Well, it is our last day in Vietnam before we take the slowboat up the Mekong River to Cambodia tomorrow. Vietnam has been great - we have met a lot of nice people and also a few that lie to you and want to rip you off! We have seen some great places, however, all good things must come to an end and another good thing begins - Cambodia here we come!!

Since our last instalment, we have been to Nha Trang after another bad bus journey where Vietnamese music was played at full volume until 1am and then again from 4am - and we were lucky enough to be right under the speakers! In Nha Trang we chilled on the beach, took a boat cruise around the islands in Nha Trang bay where we did some great snorkelling, hired bicycles for the day and went to a spa where we had a mud bath!!

We then chilled some more in Mui Ne, a lovely sleepy fishing village. We did exert ourselves with a 4.30am jeep tour to the local sand dunes where we did some sandboarding.

Then onto Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon); here we wandered the city visiting the Reunification Palace and the War Remnants Museum (both excellent insights into the 'American' War). We also visited the Cu Chi Tunnels which were fascinating. It was from here that the North Vietnamese outwitted the Americans with their guerilla tactics and ability to fit loads of people in bloody small holes!!

After all this tough sightseeing, we needed some more relaxation, so we flew to Phu Quoc Island for 3 nights. We stayed in a gem of a beach house and ate great food, lazed in hammocks, had massages ($4 per hour!) and rode around on motorbikes. It really felt like a tropical island and is pretty undeveloped - it was great to see it now as there are plans for an international airport and lots of resorts in the future. Only downside is that the Vietnamese have not worked out that throwing their rubbish in the sea/river results in it ending up on the beach and slightly ruining what is a spectacular island.

Today we flew to Rach Gia on the mainland and took a local bus north to Chau Doc. We paid double what we should have and felt like we were part of a Guinness World Record attempt as we managed to fit a ridiculously large number of people in our small minibus.

So now we are ready for Cambodia....