Our mini stay in Phnom Penh is pretty much just a blur. Our bus was a bit late so we arrived in the evening and picked a cheap hostel in the center of the city. Focused on making our way along through the big cities, we decided to book our bus to cross the border into Vietnam for the next morning. We walked around a bit before having dinner at the restaurant in the lobby of our hostel. There was a huge temple at the end of our road and we happened to walk by as dozens of monks were returning to the temple for evening prayer. It was such a sight, with the colourful temple and the bright orange robes worn by all the monks.

In the morning, we hopped a bus that would take us across the border and into Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon). This was probably our most difficult border crossing so far, and it wasn't really that bad. Since we already had our visas, we didn't have any paperwork to fill out, but the director of the bus company insisted on taking everyone's passports as we approached the border. We weren't too keen on this, but he wouldn't take no for an answer and everyone else on the bus had already given theirs over. Once at customs, he brought our passports inside, had them stamped, and then called us one by one to go through and have our bags inspected. It worked out all right in the end but made both Mark and I very nervous.

We had another couple hours on the bus and rolled into the chaos that is Saigon. If we thought Bangkok or Phnom Penh were busy cities, there was nothing that could've prepared us for this, the city of motorbikes. After checking in to our small hotel, just a short walk away from the main market, we made our way out into the streets.

Our destination was only a short walk away but first we would have to make our way through the sea of endless motorbikes. Every intersection felt like being the marble on a kids labyrinth table. We negotiated through the traffic to a small side street filled with restaurants selling affordable local and western style meals. We found a good little spot, with a table on the pedestrian street and watched the dance of merchants selling their fares. After supper, we popped into the Ben Thanh Market but didn't stay long after not finding much but aggressive shop salespeople and tacky tourist souveniers.

The next day, we took a self-guided walking tour to see the main buildings in the city. Battling the traffic and heat were a chore but we managed to visit the elaborate post office, the vietnamese Notre Dame cathedral and the waterfront area. We returned to the backpacker restaurant area later in the day to enjoy happy hour and supper.

With the road continously calling, we set out early the next morning to make our way to the coast. After several hours of horn honking and aggressive braking by the bus driver, we arrived in Mui Ne. A tourist beach town on the South China Sea. Although the area is geared towards travelers, it was a welcome change from the major city centers of Phnom Penh and Saigon.

Our first day in Mui Ne was pretty relaxed, after checking in to our hotel, we walked a few minutes down the strip to have lunchi in a tiki-inspired restaurant. In the afternoon, we walked the short walk to the beach and hopped in to the big, rolling surf. The waves here were definitely bigger than the beaches we visited in Australia, but the beach itself and the water weren't as clean so we didn't stay long. We headed back to the hotel for a swim on the 10th floor in roof top swimming pool with a gorgeous view of the sea.

We had dinner a bit further down the strip than where we had lunch. There we dined next to a huge table of Russians - it was surprising for us to see the huge Russian influence in this small city. Most of the "tourist" restaurants had Russian menus, and many of the people we passed on the street were speaking Russian. Vietnam is maybe their winter escape, like Cuba or Mexico to us?

The next morning, we had a cheap in-room breakfast of yoghurt, fresh pineapple, and porridge. I am feeling so spoiled by all the amazing fresh fruit around. I think I've had fresh pineapple every day for almost a month now! And it is so cheap compared to home! After eating, we took an epic walk down to the other end of the tourist strip to find the office of our bus company. We finally did find it and booked our ticket to Dalat for the next day. We had lunch in the area and walked through to the beach for our walk back. The point where we walked out onto the beach had a huge break wall and it was just being pounded by giant waves. The surf was quite a bit bigger than it had been the previous day and the sound of it roaring onto shore was unbelievable! We both stood an watched it for awhile, transfixed by it's power. The tide must've been on it's way in because we were both caught off guard by a stray wave and soaked almost to our waists! The sun, the surf and windsurfers on the beach all contributed to a great afternoon walk. That night, we walked back to that huge break wall and had dinner at a small restaurant just off the beach. The food was just okay, but the setting was perfect with the huge waves roaring behind us.

The morning of Monday, February 20th, we headed by bus to Dalat. Instead of a full-sized bus like we had taken from Saigon, a mini-bus stopped to pick us up and was packed to the gills with people and all their luggage. There was no storage under the bus so our huge packs had to come inside with us. The aisles were full of bags, the seats were cramped and there wasn't much room to breathe, let alone move! This is more what I expected of a Southeast Asia bus experience, but I guess we'd just been spoiled to that point.

The road into Dalat was slow and winding because we were heading into the mountains. Sitting at 1500m above sea level, Dalat is nestled into a beautiful alpine valley. It is built on several hills and many of the buildings retain the French colonial feel. Also, it is much cooler than anywhere we've been in Asia so far, with an average temperature of 18C - a welcome break from the heat for us Canucks!

Dalat was a fun city to explore. We walked up and down the hills of the central area to have lunch and find the market. The Dalat market sold a lot of second hand clothes, as well as some handicrafts. It made both Mark and I laugh to see them selling thick winter-looking coats! While it is technically the winter season right now, we were happy and comfortable walking around during the day in shorts and t-shirts. We saw many a local wearing hats, scarves, mittens, and even the occasional parka! They must've thought we were crazy, but we were loving the weather.

We decided to have dinner near the market, and be a bit more adventurous with our meal choices - we haven't really taken to Vietnamese food as I thought we would. This spirit of adventure may have been a costly mistake. The pho and vegetarian noodles we ordered were okay, but the prawn dish that Mark ordered smelled funny the second it came to our table. We decided to cut our losses on that one and found a restaurant with a great patio overlooking the central market and had a bit more food and some beer.

As we arrived back at our guesthouse, the Villa Pink House, we ran into the son of the owner, Jay and his friend, Nguyen. They were having an informal English lesson on the front porch and we ended up sitting and talking with them for quite awhile. We helped them practice their english, while we learned about their lives in Vietnam. The guesthouse is run by Jay's family and they are all so friendly - we felt very welcome there, as if we were invited into their home.

The next day, I was pretty sick and stayed in bed all day, as Mark took care of me and tried to feed me bananas and bread. We decided to book at third night at the Villa Pink to give me an extra day to get my stomach sorted, which turned out to be a good idea.

Wednesday, I still stuck around the hotel but Mark did a good job of exploring the city on his own.

Today, we took the bus, again, this time to Nha Trang, a big beach resort city on the coast. It is much livelier than Mui Ne and definitely easier to get around. The bus ride here was spectacular - winding us back down the mountain and into a lush, green farming valley. We drove past rice fields, sugar cane fields, and corn fields, and the way the light was touching the green crops was magical.

We'll get our bearings in Nha Trang tomorrow and see about booking a snorkeling or diving trip for the next day.