23 days, 10 buses, 5 boats, 1 sickness bug & many Tuk Tuks.

So if you are ever faced with the decision whether to take a bus, boat or plane to the next destination, stop, step back, and slap yourself for being so stupid you even considered anything other than flying. For let us tell you that the 22 hour bus is never fun, “the c’mon it, it’ll be an experience” isn’t a strong enough argument, you will be forced onto a rickety double decker, into a bed far to small, sleeping next to a stranger or a topless Will. And the 16 hour slow boat Laos to Thailand isn’t much better, add in an extra overnight stay, three extra buses and you might finally arrive. Lesson learnt. Get us to the airport.

After deciding that the group we met at Arcadia were pretty swell we decided to stick with them for another few days and travel to Koh Rong together. Unsure what to expect but told that the island of Koh Rong was beautiful, we weren’t disappointed.

We stayed at Malibu Hostel for 2 nights right on the beach in small bungalows. This sounds more glamorous than it was for the shower was little more than a drip, there was sand everywhere and we had a power cut for 24 hours. Eating by candle light isn’t so fun when it’s forced. The days spent on the island were pretty much filled with hanging about on the beach and swimming to the bottom of the sea picking up the sand to prove how deep you got.

We left Koh Rong on the 21st and took our first Cambodian sleeper bus to Siem Reap which had actual flat beds and power sockets. No more lying in a predetermined shape with 30% to last. Literally living the dream for 8 hours. We originally booked a couple of nights here but ended up staying for 5, mainly due to our hostel having an ace pool area and serving food (those tuna melts and mango daiquiris) 24/7. Peckish at 4am? no problem just put in your request and bingo. It’s easy to see how people get stuck in places, we could easily stay in Siem Reap for longer.

Days here were spent sightseeing;

Sunrise tour at Angor Wat.

Blessed by a monk.

Sunset tour of a fishing village and mangrove forest.

Waterfall and temple tour.

We headed to Battambang on 27th, stayed at Here Be Dragons Hostel and met up with Elle who we left in HCM a few weeks ago. We did more touristy things here: took a Tuk tuk tour of the city visiting a some temples, rode the bamboo train, walked along a sketchy looking suspension bridge, went to a Muslim Cambodium fishing village, took a cooking class and saw 10 million bats flying out their cave which is so much better than it sounds.

We also had an intense game of scrabble on the final night, with Nicola taking the lead early on with Dynasty, but then falling to third place behind Elle and Jack. But did either if you get dynasty or clique though? No.

After three nights we took the bus back to Siem Reap for a final stay here showing Elle the sights (the bar and tuna melts) before we left for Laos, land of the potholes and awful Wi-Fi. We stopped over for one night in Laos at Vientianne and squeezed in a gym session in what was pretty much the best equipped gym we’d been in (including in the UK) but in this guys house, literally hack squatting next to the lounge.

The next day we headed to Vang Vieng for 4 nights for some rock climbing, Kayaking, blue lagooning and river and cave tubing, meeting up with Brooke and Emily who we left after Koh Rong. Tubing is essentially floating on big tyre inner tubes, in the caves you follow a guide, a piece of rope, wearing a head torch whilst trying not to look for the spiders that have created the huge webs above you. On the river there is not guide or rope, just the instruction to be back by 8pm. You do it by yourself paddling to the bars dotted along the bank whilst navigating the rocks and tree trunks. Totally top fun. Until the sun goes down, it’s pitch black and you’re the only group left out there, cue panicked paddling to the first building we passed and persuading them to give us a lift back.

Our final Laos stop was Luang Prabang, we came here to see some waterfalls and they didn’t disappoint. Jack spent the evenings at the bowling alley, where rumour is he lost a game of Archery to Emily….. Nicola was struck down with the sickness bug that is now sweeping the group. We spent three nights here before making the terrible decision of the slow boat to Thailand. However the jungle and Mekong river views are pretty spectacular, even if we can’t feel our legs.