HI

We did 4 days in Siem Reap, Angkor Wat one day, a visit to an orphanage the next, a day by the pool (the owner used to work in Clacton and knows a family friend of ours, weird!) - followed by a night at Angkor What?! bar - where we indulged in a bucket or two and met a nice couple from Northern Ireland and a big group from Oz - lots of fun!! The final day was spent recovering from the night before and getting our feet nibbled by the fish! It was hilarious! We definitely made a scene! So ticklish that I nearly had to stop but powered through for the full 20 minutes, even moved onto the bigger fishies at one point! Very funny and we did indeed emerge with smooth feet!!

I think I will actually miss being harrassed every 5 seconds on the streets of Cambodia for a Tuk Tuk - Hey lady you want Tuk Tuk!! - one guy even dropped us off at our guest house after a day out, took the money, then came back up to us just as we'd put our bags back on our back and said.. 'tuk tuk?' .. NO!! The kids also have a habit of grabbing you and begigng you to buy them some rice but soon enough it turns into.. 'just give me 1 dollar!!!!'

The bus from Siem Reap to Ho Chi Min City in Vietnam actually took THIRTEEN HOURS. Not funny. Although we had plenty of stop offs and lots of sleep. When we arrived we were a bit worse for wear and the bus dropped us right in the city centre - I have never seen roads like it - I thought Cambodia was insane but this was another level!! Look left and you see hundered of motorbikes coming towards you just centimetres apart from each other, look right and you're faced with the same situation!! We knew the guest house we wanted to stay in but there was a taxi man hassling us saying he knew the one and would take us there . . . despite our instincts we agreed and got in, he drove for quite a while thorugh all of the mental traffic and when we pulled up the metre was at $15 - we just paid and checked in relieved to finally be there only to find out later when we went for dinner that the bus drop off was at the bottom of the road from our guest house!!! Arghhhhh!! The first time we have been properly stung!! (Although he could have drove forever and ever and charged us much more!!!) What an ASS! We had to laugh when we saw. Our gaurd was well and truly back up after that blip!

The next day we went to the War Remnants museum - hundered and hunderds of pictures from the Vietnam War - as well as the effect the the Agent Orange chemicals have had on generations born since the war - very grotesque - nothing was spared and there was even a picture of an American soldier holding a shirt with just a human head hanging from it - awful! The whole place was very interesting if a bit stomache churning! We then went onto the History Musuem but were a bit out of our depth there - ancient artefacts from the 10 & 1100's!

We also went to an indoor covered market that afternoon - not a pinch on the ones in Cambodia and the Vietnamese definitely do not have the charm of the Khemers!! We were getting grabbed left right and centre - I spent 1 second too long eyeing up a plain vest top and when she said $14 I kept walking but she pulled me back and wouldn't let me leave!! I tried to explain that is was just a basic plain vest top and she said TELL ME YOUR PRICE!! I said to 2 for $5 and she looked like she was going to be sick!! Eventually I managed to get away with 2 for $6, and almost a punch in the face!

After that trauma we sat in a park amidst the wild traffic - it was very calm there despite the surroundings but within 10 seconds of sitting we were surrounded by Vietnamese students asking if they could talk to us to try and improve their pronounciation - they were so keen to learn and improve that we ended up talking to them for 2 hours, aaagghh! It made me realise how difficult it must be to learn how to make sounds that your mouth has never had to make before - like 'ch', 'sh' - we spent about 20 minutes trying to help them perfect the word P-OI-N-T, bless! They were very thankful to us and said we were very patient when we finally said we had to go!

Did the Cu Chi tunnels the next day - the Vietnamese didn't have the means for the weapons like the Americans did but they had plenty of clever boobie traps -often involving traps with sharpened bamboo spikes! We also went underground through one of the tunnels where they would've lived - it was SO small! I found myself trying to run (while crouched) trying to get to the first exit - we only managed 20 metres - far too claustrophic!! The bus also stopped halfway there so we could see the foundation that was set up by the Vietnamese MOD to help the kinds that have been born with mental and physical illnesses as a result of the chemical rains during the war - it's called handicapped handicrafts and they learn skills and make fantastic pottery / crockery - I got some good pictures of the workstation and the shop next door selling all of their completed crafts - it was like the sort of thing you'd buy from some pricey shop to deck out your kitchen with! Another very good and interesting day out!

We got a 7 hour bus that evening into Dalat, so only 2 nights in Ho Chi Minh which was plenty! - Dalat is really nice - and much cooler as we're up a mountain [the bus journey up it was a bit of a white knuckle right - so close to the edge and the coach driver didn't seem to have any intentions of slowing down] - I was actually cold tonight and made a pit stop after dinner for a cardigan! Very refreshing though after a sweaty two weeks! Today we took a half day tour with 'easy riders' on the back of a motorbike - they took us all over the place and the scenery was amazing! All the way up the mountains to a waterful and a ride that went through the mountains - kind of like a bobsliegh, very funny! Then we went to a temple and got a cable car to the other side of the mountain where our motorbikes and drivers were waiting for us, then they took us to some other key sights such as 'crazy house' - described by the people here as Alice and Wonderland. People often throw away their hop-on-hop-off bus tickets after meeting the easy riders as they'll offer to take you to all the stops up to the top of Vietnam on the back of a motorbike, stopping over at night with the village people in the mountains and seeing the real Vietnam and the amazing scenery along the way - we were seriously tempted for our next stop but time and money won't permit so we're going to have to stick with the bus ticket - boohoo, they are great though and I can see why so many people take them up on their offer, I can't describe the views!!!!

Tomorrow we're going Canyoning, abseiling down a waterfall, jumping off cliff sides and floating down the river via the currents from the waterfall - can't wait, we get an hour of training in the morning, should be really good - will try and get some good pics without drowning my camera!

We leave Dalat for Nha Trang on Friday morning - enjoying Vietnam very much so far and we still have many more stops to go before crossing over into Laos!

Loving every minute of it! :-)

Lots of love, and will report back soon! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx