And onto cambodia!

Hanoi in Vietnam was amazing, the old quarter was full of tiny streets selling random goods and full of interesting people. We left Hanoi and headed south to Hue - on that train journey we lost our lonely planet. So we arrived in hue with no idea of how to get to the town centre, where to stay, what to see - nothing. It was 10pm and of course the lovely vietnamese would rather eat their own arm than help you so we ended up wandering the streets looking for somewhere to stay, by 11pm we found a little room and the next day we had a wander round. Nice town, no lonely planets (the government only allows the sale of their tourist book which is rotten so you need to find dodgy dealers with their photocopied books).

We both werent very well at that point either - dodgy fruit we think. Lovely!

Anyhoo we continued on to Nha trang - a lovely laid back beach town with some tourist infrastructure and a photocopied version of lonely planet! Woo hoo! We spent a couple of days there lounging on the beach then onto Saigon (Ho chi min city though no one calls it that!) Im sorry to say we didnt want to go out to rural or smaller towns in vietnam. It was so tough even getting between the big places because the locals really dont want to help you. Even with a little words in their language they frown and turn away. Thanks america, you really did a great job there!

Saigon was much friendlier and we spent 3 days there, wandering the city and went out to the chu chi tunnels where the northern viet cong had hidden underground to avoid the american troops in the south. The tunnels are still there and we crawled through them. Talk about claustrophobic! They were amazingly advanced though with chimneys letting out smoke miles from the kitchen and ingenious ways of hiding entrances. It was incredible to see. You also walk through bomb craters, see different trapping devices and speak to veterans who tell you about the area during the war - incredible.

I wont go on too much about it but the war has had a huge affect on the country. Thousands continue to be born with disabilities due to "agent orange" - a chemical used by the usa to de forest jungles and show the enemy hiding underneath. Horrific.

From saigon we headed into the real south of vietnam, known as the mekong delta as the huge mekong river divides the area into thousands of tiny islands. Getting around there was quite difficult, drivers wouldnt tell us when our stop was, ferries were confusing and locals wouldnt help. However, it was stunning and a lot of the people were really nice (when you were buying something from them!). There was one morning we got up at 5am and got a local guy to take us in his boat to the floating market, where hundreds of villagers meet on boats to buy and sell their products. Incredible!

From the delta we took a boat through the border and into cambodia. The mekong river really is a life line for this part of the world. Fishing, bathing, washing, transporting - all happens there. No one has running water in the house and the rice fields need gallons every day. Its amazing sailing up it watching normal life pass by on the shores. The kids were great fun too, waving and running along beside the boat.

And now cambodia, more prosperous than vietnam (they drive cars instead of mopeds and sell in shops rather than on the street!) but more importantly their friendly. If you wave and say hello in their language you get a huge smile! It nice to be back in that kind of country!

Today we learned about the khmer rouge and their horrific crimes in cambodia. We visited an old school that was turned into an interrogation camp during the 70s - the cells and photos of the dead remain. Its chilling walking through rooms where thousands of people were tortured for crimes they did not commit.

We went from there to the killing fields - where thousands were executed. Lawyers, government officials, anyone with any doubt that they were against the regime and their families. Woman, children, the lot. They were brought to these fields and killed - mostly by brute force to save on the bullets. The mass graves still have clothes and bones lying in the bottom of them. Horrendous, but im so glad that they have been given the chance to be remembered.

Been travelling from the delta with an irish couple - so after all the sadness of the graves we bought some beer, some local fruits and bread and got a tour of the city in a tuk tuk. Stopping to look at monkeys, monks, elephants (just walking down the street!) we even had a game of football in a park with some kids. Cambodias going to be ace!

I thinks thats it for now

Missing you all - please keep all the emails coming and im sorry if we dont reply - lazyness combined with expensive internet cafes is not a good mix!

Love k and m x x x