We passed all manner of transport on our road trip from Phnom Penh - enormous trailers with goods piled high being pulled by tiny mopeds, agricultural engines pulling trailers of passengers after dark without lights, and the usual scooters with the entire family on them. This prepared us well for the transport to come, where we soon found ourselves bouncing around over pot-holed dirt tracks in the pitch black, with our tuk-tuk driver unable to find our accommodat...

I don't recall any other customs posts where I have waited for my passport to be processed beneath the shade of mango trees. I had been corresponding for the last couple of weeks with a lady called Phan Mai who for a little extra coin promised to get us across the border before any of the bigger boats, and to Phnom Penh by lunch time. Not only did she fail to disappoint, but she turned out to be quite a character, and was in reception yesterday evening awaiting o...

Amongst the not-to-be-missed sights of the Mekong Delta was the Hang Pagoda, which was proving a little difficult to get to, particularly as we needed to be there at dusk to witness the hundreds of storks leave the roof and head back to their nests in the nearby trees. Eventually we decided to pay for a car and driver for the 3 hour return trip to Trà Vinh. Where are all the birds, we asked the monks in the grounds of the pagoda. With little English, all w...

I saw three mermaids doing loops and swimming to the sandy bottom. I wasn't sure if I had drowned, or was suffering from narcosis, or if I had perhaps swallowed the worm from a mezcal bottle by mistake. I just had to keep breathing and following Paulo's fins, our guide, because I'd never been scuba diving before and was getting seriously freaked out just for a minute. This was some dive for a first one though, and I really was thrown in at the deep end amongst th...

There is something about renting bicycles whilst travelling that makes me chuckle, as you never quite know what you are going to get. The size might be vaguely suitable, you might get some sort of brakes, and if you are really lucky you might actually be able to use more than one of the gears. Cycle and maintenance are two words that are rarely seen together, and I have seen chains in this town that are rustier than a ship's anchor, but with the only aim being to...