30th January to 2nd February- Full moon party and arrival in Cambodia

Full moon was so much fun. We went out for a meal first, a huge tropical storm started and again all the power on the island went out. We started to imagine what the full Moon party would be like with no music or lights.. Possibly tribal drumming.. Power was out for hours but eventually came back on and the music started. All down the beach different types of music playing from the different bars. Crazy fire dancers. Beach packed with everybody dancing, loads and loads of fun. Stayed up till sunrise for a swim in the sea. Then decided on going to an after party up on a hill that we'd seen fliers for. Starts at 7am and goes on all day. Got ushered into the back of a pick up truck that seemed to be a free taxi to backyard after party. Crammed in with way too many people, balanced against the roof on really steep bumpy tracks being thrown all over the place was pretty scary.. Made it to the top where we blagged our way in with free entry. Place was full of fucked bar staff who's shifts had ended and it was their turn to party, and people off their faces on mushroom shakes. Was on a fab location on a huge platform overloooking the beach. The Thai teenage boys who work the bars were behaving really strangely in the morning, clearly all fucked on something and getting agro and emotional at eachother and ripping necklaces from eachothers necks like they represented membership in some sort of gang.... Then crying and stroking faces and praying.. One of them fell onto the floor clearly having an epileptic fit but his friends seemed to think he just wanted to fight with someone so held him down...     
    Eventually made our way back to our hostel, coming across so many party people sound asleep on pavements and in doorways. Spent the morning recovering and sleeping on the beach, but kept having random stilltotallyfucked strangers coming and sitting next to me, rambling away a load of nonsense.
   After a few days relaxing after the party we started our trip to Cambodia. First a ferry from Ko Phanghan back over to the mainland. Overnight sleeper train from Surat Thani to Bangkok. Overnight in a nice little hostel in the Silom area of Bangkok. Up at 4am for a taxi to the bus station. Bad day for Ben and Em to get sick, both of them feeling rubbish and really weak. Caught a bus to the border, where we managed to avoid all the touts and made our way through passport and visa control ourselves. Poor Em and Ben seriously struggling in the heat, sick, shits, and feeling like they'd pass out. We were really wary because have read so much about how so many people get scammed at the border town by taxi touts or people insisting that we have to change money and charging us ridiculous amounts. People trying to get you into buses that take you to the wrong guesthouse and make you pay stupid amounts to stay there.. So were a bit offish when a very friendly cambodian taxi tout came to offer his help. But he seemed to be ok so we went along with it, insisting that we'd only pay 10 dollars each for a taxi (some people get quoted 40 dollars each). Turned out he was actually very kind and looked after us all, constantly checking Ben and Em were alright, and shooing off anyone who tried to mess us about. We caught the shuttle bus to the tourist onwards transport station which is conveniently placed in the middle of nowhere, so when you get there you have no choice but to get the transport they offer. Our funny taxi tout bundled us into a taxi and off we went to siem riep feeling very bewildered that we seemed to have made it on our journey without being scammed.. Fell asleep and 3 hours later found ourselves apparently in siem reap but being bustled into a touk touk.. Now suspicious that this is where the scam starts and we get driven all over Siem
reap taken to various places where we're forced to buy things or dropped off at the wrong guesthose and refusing to take us any further. But they took us to the right place, with only a bit of trying to persuade us to hire them on a tour round Angkor Wat. We took his number to keep him quiet.. Our hostel is a gorgeous, old, brightly decorated building in a red dirt track village with huge leafy trees and plants. It's FAB. And right below our window is a crocodile farm with hundred or so big fat crocodiles snapping about...