Well, I've said goodbye to Cambodia now, I quite enjoyed it, especially Angkor Wat & Preah Khan.
After driving slowly for ages along the incredibly bumpy & potholed roads we eventually got to the border with Thailand at Poipet (a horrible yukky place), queued in the boiling sun next to an open sewer for ages to get through immigration, watched some incredibly overloaded trucks take out some overhanging power lines - they sit people on top of the trucks (which are stacked too high to get under the lines) who pick up & pass the cables BY HAND! over the top of the truck, until the truck has passed through.
However, they dropped the cables between the gap of truck & trailer, and we watched the cables tighten & snap in slow motion as the truck slowly kept moving. I took a few photo's.
Anyway, got over the border, magically the roads were smooth, bitumen and well maintained. A short tuk-tuk ride to the bus terminal and then a luxury coach to Bangkok. The air conditioning in Thailand gave me a bit of a cold, but it's pretty well gone now .
Got to our hotel in Bangkok that evening and turned on the TV and watched the live CNN news about 5 mins after the 2nd hijacked plane crashed into the world trade centre. I remarked to Brian that "Well, Americia's just declared war on somebody, they just don't know who yet". Pretty shocking stuff, I hate to think how many lives have been lost. We went down to Khoa Sahn road and most of the tourists were crowding around the TV's in all the bars watching CNN live with their mouths hanging open. Made for an interesting night. I wonder in the future if it will be like 'So where were you when the planes hit the trade towers?'
I might have to reconsider going to the states at all. I'm hoping it won't affect any of my other travel plans but I'll have to keep an eye on what happens. It's going to change a few things around the world, I'm sure.
Spent a couple of days doing the touristy things in Bangkok - the royal palace, reclining Buddha, the markets etc etc & said goodbye to the people I travelled from Saigon to Bangkok with.
Next stop: Nepal!
