Anything you can do I can do better

So said the Kings of Cambodia past as they designed and built temples to better those of their predecessors through the Angkor period. Thanks to this healthy competition we now have the Temples of Angkor which I spent 2 days looking around this week and blew me away. I still can't believe it's allowed but we touched and climed all over the historic buildings, cheating death as we scaled stupidly steep flights of steps and meandering in and out of the mazes of corridors. The old stone buildings were so much more attractive than the perfectly polished Grand Palaces, with their lichen, cracks and even tree roots threading between them. It was kind of satisfying to see the forests reclaiming what the Cambodians once took away from them. I also can't believe how some of the buildings are standing up as there is nothing cementing the bricks together, just air and a lot of balancing acts. Or not in some cases where it has all come tumbling down!

A long day's bus journey on the shoddiest road I have ever travelled (if you can call it a road) in the tiniest bus ever took us to the Thai border, where we caught some nicer coaches to good old Bangkok. We met up with Ryan's friend Tom who is travelling with him now and went out for some much missed Chang beer. Koh San Road is an interesting place to be after closing time, with its cuddly toys, lady boys, passed out drunks and underground club touts. I'm going to miss the quirks and disorganisation in Asia.