Hi one and all...hope you are all well! Since I last wrote we had been to a few beaches in Vietnam - Hoi An, beautiful and full of locals, and after an overnight bus, we arrived in Nha Trang - 'Vietnam's (self-proclaimed) premiere beachside resort'....the prices matched! The beach was pretty much all the town had to offer - we walked to find the only Pagoda, with an impressive white Buddha, but couldn't find it…it seemed to have disappeared! Spent a couple of days avoiding the red-hot sun in the shade, and ate some very cheap street food - 20p for the largest dish we've had! Sean once again proved football really is a universal language. Every evening, a football on the beach would slowly attract a group of lads, Sean included, and a game would start. It doesn't matter what your culture is, whether you even like or dislike the players you are playing with or against. They don't even have to be able to communicate (minus the odd grunt or claps if someone scores). All you need is to be skins or shirts, and cultures can peacefully coexist for hours on end (believe me, I had to wait for dinner for the games to finish!)

Made it down to Saigon/HCMC on the bus - amazing city with a real buzz. The roads are absolutely manic, but once you figure out how to cross them, there's loads to explore. We checked out the beautiful cathedral of Notre Dame and the waterfront, as well as our local area. Theres a huge ex-pat community and so lots of amazing shops, although being budget travelers we only went into the mall for the free air-con! Much needed as Em had a cold, and her temperature system went out the window, and so the 35 degree heat we should be used to was a bit challenging!!

Turning 24 in Saigon….one to remember. Had an amazing day on my birthday. Woke up to breakfast in bed of pineapple, and a fresh peppermint tea (a real treat - can't usually afford it!). Sean had been out at 6.30am to collect a HUGE chocolate cake that he had ordered for me, with 'Happy Birthday Em' written on it - so that was breakfast too! We took a tour in of the sights - the war remnants museum was a real highlight. Set the tone for a jolly birthday (!!)…but seriously, it was amazing to see all the photographs of the gruesome aftermath of the war in Vietnam, the true effect of agent orange and toxic bombs, the REAL conditions POW were kept in - it was pretty harrowing, and makes you think twice when you see disabled locals. The war was so recent, it is still affecting people today. An AMAZING treat was our lunch in this great little European style deli where we went all out (falafel, humous, apple crumble and fruit shakes)…I actually felt like I was home for a bit. It was sad not to talk to anyone bach home, but we had a fun day anyway. My only present was a 'tin-tin in Vietnam' tacky tourist tee-shirt, but I love it!

We had a great night celebrating…had pre-dinner cocktail in a hotel 7th floor bar, overlooking the waterfront, followed by an amazing meal (and more cocktails!). We ended the night in a Jazz bar - the band were incredible, and they had a few guest instrumentalists (sax and trumpeters) who were just fantastic. It was a really nice atmosphere. A birthday to remember and it was so nice to treat ourselves to some proper meals and drinks.

The next day we were up early for a full day tour - our last proper day in Vietnam. We went to a handicraft workshop where they teach skills to the handicapped ex-soldiers, civilians and generations beyond, those affected by agent orange and other chemicals in the Vietnam war. We then went to the headquarters of the Cao Dai religion (a srange mix of Christianity, Buddhism and others!). Their temple was really interesting and we watched one of their 4 daily ceremonies (felt a bit odd - watching over them, but was interesting!). We then went on to the Cu Chi tunnels. Our guide, 'Jackie' was really interesting. He had fought for the south Vietnamese in the war, supporting the Americans and had so many tales to tell (he was in prison for 3 years, had many friends killed). But he now is so proud of the Vietcong and Vietminh and Ho Chi Minh. He says without them there would be no Vietnam, that they won the war becayse they were fighting for their country. The area itself was really spooky. All the bomb craters were still there, and we saw the type of booby traps left for soldiers - the guerilla warfare used where soldiers would be impaled on spikes. We then walked (or crawled) through an example of the tunnels. These were insane - so small we were on hands and knees and they had DOUBLED them in size for tourists to get through. It is where the local people dug themselves underground and lived there for 26 years, giving birth, working, eating all underground. It really hit home how real the war and its effects were on this country.

We then took the slow-boat over two days on the Mekong delta to get into Cambodia. We took a boat around the four islands in the delta - named after dragon, unicorn, turtle and something else! On Unicorn Island we had lots of little treats, coconut sweets, honey tea, dried lotus seeds, rice wine and banana whiskey (at 11am....)! The best part was the small rowing boat through the small canals, it was beautiful, and when we stopped off, Em attempted fishing with a local farmer! The mud was waist high, and she wasn't very good - but managed to catch two (she says big!) cat fish…and get completely caked in mud...we had one of the fish for lunch wrapped in rice-paper, pretty tasty if I say so myself! After a seriously slow-slowboat to the Cambodian border, we finally got to Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capitol.

Phnom Penh is a lot more developed than I thought…although it still doesn't have pavements or street lights! We took a tuk-tuk 16km out of the city to Choeng Ek, the Killing Fields. It really brought home just what this country has been through, and so recently. Everything was still there, from the mass graves, to the tree the comrades would smack children against to kill them. They have erected a temple to 'allow the spirits to move between the bones and remains' - there is literally shelves and shelves full of skulls and bones dug up from the graves. We then went to the Genocide museum - an old high school, which Pol Pot's regime turned into 'S-21' - a security prison where anyone seen as a traitor was tortured and starved before being sent off to the killing fields. It was extremely intense and harrowing, especially the huge exhibitions of photographs - mugshots of the prisoners, shots of the dead bodies, dead children, the torture methods. But what hit home most was how recent all this had occurred - that most Cambodians alive today lived through it. That the regime could be so inhuman, banish everyone from the city, kill anyone 'intellectual', starve the entire nation. Almost a quarter of the population was eradicated, and it wasn't until 2006 that the leaders were brought to prosecution - only 3 years ago.

Still, Cambodia is really interesting place - the people seem to be rebuilding their lives, and there's some beautiful sights still - the Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda, the central and Russian markets, and the usual impressive wats (temples) along the riverfront, including Wat Phnom, giving the city its name.

We had a few days to kill, so we decided to head a bit off the beaten track to Battambang in the countryside. There is so much greenery and rice fields, it feels so raw and 'real' Cambodia. Even the bus-stops were real local affairs, lots of bitter boiled eggs, and the worst toilets I have seen in Asia! Had a fantastic time here - gave us a taste of real Cambodia, a country where kids still shout hello, and locals wave at you out of novelty. We hopped on the back of two locals' (Coco and Bat) bikes for half a day to tour the stunningly beautiful countryside and villages around the town. It was so refreshing to cruise through all the rice fields, considering the rain season has come early, Cambodia is so lush and green already. We stopped at many local villages, but unlike other tours, we went to locals own houses rather than big tourist trap set-ups. We saw how rice paper was made to make spring rolls, how noodles and mango jam was produced, how fish paste was the main product for one village, and stopped off at this fantastic mouldy-toothed lady who made the most delicious sticky rice in bamboo sticks (mine and Sean's favourite) so we bought some and shared it around. One of the most interesting things were our 'guides' themselves. Bat, my motorbike, grew up on the border with Vietnam, and married young, but moved to the city to get a better job. He talked about Pol Pots regime, how he was forced into a refugee camp on the Thai border, showed me scars from where he had been burnt, and relayed stories about his brother's murder. When he took us to the killing field in one village, he explained every tiny village has at least one 'killing field', and showed us the temple where the usual shelves of skulls and remains were kept. It was carved with the story of how locals were forced out the towns into the rice fields to work, how men were tortured and women raped, and how the temple close by was used as a prison; 'during the regime, if you go to prison you never come out alive'.

They also took us to the 'norries' (bamboo trains) - once used for fun, but now used to transport things around, we put the bikes on the back and traveled along the rail-tracks! It was really fun (a lot faster and noisier than I thought it would be). Luckily, with the bikes, when we met other bamboo trains coming the other way, they had to dismount the tracks and let us pass as we had the heavier load. For such tiny, nailed-together DIY things, they have been known to carry upto 20 people as well as cows and tree trunks! Very novel! Just seeing Cambodia was the best part - loads of schools have been built by NGOs, but the class sizes are still too big and families have to pay for extra lessons for the children to get educated. Every corner there's a sign for 'Camboian People's Party', but Coco was explaining that this is a pretty corrupt regime that is ruling the Kingdom at the moment (although, obviously, a few steps up from Pol Pot!). He said, anyone educated or from towns/cities votes for the 'candle party', as they are fairer in elections. The ruling party goes into the country and bribes & intimidates the villagers to vote for them. Still - we expected some level of corrupt[tion in a country where 8 year olds are riding morotbikes, children poo on the street, and trucks are found capsized into the river as the roads are so bad! But like Bat said, "the law is not strict here - if a police man whistles you to pull over because you have your entire family on the bike, you just shout, sorry sir, no more room for you, and he laughs and moves on!"

Finally we got to Siem Reap to visit the '8th wonder of the world' Angkor temples. We went after 5pm last night (its free then!) and bought the ticket for the whole day today and it was simply stunning. The sunset was great, and after dragging our tired butts out of bed at 4am this morning, we made it to Angkor Wat (the most famous) for sunrise. We even managed about 7/8 hours of temple-visitng today - a record on our books, although we are now COMPLETELY templed out - a good way to finish the trip! They were beathtaking, and so impressive... our favourite was the beautiful temple (filmed in Tomb Raider!) with tree trunks growing out of the broken ruins, in the middle of the jungle. So atmospheric. They were simply incredible, beautiful to look at, really interesting to walk around, and I would recommend anyone to visit them. And anyone to visit Cambodia...such an incredible place, the people there are unlike any we have ever met: they have been through more than we can imagine, but instead of moaning and complaining about their past, they have the most positive outlook to the future. I think everyone could learn a lot from the Cambodians...if I had money to invest I know where I´d be going!

We have really enjoyed Asia, making silly games up like 'the monk game', where we smile at monks walking by in the street, and take bets if they'll smile back! We've met some amazing people, and handed out pocket-laods of sweets to begging kids, and i think i am about to turn into a grain of rice, but i know i will miss it. Still, onto new adventures in the land of Oz (literally), and as always i'll keep you updated with the most insignificant, boring detail!!