Hi there everybody,

well here is the next installment of the story. I hope you enjoy the read.

So we arrived in Saigon last Monday (9th Oct) and spent a total of 3 days
there.
On the Tuesday we took a day trip to a temple and the Cu Chi tunnels. In the
morning we were first taken to a handicapped crafts factory, where people
were making stunning pictures and pottery from egg shells and such like. It
must take them hours. It is run by the government and it helps the
handicapped people become self-sufficient. After here we were taken to the
temple. The temple was very colourful and very beautiful. It is a
combination of 4 /5 religions and the priests, followers, and trainee
priests all wear different coloured clothes depending on their rank. The
temple has a number of steps and the higher the step they sit on during the
mass is an indicator of their rank. We were allowed to walk round the temple
and then watch the mass from the balcony above. It was very peaceful to
watch. They make different hand gestures and then bow to a massive globe
with a large eye on it. After stopping for dinner we continued our trip to
the cu chi tunnels. The tunnels were built during the Vietnam war by the
local villagers. There were 3 layers to the tunnels, level one at 4 meters
below ground, level 2 at 6 meters and level 3 at 8/9 meters. The tunnels
were tiny (as were the people!). We got to crawl through 30 meters of level
1 tunnels. It was very small and claustrophobic. I never want to be that
close to Liz's bum ever again! She has it right in my face!!! On the way
back to the hotel we got caught in one of the most crazy traffic jams i have
every seen, all because there were no traffic lights at a major junction so
everyone and no-one had right of way. It took us about 30 mins to do 10
meters!

Wednesday: in the morning we took it easy. Went to visit the Notra Dame
Cathedral, said a few prayers and lit some candles. Then we went for a
massage, this was in the blind institute. It was for 1 hour and cost 1
pound! It was very relaxing. Went for tea and then went bk to pack bags!

Thursday: Today was the start of our 3 day/2 night trip along the Mekong
Delta river. The river is disgustingly dirty. It was a horrible brown
colour. Everything is thrown into it. We took a trip to a coconut candy farm
and we got to try some freshly made sweets and some banana wine which was
40% proof! Strong stuff. I also got to hold a python snake around my neck.
It was good fun and you could feel all of its insides moving as it moved.
Liz stood well back as she wasn't really feeling the snake! We watched some
of the local people play music while we drank hunny tea, surrounded by the
bees which had provided the hunny! We took a trip on a little row boat
through some jungle like rivers. It was very nice and actually made us feel
like "real travellers!"
We took a ferry across the other side of the Mekong, then we were taken to
our hotel for the night. We went for tea with some of the people from the
trip. We have also made some more friends from Oz who said we can also stay
with them! Get in!!!!!!
Oh before I forget, the manager from the hotel came to our room as I had
sent Liz down stairs to complain about our lack of water (she is good at
that sort of thing........complaining I mean!!!). I was in the process of
getting undressed when he knocked on the door, I made a quick dash to the
bathroom to get cover, but Liz opened the door before I made it, needless to
say the poor guy got an eyeful!!!!!!!

Friday: the hotel manager came knocking again this morning to give us our
wake up call. I opened the door and he shook my hand and then proceeded to
inform me I had a "strong body", I didn't know quite how to take that. Had
he just called me fat in a polite Vietnamese way???!!!!!!!
We were taken to a large floating market, we got to buy some fresh pineapple
off one of the boats. They even have floating gas stations! We then got
taken to monkey bridge. This a tiny bamboo bridge which spans part of the
river. It isn't 100% stable and you have to take side steps as the bridge is
so narrow. I am very proud to say that both me and Liz crossed the river. I
got nervous when I reached the middle as the hand rail offered no support if
you slipped, but we made it across in one piece. Had dinner and then the
people who were crossing into Cambodia were taken to a crocodile farm. The
have over 10000 crocs. They breed them for meat and for their skins, but
also for conservation as there are no wild ones left due to hunting. There
were some 'big' crocs, massive infact. The only thing which let the place
down was the fact they had 2 brown bears in very small pens. It was very
upsetting to see. They told us they used to be allowed to walk free around
the grounds as they are super friendly, but some visitors complained they
were scared of them so they locked them up.
After the crocs we were taken to a Pagoda and the view was amasing, you
could see across to Cambodia, the land is so flat. We were then taken to the
hotel and we all went for tea. Met a nice young couple from New Zealand
(Rita and Tim), so hopefully meet up with them when we get to NZ!
I was a bit apprehensive about going into Cambodia, as I didn't quite know
what to expect.

Saturday: another 6am start. After checking out of hotel we visited a
floating fish farm and then a local community. I got to try weaving, it was
much harder than it looked. The young girl who was weaving was doing about 3
lines a second and I did v.badly 3 lines in about 10 mins. She then
proceeded to cut out my weaves and start again!!!!!! We then took a 3hr boat
trip to the Cambodia boarder. After getting our visas which took about an
hour we had another 4 hr boat trip into the heart of Cambodia. I became
desperate for the loo midway through our trip. I held on for over 1 hr, legs
tightly crossed before someone informed me there was a bloody loo on the
back of the boat. It was open air, but was a loo all the same! We played
cards with some people we got talking to on the boat and I can say cheating
(Liz) is back!!!!! Does anyone (from uni) remember when Liz cheated at
Monopoly????? Well the cheating streak came out again when we played cards!
Was a good laugh though.
Had to take an 1.5hr bus trip (along very pot holed roads) into central
Phnom Penh, then we had to search for a hostel. After finding a really nice
one, we took shower and went for tapas with Rita and Tim. The food was
absolutely gorgeous!!!!!
My first impressions of Cambodia are mixed. It is similar to Vietnam, it is
trying very hard to bring itself up to date with the modern world, but in
parts you can see the poverty and the street kids follow you round for money
and food. The people are lovely and very friendly. It has some beautiful
views. Not at all what I was expecting.

Sunday: had a lie in and then we explored the capital. It is very small. We
went to find a bank and followed the bible (lonely planet) which took us
30mins. On the way back we found a bank 7 doors up from our hotel!!!! Only
us! We took a walk to a Pagoda and temple. Had a look around and then we
came out to found the place is over run with loads of wild monkeys. The
locals come and feed them. There were loads and we saw some babies as well.
The we went for another massage by the blind. This one was heaven! It was
the BEST massage I have EVER had. Muscle melting, although at some points
she actually hurt.
I bought Liz some flowers, they were the Lotus flower. She has now decided
she wants these as her wedding flowers. God give me strength!!!!!! Although
I think Gavin may need more than me!
Went to the local shopping centre and it had everything. Did a bit of food
shopping, to keep costs down.

Monday: today was full. We first took a tuk tuk to the killing fields. This
had a strange atmosphere, its the site were mass graves were found and
thousands of bodies were dumped during the war. There is a remembrance
temple when you walk in which holds 8000 skulls which have been dug up.
There are clothes and bones still coming out of the ground which we walked
over. The place is beautiful with a lovely lake and grounds. Its just a
shame when you think of the pain and suffering which occurred there.
We then went to the russian market, I gave into temptation and bought 2
pairs of earrings and a bag but it only cost me 3quid in total.
We then went to the Tuol Sleng museum, which was a school but then made into
a prison by the S-21 during the war. It had photos of everyone who was
killed there. Out of 20000 people only 7 survived. It was very moving. We
watched a film as well. They killed men, women, children and even babies.
Heart breaking.
In the evening we went for an Indian, it was a set menu for $2. Very cheap
but lovely. Liz turned her nose up at it at first but then she ended up
loving it more than I did!

Tuesday 17th Oct: today we are headed off to Siem Reap, it will took us 6
hours on the bus. When we eventually arrived at the other end we were mobbed by about 40+ tuktuk drivers it was pretty bad! We just had to choose one to take us into town and it was pretty scary! We found a nice guesthouse in the end, where we decided to stay for night. We went out for dinner and had anice evening chillingout!

Wednesday 18th October: Tiday we just hadanice day chillingoutand trying to find the best way to get to Angkor Wat,we were contemplatinggoing by bike,although when we met up with Tim and Rita, we saw the light anddecided to get a tuk tuk with them, and have it easy rather than sweating our guts out on a bike doing some ridicuolous amount of Km!
Well I think that is all for now. Had a mexican for our dinner which was pretty tasty and a little bit of mago and margarita, well for Liz who doesnt like sipping on ale!

Thursday19th October; Today cheryl and I decided to move hotels, well to the one directlynext door, it was a dollar cheaper andmuch nicerwhich was a bonus. We met up with Timand Rita and took a Tuk Tuk to Angkor Wat which wasabsolutlyamazing! There are over 70temples, so we decided to get a 3 day pass to have a good look around all the temples and ruins.

Friday20th October: Today we got up at some ridiculous hour of 4am so that we could go and see the sunrise at Angkor, surprisingly there were lots of people there. and it was so beautiful to see. We decided to finish our day at 1130am and went back to the guesthouse for a sly 40 winks and chilled out for a bit!

Saturday 21st October: Today was our last day at Angkor, we travelled about 40Km to have a look at someof the Angkor temples which were full of detail, it was well worth the bumpy road on the tuk tuk! We took a picnicto Angkor watand sat on the runis having our nibbles which was pretty fun and then it absolutly lashed it down, so we decided to call it a day! In the evening we went to amusic concert at the local hospitalwhich was swiss ranand basically it was a money raising event for the children. They loose so many kids to TB its unreal, some of the sights were horendous it was so sad to see.

Sunday 22nd October: Well today is our day of rest so we are just taking it easy and not really doing much! We are planning on going to Bagkok tomorrow for a few days and then up into northern Thailand to Chiang Mai. Hopefully the weather will be good and will get us across the border!

Well thats aboiut it fornow folks thanks for all the messages,im sorry we still havent been able to put any pics on the site but the computers are so slow it takes for ever!

Keepin touch lots of love Lizbet and the Sneerxxxxx  

Lots of love