We waited for the night bus to Nah Trang with mixed emotions. For me I had had enough of Saigon. I'm glad we visited but I was not sorry to be leaving. It was dirty, noisy and next to impossible to move around. On the other hand we had been told that the night bus was dirty, uncomfortable and would be full of Vietnamese celebrating Xmas. When it turned up it was actually a nice air conditioned bus with a TV. The mix was half Vietnamese and half westerners. On th...

We pitched up at the Phnom Penh bus depot to meet the 8.30am bus to Ho Chi Minh City. It's Saigon to you and me and the locals still call it that. The bus depot is like everything else in Cambodia. It looks like total chaos but there is an order to it. 8.15 the bus arrives and we load our cases and take our seats. There is a driver and a representative. The bus is actually very nice. Air conditioned, reclining seats, toilet and TV. The nice young man in a tie ...

The journey from Battambong to Phnom Phen was by public bus. Nak our guide had booked our seats. Rather than go to the bus station he had asked the driver to collect us from the hotel. As we climbed on board I shouldn't have been surprised but 40 Cambodian faces staring at you (some wearing face masks) was a little odd. The bus is the long distance transport for the poorer people. To call it a bus does it a disservice. It is also a transport and delivery vehicle...

Having moved ourselves and our luggage across Bangkok in a taxi for about £5 we booked into the Royal Hotel.It was clearly once a grand place but now in need of some TLC.Explore tend to use fairly basic hotels to keep their prices low.Next we went to the lobby to meet our fellow travellers and Soo the guide for this part of the journey. There are 8 in the group. They are a mixed bag as you may expect.Fortunately they all seem good humoured. That afternoon we w...

A bit of a mixed day today. Last night we had a lovely evening. Like a good boy I had worn long trousers, a full shirt and closed shoes to avoid mosquitos. Unfortunately I didnt wear sock so I had bare ankles. As I was eating, the mossies were treating my ankles as an eat all you can buffet. Jill was in a party frock...big mistake. I woke up this morning and my ankles were swollen and red. Still a day walking in the Bangkok heat should sort that. We started with...