Testament to the fact I haven't been on here for a while, even my mum has posted an update on my behalf. Anyway, to summarise the past 3 months in Vietnam and Cambodia... In early January, fresh from my Minsk motorbike trip, I train- and bus-hopped down from Hanoi to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City. Just before the very wet town of Hue I rode pillion with a local guide, who showed me the underground tunnels at Vinh Moc, remnants of the Vietnam war in the DMZ (De-militarised Zone), where something like 5000 people lived 10m underground for 6 months, with cramped hospital room, new-born delivery room and even an entertainments cave to relieve the boredom. Further south the weather improved, and I hit my first beach on the trip so far at Nha Trang - managed to stay in one place for a whole 10 days! Further sand and surf was had in the quieter but developing beach resort at Mui Ne. A brief stay in Saigon for the Chinese New Year allowed me to take in a full half-hour fireworks spectacular from the scooter-crammed streets. Bussing into Cambodia in early Feb, the landscape immediately becomes more agricultural, with a less business-focussed and relaxed feel to the place. Phnom Penh is good for expat drinking dens and riverside walks; many people just come here to see Angkor Wat, but as I had time on my side, my idea was to hire another bike and get out to see the country of the West and North before the crowning glory of the 12th century Khmer architecture at Angkor. The expat bike of choice in Cambodia is the 250cc Honda dirt bike, and 7 quid a day rental wasn't going to break the bank, so off I went for a fortnight. The picture here - representing a fable of the boy with the disappearing stick - is from Battambang, Cambodia's second city, which is really just another pleasant riverside town. Then up to the Northern border with Thailand, I stopped off at the hilltop temple of Preah Vihear (putting the bike through it's paces up a 45deg. dirt track) and the grave of the ruthless Khmer Rouge dictator Pol Pot - he was reportedly burned on a pile of rubbish and old tyres. I met a man who as a child lived with Pol Pot's number 2. He believed him to be a good man who did a lot for the villagers. Most would disagree, and having seen the kid's school in Phnom Penh which was converted into a prison/torture chamber for thousands of educated people and supposed insurgents in the late 70's by the regime, I tended to disagree too. Angkor Wat was indeed spectacular and I took out a week's ticket, the huge complex of temples and residences stretching over 30 kms. The Bayon and Banteay Srei are must-visits; the former for the eerie smiling faces staring out into the forest and latter for the intricacy and depth of the wall carvings, which it was believed could only have been carved by women.. The wall bas-reliefs on many of the temples contain a vast amount of detail on the early battles that were fought as well as stories from the Ramayana and Mahabarata. Met up with Heather from my Cadbury days - it was great to catch up and pass a couple of days sharing the sights. After a few days down in and around the Southern beach resort of Sihanoukville, my visa was up I had to catch the fast boat out to Thailand. The last week of my South East Asia trip was spent on a peaceful remote corner of the extremely touristy island of Ko Chang. Read, relax, swim, sunbathe - you know the drill.. And finally back to Bangkok to meet up with the folks for a couple of days sightseeing before we both headed South to Oz.