We're sure you'll all be amazed to know, after all your comments about us being a bit detailed in our blogs, that we forgot to write down some of the things that really stood out in South East Asia.

Firstly the bikes.  Bikes are everywhere (apparently six million in Hanoi alone), but it's not just the sheer volume of bikes but the things that happen on them too.  It's not unusual to see whole families on bikes, and I think the most people we've seen on a bike is probably about five, normally two or three of these being children.  Women dangle babies just a few months old off them, and usually one small child will be sat on their father's lap as he is driving.

Some of our favourites though are when you see two monks on the back of a bike, and also the delivery men who drive along with huge fridge freezers on the back of their moped.  Our least favourite has to be live animals though, as often you see guys driving along with huge, live pigs on the back of their bikes, the pig's laying on their backs struggling for breath. 

It really is quite disgusting how animals are treated out here, as a favourite thing to do is to have small birds in tiny little cages, so they can barely even open their wings.  Many shops have them outside all over South East Asia and China.  Also in the Re-unification Palace in Saigon, one of the attractions was a pair of elephant feet that were given to an old president of Vietnam.  Asian tourists were having their pictures taken with these feet that had been cut off above the ankle and hollowed out.  Pretty sick!

Secondly the lying.  People out here just lie to you all the time to get your money.  You can catch them out lying to you, and they have no shame.  As nothing has a price on out here (and there are barely any supermarkets, just stalls on the street), people see you are foreign and just double the price.  You have to barter for everything, so from the minute you leave your hotel in the morning until you get back, you have people trying to rip you off.  It gets very tiring.

Something else that has happened quite a few times in South East Asia, is that the men have asked me if they can 'take care of my wife'.  Normally it will be that we are waiting somewhere and I go to get some water or something, and someone will say smiling "Are you going?  Can I take care of your wife".  I think they mean it as a joke and a compliment, but if you said that to someone back home you'd be eating knuckle sandwich.

Another strange thing is that they show dead people on the news out here.  When two Russian tourists were shot dead in Southern Thailand, you could see their dead bodies sat in the deckchairs on the news coverage, and some guy who had had a heart attack in Hong Kong was shown being carried out dead.  It's pretty disrespectful and must be horrible for the families to see.

Finally the thing you notice out here is that life happens on the streets?People eat meals? socialise and pretty much do everything else on the streets?It is good to see somewhere in the 21st century where people dont spend their whole time infront of TV?