We spent last night watching telly in our room. Simon went to the shop and bought some chocolate and the stupid romantic comedy that we watched with Jennifer Anniston made for some well needed light relief after the days activities.

Today we have planned to visit The National Museum and Silver Pagoda. We have been trying to make up our minds whether to leave Cambodia within the next few days and spend longer in Vietnam or stay here. We even briefly discussed not going to Australia and staying in South East Asia but in the end decided moving on has so far, always proved to be the best option.

We have some breakfast, I can't face fruit today and have a pineapple and honey pancake, as the calories pile on I console myself with the excuse that it is Saturday after all. We walk out to the main road and up towards The Royal Palace and The Silver Pagoda. The Royal Palace turns out to be closed until 2pm, so we make our way in a musical tuk tuk to The National Museum.

The museum houses many beautiful sculptures and includes pieces from the pre- Angkorian period as well as many of the Hindu Gods. There are also some wonderful Buddha images and we were particularly interested in the photographs that showed the restoration of one large statue. The galleries exhibits also include lots of iron work and we show Maisie the elephant bells. A bit like a bell that goes round a cats neck but we don't think Saffy would be able to move with that weighing her down!

After a drink over looking the Tonle Sap River we walk to The Royal Palace. The palace is very ornate and similar to The Grand Palace in Bangkok and Simon takes some good photos. Me and the kids are too heat exhausted to do much though which is a shame as I would have liked a good look around. We sit on the steps in the shade bickering over who is the hottest. When I looked back at the pictures later it just looks like a lovely sunny day and there doesn't seem to be any evidence of the absolutely draining heat.

From there we wander round to The Silver Pagoda, it was inspired by Wat Phra Kaew in Bangkok and also houses a beautiful little green Buddha image said to be made of Baccarat crystal. It seems to glow in the afternoon sun and is semi translucent. The pagoda's floor is made of 5000 silver tiles although most are covered up by huge rugs.
In front of the small Buddha is a life size gold one decorated with over 2000 diamonds, the largest of which weighs over 25 carats.

We spend an hour watching an excellent film about the history of the temples of Angkor and then head off back. The kids are a bit hot for schoolwork and take some persuading but in the end write 2 really great pieces of work about Cambodia. They include as many facts as they can about The Angkor Period and The Khmer Rouge. I'm surprised and pleased that they have retained so much information and proud that they can write about difficult subjects so well.
In the evening we walk up the road to a bar called The Cambodian Café. On the way we pass a small market, there are lots of families milling around and it actually reminds me of home when the firework competition is held on The Hoe in Plymouth. One thing that you don't see there though are the piles of deep fried insects. There are some massive spiders, tiny birds with beaks intact and duck eggs complete with duckling foetus ready to eat straight out of the shell. Horrible!

We have pizza and a few beers for dinner instead and eventually make our way back to The Okay Guesthouse. I lie on the beds listening to Joss Stone; we bought 3 new CD's today and also got the Yeah Yeah Yeah's and The Kaiser Chiefs. Only a quid each- excellent. Tomorrow we are leaving for the border town of Kamput and The National Park area of Kep. We want to see a bit more of rural Cambodia and think this will be a good opportunity to be a bit more adventurous.

Following years of civil war and bombing by the United States, that was largely kept secret from the rest of the world, in April 1975 the Khmer Rouge overthrew the Lon Nol government. As their tanks rolled into Phnom Penh they were greeted with celebrations from the Cambodian people hopeful that they would at last see some peace in Cambodia.

This wasn't to be the case and within days almost the entire population of the city had been evacuated out into the rural countryside and set to work in labour camps. The year was proclaimed Year Zero and nothing before then was deemed to have been of any importance. The streets of Phnom Penh were closed off, shops, schools and markets were all banned and thousands of educated people were executed within the first few weeks of the Khmer Rouge taking power.

Children were hailed as the uncorrupted as they had not been tainted by what went before Year Zero and many children and young teenagers became Khmer Rouge fighters. They were taught that Angkar (The party name) was all they needed and were encouraged to participate in murders.

It's now 6am and I have been awake since around 5 listening to the noise outside as Phnom Penh slowly wakes up. I have read a lot over the past few days and the stories have touched my heart. It's hard to imagine how terrible it must have been for families to have been torn apart and turned against one another. At 8am I wake Simon and the kids and after breakfast we get in a tuk tuk and head off to Tuol Sleng (S-21).

Prior to the Khmer Rouge years Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum was a highschool. It is in the centre of Phnom Penh and was discovered by 2 Vietnamese journalists when Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1979 and liberated it from The Khmer Rouge.

As we arrive I am struck by the ordinariness of the place but did expect this. The school buildings are bathed in the bright sun but the walls are still made of corrugated metal and topped with barbed wire. We pay 2 dollars entrance fee each and set off around the 3 storey buildings. The bottom floor of the buildings held more high ranking or political prisoners. There are iron beds in some of the cells with leg shackles and photographs of the cells as they were found by the 2 Vietnamese journalists. The upper floor cells were mass holding cells.

In the second building are hundreds of black and white portrait photographs of the prisoners taken before they were executed. It is estimated that 17,000 prisoners were held at S-21 and none were freed or escaped .Everyone except 12 were exterminated, either here or nearby at The Killing Fields. It is, as expected a profoundly depressing place and although I know its complete fantasy I imagine I can smell blood as I stand on my own in on of the cells looking at the pictures of torture and horror that took place here.

The kids are very subdued by it all and Ali says it has upset him a lot. We don't spend as long there as we expected. Once we have looked around we are all eager to leave and get back into our tuk tuk. We head off for Choeung Ek. This is the site of The Killing Fields and we want to see the memorial tower that was erected in memory of the 1000's of people murdered there.

It is 16 km out of town and we can't help but think about the people who made that journey from S-21 rammed in tightly together in a truck. They were executed almost immediately that they arrived, often beaten to death to save precious bullets. We arrive at Choeung Ek and sit and have a drink first. Then we make our way to the memorial tower. It is made of glass and houses 8000 skulls that were exhumed from the mass graves. We light some incense and have a few moments reflection.

We walk slowly across The Killing Fields, there are 126 mass graves and the sides are still littered with bones and scraps of clothing. I'm overwhelmed by it and stand staring around. Such a small area and so much of the ground scooped away. There are two large trees. One "the magic tree" held a loud speaker that drowned out the moans of people as they died. The others trunk was used by the executioners. They beat children to death against it.

We knew today would be hard but seeing evidence of such inhumanity is sickening. I wonder why they did it and what would I do, kill or be killed. Many of the Khmer Rouge leaders were school teachers. How did normal children get turned into monstrous, unfeeling, hateful machines? Lastly what has become of them now? Most only my age or a few years older and never brought to justice.

Am I glad we went? - Not really. Would I go there again? - Definitely not. Would I advise other people to go? - Yes I think so.

We were all awake by 8am and slowly repacked our gear. We have arranged a taxi to Phnom Penh and it will cost us 60 dollars. We did consider going on the bus but as it would have cost 40 dollars and take quite a lot longer we opted for the easier option. The road is ok, a very good road that has been surfaced and only has a few potholes. This makes a huge difference to the comfort of the journey and the 4 hours it takes seems to fly by. It gives us a really good opportunity to look at the Cambodian countryside.

As we had heard such mixed reports about Cambodia I was perhaps expecting it to be obviously poverty stricken and dirty but nothing could be further from the truth. It is a beautiful place. The wide, flat , straight roads are lined with trees and palms and hidden behind are small wooden houses on stilts. I think this is because the land is prone to flooding in the wet season. The land is very flat and we pass rice fields. In front of the houses are huge hay mounds and I see people wading through the waters of the massive Mekong River.

I listen to The Rolling Stones on the way and gaze out over the fields. We also pass lots of roadside sellers with little carts and tables piled high with mangoes, pineapples and a type of flat prickly fruit that looks like a cactus. As we get nearer to Phnom Penh the road traffic increases. The driver is fairly careful and I feel reasonably safe as we all have our seatbelts on, however the law of the road here seems to be that everyone uses the entire road and dodges what ever is coming. I worry about this as the decision on who will move is often left until the last moment and it feels like we are in some crazy arcade game at times.

At last we are here and drive along the riverfront looking for our guesthouse. Its really gorgeous here, not what I expected at all and we agree there is an almost continental feel to the area with pavement cafes and French style architecture. The Okay Guesthouse is a large friendly place and our room has 4 single beds in it. With aircon, electric shower and TV we agree 12 dollars is a bargain. We have some food as we're starving and the chicken and rice soup I choose is really great. Simon and the kids watch some film and I finish my latest book.

Tomorrow we are going to visit the infamous S-21 prison and The Killing Fields. We are all feeling apprehensive about this but have decided that if we didn't go, in some way we would be ignoring Cambodia's terrible history. We have agreed that it s important to us that this doesn't happen. We have spoken to a lot of people about going, some have advised not to take the kids and some say we definitely should. We want Ali and Maisie to form their own opinions but I don't want to give them nightmares or upset them.

It’s a hard thing to make up your mind about and we have given it a lot of thought and maybe after tomorrows visit I'll wish we never went. But at the moment hard as may be, for us we definitely feel it’s the right thing to do.

Today has been so hot. We decided to lie in and eventually got up around 10. Unfortunately due to the heat we don't have much motivation to do anything and spend most of the day lazing around The Jasmine Guesthouse. There is a free pool table and we have a few games but mainly spend our time reading. Simon does some maths with the kids but sitting in the restaurant even with the fans on is impossible and we end up in our rooms for the afternoon.

I spend some time talking to one of the fella's from the guesthouse; he is from the town of Battambang and related to the guesthouse owners. He describes how he goes to school in the morning (college) and is studying hospitality in the hope of getting a job in one of the large 5 star hotels presently being built in Siem Reap. He speaks almost perfect English with a slight American accent and I would think he will find it easy to get a job once his training is finished. Siem Reap is very different to what I expected and from the amount of building work going on will be changing dramatically over the next few years.

Simon and Ali hire bikes and decide to go out for a ride. Ali has been nagging to do this since we arrived and I am a little nervous as the roads are fairly busy. Still they return unscathed, apparently having had a good time, albeit a bit knackered! We check the temperature at 8.30pm and as it is still 35 degrees I'm not surprised they're a bit hot!

We decide to return to Khmer Kitchen for dinner as the food was excellent and cheap!
Tonight meal costs us 14 dollars and we're pleased that for the last few weeks at least we seem to be staying within our daily budget. We ask the guesthouse owner to organise a taxi for our journey to Phnom Penh tomorrow and despite the fact that I particularly have done jack shit all day get off to sleep by 1030.

We set the clock today for 7.30 and slowly got going. Simon thought we had arranged to meet the moto driver at 9am. I thought it was 8.30. (I of course was right!)

We set off for the Bayon Temple first. It covers an area of 3km square and the main temple is at the exact centre of the ancient city of Angkor Thom. The temple has a collection of 54 towers with "216 enigmatic coldly smiling huge faces". It is an amazing sight and we spend ages wandering around, taking photos and sucking up the atmosphere of the place. Inside there are many small Buddha images and nuns give us incense to offer to the Buddha.

The surrounding grounds are covered in huge blocks of stone. Extensive restoration work was being carried out but the Khmer Rouge destroyed all the paperwork, leaving the world's greatest jigsaw puzzle for the experts.

From Bayon we get back into our moto and head off to Ta Prohm. It is undoubtedly the most atmospheric of the temples in the region and an example of the massive forces of the jungle. Much of the temple has been completely over run by trees and roots and the temple was especially made famous by Lara Croft. I'm so excited about going here; I can remember looking at photos of it when we were planning our route and Cambodia seemed then to be just about the most exciting and exotic foreign place I could imagine.

Walking up to the temple is an adventure, the tree roots are massive and have completely dislodged the enormous stone work of the temple. Eventually we find the "Tomb Raider" tree and it is absolutely awesome as I expected, very beautiful and a really magical experience visiting it. Definitely one of the most amazing things we have seen on our trip and I absolutely loved it.

We stop off on the way back to The Jasmine Guesthouse and have some spring rolls for lunch. We had planned to spend the afternoon quietly but Simon comes down to the room and tells me he has been chatting to an English girl called Lou who is presently working as a volunteer at an orphanage just out of town. He asks if we can go along this afternoon and visit and she agrees that will be fine.

We all shower and the kids sort out their small collection of toys and games. We stop off at the garage on the way and buy a big tub of sweets and set off in the moto. The orphanage is a small opened sided building made of bamboo and rattan. Lou tells us it houses around 45 children and they live, sleep and have their school lessons all in one room. When we arrive they are playing the branch game which basically involves one child from each team trying to grab a branch from the ground without his opponent touching him.

Ali and Maisie join in and are absolutely brilliant, everyone is laughing at their efforts and Ali gains a bit of respect when he beats his opponent first time. The children range from the ages of around one to young teenagers and are fairly well dressed although a bit grubby! We join in playing a circle game and they obviously find it really hilarious as I'm running around with them. It's good to spend time playing with them and Lou tells us that is her role in the afternoons. In the mornings they have lessons including English. The classroom is sparsely decorated with the letters of the alphabet, a world map, photographs of the children and the names of the colours.

The children give us a bit of a demonstration of their English and then Ali plays them a few songs on his guitar which they seem to like! Maisie gives out the sweets that we have brought and I'm touched by their good manners. Definitely very different to the children that we came across whilst in India! The visit to the orphanage has been a humbling experience for us all. The kids are on the whole boisterous and smiley and absolutely touched our hearts with their wide grins and sense of fun. We left Lou with the small bag of games and toys we had sorted out and before we went Simon and Ali joined in a rowdy game of Frisbee. At first the children didn't know what to do but they caught on fast and all had a great time.

As we leave one of the older boys grabs my hand and holds it all the way to the moto. He asks me to come back tomorrow and it's difficult to prise my hand away from his grip. His little determined face reminds me of my own lovely Ali and leaving them behind is so hard. All I wanted to do was scoop them up and take them home.

In the evening Lou joins us and we all go out for dinner, she explains that she is spending a month in Cambodia working as a volunteer. In the mornings she works with street children on a project called Green Gecko. The children's parents have to agree to send their kids to school in the mornings where they will be taught English amongst other things to increase their chances of employment when they grow up. In return the parents are provided with a small cart from which they can sell street food etc. The condition of this is that the children must not be sent out onto the streets to beg.

Today has been an interesting and thought provoking day. Simon and I have long talked about working as volunteers abroad at some point in the future and it has strengthened our resolve. We have our meal and watch the street kids around us. Lou tells us a bit about some of the kids including her favourite, a child who was beaten by his father recently and told he must make 20 dollars a night begging. It's hard to hear.

We make our way back to The Jasmine its 11.30 and we're all quite tired we will have a lie in tomorrow and plan our next few days as we make our way to the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh.

We set the alarm for 6.30 and after a quick bowl of cornflakes each jump in our moto for the ride to Angkor Wat. It is the largest religious building in the world and was built in the 12th century by King Suryavarman II. We have all been looking forward to our visit, although the kids are more excited about the Tomb Raider temples of Ta Prohm.

We get our passes and are pleased to see we don't have to pay for Maisie, this saves us 40 dollars. We have decided to get a 3 day pass as it so hot and take it easy around the temples. The drive up to Angkor is a beautiful one and the temple itself is surrounded by a moat and huge expanses of somewhat dried up looking grass. As we near the driveway there are lots of small kids selling hats, postcards and drinks and they run after us asking that we buy something.

We make the long walk up the drive in the scorching sun, its only 8.30am and we're glad we didn't leave our visit until later in the day. As we enter through the gate the massive temple is in front of us. It has been described as the heart and soul of Cambodia and a source of inspiration and national pride for all Khmers after their years of terror and trauma. It is quite a fantastic sight and amazingly and luckily wasn't damaged by the American bombing campaign or the Khmer Rouge. (KR)

We climb the steepest steps I have ever climbed! Ali and I cling on like limpets as it's high as well as steep and I try not to think about how we will get down! As we enter the inner rooms of the temple there are Buddhist sculptures and the walls are intricately carved demonstrating the life of the great Angkorian King Suryavarman II. We take lots of photos and wander around for a couple of hours before we get too hot.

We get back to our moto and ask the driver to take us to the Landmine Museum. The founder of the museum was a Khmer Rouge fighter as a child and helped lay thousands of landmines. Both his parents were killed by the KR and he was captured by the invading Vietnamese aged 13 and given the choice of fighting against the KR or death. He chose to fight and subsequently has spent his life since removing mines. (It is estimated there are still between 3 and 6 million mines in Cambodia laid by various fighting forces)

The museum is free and very interesting; a young fella called Pai guides us around. He lost his leg aged 10 and the same landmine killed his brother. There are at least half a
dozen young people with amputated limbs at the museum and it’s a moving experience listening to Pai's story. Most of the mines are very small and innocuous looking but the sheer numbers of them piled all around make you realise what a horrible weapon they are.

From the Landmine museum we head to the local hospital. We have seen a sign at the Jasmine Guesthouse urging visitors to donate blood which is in very short supply due to such high rates of HIV infection in the population. There is a sign at the hospital entrance saying "Urgent blood donation needed due to epidemic of Haemorrhagic Dengue Fever"- scary. It seems a small thing to do and won't cost us anything. Although we left a 15 dollar donation at the Landmine Museum it did seem a bit inadequate when you consider the cost of clearing the mines from Cambodia.

I'm really scared of giving blood and when it comes to it they won't take my blood anyway which is partially a relief and partially a disappointment. They take Simon's though and he said it hurt much more than when he donates blood at home. That done and he gets a packet of biscuits, a sticker, a coke and a t-shirt for his trouble. We all share the biscuits and leave the t-shirt behind. We have enough to carry!

We get back and the kids write a newspaper article about the problems in Cambodia. They both work hard and produce some really good work. We spend the afternoon quietly and go out for dinner in the evening to The Khmer Kitchen, the food is fantastic. A little bit like Thai food but simpler tasting. We have sticky rice, morning glories (vegetables) a chicken Khmer curry and a sort of potato and beef layered pie.

We watch the telly when we get back. All the stuff we had read and seen in the past few days is in some ways very overwhelming and miserable and like the kids I feel we need some time to absorb it all. A break from our own thoughts whilst watching a documentary about sharks is exactly what we need. Simon points out that we have got more TV channels here than anywhere else we have stayed on our trip. Not bad for a 3 quid room!

We have a lie in today, although I'm sure Cambodia has so much to offer as our time here is very limited we will be spending most of the next 2 weeks divided between Siem Reap and the capital Phnom Penh. As we are still tired from yesterday we are going to buy our passes for Angkor after 5pm today. The passes cost 40 dollars each for 3 days but if you buy them after 5pm you can visit the temples and watch the sunset without using up one of your days.

Simon spends an hour doing some science with the kids which seems to go really well, they are doing the physics bit on light and sound and it is quite a large section that will take some time. I spend a few hours reading and trying to get my head around Cambodia's complicated history so that I can explain it better to Ali and Maisie.

The guidebook describes it as the good, the bad and the ugly. The good was the Angkorian period, culminating with the building of a massive empire and the huge temples that we have come to see. Next the bad, from the 13th century Cambodia was invaded by its neighbours the Thais amongst others. Then the ugly - civil war, bombing by America and the brutality of the Khmer Rouge during the 1970's.

Before we arrived here we didn't know that much about Cambodia's past but although we have only been here just over a day I think for us Cambodia will be defined by its history.

During the 1960's Cambodia remained a place of peace whilst war raged in neighbouring Vietnam. However that was about to change, the government allowed the communist North Vietnamese to use Cambodian territory in their fight against South Vietnam and the USA. In turn the US bombed Cambodia relentlessly causing 250,000 deaths.

Between 1975 and 1979 Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge implemented one of the most brutal restructurings of a society ever attempted. Its goal was to transform Cambodia into a peasant dominated co operative and within days of taking Phnom Penh the entire cities population including the elderly and the sick were forced out of the city and into the fields to work. 1975 was declared Year Zero and currency, postal services and religion were banned. Cambodia was cut off from the rest of the world. Disobedience of any kind meant immediate execution and everything important to the Khmer people was stripped away.

After a quiet day spent lazing around we get some food and sit in the restaurant, some people are watching The Killing Fields and despite seeing it yesterday it's compellingly horrible and we sit staring at the TV again. Hesitantly one of the girls who works here starts to talk about the film and quietly tells me how scared it makes her feel. She describes how her parents witnessed many killings. She asks us to watch a film called The Bloodiest Domino and we take it and watch it on the laptop. It is another thoroughly depressing look at recent Cambodian history and gives us more to think about.

We set the alarm for 6am and after a very quick shower chucked ourselves into a tuk tuk for our ride to the border. The information we had read about the border crossing is very comprehensive if a little alarmist and suggests an early start to avoid massive queues. As gambling is illegal in Thailand but legal in Cambodia the town of Poipet will be besieged with Thais heading for the numerous casinos. Poipet is by all accounts a dangerous, filthy town and we want to get on our way to Siem Reap as soon as possible.

We pass a massive rubbish tip and a large graveyard on the way to the border. Other than those things there is nothing to see and I feel I will be glad to leave. As we approach the border it starts to get very busy with people heading for the market. We have read that we must watch our stuff like hawks here, ignore all children and don't let anyone touch our gear. There is a long queue but we bypass some of it when the border opens at 7 by joining the "foreigner queue". After a few minutes of scrutiny by the border guards we are through and walk to Cambodia. This process of leaving Thailand, getting a visa and proceeding through the Cambodian immigration is rumoured to potentially take hours and we are pleased to be done by 8.30. After all our concerns it was in the end simple and hassle free.

Our first glimpses of Cambodia are a bit like seeing Varanasi in India for the first time. The place is seriously filthy and absolutely stinks. We haven't crossed an overland border on foot before and it's very strange to walk across a line from a comparatively rich place like Thailand to a country as poor as Cambodia and see the difference in the way people are dressed, the roads and transport.

Eventually we reach the taxi services and we pay 2400 baht for a 3 hour car ride to Siem Reap. This sounds quite pleasant but nothing could be further from the truth. The roads are shockingly bad, no paving or tarmac and full of potholes. The laws of the roads seem to be that everyone goes wherever they want trying to avoid the largest potholes. The road surface is red earth and due to the dust the visibility is extremely poor. Sometimes down to several feet in front only. On a positive note we only go about 20 MPH so I don't worry about accidents and feel we are safe enough.

In 3 hours we only pass through 2 very small towns. There is nothing to see on the way apart from flat green brown dusty plains, distant hills, occasional road signs and electricity pylons. There isn't that much traffic on the way either, some motorbikes and a few buses. Several motorbikes have up to 3 large pigs strapped upside down on the back. We couldn't make out if they were alive or dead and hoped for their sakes they were dead.

At last the roads start to improve and soon we reach Siem Reap, first impressions are of a large clean city with lots of posh hotels. We pull up outside The Jasmine Guesthouse and I'm really pleased with our choice. Who couldn't like a place with a sign on the door saying "laundry ready same day if sun shiny". This is next to a sign saying no guns, no bombs and no drugs! We have been so rattled around in the car that none of us are in the mood to do anything other than laze around this afternoon. We check in, the cost of the rooms is 6 dollars each and sit upstairs in the restaurant. As we went without breakfast we have our lunch sandwiches, chips and salad and decide to watch a film on the DVD player.

There is a good choice of films and we definitely want to see Tomb Raider which was filmed at Angkor but in the end we choose The Killing Fields. We agree with Ali that coupled with the discussion we had about the Khmer Rouge on the way here, this will be their schoolwork for the day. We have given lots of thought to exposing them to the atrocities committed in the 1970's in Cambodia but feel they are old enough to cope with this information. Watching the film is sad and moving and although Simon and I have both seen it before I can't really explain too well how it feels to be here amongst the Khmer people whose country still has so many scars to show for the brutality of 30 years ago.

Later we have dinner and try to make some plans for the next few days. Ali plays pool with some fella's and Maisie plays her PSP. I'm feeling knackered and over heated and a good nights sleep definitely won't be far off.

At this point we are leaving Thailand and are crossing the border into the Kingdom of Cambodia.

You'll find us now in the Cambodia section of the blog.

Thailand has been for me a beautiful country. Our planned route never worked out and we ended up experiencing a completely unexpected journey to almost deserted islands and the amazing Khao Sok National Park. Our few days spent in the jungle and on the rafthouses were absolutely awesome and definitely one of the highlights of our trip so far.

Bangkok remains my favourite city in the world, with fantastic shopping centres, spirit houses, wondrous temples, street vendors, cheap taxis, rip off designer gear, excellent transport system and millions of people it is a great place and I would recommend a visit to anyone.

After just over a month here, in some ways I feel like I know and understand the Thai people and their culture even less now than before we arrived here. The majority of people we have met have been friendly but despite our best attempts some of the people we have met have been really unfriendly and rude. As we have learnt our manners in Thai and used them on every occasion I can only assume that the famous Thai smiles have maybe become a bit jaded due to the numbers of "farang" that visit every year.

The majority of Thais are deeply religious and fervent royalists and we have seen evidence of this in every single town we have visited. We have been pleased to see less of the sex tourism side to Thailand but definitely think this is because we didn't visit places like Pattaya. (We only had one night out in Patpong!) I read some books documenting stories of young women involved in prostitution in Bangkok and their stories make you realise that even a fairly innocent voyeuristic night out to gawp at the girlie bars actually just adds to the exploitation of these women and sometimes men and children.

Unfortunately or maybe fortunately we never made it to the north of Thailand. I'm sorry about this but on the other hand we now have a great excuse to return here in a few years time.

After a 5 hour bus ride today, we have finally arrived at the Thai/Cambodian border town of Aranya prathet. We have read reports that Poipet the border town on the other side is like the wild, wild east, so have decided to stay here for the night and cross the border in the morning when hopefully the numbers of people crossing into Cambodia will be less. We will be issued with a visa at the border; if everything goes smoothly it will cost us 80 US dollars. The US dollar is the most commonly used currency in Cambodia although the riel and Thai baht are also accepted in some places. The border guards are renowned for being corrupt and apparently the taxi service on the other side is run by the local mafia.

As Cambodia is still littered with landmines, poverty stricken and a somewhat lawless society where disputes are usually sorted out by gunshot, Maisie did ask in all seriousness why are we going there? Well I think she has a point, but despite all the scare stories violent crimes against foreigners are very rare and the lure of Angkor Wat is proving too great! We researched all our trip destinations very carefully and as always when moving to a new country checked the UK foreign office website for the latest travel information last night. We're not scared just a bit apprehensive!

We stay in our room and Simon gets some food, a basic meal of rice, vegetables and green curry. After a very short hour of literacy, we watch the new Rocky Balboa film and as we have to be up at 6am its lights off by 10.

It is our last day in Bangkok and we decide to try and make it an educational one. We therefore set off for The National Museum. Unfortunately our cabbie doesn't seem to understand where we want to go at all despite showing him the name in Thai also and we have to stop and ask a few people before we're on the right track!

He chucks us out quite a distance from the museum and we decide to walk the rest of the way. It's hot but so cloudy that it isn't unbearable and we make our way along quite well. We have read recently that Bangkok has a huge drive to clean it up and it is for the most spotlessly clean wherever we have been, making walking along the streets an interesting pleasure. As we pass an ornate temple a well dressed, business like looking fella points out King Rama 3rd's statue. After a quick chat we realise he is a scam artist, big clue when he tells us today is Buddhist day and the museum is closed!

The Royal Family are of utmost importance to most Thais and deeply respected. We spent a few hours learning about the Kings when we travelled to Thailand and are hoping to consolidate some of this information for the kids today. The present monarch is King Bhumibol Adulyadej ( Rama 9th) and has reigned since 1946 making him the worlds longest serving head of state. He is immensely popular and regarded by many Thais as a semi divine figure.

The museum is interesting and we use the exhibits to discuss some of Thailand's history that we have learnt during our stay here. The kids are really knowledgeable about recent history such as the Japanese invasion during WWII and we refresh our memories of ancient history. When we holidayed in Thailand in 2005 we visited Kanchanaburi (The Bridge over the River Kwai) and were amazed and inspired by Ali and Maisie's level of comprehension and capacity for compassion when faced with the stories of the atrocities of The Burma Railway and a visit to The Allied war cemeteries. It was for us all a deeply moving experience and one which we won't forget.

The most interesting exhibits were the fabulous funeral palanquins. So ornate and beautifully gilded, the largest palanquin has carried the cremated remains of all of the previous 8 kings of Thailand. It was last used in 1996 when the present king oversaw the funeral procession of his mother.

By now we have all had enough and head off to Siam Square for some food. We decide on Ali's favourite sushi and then take the kids to see the supercars. We catch the skytrain back and they have a quick swim before settling down to some maths with Simon. I repack some of our gear and we talk about our travel plans over the next few days. We are both slightly apprehensive about our journey through Cambodia. The roads and transport system are fairly poor and the whole country is still recovering from the brutal Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970's.

We are going to try for an early night as we have a long journey ahead tomorrow.

It was great to wake up this morning and go and wake the kids up. We have decided to spend the day doing what they want and after breakfast they head for the pool. I am putting the dreaded schoolwork off for today. They did cover 2 sections of science whilst they were with Jem and Caron, so I don't feel too bad about it.

We have a quiet and lazy day sat by the pool sunbathing and reading. There are two children staying here called Callum and Hazel and before too long they are all playing together. Simon and I chat to their mum and she tells us they are on holiday for a month and heading to Ko Samui on Saturday.

By 5.30 we're all feeling a bit frazzled, it has been cloudy on and off today but very hot and we all have our showers to cool down. We collect a huge bag of laundry and I have a big sort out of the kid's clothes. We will leave some stuff here as they have come back with a few new items and some of their gear is starting to look really worn.

Maisie sits on the bed reading the Lonely Planet and announces she has found somewhere for dinner. It turns out to be a crepe restaurant and as it is only 2 skytrain stops away we decide to give it a try. The food is ok but the setting is lovely and we have another relaxed and happy evening chatting together. We call off at Haagen Daz on the way home and all end up sharing Maisie's cone. As usual her eyes are bigger than her belly!

I wake up feeling queasy, probably excited as kids are back today and can't face breakfast. We end up in Starbucks and I have a cappuccino and apple and walnut muffin- very healthy. We have decided to go to Chinatown this morning, I bought a silver claw hairclip when we were here before and want to get another.

We take a taxi to Hualamphong train station. First job of the day is to cancel our tickets to Sukuthai and get a partial refund. Due to the continuing poor air quality in the north of Thailand we have decided not to go there. We walk from there to Chinatown, it's not far and Chinatown is a completely fascinating area. There are lots of shop fronts along the amazingly busy streets, selling all sorts of stuff from red Chinese lanterns to good luck charms, whole Peking duck, live crabs, everything you would need to make shoes, nuts, fresh fruit, solid aluminium bars, gold jewellery and silk to name just some things.

We find the shop I wanted and get my hairclips, as we are walking along we realise we are outside The Temple of the Golden Buddha. We visited it last time and hadn't planned to return but decide to as we right here. The golden Buddha is one of Thailand's most valuable treasures. Its stands at 15ft, is 700 years old and is made of solid gold. Like the sacred Emerald Buddha, it was originally covered in plaster and it wasn't discovered to be made of gold until 1955. It is really beautiful and we take lots of photos and stand gazing at it for ages.

Several hours in Chinatown is enough and we catch a taxi to Siam Square. We do a bit of shopping, have some lunch and then get the sky train back to Ploen Chit. Jem has planned to bring the kids back at 6pm and we have a shower and laze around for the afternoon.
Eventually they arrive, we're so thrilled to see them and it sounds like they have had a fantastic time. They say goodbye to Jem and we have a drink before heading up the road to the Italian restaurant where we ate last night. We have an absolutely perfect evening, hearing all about their time in Ko Samui and tell them what we have been doing in Ko Chang and Ko Samet.

When we get back to The Atlanta we all jump in the bed together and watch a film. It's so good to have them back and we are relieved they are so pleased to be "home" We did wonder if they would say they had had enough of travelling and wanted to return to England but no, happily that doesn't seem to be the case at all!

It's late now, past midnight and I'm off to bed, gonna get a lie in tomorrow before we think about our next plans for travel to Cambodia.

Today we have to return to Bangkok as we will be collecting Ali and Maisie tomorrow afternoon. We set our alarm for 8am and while Simon quickly repacked I went down to the bookshop to exchange my book. After our breakfast we said goodbye to the fella at Ao Phia resort and wandered down to the road to wait for a taxi. 10 minutes later and we're on our way back to the pier, we pass Ko Samet's main beach on the way. It does look really busy and overdeveloped but we've loved it here and I'm sorry to be leaving.

We buy our boat ticket (50 baht) and clamber across 2 wooden fishing boats to get to the one we want. Glad we don't have all our gear with us, it has been a lot easier with only 2 rucksacks. Once the boat is full we set off back to the mainland, it takes about 40 minutes and its good sitting on the boat in the warm sun. We make our way up the rickety wooden pier which looks like it may collapse at any moment. I ask to use a toilet and a small boy shows me the way, past his family's home.

Eventually we get on a minibus to Bangkok; it costs 250 baht each and the journey takes around 3 hours. I read my book and listen to my music on the way, as we near Bangkok it starts to rain heavily. The roads into Bangkok are big, busy highways and the traffic is heavy but despite this the driver speeds along, narrowly avoiding several other cars on the way. The casual approach to safety is something I'll never get used to and I close my eyes and hope for the best. Happily we soon arrive unscathed and jump out into the chaos that is Bangkok.

As the traffic looks solid we decide to take the skytrain, we are going back to The Atlanta Hotel in Th Sukumvit area. The skytrain is fast efficient, cheap and easy to use and credited with solving much of Bangkok legendary traffic problem. Since our holiday in Thailand an underground metro system has also opened, reducing pollution and congestion. We get off the skytrain at Ploen Chit Station and walk a few hundred yards up the road to Starbucks. An iced coffee and complimentary brownie later and we're ready for the final traipse up the road.

Back at The Atlanta we get ourselves sorted, hot water shower is good and I sort out my wild looking hair. We are completely starving and head out for some food. We don't get far, 200 yards up the road and decide the little Italian restaurant we have passed a few times looks good. It's very quiet there and we are the only customers sat outside but the food and service are both excellent. We chat to the manager who is Vietnamese and she tells us a little about her country. It really sounds so beautiful and I can't wait to get there. She offers us lemon cello after our meal, Simon tried it before whilst working in Italy but I never have and it goes down a treat.

Get back to our hotel and off to bed the kids are back tomorrow, so excited!! Going to do a bit of shopping and hopefully to Chinatown to buy a hair clip.

When I was reading the LP it described Ko Samet as very over developed, infested with mosquitos and with a large collection of pesky stray dogs. Well just goes to show guidebooks are after all, only someone's opinion. We have really liked it here and it has definitely been one of my favourite places we have visited in Thailand. Some of the stretches of beach are quite busy, but the roads are rustic to say the least, the accommodation is basic and cheap and there are definitely more young Thais here having a good time than package tourists or backpackers.

The beach is so gorgeous, powdery white sand and the sea is clearer than almost anywhere else we have been. We have had a lovely day, sitting in deckchairs catching a few rays on the beach. I have been listening to Faithless on my newly updated MP3 player and Simon has been recovering from a late night, he sat up watching the rugby. In the afternoon we had a snack of sweet sticky rice cooked in bamboo and fresh mango. So good.

Tomorrow we will be heading back to Bangkok and collecting the kids on Tuesday, can't wait, sad as it sounds I feel like I have been ticking the days off until we get them back! On the way back from the beach we collect our laundry, never again will I under estimate what a fantastic invention washing machine and tumble driers are. Although the thrill of having clean clothes to wear is an emotion that I never experienced at home and definitely something I completely took for granted!

Well we're both knackered and plan to get some food and then an early night. Although we are in theory only around 3 hours max from Bangkok, sometimes short journeys have a horrible habit of taking all day and we're not too enthralled with the thought of a bus ride tomorrow.

Its clear blue skies today and we virtually skip down the hill looking for some breakfast. We decide that we will check out some of Ko Samet's other beaches on the net before deciding whether to move or not. I like it here and after checking the other beaches we decide to stay put, we had thought about going somewhere quieter but as its Saturday night we're more in the mood to party than sit in some secluded restaurant. Anyway we ring a few places and they're all full so that’s that, we're going nowhere.

Ko Samet is full of young people down from Bangkok for the weekend; the amount of liquor that they have brought with them is impressive, I think even Simon, Alli, Adrian and me on a big night would be hard pushed to get through that lot, although if they were here I guess we would have a little go!

We have such a doss day, thanks to Cherie for suggesting we come here, it's great, so different to Ko Chang, much busier but in a friendly party kind of way. We laze around on the veranda of our bungalow. In the evening we have a few beers and then phone home and talk to mum about their holiday plans, how exciting! We decide to have a BBQ on the beach for dinner, the kebabs are yummy and cheap and we have a few gins to wash them down.

After dinner we walk along the shores edge, there are fire twizzlers and the whole beach is buzzing with Thai's partying hard. My sandals have bust so I walk along bare footed, I did try hopping along for a little while but it was slow progress and I gave it up in the end. We reach a bar and sit on floor mats at a low table; it’s a fantastic setting out on the rocks in a little sandy space. We listen to the music, very atmospheric "Come on Barbie lets go party" etc I love it! And watch some young couple having a row! As I am about to say "I'll have a coffee please" some strange impulse causes me to say "I'll have a frozen Margarita" and before I know I know it the dreaded tequila is on the table. (Cherie do you remember that night)

As we are leaving I see a big shell on the bar, I have a listen for the sea but get slightly confused as we are right on the beach so not too sure if the sea I hear is the actual sea or not, anyway the fella says I can have it, so nice of him. When I get it home it has I love Samed carved on it. A love shell -aaah!

We have slept through for 12 hours and wake up feeling slightly more rested than the last 2 previous mornings. We have our breakfast and set off on what I can only describe as an arduous journey that went something like this sawngthaew, ferry, sawngthaew, bus, sawngthaew, coffee, sawngthaew, speedboat, knackered converted fishing boat ( worried here I may never be seen again) sawngthaew. I now have a pressure sore the size of Wales on my arse, a blinding headache and indigestion through lack of food.

Still when we finally arrive on Ko Samet I just know I'm going to have a good time here, its busy and the bars and restaurants and fairly packed but the music being blasted out onto the beach is my kind of thing. We bypass the pier beach and get out at the next beach having paid 400 baht national park entrance fees first. The roads are terrible but I quite enjoy bouncing around in the back of the sawngthaew, it’s a bit like low key mountain climbing for jeeps.

We eventually get somewhere to stay after trailing round for 40 minutes, its dark and the little bungalow we have chosen is basic but the bed is so so and its cheap. We have dinner on the beach, although we wait ages for our food, beef with basil, chicken and cashews, fried vegetables and steamed rice, when it comes it really good and we wolf it down. After a few drinks we make our way up the hill and crash out, plenty of time for Ko Samet tomorrow.

Today we have had a blissful day; we woke up and walked the 500m along the beach to The Siam Beach Hotel. This is where we will be spending tonight at least and we get some breakfast and have some coffee before bagging a couple of beach sun loungers The weather is gorgeous today, bright hot and sunny and I lie on my sunbed under the shade of a coconut palm, listening to my MP3 player and thanking my lucky stars that I'm here today and not stuck at work.

The sea is very warm and we have a great time splashing around together, it is the first time we have been on holiday without the kids for years and we are starting to really enjoy ourselves! There are some small waves and lots of bright electric blue jelly fish at the waters edge. Some people are throwing them at each other so we guess they're not poisonous. As our honeymoon was spent in chilly Majorca with Ali and Maisie when they were little we are making up for it now and have a lovely romantic day lazing around, playing in the sea, reading our books and listening to music.

I have really caught the sun today; we have been using factor 30 suncream for weeks but still seem to get a bit burnt occasionally. By 4pm we have had enough and after checking our emails head up to our hut. It is in a fantastic location high on a hill, overlooking the bay and with luxuries like air con and soft mattresses we're in 7th heaven!

We have had an email from our friend Cherie today; she has suggested we visit Ko Samet. Although Ko Chang is lovely we have found it hard to find somewhere decent to stay cheaply and coupled with a few days of cloudy weather we decide that it will be better to move on and maybe regret it than stay here and then wish we had moved ( if that makes any sense!). So it looks like we will on the move again tomorrow. We have also read today that we will be unable to visit Chaing Mai, due to the slash and burning of trees there the air quality is so poor that some governments are advising people not to travel there at the moment.

We watch the sunset from a small bar, with a beer and Pink Floyd it’s a cool end to the day. After dinner we walk back to our hut, it looks so pretty at night; the path is lit with lights inside half coconut shells with patterns cut out of the shells. We have quick shower and crash out, its very early but hey its dark and that's good enough for us.

As we were up with the larks this morning, neither of us have any inclination to do anything today. We have some breakfast, the days always seem to start well with fruit and yogurt and disintegrate into beer and spring rolls later! We decide enough is enough, although we have paid for tonight's bed after that we have to move as we are both desperate to sleep on a softer mattress. Simon's observation about the cheap beds in Thailand is that they must cost more to make them so solid. When you sit on them there is literally no give whatsoever and I can really only describe it as like sleeping on the floor at home.

We walk along to an internet café and do a bit more research on Vietnam; we will definitely have to stay somewhere better than most of the places we choose once mum and Paul arrive but obviously as cost is such an important factor for us we don't want to pay loads. It seems there is lots of mid ranged accommodation available in the places we want to go so that’s sorted.

This area is called Lonely Beach, although I wouldn't describe it as lonely due to 5 or so resorts along the coastline, where we are currently staying is pretty and fairly quiet. There are a few English backpackers here but most tourists/ travellers seem to be either Scandinavian or German. It is very green and very hilly with lots of trees and bushes lining the roads. The sea is calm and so warm and we decide to have a swim to cool down. It is extremely hot and humid but quite cloudy today and we talk about how I would be having a complete freak if we were on holiday here for 2 weeks! As it is its quite good to have a bit of a break from the fierce suns rays and I lie on the beach reading my latest book, a Jackie Collins bonkbuster that Simon says he is ashamed to be seen anywhere near!

Eventually after checking a few places we decide to move tomorrow to an air con beach bungalow, built on stilts and set on the hillside of the Siam Beach Resort. It's double the cost of this place but we don't care, it's less than a tenner and if we don't move I reckon we'll have to pay out the extra in Thai massage fees to patch up our knackered backs.

We have had a lovely evening, for dinner we chose the beach barbeque and the food was really great and cheap, we had t bone steak, chicken kebabs and huge tiger prawns with salad and best of all a jacket potato which we split in half it tasted so good we were almost fighting over it!

When we got back we decided to watch a film and choose Snakes on a plane. Unless films are really good and capture my interest in the first few minutes I quickly give up and I can only describe this film as complete pants! Simon said fortunately we were saved from our own morbid curiosity as it packed up half way through, yoo hoo for pirated copies, sometimes it works in your favour as we found out tonight!

As for Ko Chang looking a bit more inviting in the sunshine, well that’s a laugh as we get in our sawngthaew to the southwest coast it starts to piss it down with rain, great. We didn't actually wake up this morning until nearly 11 and had decided to leave. I was sitting on the veranda having a coffee when slowly one by one a small troop of little monkeys began to appear on the roofs of the other bungalows. Suddenly there was obvious great excitement among the troop as they began to jump up and down chattering away.

A fella appeared up the path with a huge bag of rotten banana and watermelon. It was absolutely enchanting and we sat there watching them quietly, by far the best opportunity we have had to see wild monkeys close up.

We arrive on the southwest coast and have a bit of breakfast, an English fella comes rushing up as soon as we get out of the taxi and does his best to persuade us to stay at his bungalows. Although they are brand new and clean they are built on what is basically a building site and we decide against it. He sends us off in the direction of the Ban Lai resort but again we're not happy. The room are cheap (300) per night but the beach is rocky and it's not pretty.

Eventually after wandering along the road for half a mile, no mean feat in 35 plus degrees with large backpacks, we find somewhere we like and stop for a drink. We would have probably collapsed from heat exhaustion anyway had we gone much further!
We spend the afternoon lying on our bed, on the floor watching Peter Duncan's family travels to China and in the evening walk along the beach to the resort next door.

Its really beautiful and very romantic sat in the candlelight a few feet from the waves, the only other light is from the stars and we can see the squid boats lit up on the horizon. We have baby clams in the pot and red snapper to eat. We get a text from my mum and Paul they have booked a flight to Vietnam and we will be meeting them in Ho Chi Minh City on 13th April yippee, so excited, it will be great to see them and I can't wait to tell the kids.

We have our coffee sat on mats on the beach and listening to reggae music, it isn't exactly serene but it's laid back with hammocks, Beer Chang and a decent book selection and I'm looking forward to spending the day on the beach tomorrow catching a few more rays.

Today has been a very long day. We did watch the rugby last night but that was the extent of our energy expenditure. As my arse has been welded to what must be the worlds worst bed for the last 24 hours you would think I would be up and raring to go but no, I'm still knackered and the cold shower and Starbucks coffee take a long time to kick in.
We have packed most things and after a quick breakfast of watermelon, banana and yogurt we wander up the road to get me a book and Simon some t-shirts.

At 11.30 we're finally ready for the off and catch a taxi to Hualamphong train station. We buy tickets to Sukothai in the north of Thailand for the 21st March. We are meeting the kids back in Bangkok on the 20th and plan to visit Sukothai on our way to Chiang Mai, Thailands 2nd largest city. That sorted we make our way across town to The Eastern bus terminal where we board a bus to Trat.

Trat is a smallish town near the Thai/Cambodia border and we are planning to catch the ferry from Trat to the island of Ko Chang. The bus rides are ok and this bus is good, air conditioned with very comfortable seats. Still 6 hours is a long time and by the end of it I'm very fidgety. I read my new book on the way, and listen to my MP3 but still am glad when we finally arrive. In between the cities Thailand is quite industrial and not very pretty in places but I still enjoy staring out of the window and watching the world go by.

As we haven't got Ali and Maisie with us we can be more flexible and less organised which isn't hard for us at the moment as neither of us are too fussed about where we stay tonight. We were going to stay in Trat overnight but decide to head straight for Ko Chang instead. The ferry takes an hour and when we arrive the sawngthaew driver packs us in like sardines with an entertaining French fella called Jean Sebastian and a Swedish family who are travelling for 5 months with their 3 daughters aged 12, 9 and 3. They have been to Cambodia and the eldest girl tells us about eating spiders (Can't wait to tell Maisie that!)

We ask to go to The White Sands Beach, it is the busiest resort on Ko Chang and even though it's completely dark before we even board the ferry as soon as we arrive I can see its not going to be for us. We wander along the busy street, lined with shops, daytrip agents and restaurants and quickly realise our idea of saving some money by staying in a cheap place isn't going to happen tonight. After trying few places we settle on a grungy little beach hut (Not on the beach) for 400 baht. (5 quid). We especially like the homely little touches it has to offer, for example all the gaps in the walls are stuffed with toilet paper and the only place to clean your teeth is over the toilet. Nice.

We have some ok Thai food on the beach and return to our little palace, there is hardly room to swing a rat in here and we're both distinctly underwhelmed, looking forward to moving to the southwest coast of the island tomorrow I'm sure Ko Chang will look a bit more inviting in the sunshine.

I woke up fully dressed with a rose in bed with me, a bottle of Singha on the floor and half a packet of Marlboro Reds on the side. Oh god.

We ventured up to Burger King at 2pm, ate a double whopper and went back to bed. Later Simon bought some disks with films on and we watched James Bond Casino Royale (for the 3rd time) and Jackass 2.

Its 8pm just going out for food, still feeling ill and dehydrated, had a fresh lemon and watermint shake earlier, it didn't mend me but has helped a bit. Simon wants to watch the rugby; I think I'll be watching the inside of my eyelids.

The alarm goes off and we all wake up and shower quickly, Maisie isn't feeling very well with a sore throat and I worry as today they are off to their Dads for 10 days. We get in a taxi and arrive early at the Sheraton Orchid Hotel where they're staying. The kids are thrilled to see Jem and we wave goodbye to them with a list of instructions about keeping up with the schoolwork, eating well etc etc.

We catch a boat back along the Chao Phraya River and make our way back to Th Khao San Rd. We sit and have some breakfast and talk about what to do for the day. It's strange without the kids and we will miss them so much. We decide to cheer ourselves up we will go shopping and get a taxi to The Siam Complex of shopping centres. The Siam Paragon was still being built when we came last time and it's really an amazing place. The shops are so good and there's so much choice. I need some new underwear and we stand looking around at a whole floor of knickers. Eventually we make a few purchases and I also buy a lipstick from MAC that costs more than a day's accommodation and food.

Ali would love it here, one floor has super cars and we look at the Ferrari, Aston Martin and Maserati shops, the food halls is also very impressive and we choose chicken and pork satay and spicy Thai sausages. I have a crumbled cookie frappe to drink - so yummy. We walk to The Hard Rock Café and have a jug of Singha, we want to buy Ali a guitar pin, he got one when we came before but lost it and we promised we would get him another if we could. Get a text from Jem they have arrived safely in Ko Samui that's good.

We make our way back and sit having a few beers. We decided last Monday that we wouldn't drink until 7pm as I'm getting a beer belly. So far we haven't managed to do it once and by 5pm we've had quite a few. We ring our friends Alli, Marie and Fe and have a little chat with them. Two hours later and we're sat in the red light district of Patpong outside a gay bar. (The liver is evil and must be punished) My memories of the rest of the night are completely blurred.

I found it really difficult to sleep last night, surprisingly enough as I had been asleep most of the afternoon. At 2am I was considering joining the throngs of people still milling around but couldn't be bothered to get dressed and eventually did drift off.

The kids Dad Jem has asked us to get their passports back from the Chinese embassy as they need photo ID for their flight to Ko Samui. This is real pain as we had planned to go to the zoo for the day and will also cost Jem 80 quid for an express service but Simon says he will go and try and get them back and we set off for Dusit Zoo. Despite being told it's closed, small and rubbish by 3 separate taxi drivers we take no notice and eventually arrive there.

We have a great time wandering around, the zoo has all the usual attractions including elephants, tigers, lions, giraffes and hippos and some extra ones such as the gorgeous Great Hornbills that I love seeing so much and 2 sweet Malay Sun Bears. It's very hot and we decide to get some lunch early around 12.30. As always when it's up to me to decide what to feed the kids junk food wins and I decide it’s a sign when someone gives me vouchers for cheap KFC - hurray!

We have our lunch and decide to head off to see the Red Panda. None of us have heard of such a thing and are intrigued by this, as we are walking along we see Simon in the distance coming towards us. He tells us that he has got the passports back with visas and had decided that any fast food outlet would be a good place to start looking for us! How well he knows me!

We passed some peddle boats earlier and all pile in them. The fella insists we wear lifejackets and the heat is becoming fairly unbearable. Simon and I peddle around the lake very slowly stopping to watch the massive monitor lizards paddling through the water.

By now it is mid afternoon and we decide to make our way back to Th Khao San Road. We all have showers to cool down and I sit with the kids and do some literacy. They write poems about Thailand using a spider plan and the letters of the word THAILAND to start each new sentence. They do well and we all laugh at Alister's "interesting and imaginative" use of sentences.

After dinner we return to The Siam Oriental and repack our rucksacks, we set the alarm for 7 and get an early night.

We are all feeling so tired this morning as we didn't get off to sleep until late and were up at 7. We get in a taxi and show them a piece of paper with the words Chinese embassy written in Thai on it. It is quite a long way from here and takes half an hour, as long as you agree with the driver that they should use the meter it is very cheap though.
We fill out our forms and leave our passports; we are supposed to come back and collect them next Tuesday but may leave it until the week after when we return to Bangkok.

By now we are all hungry but Simon and the kids don't fancy the street food and we end up in a donut shop, very healthy! Still the sugar gives us the kick needed to get going and we head off for The Grand Palace in the ancient royal district of Ko Ratanakosin.

We visited The Grand Palace last year but due to the heat didn't see too much of it and wanted to return there. The palace complex was established in 1782 after King Rama 1's ascension to the throne and houses not only the royal residence and throne halls but a number of government offices as well as the renowned Temple of the Emerald Buddha.

As we walk up to the complex the palace buildings are just breath taking, decorated with jewelled stones and gold leaf the palace buildings shimmer and gleam in the bright sunlight. One of the buildings is covered entirely in gold and mother of pearl and imposing looking stone guardians stand to attention in front of the mosaic encrusted pillars.

We pose for lots of pictures and admire the impressive architecture, despite this being our second visit the kids are really enthusiastic and we agree that the stunning buildings would impress even the most weary "seen it all" traveller.

The Emerald Buddha was discovered by an abbot in the 15th century in Chang Rai. Originally covered in plaster, as was often the case to disguise their value, the abbot noticed the green "emerald" underneath when the Buddha was dropped and chipped. (Actually the Buddha is made of jade). It was then stolen by the Laos people and eventually returned to Thailand around 300 years ago. It is the temple complexes primary attraction and a pilgrimage destination for devout Buddhists. At only 75cm tall it is almost hidden amongst the treasures that it sits upon and is always clad in royal robes, one for each season.

The only way I can describe it is like entering Aladdin's cave, everything is so glittery, jewelled and gold that we don't want to move from it and sit in the mermaid position on the floor for ages staring up at the little Buddha and taking it all in. Photography is prohibited at much of The Grand Palace and although it’s a shame we can't capture the memory of such an amazing place I know it's something I will always remember and would recommend a visit here to anyone. (Wat Phra Kaew)

We have some ice cream and return our borrowed clothing; you must be dressed appropriately to enter the sacred temples. We walk around the perimeter of the complex to Wat Pho this temple houses the worlds largest reclining Buddha at 75m long it is huge and it is almost impossible to visualise it all at once. Covered in gold leaf with panelled mother of pearl inlaid feet it is also very beautiful and the kids enjoy putting their donation money in all the 50 or so bowls that line the walls of the temples.

We get a taxi back to Th Khao San, Maisie and I are completely knackered and have a siesta in the afternoon that lasts for 4 hours! Simon and Ali wander around, having a haircut and buy a LP for Vietnam for 450 baht. In the evening we get some food and head back for a quiet night. Walking around in the heat is so exhausting and we agree that we all need a few more hours sleep tonight.

I woke up so cold as the aircon had been blasting us all night. We have finally made the decision that we are going to move on today and after breakfast sort our stuff out. We have had some laundry done and new clothes coupled with clean clothes go a long way towards making us all feel quite presentable.

We let the kids have a good swim before we leave, there isn't a pool at the new place and we figure we may as well take advantage of it whilst we are here. I lie in a hammock, reading a James Herbert novel and Simon updates the website.

By 1pm it's too hot to sit outside without a fan, even in the shade and we get a taxi across town to Th Khao San Rd. The Siam Oriental Inn is fairly basic and we are sharing a room but its only 790 baht and it has air con. As it is warming up air conditioning is becoming an essential, although strong fans are fairy effective. The temperature in Bangkok today is 38 degrees but it is predicted to cool down to 34 over the next few days. I don't care I love it. Anyone who knows me knows how much I hate the cold and I reckon it's always easier to cool down than warm up.

We are right on the front of the hotel over looking the street. This could mean it will get very noisy later but new laws introduced in Thailand in 2004 mean that bars have to stop serving alcohol at 1am so I don't think it will be too bad. We're quite tough now anyway and will sleep through most noise. The kids and I get a sandwich (Bacon!) and then I do some schoolwork with them. Much of their learning over the past few days has been about the Thai monarchy and history and we settle on science revision for an hour today.

On Saturday we are meeting the kids Dad and his wife Caron, it will be weird without Ali and Maisie for a week and we're both dreading it as well as quite looking forward to spending some time on our own. They will be flying to Ko Samui and hopefully staying somewhere nice.

Simon goes to the Vietnamese embassy and collects our passports, tomorrow we have to go to the Chinese embassy and get those visas organised also. When he comes back we go out for some food. The bar up the road has live music and the food's good and we chat a bit to some American guys about our trip and theirs.

We get back around 10pm and I'm ready for bed, we haven't made any firm plans for tomorrow but as the bed is completely solid I guess jumping up at 7am completely refreshed is unlikely to be on the agenda and I guess we'll take it slowly in the morning!

Despite setting the alarm we managed to oversleep and our plans to be at the Vietnamese Embassy at 8.30 disintegrate. Still we rush around and a 15 minute walk to Wireless Road finds us filling in visa forms and handing over 127 quid. (That was an expensive 20 minutes). On the way back to The Atlanta Hotel we get some street food for breakfast. One of the best things about Bangkok is the huge choice and variety of food you can get here. We choose waffles with sweetcorn filling, grilled bananas with coconut sauce and mini pancakes. We decide to give the duck heads on sticks a miss.

Back at the hotel the kids strip off and go for a swim. I lie on the sunbed reading Heat magazine and catching up on the latest David and Victoria gossip and Simon takes pictures of the kids jumping and diving in. After an hour we drag them away as we are desperate to get out there and have a wander around.

For me Bangkok is my favourite city. It is described as a steamy, sprawling mess and it is undoubtedly chaotic, noisy and so hot. It is famous for the amazing Grand Palace, fantastic Buddha's and the sex industry. When we visited Bangkok last year we planned to stay 2 days and move on. Almost everyone I spoke to assured me 2 days of Bangkok would be enough. In the end we stayed for a week, left feeling we hadn't scratched the surface and having completely fallen in love with the place.

There are many distinct districts of Bangkok, Ko Ratanakosin houses the Grand Palace and many other beautiful temples, Th Sukumvit has the bargirl scene, Siam Square- lots of modern shopping malls, Banglamphu the famous backpacker street Th Khao San Road and Chinatown well lots of Chinese food amongst other things.

We decide to get a taxi to Th Khao San Rd we never went there last year as we were avoiding all tourists and travellers but as it is the cheapest place to stay in town we want to check it out. As expected it is backpacker heaven and the traveller uniform is everywhere. I think if you spent a week here you would be tattooed, pierced and dreadlocked before you knew it! Maisie gets her hair braided and we all buy some new clothes. We sit watching the world going by and having a beer, Ali asks some fella if he can sit on his motorbike and is so pleased when he agrees.

We don't get back to our hotel until late and therefore eat in, I don't really enjoy dinner though, despite The Atlanta's stuck up claims about their menu having "serious and learned annotations" ( what's that all about?!) I think the food is fairly crap and I'm looking forward to moving tomorrow where we will have a bit more choice. Bacon sandwich here I come.

Last night I had one of those rare nights where I slept through solidly until 6.30am. After lying awake for a little while I go back to sleep again and don't wake until 10am. I go downstairs to try and get some coffee but Suda is eating her breakfast, a huge plate of steamed rice and chopped liver and I decide against disturbing her. She asks that we check out at 11am and we quickly shower and pack up.

We follow Suda up the road to another guesthouse; we pay for a tiny room for the day (150 baht) and leave our gear there. It means we can use the shower facilities before we leave for the train station tonight. We than make our way back to Farang Bar, this is where we spent last night and we sit having our breakfast, playing with wooden puzzles and trying to decide how we are going to while away 12 and a half hours before we get our train. We are both really anxious about getting this train; it is the main route back to Bangkok and will be full of backpackers who have been to the full moon party. Our tickets are for seats only and Simon will be in a different carriage to me and the kids. The Lonely Planet has lots of warnings about theft on this train and even documents stories of people who report being gassed to unconsciousness and then robbed. Aaargh!

As I sit contemplating a completely wakeful night sat guarding the kids and our stuff I see written in chalk on the wall - "Taxi to anywhere ask at bar". Eighty quid, a lot of negotiation and a refund on our train tickets later and we're on our way to Bangkok in a Toyota Corolla- hurray! I think we're both pretty relieved and console our selves with the thought that its 80 quid well spent and even if the journey takes 10 hours we will still arrive in Bangkok tonight, rather than in the morning completely knackered and probably very stressed.

The journey is fairly grim in that we leave at 1pm and don't get to Bangkok until 9pm but the kids are absolute stars and don't complain once even though it's cramped and the air conditioning isn't that efficient. They play on their PSP's and I read a book and although I wouldn't say the time flew, we have had worse journeys. Once we arrive in Bangkok the driver is as lost as we would be and eventually after driving around for an hour we get out and jump in a taxi. The taxi driver drives like a twat and I get really uptight. I can't bear the thought that we have just spent 8 hours from Chumphon to here, only to meet our maker at the hands of some murderous cabbie who doesn't know what brakes were invented for.

I sit with my arms across the kids cursing him and am so relieved when we reach Th Sukhumvit. We stayed here last year and it is an ok area. Most of Bangkok's sex tourists stay here also but we found it quiet enough. We pull into Soi 2 (side road 2) where The Atlanta Hotel is and at last we have arrived.

The Atlanta Hotel is a really great place to stay; built in the 1940's, I think time has stood still here. The reception has all the original features including art deco leather writing desk, alarm switchboard system and frightfully posh manager who sounds like Mr Chumley Warners. There is a sign on the first floor with the hotel rules which include firstly and most important, no sex tourists. The long list of do's and don'ts are funny but leave you in no doubt that if the rules were to be broken you would be out like a flash. It was the first hotel in Thailand to have a swimming pool and cinematic screen. The pool is original also and although the screen has long gone the rockery and gardens are exactly the same. I like spending time looking at the photographs of the hotel in its heyday in 1954 and reading the history of the place. Like Simon said you half expect to see Noel Coward sat up the corner.

We eat in the restaurant and the menu is massive, luckily now we are good at ordering Thai food and don't over order even when encouraged to by the staff! They have all been working for the hotel for years and are very sweet, helpful and kind. Our family suite costs us 1500 baht, fairly expensive but we are planning to move in the next few days and for now this place will do fine.

I woke up early having spent the night dreaming about my friends and family. For a minute I can't even think where I am and it takes me a while to get going. Simon goes off to get train tickets to Hua Hin but returns empty handed, all the trains to central Thailand are full for the next few days and it looks like we won't be going anywhere at the moment

After breakfast we decide to pack up our gear, check out and head to the bus station in the hope of getting a bus somewhere. The local orange buses go to Chumphon and as we arrive one is just pulling away. The conductor, a scary old lady snaps at us to get on quickly and we stumble up the steps as fast as our rucksacks will allow. The local buses are almost works of art. Although they are quite old the seats are made of red and blue leather and the ceilings laminated in shiny red, yellow and green with highly polished silver fittings, neat little curtains at the windows and whirring fans.

Despite them sounding quite nice though this would be a false impression. They are so hot, bumpy and can be noisy with karaoke music blasting out of the speakers at about 100 decibels. The journey is supposed to take around 2 to 3 hours and costs us 340 baht.
Four and a half hours later and we finally arrive at Chumphon. It has been a long and sweaty journey made only slightly more interesting by watching 3 monks who got on half way.

The landscape is fairly uninspiring too, quite industrial with lots of palm trees and the occasional small town. The roads are straight and I reckon if we had been in any type of half decent vehicle we would have chugged along quite well. As it is, we watch the km signs to Chumphon going down agonisingly slowly.

All Thai men are supposed to don monastic robes at least once in their lifetime; usually this is for a fairly short period of time (3 months) between the times when they leave school and prior to commencing a career or getting married. Some men spend as little time as a week living as a monk but many are ordained for life. We haven't seen that many monks in the Lower Southern Gulf of Thailand but these 3 seem quite friendly and offer us a drink.

They go to sit down on the back seat. Simon is sat there next to a young girl with her sleeping baby across her lap and the dragon conductor lady makes her move immediately. We weren't too sure why, women aren't allowed to touch monks and we wondered later if it was because she may have touched them. Not sure. As we have seen lots of pictures of monks we guessed they don't object to photography and they agreed readily enough when Simon asked if they would mind posing with him!

When the "oh so friendly" conductor finally snarls at us and motions that we should get off (and quickly) we ask a women where Suda's Guesthouse is. We're pleased to see it's just up the road and after quickly checking out the room. (Very old fashioned, spotlessly clean and cheap) we head off back up the road for a beer and some food. We have some decent Thai food, I have shrimps with eggplant and wild basil and Simon has chicken with steamed vegetables in peanut sauce. I give Nicky a quick ring it's good to hear her chirpy voice and have a little chat.

We're so tired from the travelling and tomorrow have a vile journey ahead. We have decided we must head straight to Bangkok to get visas organised and are catching the train at midnight tomorrow. The main flaw in this plan is that we couldn't get on a sleeper train and our tickets are for 2nd class overnight seats only. Oh my god will I make it through. At the moment I do feel a little doubtful.

Despite the boiling hot weather I am still feeling stuffed up with a cold and wake up all snotty with a headache, added to this is the misery of an uncountable number of mosquito bites and I'm feeling pissed off to say the least this morning. We have to decide today where we are going next and make the decision to stay here for another day until I hopefully feel better and then travel to either Hua Hin or Chumphon tomorrow.

We say goodbye to Lauren and Bina, they are heading off to the full moon party and then to Ko Tao for a few days. It's been great travelling with them and we've all enjoyed it a lot. We then phone home, its Paul's birthday today and we all sing to him. Happy Birthday Grandad XXX We get some donuts from Tescos and eat them (with 2 sudafed for me also) instead of the birthday cake that we would have if we were at home! I tell Paul we'll have a birthday toast to him later although it may be with orange juice if I've not chirped up a bit.

We then decide to phone a few of our friends and catch up with them. The first calls are a bit upsetting; Lou has broken her leg whilst riding her horse and spent the last 5 weeks in hospital having lots of surgery and Shirley needs a big hug from me. Talking to them today made me miss them a lot and I wish I could see them, I get a bit tearful and fearful of what's to come from Di and Jimi and Nicky. When I get through to Di she doesn't know who I am at first and then shrieks down the phone so loud it nearly bursts my eardrums! Happily she sounds great and they are both fine, following our website every night when they get in from the pub. Yeh that’s the spirit! Have a few vodkas for me mate! (I really don't feel like dancing tonight though!)

I spend a few hours in bed and watch Madagascar on Maisie's PSP. We have decided to travel to Hua Hin tomorrow night and are going to leave even if I'm still feeling crap as we really need to get to Bangkok before the weekend. We are meeting the kids Dad and his wife Caron on the 10th but need Ali and Maisie with us for a few days in Bangkok at least while we get visas sorted.

Maisie and I have some food at the hotel despite the fact that this place is gorgeous the food is really crap and we end up with fried rice how exciting. Simon and Ali go out to book our train tickets and get their dinner. We instruct them to bring us something nice back from Tescos, very much like a Saturday night in at home! We watch some rubbish film and pamper ourselves a bit, I figure that looking a bit more presentable might make me feel better but probably sleep and paracetamol will be more effective and I'm heading for both in a big way.

The storm that was threatening never came and we had a fairly peaceful night. I woke up once; I think it may have been around 4am and sat outside staring at the lake and the misty mountains in the moonlight for a while. Very peaceful, I felt like Grizzly Adams.
Everyone is awake by 7am and they all go kayaking for an hour or so. Maisie gets in with Bonny and Ali and Simon go together. I decide to stay and watch our gear and wake up slowly with a cool refreshing swim in the lake.

We order scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages and toast for breakfast. Daeng tells us if we get a move on he will take us to a lagoon on the way back and we pack our gear up quickly. Too quickly I realise as we are halfway across the lake, I have left my sunglasses behind. Second pair down. Damn it. The return boat trip takes an hour and as we drift silently across the beautiful lagoon I think we all feel that we have visited a really special and unspoilt place.

We arrive at the pier and get back on the mini bus. We are heading to back to Surat Thani where we will arrange transport further up towards Bangkok over the next few days, Lauren and Bina have to return to Our Jungle House and collect their stuff, they are going to come and stay at 100 Islands Resort with us tonight before heading off to Ko Pha Ngan for the full moon party and Bonny is going to stay in the treehouse in the jungle for a night before she leaves for Kanchanaburi.

10 minutes down the road and Daeng drops us at the bus stop. We thank him for a great time and ask that he sends our regards to Klaus. Unfortunately we miss a local bus and have to wait for another hour but eventually after 2 bus rides and a short walk we arrive back at the hotel. It's like an oasis in the desert and we don't waste anytime before jumping into the pool for a swim. We spend the afternoon having a few beers (and a few gins) and Bina and Lauren turn up around 6pm. We are quite tired and walk to the end of the hotel drive for some food. It's nothing spectacular but fills a gap and we head off to bed around 10pm.

We unfortunately overslept and subsequently rushed to pack up our gear and get some breakfast. Today we are travelling to Chiaw Lan Lake on a tour arranged from Our Jungle House. The lake was created with the building of a dam in the 60's and we have read previously about the somewhat negative impact it had on the wildlife and plantlife. Still the lake is apparently very beautiful and Klaus assures us it will be one of the highlights of our time spent in the Thai jungle.

Our travelling companions will be Bonny, Bina and Lauren; they are all travelling around Thailand. Bonny is from America and is holidaying for a few weeks and Bina and Lauren are on their way to Laurens home country Australia, before they return to their jobs in the UK. It's great that there are only 7 of us on the minivan and we stop off on the way at the ATM to get some cash and a snack of sticky rice and coconut wrapped in banana leaves straight off the grill.

After an hour we arrive at the pier and get on an open topped longtail boat, the scenery is stunning .The cliffs were originally coral reefs on the bottom of the seabed and were pushed up to the surface by plate movement over 225 million years ago. We watch out for wildlife and our guide Daeng points out some rustling trees where monkeys are swinging. We arrive at the rafthouse accommodation we have booked as part of our tour. The rafthouses are made of bamboo and float precariously along a line, attached to a platform. It is without a doubt the most "rustic" place we have stayed in and it looks really great. To our delight Daeng tells us we 7 are at present the only guests. How fabulous, we joke about being VIP's in a little known celebrity hideout. We inch along the bamboo platform and as it is safe to swim here, waste no time stripping off to our swim gear and diving in. The water is so warm like a bath and we have great time splashing around in the deep clear green waters.

After lunch we get back into the longtail and Daeng takes us for a walk in the jungle. At around 40 minutes it is a complete "walk in the park" for us in comparison to our trek to see the Rafflesia yesterday and we make our way along quite well. Included in our trip is a bamboo raft ride. We have been on these long and graceful rafts before in Thailand but this one has a motor and before long we arrive at the entrance to a cave. Daeng and the other guide have brought fluorescent lighting with them and light the way for us and we stare up in awe at the stalactite and stalagmite rock formations. We have strict instructions not to touch anything and take even more care with our footsteps when Daeng shows us a massive spider.

As we motor back on the longtail boat the sky begins to change colour. The clear blue gives way to black and navy and we listen to the rolling thunder of the storm in the distance. The heavy skies are hot and humid and we hope it will pass else I guess we will be in for a wet and noisy night.

We dive into the lake as soon as we get back; Bina can't swim but takes a lifebelt from the boat and very bravely gets in and has a float. Simon and Ali take the kayaks out on to the lake but return quickly as the wind gets stronger and small waves start to ripple across the calm, glassy surface of the water. By now it is quite cool and after dressing into warmer gear we get some food, steamed rice, a large fried fish, gaeng mussaman curry and steamed vegetables with fresh fruit for pudding. Yum!

Ali plays his guitar for a while and then everyone plays a card game called Backpacker except me who reads OK magazine. We have a toast to travelling, it's been really great meeting Bina, Lauren and Bonny and we exchange email addresses with them in the hope of keeping in touch. They make us offers to contact them when we reach Australia and the US and we threaten that we might be begging for a cheap bed by then.