Planes, Trains, confusion and Cambodia

We've been more then fortunate in so many ways on this trip so far; the people we've met, connections made, sights seen, experiences had... However the nature of our trip being what it is , we've run into a few 'logistical' snags along the way which I should mention.

About two weeks after arriving in Thailand, we were informed by a friend of a friend that the laws had just changed regarding visas for foreign visitors (since we arrived!!...great timing). Basically all foreigners will now only receive a stamp for 15 days on their passport instead of at least 30, as it had previously been. This is for border crossings only, and doesnt change anything for those flying into the country. For us this means a visa trip to a neighboring country every 15 days in order to stay in Thailand as long as we want. Two weeks ago we spent a day on a bus to get to Mae Sae, the Myanmar border, and tomorrow we will take a similar trip to Cambodia. Luckily for us, the trip to Cambodia happens to coincide with a Baha'i conference happening there in a town called Batambang at the weekend which Ali plans to go to, so Quinny and I might tag along so we all get to see some of rural Cambodia...

We planned for a while now to change our schedualed flight to Australia on Feb 3rd, to a later date, as we decided that we wanted to prolong our time in SE Asia. In our experience, doing this (date change) has always been no problem, but this time around, Quantas have made things difficult for us...(yes, its all their fault). Long story short; they told us all the seats in our "class" are full on the dates we want, and instead of moving us to another seat in another class - of which there are many - for the same price, we are being put on a waiting list and have to wait for an seat to open up.

In summary; We now have no confirmed flight out of Singapore. By going to Cambodia, we miss our flight and must wait to be contacted when seats open up...which they should have by around the 13th/14th, giving us time to make our way down through Malaysia. Bit of a risk, but we'll get there eventually. And staying in SE Asia longer, we spend a lot less then going early to Oz.

On a lighter note, we did just come back from eating a ridiculously great meal (steak, chips, free salad bar, fruit, dessert) in Sizzler for about 3 euro. Yesterday we spent our day playing pool, bowling, at the cinema, and finished it off with an hour long thai massage ... all for 'a few euro like'...I'm sitting in flip flops and shorts sipping an iced coffee. And its January. Forgive me if I'm not exactly filled with pessimism at the moment...!!