Joel: We're now back in Bangkok after a pretty unusual day in which we spent approximately one hour in Cambodia. I really don't understand it myself, but it seems, due to new regulations, we were required to get new visas and the only way we would be permitted to do this was if we left the country and re-entered on new tourist visas. So, yesterday morning we came into Bangkok (the kids have exams all week so we won't be missed) and today we rose bright and early, caught a bus at 6am, slept most of the four hour journey and arrived in the Thai border town of Arunya at about 10:30. From there we took a tuk-tuk right to the border and were dropped within walking distance of Cambodia. Fortunately, after reading about other people's experiences making this bizarre journey, we had prepared ourselves for the various scams. First we waved away a young chap offering to kindly help us through passport control. Our first real potential problem though came in the office itself when, after stamping my passport and nullifying my current work visa, the immigration officer informed us that they didn't have any of the temporary tourist visas we needed to reenter Thailand today. If true, this would of course mean we would be stuck in Cambodia until further notice. After explaining our situation and asking them to have a brief phone conversation with one of the reps from our company, it seemed there maybe something that could be done. But first, we would have to deal with immigration of the Cambodian side...

Immediately on leaving the Thai immigration office, I was beckoned by a Cambodian uniformed official on the side of the path who wanted to see my passport. As he looked, from out of a hat reappeared the chap who had innitially offered to assist us when we stepped out of the tuk-tuk. I'm sure we look very western and maybe appeared as two giant walking dollar signs in these peoples eyes. He soon explained how much the Cambodian visa and stamps would cost if we wanted to be saved from the long cues and, unsurprisingly, this was quite a bit more expensive than it should be. We smiled, held our ground and told him we didn't mind waiting. When we made it the the visa office, there were no queues, just a bunch of bored officials, smoking joes and looking tough. Anyway, to cut it short, these guys filled in the paperwork for us for no more than the fee and tip we expected and soon we were free to waltz back over to Thailand, praying we would be allowed back in. I let our rep, Pai, have another quick chat with one of the officials and fortune would have it there was something they could do, they did have tourist visas after all, no idea what that was all about. Soon we were playing scrabble on the coach back to Bangkok. We celebrated having dealt with a pretty brutal day by taking advantage of happy hour in Bangkok's Hard Rock Cafe. I didn't even mind a bit of Bruce Springsteen on the jukey.

Cambodia seemed pretty different from Thailand. From just hopping over the border we saw complexes of super casinos surrounded by people living in extreme poverty. Just the contrast between the officials on each side spoke loads about where each seems to be in terms of it's development. When we head into Cambodia later in the year we'll have to be careful. Then again, tomorrow we have to go to the immigration office in Bangkok and exchange our new tourist visas for new work visas. What a system, hey?

Our other news: The English play has made it through yet another round. Rakhi and I didn't go with them but a week last Sunday they won another round. They will now be taking it to the penultimate contest in a town called Pitsunalok. This will be in August and, if they get through, the national final in Bangkok will be waiting. I always said I only hoped they would find the project enjoyable but now it seems clear that they really want to win. I suppose it's my duty to help them so once exams are out of the way we'll be having some more rehearsals and working on their pronunciation.

Aha, and I almost forgot, something quite out of the ordinary happened just before we left Takhli. As we prepared to leave the house, as usual, I gave my trainers a little shake before putting them on. As I laced them up, I felt there might be some small objest in my left trainer. I'd had this feeling the day before too, but had been too busy to take it off to see whether there was a stone there, or maybe my sock was twisted, I don't know. So I removed it and shook it again. To my horror, out fell a small, dried-up frog, a frog that a clearly nipped in there at least a day before and then been smothered to death my foot over the course of a day or so. Then, as Rakhi and I were taking in the true horror of the little blighter's horrible fate, I felt a movement in my other trainer. Surely not, I thought, and quick as a flash I took off this trainer and shook it out too. Sure enough, out jumped another, bigger frog, a frog just saved from the same fate by the discovery of his little brother. Frogs in my trainers! I felt pretty awful. Life in tropical Thailand realy does get everywhere.

This weekend I think we're going to head to the beach. After nearly three months here we've not been to a proper Thai beach but now, with a few days off, we can hit the sand and hopefully soak up the sun. Mmmmmn.