We left Saigon early in the morning, taking a coach down to the delta. The tour consisted of a lot of boat trips, showing us a bit of the scenery and the way of life for some people. We tried local fruits on a small island in the delta, saw floating markets where boats moored up and they display what goods they have on board by sticking it on a bamboo stick above the boat. I can't remember all of what we did on the first day but we ended up in one of the major towns in the province. Me and Will booked to do a home stay so the 2 of us and a few others got on a boat which took us for about an hour to the house. They had little bungalows for the guests to stay in but we only slept there, the whole evening was spent in the kitchen/garden, where we helped roll up the Vietnamese spring rolls and talked while a huge gourmet dinner was prepared for us by pretty much every family member. It was really nice, with rice, elephant ear fish, tofu and noodles and vegetables. After dinner we talked for a bit before heading to bed. We found out that most people in the delta go to bed at around 8pm due to them having to get up at around 4 or 5am to go and work in the rice paddies before it gets to hot outside. The next morning we headed out to more floating markets and saw coconut plantations and more (but I can't remember at the moment) on another boat. We were getting a little bored of boats by this time but the tour was quite interesting. We got back to the town and had lunch before the few of us heading to Cambodia split up with those going back to Saigon. We got another bus to a town near the border and saw a temple with an impressive view where all you could see was rice paddies right up to the horizon. We got to our hotel and had dinner with the group of us then headed to try and find somewhere for a few drinks, only after walking for quite a while did we find a bar full of locals where we had a couple of drinks and played some pool in the pool hall downstairs. We walked back to the hotel and talked for a bit before hitting the hay. We left early in the morning again, stopping off at a crocodile farm before arriving at the port. We got on a boat and stopped at a village selling gifts before embarking on a 3 hour boat trip to the Cambodian border. After the formalities we got a less comfortable boat for a longer journey up the river, where we then got on a bus for an hour and a half before arriving in Phnom Penh. The landscape it quite impressive, it's just flat as far as the eye can see.

We managed to get a free lift to Okay Guesthouse which was great, very cheap. We stayed in a $5 room on the first night but for the next 2 nights we stayed in a $12 room. On our first day in Phnom Penh we hired a Tuk Tuk driver called Rota for 5 hours for $15, it was money well spent. He took us to The Killing Fields first, while not much remains it is scary to think the holes in the ground are mass graves. The monument is also filled with thousands of human sculls. We then moved on to S-21, the former high school turner prison/torture/execution chamber. Up to 20,000 people are said to have died here. The part that makes it all real is the thousands of black and white photographs of each person that was an inmate of S-21, including men, women and children. Only 7 people survived S-21. The Tuk Tuk was a great way to see around the city and we just drove around before being taken to Wat Phnom, a rather unimpressive temple surrounded by beggars. The highlight was all the monkeys that inhabited the area and they didn't mind the people being around. There was also supposed to be an elephant there but he wasn't when we were there. The next day we slept in for the first time since Nha Trang and then headed to Central Market, a place selling everything. I bought a fake Omega watch for 9 pounds which is still working although I don't want to try out the stated claim of being waterproof down to 150m. I would have bought more but found out I had no money left in my account. Thanks Dad!! :D It wasn't a big deal though as there are markets in Siem Reap to where I can spend my money. We just relaxed for the rest of the day before asking Rota to take us to a local restuarant where the menu was more obscure than we had seen before, and we ate, shared a pitcher of Ankor beer and had many Cheers! with the locals. We hit the night market and then went back. In the morning we got a small bus to the coach station, where, having a stupid moment and being concerned about a group of men taking our bags off the bus all of a sudden, I left my small backpack on the bus. Only realising 5 minutes later that I had forgotten it. Trying to explain what happened to the staff of the bus station, someone spoke good English and managed to call the bus back, all the while keeping a coach full of people waiting for 15 minutes. Oops. Losing my passport, cameras and other stuff would not have been a good move. After over 2 months, that was the first time I had forgotten something, and luckily it was quickly resolved and I got everything back. We hopped on the coach and headed to Siem Reap.

I think my blogs have got more and more vague but we have been doing so much that I just can't remember it all! The photographs will bring back the memories when I get back home.