Back to Bangkok

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With my return flight from Phnom Penh to Bangkok cancelled, as well as my flight home from Bangkok, I had to find some other way of getting out of Cambodia.  Because of the many cancellations, all the flights to Singapore and Malaysia were full for the next 2-3 days.  I was not very keen to stay in Cambodia, so the only alternative was to travel back overland by bus.  This was not a particularly appealing prospect as the journey time is >12 hours.  

In the end, it proved not to be too bad.  Of course the bus company, like the boat company, showed pictures of luxury coaches on their promo literature, but the reality turned out to be a rather battered standard affair (at least with air con). Plugging in the noise cancelling headphones and listening to relaxing music, interspersed with sleeping and gazing at the scenery out of the window, made the time pass reasonably quickly. And at least the road from Phnom Penh to Piopet was surfaced, even if not up to western standards.

Crossing the boarder back in to Thailand made me realise just how much more far advanced this country is than its neighbours, in terms infrastructure, cleanliness, etc.  I guess civil wars tend to set a country back somewhat, and American carpet bombing probably does not help much either.

I arrived back in Bangkok on 5th December, the Thai king's birthday.  The big news in town was that he was too ill to appear in public, so another crisis is looming.