Well, we thought the traffic in Hanoi was horrendous so I have no words left to convey the enormity of the traffic jam that confronted us when we were picked up from Ho Chi Minh airport. A 25 minute journey took well over an hour and a half, the highlights being a U-turn across 3 lanes of oncoming traffic to reach one hotel and then another U-ey across 6 lanes to reach ours! The next day we set off for the Mekong Delta to be confronted by yet another traffic jam. Bikes were actually using the pavements as another lane!

I learnt even more about the 'snacks' on this trip. Lots of houses are built on stilts to prevent flooding when the Mekong rises. However, round stilts allow the snakes to climb up into the houses, so most stilts are now square - as you can imagine I did a lot of stilt-checking that day!! We visited a sweet factory, basically someone's house where they made everything from coconut and rice. They also kept bees and, apparently, a python that was shedding its skin. Thank God I didn't know about that until after we left. Lunch on the Mekong was also quite an experience. We were shown how to make our own fresh spring rolls from an 'elephant's ear fish' which was presented whole (we thought of you Shelley!), and then the food just kept coming and coming.

I actually enjoyed the trip to the Cu Chi tunnels far more than I thought I would. Bob ventured 20m into the tunnels but they are so small, the Vietnamese are a very petite people, that he had to crouch to get through. Imagine living in those tunnels for years! I was not so brave - I went down the steps, saw you had to go into a very small space and went back up the steps!! I wasn't the only one so didn't feel too bad. We also visited the War Remnants Museum - a pictorial history of the Vietnam war with some gruesome images and texts. It is quite amazing that the Vietnamese can welcome Americans to the city after all that occurred during the war, and sobering to think that this happened in my lifetime. How quickly attitudes change!! We also saw inside the Reunification Palace, which is where the current Government meets. No security at all, unlike last year when we visited the Budapest Parliament Building and were subjected to airport style security.

Ho Chi Minh was a funny city - again, full of contrasts. The French influence was evident - we saw Notre Dame church and the Old Post Office, both relics of the French occupation. There were some top-class hotels alongside abject poverty. We ate outdoors in a ramshackle building on stilts (square!!) and the next day in a fine dining restaurant. I guess we wouldn't rush back to Ho Chi Minh, but it gave us some great experiences!

And now for the epic bus journey to Cambodia! Our tour party had already discussed paying the extra and swapping the 13 hour bus trip for a 1.5 hour flight. However, we were promised a modern, 40 seat coach with loo and air-conditioning. It was also a full-day trip so we figured on some good scenery, and we all decided to stick with it. Well, the Mekong Express (a misnomer if ever I saw one) was not modern, it did have air-conditioning in some parts of the bus where it worked (luckily, we were in a good bit!) and it did have a loo. So, off we set at 7am and arrived at the border about 4 hours later. Our passports, and visa fees, were collected by the bus attendant. We then had to leave the bus and enter the border control, where she promptly disappeared leaving us with no idea of what was going on. Eventually, we were given our passports back one by one, complete with visa, and were waved through for them to be checked. Back on the bus and we thought we were off again. But no, we had left Vietnam but now we had to enter Cambodia, so 100m later and we were all back off the bus queuing at the Cambodian side. Back on the bus and we were all relieved to get going again, which we did for about 10 minutes when the bus stopped again - this time for lunch! Aaarrrgghhh! We eventually arrived at Phnom Penh 'bus station' where our luggage was offloaded and placed on another bus to take us the last 5.5 hours to Siem Reap. The new bus was slightly more comfortable than the first, but its air-conditioning was still dodgy in parts. We eventually arrived in Siem Reap after 14 long hours. As for the scenery, it was very flat, flat and then flat again! So, an experience we were glad to have but not one we would ever do again!!