Phupai Art Resort

... worse for wear. He suggested we stop for a beer to cool down, then follow him back to his hotel to see if there was a room available there. Turns out there was. Nice spot made ever more appealing by the fact that it had a pool.<br><br>Danny and I had good intentions to go out and explore the touristy part of Siem Reap. After a dip in the pool and a nice shower, we decided to take a quick nap. Quick nap turned into epic nap--from 4pm until the next morning..

... through but Chris shouted "we'll wait for you". I ran back to Cambodia, pushed in at the front of the queue annoying some French people and said "please give me an exit stamp". I then ran back to Thailand and got through easily. The next complication was that we all had to wait for about 3 hours in a dirty cafe waiting for our bus to be called. Luckily we spent most of the time chatting to each other so it didn't matter but I was relieved to see my bus arrive. I was drifting off ...

... nighttime protection of the village pets, for a mere price of 700 baht ($22). We were living in style in comparison to some of the other fellow travelers we spoke with. The average guest room in Pai is 150-300 baht.<br><br>My adventurous spirit was finally able to be released in this smaller, safer village. I convinced Anna who had never ridden a motorcycle before to rent Honda 125cc motor bikes to cruise through the countryside of Pai. Freedom is now in our hands ...

... back to camp to rest for the approaching day of rapids.<br><br>Day 2 involved some huge rapids - level 4+ which basically means if you're not holding on to the boat with every bit of strength you've got, you're going to fall out. We had some great guides and so they could take us through all of it safely. (some less experienced guides made their crew carry the boat along the shore at the big rapids ...

... up the elephant's trunk like a monkey up a coconut palm... Sandra... was more like pushing custard uphill. I like to think I was somewhere inbetween (or maybe not?)<br> <br> Lucy was on my elephant; S &amp; M shared another. Off we went into the hills, then down and along a river. Finally we all had a bath with the elephants - got squirted and very wet!! In the afternoon we went on a bamboo raft for a more relaxing time... We're all sore today - I can hardly sit ...

... say as I came back at 4am I realised I had taken no photos so I stole the one above to give you an idea.<br><br>Pai is great for a low key, chilled party scene but it is a tourist town and to see the real Thailand you have to get out and explore.<br><br>Going back to Chiang Mai soon to get an overnight bus to Bangkok then a plane to Cambodia. As a 2 of you know, it will be a small physical challenge!! ;)

... take us to the Cambodian Embassy in Thailand, this was the offical building and they tried to sell us a visa again in Thai Bachts but this time for B1000. We stuck by our guns and said no we weren't going to pay and demanded the driver to take us straight to the boarder. I was pretty scared no very scared when we approached the border, it was really busy and were trying to go through with no visa! After we had been stamped out of the Thai immigration we were approached ...

... official-looking nametags told us we needed to get our Cambodian visa. We smiled at them and told them we'd get it at the Cambodian border. We were stamped out of Thailand and made our way to the Cambodian visa station. We brushed off another "helpful" guy who again tried to scam us out of visa money. "You should ask me, this is my home." He said. Haha, funny. If we need something, we'll ask someone who doesn't seem interested. Somewhere along the way we ...

... a gurgling brook. The tranquil, idyllic setting made up for the fact that the mattresses and pillows were seemingly made of concrete, and that my bare-bones bathroom housed its very own personal toad - together with all manner of creepy-crawlies.<br><br>For the first time since leaving Canada, I was able to muster up enough energy to join Ania in several fifteen km walks into the countryside. Away from the crowded ...

... day, 500 Baht. Cambodia was dry and desolate. Everyone stared at me and wore clothes like it was winter time...well it is winter time but its like 35 degrees...There were lots of people, children included pulling wagons about. The river was choked up with rubbish ...so much that it was no longer flowing. There was a rank, fishy smell in ...