Hello there peeps! Just a small blog for our trip up the river to the Cambodia borders. We had to turn back once we got there, but we are now off to Phu Quoc instead of spending time in Cambodia. This is a thick silver lining, although Cambodia will have to wait for another day I s'pose.

The two of us (Shaznay Lewis and I) will be meeting the others in Bangkok before we all leave for China, next week.

So, the Mekong Delta trip.. (this is where they filmed Apocalypse Now, amongst other Vietnam war films):

A lot of this trip was spent on boats, coaches and buses, but nothing could ruin the stunning views on the river. (Not even the laptop sized cockroaches, the cooked rats and mice in the restaurants or the ants all over the hotel rooms).

The tour was based on the "Nine Dragons", or the nine huge estuaries running between Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, and we covered hundreds of miles of water. Day one was spent floating our way up to Cai Be, north of the river. En route, we saw the busy island communities, all of which seemed intent on selling us the same stuff, and ate at a local place, serving snake wine and scorpion juice. Which was pretty weird. We got to eat loads of local fruit, sleep in hammocks and see some local music. (Which was basically this weird little mandolin thing that sounded like a cross between bagpipes and Cat Stevens). We also got to see where 70 per cent of Asia's rice is produced, as well as some sweet-ass coconut sweets. (Don't worry cousins, girlfriends and brothers, we have bought you some). We spent the night in Can Tho, but couldn't really see much of it, as we had to be up at 6am the next day to start the tour again!

The highlight was our tour guide, "John Wayne", who relied on his basic grasp of English to let us know what was going on, consisting entirely of "Lubbly Jubbly", "Geezer" and "top banana" at all times.

Day two, when we woke up, was spent at the amazing floating market. It wasn't as busy as it can be at peak season, but it was an experience all the same. It is just like any market in the UK, with the major difference being millions of boats and a massive area of water, rather than Cockneys shouting at eachother onland. After loads more floating, meeting random travellers from Israel, England, Australia, The States and others places, asking and answering the same old questions (you know, where are you from, how long have you been travelling? etc) and feeling pretty sweaty, we arrived at Chau Doc. Another amazing little place, similar to Chiang Mai in Thailand. Busy but no hassle, loud but not too loud to sleep! We got to meet two really sound English guys from Surrey, Rich and Joe, who also gave us some great advice on New Zealand. I am going to put it to the others when I see them, but it seems the way forward in NZ, is getting camper vans and sleeping/touring in them as we go. Saves money on hotels, is relatively cheap and you can see both islands in a short time. Some of their pics were incredible, and I am really looking forward to that part of the trip now.

Again, we had an early start on day three, and ended up spending more time on the 7 hour bus back to Saigon rather than seeing much. But the highlight for me was a minority ethnic Muslim village in Cham areas of Vietnam. It was strange seeing Mosques, headscarves and Muslim boys, with no beards and Vietnamese looking faces. A real mix-match of culture, religion and tourism, which really showed a lot about Vietnam.

Anyway, we are back in Saigon now, and we are off to the seaside tomorrow. Last night, I played Playstation with Bee's hilarious boyfriend, Jonno, and generally did exactly what I spend most of my time at home doing! But all 4 of us had a laugh, and I am still in love with Vietnam....

Pics and blogs to come, keep your amazing messages coming etc..

Matt the Greek