Ok, I'm back, in a new and improved version !

We're still in Hanoi, and leaving tommorow to, hopefully, make our way up to Beijing!

Since last we headed off to Shihanoukville, on the south coast of Cambodia, which was really great. We found a tiny little place on a pristine beach and lived in one of 5 bungalows which was literally 5 mtrs from the shore at high tide. The people were great, and it was just how life should be - up when we wanted, breakfast on the loungers, then a swim, maybe a little moped ride, lunch on the loungers, beer or you name it brought to you on the beach, etc etc. The bungalow cost 11 euros a night! Then things went quickly pear shaped. I got a fever so we had to stay an extra day, but by that time we were too late to stay where we were, so instead of going and finding somewhere else we just lounged around until about 2 and then walked and drove around in town for about 5 hrs. We'd forgotten it was the last day of Chinese new year!! Even all the huge 4 star hotels were full! Anyway, eventually we found a "hole" with a mattress in it for 2 euros a night!! Then we couldn't get any bus tickets out of town, so had to stay there 2 nights!

Then there was the bus trip to Ho Chi Minh City! We had to get one bus to Phnom Penh, and then change - well when we got to P P the second bus was overbooked. They had sold about 7 tickets more than they had seats for, and this was just the beggining! They came with plastic stools that we could sit on (for 10 hrs!) for a discount of 1 dollar! We said no, and demanded a minibus, so they said that one would come in a while, but we just sat on our bags in the bus doorway and said we weren't budging until we saw the minibus (in a bus full of really happy locals, he, he) Eventually the minibus came, which they said would drive us to the border, and then they'd "try" to fix a car from there! Anyway, in the end we found out that our seats weren't even double booked anyway, but someone else with db tickets had sat in our seats, so we just threw them out. Still don't know what happened to the rest of them! Then we had to change bus at the border anyway, because the bus we were on couldn't cross as it didn't have any paperwork, and the story just kind of developed from there!!!

Vietnam:

We didn't think much of Saigon, too much traffic and polution, and no charm. Next stop was Nha Trang, which we took a 4 star private night train to get too! Nha Trang was a concrete jungle resort, and we were really pissed off that we stayed there so long, especially when we realized how lovely Hoi An was!

Yet another night train, and another 0530 arrival saw us in Hoi An, and after being there 30 mins we knew we'd love it. It's one of the few towns that completely escaped any bombing from the stars and stripes, so all the old quaint houses were in takt, along the river front, and through a seemingly endless web of tiny little lanes, with families working out of the first floors of their homes, making everything you can imagine. We bought quite a bit of stash. Unfortunately I got my first bout of food poisoning, no more details required

A bit about my feelings towards Asia, and especially Vietnam - I'm getting so f###ing sick and tired of people trying to con me all the bloody time! I mean, I understand that most of them are poorer than I can imagine, and they assume that as we can afford to travel we're rich, and I can accept paying a bit more than the locals, but most of them (in Vietnam) seem to have no morals! People probably try to con us about every hour. The best 2 so far are:

We took the night train from Nha Trang to Danang, and then made our way to the bus station to take a local bus to Hoi an. At the ticket office it said that the ticket should cost 7000 dong (50 cents), but the ladies there wouldn't sell us a ticket, but said just to get on the bus. Once on the bus the conductor says he wants 60000 dong!! So we get really pissed off, and Emma goes back to the ticket booth where the man there says yes, we can buy a ticket there for 7000, so Emma runs to me to get money, runs back and the ladies are there again, who obviously get a percentage of the amount the conductor rips you off for! By this time Emma's infuriated, so she yells at this guy to "look me in my eyes and tell me you're not ashamed of yourself" - fantastic stuff. Anyway, it worked in the end and we paid 10000 each!

The other incident was yesterday, which didn't end so well. As we knew we'd be arriving in Hanoi at 0600 we booked a hotel in advance. A nice hotel, more expensive than general, with loads of stuff like pc in our room, balcony, king sized bed etc. So, we get there at 0630 and the receptionist says that check in time is normally 1400, so we have to pay 10 usd extra, which is fair enough. So we go up and crash, after 16 hrs on buses. At 12 we go back down to the reception, as the room is tiny, with a 3/4 bed, no pc, no balcony, no city view etc. Then the staff say that they have no kingsized beds, no rooms with balconies, and walk off whilst I'm talking to them. At this point we go and find another hotel, and go back and tell them that we're checking out, as we didn't get the room we had paid for (with the printed copy of the room description). They answer that that's fine, but we have to pay for a night!!!!! Then they get really nasty, and eventually the manager comes out, and apologizes that Vietnamese people don't really know what customer service is! She admits that her staff lied to us, and also says that they do actually have a room with balcony etc, but they've now rented it out! She offers us to not have to pay the 10 dollars for early check in, but still have to pay the full rate for the balcony room, even though we can't get it! We explain that this is unfair, and that we don't want to stay there now anyway, because all the staff are pissed off. We say that we're leaving, and that we'll pay the 10 dollars for the early check in and no more, to which she replies " you're not walking out of that door without paying for one night, and if you try we'll restrain you and call the police to pick you up"!!! So we have no choice other than to pack our stuff, pay the b******s and leave! There wasn't one of them that had any sign of remorse in their eyes!

So - generally don't like the Vietnamese, so no point in being here really - nah, it's not that bad. Hmmmm......

Anyway, been all around the old quarter in Hanoi today, and you're right dad, it's amazing! Every street has between 20-50 little shops on it, that all specialize in one thing. One street makes everything you can imagine in tin, another sells just shoes, another just sweets, another just fake money that they burn to worship their little fat men etc etc. We much prefer Hanoi to Saigon, despite the bad experience in the hotel.

I've actually started to miss things back home for the first time now, like getting in a cab and knowing that he won't drive 5 kms to take you somewhere that's 2 kms away! From what we've heard China will be even more challenging, as they are self sufficient and don't need or really want tourists, so no-one speaks english, and nothing is in english, not even in train stations and stuff! Anyway, I'm sure everything'll work out!

Next blog will be from Beijing, before our mamoth 6 day train ride to Moscow!

Byeeeeeee