Siem Reap to Bangkok to Real Gap

We managed to spend hardly any money on our last day in Siem Reap and had a lovely day lying in hammocks and eating happy pizza. Border crossing from Cambodia to Thailand was pretty painless. The roads were all pretty good and we arrived in Bangkok before dark. We had to wait at the border for about 1 1/2 hours and the buses were a bit squashed but we paid $9 for the whole trip so was pretty good. We checked into the first hostel we saw (Rainbow Guesthouse just off Khoa San Road) and stayed there which was ok. Then went out on Khoa San. I was a bit worried about being there because I had read so many scary things about it being absolutley mental. I was expecting muggers and child prostitutes and drugs and all sorts. And it's really not. It's busy and very western with lots of neon but I really liked it. The shops are designed to cater to backpackers so sell loads of stuff that I want. There are lots of bars so after a 50p meal of Pad Thai off a street stall we sat down and started drinking beer which was almost english prices! Ended up talking to 2 pretty cool english people who had just arrived and were off to do their open water on khoa tao the next day. Also met a bluddy wierdo who just sat and talked about himself until we stopped nodding and started our own comversation.
Friday we checked out of our tiny little room and checked into the Royal Hotel where we were staying with Real Gap. We could really see where our money had been spent, it is huuge there! Our room was so posh and had air conditioning. In fact the whole hotel was so air conditioned it was really cold. We spent the day walking around Khoa San and buying clothes to replace our ruined stuff from 3 months travelling. I bought one really horrific one which really does make me look like a prostitute. Not on purpose.
That evening we went down to the foyer of the hotle and met everyone else on the tour with us and then wondered off to a bar, instantly forgetting everyone's names. We ended up splitting into 2 groups as there were 20 of us and we couldn't really all talk. Then the evening gets a bit blurred as we drank too many coctail buckets and wondered about. At one point Bella bought a bag of fried grasshoppers which we all ate and were actually really tasty. Rachel and I also ended up trying to find a toilet down an alley infested with cockroaches. We went to several bars and 2 clubs (one 'the club' was really good) but eventually mike got too drunk and couldn't speak so we went home.
Got up early the next morning for the free breakfast at the hotel. It was brilliant, there was so much food. Then we staggered back to bed and stayed there till about 3pm sleeping off our hangovers. We went down to the pool but I don't think we left the hotel until that eveing when we went out drinking on Khoa San again. This time about half way through the night we bumped into Melon (Mike's frined from home) and went off to drink with him with Nina and her friend from home. I left at about 1am and I think Mike got back about 4.
Sunday got up again for the breakfast and then we checked out and spent the morning by the pool. Then at 1ish we met Hong our tour guide and got put on a bus to come here to the Eco Houses. We're staying in Twin House and it is relly pretty, lots of little bungalows surrounded by seating areas and butterflies. The rules are a bit intense though, we're not allowed any alcohol on the premises, which considering everyone here is over 18 and on holiday seems a bit much. We've also quickly realised that the 'Thailand Experience' or any big organised thing through a company isn't really our thing. Firstly we've looked at the costs and we could have saved at least 300 pounds by doing it on our own. Also, even though we're here for a month we're not really doing any of the things we want to do in Thailand like going to Chang Mai or a full moon party. It's like being a school, everything is so organised and planned. We get driven to a place and told that we have 35 minutes to look around and then we get driven to the next place and so on. We've realised that half of what we've enjoyed over the past few months has been the 'adventure' of reading lonely planet and working out what we want to do and then getting there and doing things on our own. We feel really proud of ourselves when we 'discover' a restaurant that's not in lonely planet or go off the beaten track a bit. And here it's just not like that. It's just so planned and if we don't want to do something then tough. Urgh it's so annoying to think that we've got a whole month and a stupid amount of money if we think of what we've paid to do this and all the things we could have done with that time and money instead of being here. ah well. we're trying to make the best of it, and we have met some really lovely people, but it has still been a big mistake. I wouldn't recommend organised tours to anyone. It's so much better to do it on your own you get so much more out of it.
Sorry about that little rant. Anyway so over the fast few days we have gone to lots of temples (which are nice but they're built in the style of angkor wat and we've been to angkor wat so they're not as good), and today we went to a school (we stood in front of a class and sang incy wincy spider, and then they sang the thai version), and a really lovely riverboat dinner (and then they brought out the kareoke and it got a bit dire and i wanted to jump off), and we've had some thai lessons and did some thai cooking (our teams was inedible, they had to make some rice for us to eat instead). So lots of things, we're not bored, just not all things that I would choose to do or if they are fun then doing them with a big group of 18 year olds and someone telling me how much time I have to do them isn't the way I'd like to do them.
At weekends we have free time so our little gang (Mike, Bella, Rachel, Nina, Lucy and I) who are all a bit disillusioned with the tour decided to go on an adventure and go up to Chang Mai on our own. We checked all the train times and read about it in Lonely Planet and were really excited about it. One of the other girls on our tour heard us talking about it and asked if she could come. So we said yes. Then she told some of her friends and other people joined not wanting to be left out and now THE WHOLE BLUDDY TOUR is coming to Chang Mai this weekend. Some of them think it is organised by Real Gap and asked if the hotel and transport was all booked. Most do not know where Chang Mai is and none have done any sort of research on it. So our little adventure is now a big group outing. we are pretty annoyed and are not really sure how we can ask them to leave us alone. We're heading off on the night train from Lop Buri tomorrow so I'll let you know next time how it goes.
(sorry if i sound really angry in all of this. it is actually very nice, we have lots of food and nice accomodation and they do give us stuff to do. it's just not really my cup of tea and I feel like it's all going wrong a bit) xx