Saigon

We arrived in Saigon and it was lashing it down! We found our hostel and dried off and found food! Our new besties Sarah and Dean were meeting us later on for drinks as they arrived on the next bus. Sarah's brother Lee just so happened to be working is Saigon too so we were looking forward to meeting him. That night we found a local cocktail bar and sunk a few drinks along with a few shots. Now Sarah likes to start all her stories with the statement "we're not big drinkers but when we were drunk this time" so by the end of the night we are trying to fit our entire fists in our mouths I now choose to believe she is in fact a booze hound! She was even up dancing with the local chav! Ha, ha!! (see pictures)

After walking around Saigon we defiantly liked it more than most of the Asian cities we'd visited so far however there was a definite feeling that when the lights go down it's sin city! As most of our time was spent drinking with the Toop's we only made it to one museum and this was the War Museum. It was very sad and the photos do not hold any punches. What the soldiers on both sides went through must have been hell on earth and another heart breaking fact is many children are still suffering from the affects of Agent Orange. Agent Orange was one of many chemicals used to spray and kill crops and water supplies in the Vietnam War and as people were exposed to it (American and Vietnamese) it had an effect on their health and caused a lot of the children to be born afterwards with server deformities and learning difficulties. It really did bring home the effect the War had on the country and still does now.

So after a rather depressing day we met the Toop's for yet more drinks but this time we went to one of the local bars which are made up of tiny chairs and tables and you basically sit on the edge of the road...the beer is dirt cheap though so its all good fun. We spent the night stopping random local street food sellers and sampling their goods. One of our braver moves was to sample squid which had been hung up and dried out so it didn't even resemble food in the slightest anymore. They flash fried it then grinded it up and served it up with some chilli sauce...it smelt disgusting but tasted actually ok!! Dean couldn't get enough which was a brave move as he hadn't been keen to try but he was well in the swing of travelling life now...well apart from when he announced that he couldn't wait to do a big shop at Tesco when he got home ha, ha!! We had a fab time with the Toop's and were genuinely gutted to see them go home but they had to get back to Frank their little dog and of course to Tesco's J

So for us it was on to Cambodia. We decided it would be nice to combine the border crossing with a trip up the Mekong River, where again it decided to rain pretty much all of the first day. We went to see how they made coconut sweets and then to a floating village where they have fish farmers. To be honest the whole thing was a bit of a letdown as our guide could not be bothered and it was raining and we all just slept on the bus! That night we were apparently in for a treat as we were to stay on a floating hotel!!! Ooooo I hear you say, well don't get to excited as in the words of my Husband it was more like a floating turd then a floating hotel!! We were up and off early the next day to catch a boat and go through the border. The crossing was very straight forward and we then spent the next few hours sailing up the Mekong towards Cambodia. It was nice to watch the countryside change and the smiling faces waving at you from the river bank...oh and it had stopped raining which was a bonus!

Things we learnt

• Lots about the War and how resilient the Vietnamese people are

• Saigon defiantly has something for everyone, good and bad!

• Coconut sweets taste good!

• Beer makes you brave when it comes to street food

• Floating hotels are not always as good as they sound!