Siem Reap > Bangkok

Most of today was a travel day from Siem Reap to Bangkok. Our Minibus picked us up at 7am and we hit the road sharp.

I have to admit we slept for most of the journey, which meant it flew by fairly quickly, but so did the view. We awoke when it was time to cross the border from Cambodia to Thailand, the Aranyaprathet / Poipet border is notoriously chaotic and busy, with long waits, confusion and local scammers but I must say we managed to cross fairly smoothly. Other than me needing to find and show them my visa again before they would let me leave Cambodia everything went quickly and we were through to Thailand before we knew it!

As soon as we crossed the border the area felt different, busier and more built up. We were excited to continue on through Thailand and explore more of Bangkok.

Again I must admit we fell asleep through most of the way and missed a lot of the views – those buses are like cradles gently rocking you to sleep!

Our lunch stop however was at a nice rest stop with freshly made to order food.

After stretching our legs a little we boarded the bus to dreamland – I mean – Thailand and as if be magic (or a nap) a few hours later we were in Bangkok and arriving at our hotel!

For our last evening together as a whole group we decided to head to Khao San road, a popular area for markets, pubs and streetfood, and tried some Thai cuisine four our one last hurrah as a group.

We walked some of the way from the hotel, which took us through Chinatown – it was slightly reminiscent of some areas of Hong Kong which would make sense. Shops and stalls bursting with dried ingredients and food used in Chinese cooking.

Dinner was incredible, and incredibly cheap! We were given a mix of so many dishes, a lot of them vegetarian so we had a lot of choice, and all absolutely delicious. The street setting allowed us to get a good feel for the activity happening around us. We also stopped at a few other stalls in order to try more food (dessert) and were certainly not disappointed.

After dinner, in an attempt to walk off some food and to make the most of our wonderful local guide, we took the short walk to the Grand Palace. Although it was nearly closed we got a sneak peak of one of the beautiful buildings lit up in the night, along with the scores of locals all around who were paying their respects to the King who had passed away the previous year.

Our long day of travelling (and napping) had taken its toll on our energy levels and so, tuckered out, we returned to the hotel for an early night and a new day in Bangkok.

Hatti x