Good afternoon once more from the Cambodian capital, from where I have not yet strayed since my arrival a week ago. I have, however, finally managed to sort out somewhere to offer my limited services as a volunteer, a hundred or so kilometres south of here, and will be leaving tomorrow or Wednesday to go and work for around a week as an English teacher/babysitter/whatever is needed of me, staying with, I believe, a local family in a small town in the countryside....

Hello hello from Phnom Penh - been here just for the one night so far, staying in a hostel on the lakeside with awesome views of the sunset - part of the restaurant is a boat moored up at the end of the backyard...pretty nice. The temples at Angkor that I saw from Siem Reap were inspirational - the detail of the carvings and the size of the statues of various incarnations of Hindu and Buddhist deities was awesome. Angkor Wat itself was probably the most "imp...

Ok so I'm actually in Cambodia. But I've only been here a few hours so I thought I'd not have much to tell, and heading an entry "Cambodia" and then talking about Laos would make no sense. Shut up and get on with it, Dave? Ok. But only because you asked so nicely. So from hazardous Pakxe/Pakse/Paxse/Pickupapenguin I headed south to Champasak, famous for its old-school (that's gangster talk for those not-so-hip ones among you) Khmer temple (or ruins the...

While I have found, on the whole, the vast majority of the Lao people to be one of inescapable (and who should want to?) warmth, friendliness, helpfulness and generosity, I was somewhat surprised last night, as I hobbled down a dimly lit street with blood pouring from a gaping wound to my shin, by the efforts of one local to attract my custom to his hotel. This was not in keeping with the welcome I had come to expect - I was hoping for more of a shocked gasp and ...

So down in Vang Viang I am, after a very pleasant three nights in Luang Prabang. LP is situated pretty much in the middle of the main bulk of Laos, and has hung onto its French colonial feel in a big way - the architecture, cafes and boulangeries were very reminiscent of a village 'en Bretagne', but the vast numbers of locals playing petanque as the afternoons drew to a close was something I had not been expecting!Having decided I'd had my fill of hiking for the ...