IM IN 'NAM! Viet-Nam that is...

We made it! First up here's the low-down on the journey... SIHANOUKVILLE, CAMBODIA - HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM (SAIGON)

Door-to-door time - 15hours (Ouch!)

Interesting seating (everything from huge green leather armchairs which had reclining laws all to themselves, to frilly cushions with cartoons characters on) - 9

Time spent waiting at random places in the countryside,service stations etc - 3 hrs

Confusion - 4 (mild)

Border crossings - 10 (compared to the hellish experience Thai-Cambodia, Cam-Vietnam was a dream!)

Bonus points for snoring fellow passangers - 9

Night buses are fun. So we decided we will take another few of those in the weeks to come :)

Our trip to the cambodian seaside was, well, interesting! Firstly, It rained pretty much non-stop from when we arrived to when we left (and I mean PROPER rain). Although I somehow still managed to get sunburnt! Occasionally it stopped raining enough for us to walk down the beach and even have a swim in the sea - which is lovely and warm, but quite choppy! It's where lots of cambodian families (the ones who can afford it) come on holiday, so it felt a little Blackpool-esk! At every turn we were pounced on by men, women and children selling us anything and everything. You've got to admire how persisant and persuasive the people are here. Everyone wants you to get in their Tuktuk, or their moto, or buy their bracelets or have a manicure on the beach (!?). I completely agree that they should try and get every last cent out of westerners visiting their country, but you literally can't say yes to them all. It gets really exhausting turning people down all the time, especially when most of them are so lovely and friendly (although there was one little boy who tried to attack Nai as she got into a tuktuk!).

The tone here in Vietnam is really different, you could tell as soon as we were through the border that the country is so much wealthier. I think they are a proud people, they love their flag very much (a bit like the U.S. which is ironic (I think?!)). Our first impressions of HCMC are good ones. We arrived at 10am and got staright to the buisness of finding the best bakery around. Vietnamese bakeries are AMAZING. You have never seen such intricate cakes, pastries, buns, you name it! We have already been twice today for the delicious iced coffee they do so well here in S.E.Asia. We landed on our feet with the accomodation too, stumbled upon one which is actually in the Lonely Planet guide and it's nice. Not as cheap as Cam. but that's to be expected.

Some more notes on traffic... "When to Use your Horn" - When expressing anger, when allowing someone to pull out, when pulling out on someone, when passing someone, when greeting someone, when showing appreciation, whenever the hell you like! haha, it's really funny, I don't know what they are beeping at half the time, probably Nai's skin! The roads here are even crazier than Cam. They are so into their motorbikes, there are literally herds of them. Nai saunters out across the road, cool as the locals. While I flap back and forth, occasionally squealing, surrounded by angry drivers in every direction and undoubtedly end up stranded in the middle of some huge junction! Haha! It rains here lots, very quickly and heavily, then goes away. I guess that's why they call it the rainy season! My flip-flops let me down big-time - and I slipped and fell into a muddy puddle (making a stupid wailing sound as I did), much to the amusement of the 10 or so workmen watching, and Nai! So far I like Vietnam alot :)

Tomorrow we get an early bus to Dalat, a mountainous, foresty-type place where you can do outdoorsy things. Sounds good to me! It's part of our hop-on-hop-off bus ticket we bought for about 30quid, and it will get us all the way up to Hanoi in the north (many hundreds of km!). Bargin (i'll let you know how i feel about again that once we get there!).

Having trouble uploading photos pretty much everywhere, but i'll keep trying.

Miss you all, lots of love

El & Nai