Ho Chi Min City (formerly S…S…S…S…Saigon) - Sunday 22nd On arrival at the airport we jumped into a taxi who said he had a meter.As we drove away from the airport he hadn't switched the meter and then said it wasn't working.He then tried to make a deal on what we should pay.After an argument the meter magically worked perfectly.He then drove like a maniac through the streets, and on arrival at the hotel the cost of the metered fare was less than half of h...

Sihanoukville - Wednesday 18th We took the bus trip south to Sihanoukville, which is a beach resort that is supposedly a 2-3 hour journey away.The bus was sweltering, despite the A/C and it was full of high-pitched chat, local pop music and mobile phones going off every five seconds.The 2-3 hours stretched in to 5-6 hours, as the coach took unscheduled stops to let passengers on or off.We were glad to be at our final destination, although things didn't look too ...

Phnom Penh - Monday 16th We took the bus trip south to Phnom Penh, which is a six-hour journey.The bus was better than we thought and we did have a stop half way through.We passed lots of food stalls selling insects and bugs. Despite our expectations that they are sold everywhere in SE Asia, it's the first time that we actually saw them for sale - and people actually buying them.There was pile of deep-fried grasshoppers, massive spiders with big thick legs and...

Cambodia, Siem Reap - Friday 13th As we left the Guest House we had friendship bands tied on our wrist and Suz was given a silk scarf.All the staff came out to say goodbye and took our photo.As we arrived in Cambodia we were taken to our hotel which was a big four star hotel; comfortable, but with little charm.Again, people can't be friendly enough. The weather was very hot and humid, with no breeze at all, so we were happy to plunge into the big pool to cool ...

Luang Prabang, Laos - Friday 6th Sitting in the Hanoi airport departure lounge we realised that we either needed $US, Thai Bhat or Lao Kip to pay for our entry visa in to Lao, and that only cash in these currencies were accepted.With no foreign currency outlets in the small international departure lounge, we eventually were allowed back out and into the terminal to try and get the cash, with the grumpy official in the uniform holding on to our passports.After ...