in hard seat 2nd class was 85p. Admittedly the seats were hard and the train travelled at an average of 45kmh, but it was better than GNER or any of the other thieving bastards who run the railways in the UK. At seat catering was an assortment of old ladies peddling beer, boiled eggs, noodles and other snacks from baskets on their shoulders or buckets of ice. The ticket inspector came to have a chat everytime he passed, as did the uniformed police who travel the entire journey. We called at around 20 stops and we were on time for every one of them – funny how public transport owned and run by the state as a public service works everywhere we’ve been whereas in the UK where it is run for profit, it fails miserably.
Enough ranting, we reached Bangkok at 8pm, a beautiful old station that has seen better days but was a joy to arrive into – clean toilets, fresh food, helpful staff and plenty of taxis. We hopped in one of these down to the Khao San Road where we would meet the others the next day. Bangkok was just coming to life, the sun had set and the neon was lit – another failed formula 1 driver (are they all in Asia?) took us on a high speed Ridge Racer type journey in record time, when he asked for a tip Nick suggested he get a new clutch, he missed the joke completely.
If you’ve ever been to Khao San you’ll know that you either love it or you hate it – we hated it. It is a main drag of bars, massage parlours (not all legit) fast food joints and clubs. Imagine the Bigg market taken over by fifteen thousand 18 year old backpackers living off mummy and daddy’s money, throw in some ex hippies and mix up with cheap beer and a few sex shows – welcome to Khao San!
We spent a night in a hotel around the corner as it was too late to do anything else, then checked out the next morning. Deciding that area wasn’t for us, we checked out a couple of places in the CBD and ended up with a serviced apartment just 10 minutes from Patpong and 2 minutes to the sky train station. Having a wander around the area to do some shopping that afternoon we found The Duke of Wellington pub, ably run by a Hertfordshire lad and his Thai wife; we promised to return as they had bottles of dog, fish and chips, steak pies and rugby on the TV – can’t beat a bit of local culture eh?
(un)fortunately, Christine wasn’t feeling up to it so Nick and Stu set off at 7pm, intending to have a couple of quiet pints, bit of food and read the papers; funny how they rolled in at 1.30 with no money but a belly full of beer! Still, at least they didnt go to Nana Plaza – that was saved for the next day. After a prolonged shopping trip, we met up with Kenny the Mancunian and went for a tour of the seedy side of Bangkok. After far too many ladyboys, strippers, elephants and Singha lager, we called it a night, slightly disappointed at the newly cleaned up city.
Jumping back on the train a few days later we took the sleeper to Surat Thani to catch the ferry to Ko Samui for a week of lying on the beach. The weather was brilliant, the sea was sparkling and the sand soft and white – just what you need after the sticky pollution of the big city. We hired a 4x4 to go for a drive in the hills but genearlly just lazed about enjoying the sun. Alas it was all to end too soon and we boarded the truck for a drive down the coast and into Malaysia....

Shiloh Pitt

One of the most bombed countries in the world, one of the highest amounts of landmines per head of population, mass genocide within living history, Brad Pitt’s adoptions and the world’s largest religious monuments – welcome to Cambodia!
One of the easiest borders so far saw us into the country where we met the truck after our solo jaunt through Nam, good roads to the river, a quick ferry crossing and back to dirt roads. First impressions were much the same as Laos; however Cambodia is much poorer and lacks the confidence and optimism of Laos. It took us the best part of the day to reach the capital Pnomh Penh where, unsurprisingly, it was full of Gary Glitters, just like Saigon. Lots of mopeds, lots of prostitutes and lots of pollution, we didn’t stay for long; three days was enough to visit S21, the temples and a few bars and street food markets where we found such delicacies as deep fried tarantula or locusts.
If we thought the war museum in Saigon was heart-wrenching, it was nothing compared to S21 where thousands of Cambodians were tortured to death simply for disagreeing with the Khmer Rouge, being “intellectuals” or even just for wearing glasses. Being shown round by an ex-inmate really brought it home and nobody left without a heavy heart that day. The following day we went to visit some temples and the royal palace before settling down with some apple crumble at the Foreign Correspondent’s Club to watch the sun set over the river.
The next day saw a return to dirt roads with the odd stretch of random tarmac, eventually though we reached Siem Reap, home of Angkor Wat. The first night was spent trying to find a decent bar to watch the football before heading out to the Wat the next morning – some brave/sober souls even got up at 5am to watch the sunrise; the rest of us left it until a more sensible hour.
Angkor Wat is something we believe everyone should see in their lifetime, the largest religious complex in the world; it took some 500 or so years to build. It is spread over an area the size of Chester le Street at the smallest and takes days to visit all the sites/sights. Have a look at the photos, although as usual, they don’t get close to doing it justice. One of the problems we faced when visiting is that it is extremely hot around midday and never fails to pour at teatime so you have to plan where you’ll be at those times.After seeing the state of the roads so far, a handful of us decided to break from the truck and travel into Thailand ourselves so we booked taxi’s to the border and then a train from the border to Bangkok. Although the taxi driver thought he was the late, great Colin McRae, we had a better journey than those on the truck as they suffered their first breakdown since Bulgaria. Fortunately it didn’t take Steve long to sort the problem and they were on their way again. By this point, however, we were on the Thai border eager for our first green curries......