HAPPY KHMER NEW YEAR! I don't think we have smiled, waved and said hello as much as we have done in the last few days, at times we have felt like royalty, ha ha! The journey to Battambang was one of the main reasons for going there in the first place. The boat trip along the river is supposed to be one of the most beautiful in Cambodia and offer a true insight into rural Cambodian life. And we really couldn't argue with that... As our boat cruised down the river...

The bus to Siem Reap was one of those which just seemed to take forever (playing Mr Bean didn't really help the time go any quicker), though we were pleasantly surprised when our pick up guy was actually there holding his little sign up.When the tuk tuk pulled up outside this hotel with a grand entrance we figured he was stopping for something but it was actually our Okay Villa guesthouse. Only open for 4 weeks, it was easily the nicest place we have stayed it ye...

We cruised right into the centre of Phnom Penh mid afternoon, and although I felt it had been one of the longest ever journeys, it was still a nice change from arriving by bus. Once again we were accosted by touts and a pricing war kicked off between them all so we managed to get a bargain, even if we did have to pile 4 of us plus bags precariously into a tuk tuk! We were all feeling a bit groggy from our 6am start so we had a bit of a lazy afternoon before head...

Early on Friday morning we headed out of Saigon and had a bumpy (even the local tour guide admitted the road had loads of potholes in it!) drive for a few hours to Cai Be in the lower Mekong Delta area. We jumped on a local motor boat and cruised around, seeing the floating markets and the locals going about their daily business from all their boats. Then we stopped off at a little local product making shop where we watched how they made rice paper, coconut candy...

So 2 has become 3 now that we've got to Saigon and Em has flown out to join us for a couple of weeks! It was exciting waiting for her at the airport and we had a big running hug when she came through the gate - so nice to see a familiar face after all this time! We had arrived Saigon the night before and as soon as we got off the bus we were accosted by a tout who was a big beefcake of a woman and who led us, somewhat aggressively, round some of the dodgiest lit...