An emotional week in Cambodia, highs and lows in abundance

We eased ourselves into Cambodia with the easiest border crossing since we left England, it was painless and quick, and we were soon headed for Phnom Penh where we stayed for three nights.

Welcome to Cambodia!

Floating houses

This takes moving house to a new level

The first thing we do when we hit a new country?  Try the food and the beer, so we headed out for a late lunch, followed by a beer and a fish pedicure at the side of the road.  It was a bit weird, but after a few minutes you get used the nibbling and come away with smooth feet and the fish get a feed.

Freaky eating fish

A feeding frenzy

Smiling or grimacing as the fish have lunch?

We went to a grimy local restaurant that night where we tried some different dishes, very hit and miss, some great some not so good.  One was pork with ants, but we opted for the no ants option.  We ate our meal whilst listening to a french guy behind us talking to a prostitute via the waiter as an interpreter he was trying to hook himself up with for the night, and he was saying 'no sex as I have a girlfriend and that would feel like cheating'. Nice.

That night I seemed to attract the attention of a Thai guy who bought me a rose and said he would see me in the morning as we were both heading for the killing fields, and if he saw me at the killing fields "I would be his girlfriend". Thankfully for me I had my wits about me the next day and didn't see the nutter, thank god.

Before we went to the killing fields, we all went by tuk tuk to the S21 prison and were shown around by our guide and explained the full horrors of what went on there.  It was truly sickening to hear the ugly truth and to see the places
where people were tortured to death, very painfully and slowly, just for being wealthy or wearing a pair of glasses or working in an office.  Whilst there we met two of the survivors of  S21, and they explained how they were tortured, and
how their wives and children had been killed.  It was truly heartbreaking.  It was unbelievable to think that over 1/3 of the Cambodian population were killed during the time of the Khmer Rouge, and this atrocity happened so recently.

After visiting S21, we got back in our tuk tuks and carried on the somber theme with a visit to the killing fields, 12km out of town.  This is where many people were brought and bludgeoned to death and left to rot in mass graves.   This
site was one of many throughout Cambodia, and we wandered around the site, and were shown a tree where children and babies were murdered by being smashed against the tree trunks, it was absolutely sickening.  People were killed
this way to save bullets and ammunition stocks.  We also saw thousands of skulls that had been found in this area, and were told there were many more out there.  Just unbelievable.

S21 prison

One of the survivors of the prison

A cell

One of the mass graves

After a very depressing day, but a day that had totally opened my eyes to something I knew very little about before, we all decided we needed a night out, so everyone put on their glad rags, mainly their new clothes that they had
made in Hoi An, and headed for a cocktail at the Foreign Correspondence Club, and some of us headed to a local nightclub for a boogie.

Aoife Me and Mel and the FCC

Enjoying a cocktail overlooking the river

To get us over a hangover, we headed to the Palace where we bumped into Richard and Andrea who had left the truck some weeks before.  We caught up with them and then wandered around the opulent palace and even got to see
the President of Laos as they were on a visit to Cambodia!  On the way back to the hotel from the palace, the heavens opened like I'd never seen before and we were soaked to the undies in under 5 seconds, it was like standing under a
power shower!!

The palace

Aoife, Ben and Clare at the Palace

On route to Siem Riep, we stopped for light refreshment at the side of the road as we usually did. Most people had fried rice, I had deep fried tarantula and a few locusts.  Apparently the tarantulas are a speciality of the area, so I
had to give them a go!  In fact it wasn't too bad, but I probably won't have another in a hurry!

Arriving in Siem Riep, we headed straight out to buy our tickets for Anchor Wat, in preparation for a sunrise there the next day!  The next day we awoke especially early for the sunrise, but sunrise was very disappointing, however Anchor Wat wasn't at all!  It was absolutely fantastic, what an amazing place.  We were allocated our tuk tuk drivers for the morning to drive us around the vast site, our tuk tuk driver was a lovely guy and proudly showed us his prosthetic leg, explaining how his leg was blown off in a land mine, and how he has adapted his tuk tuk so he can drive.

We spent the morning being shown some awesome sights, temples that had been overtaken by jungle and trees, with their roots spreading over the temples in a eery fashion. This was where Tomb Raider

Anchor Wat

The trees claiming back their territory

Ben and Denis in our tuk tuk

Balloon in the distance

Some of the gang

My curiosity for strange foods continued that evening as I ate stir fried frog in Khmer spices, followed by a bizarre drag act at the local gay bar which was highly amusing!

Sally, Aoife and I also partook in a Cambodian cooking course and before we started were shown around the local market to learn about the ingredients we were to cook with. We learnt a few dishes and were made to wear very
fetching aprons and hats and had a great feast at the end of the morning with all that we had made.

Sally Aoife and me and our cooking class

Cooking up a storm

We were only in Cambodia less than a week but it made a lasting impression on me and maybe one day I will come back and do the place justice by visiting more amazing sights.

Vietnam and not a pot belly in sight

My first impression of Vietnam wasn't great, and as soon as we passed through the border from Laos, it was apparent that the Vietnamese weren't great animal lovers.  I quickly learnt that animals were there to be eaten and not loved.
Waiting at the Vietnamese side of the border was a public bus loaded with pigs, goats and chickens all strapped onto the roof of the bus, and all shrieking as loud as they could.  There was also a dog in a basket on the roof of the bus, and after they had crossed the border and loaded the human passengers on the bus, it drove off as the rain lashed down on the poor animals.

We had endured a living nightmare ourselves in the form of the overnight sleeper bus and had been holed up since 2am on the Laos side of the border and had to wait there until it opened at 6am. The bus driver turned off the ignition which also meant the air conditioning was turned off and left us to try and sleep in our coffins whilst he legged it to the local brothel next door.

Once through the border in Vietnam, we made our way to Vinh where we were to stay the night before heading to Hanoi the next day.  When we arrived in Vinh, tired and hungry, we dumped out bags and headed out for a bite to
eat.  Two hours later in the heat of the day we were still searching for that bite......and even hungrier and more tired than ever!  We decided to head back to the hotel for a meal as all the coffee shops we saw didn't serve food at all so
once back at the hotel we looked at the menu and I saw that tortoise featured a few times on it, but I decided against that choice!  Whilst we were still out on that torturous walk around Vinh, a couple of vehicles drove past blasting out
someones voice over a loud speaker, so so loud it was ear piercing.  After gaining everyones attention due to the excess noise, I realised that they were trying to get us to look at their vans that had large cages on top, one van containing a couple of bears and some monkeys and the other van containing a couple of huge wolves.  I felt sickened as they were driven past us, pacing up and down and looking totally bewildered.  Not long before seeing this, three young lads on a motorbike tried to run me over on purpose by a petrol garage forecourt and a man grabbed Mel as we walked past......We all had a very bad afternoon and start to Vietnam, I was sure I was going to hate the place, luckily things changed!

I loved this tree and it's great roots!

Vietnam on the globe in Hanoi

Me, Mel and Aoife in Hanoi

I couldn't wait to get out of Vinh, and we loaded up into the bus the next morning for our journey to Hanoi.

The main means of transportation are motorbikes and it was an entertaining drive to Hanoi watching how everyone transports just about anything on their trusty 2 wheels.   The funniest were bikes totally camouflaged by feathered beings such as ducks, geese and chickens, all alive and enjoying the ride.  I even saw two live pink pigs, one flanked on either side of the driver, calmly being driven to who knows where.  It seemed so strange and abnormal to me, but I had to remember that this is normality to the Vietnamese, to drive in a mad fashion, sometimes four people balancing on a motorbike at a time, and babies being precariously held whilst whizzing through the traffic.

Motorbikes galore!

Selling her wares

Lift anyone?

We arrived in Hanoi where the streets were just crazy, bikes bikes bikes EVERYWHERE!  It was a mission to cross the road, but once you realise that once you leave the pavement you just keep going until the other side, the bikes will
maneuver around you, then it gets easier. kind of.  It was madness, but whatever strategy they had it seemed to work, there didn't seem to be any crashes!

Hanoi backpackers is a fab hostel, and the majority of the group ended up sharing a dorm room whilst the others paid a bit extra for some privacy in their own rooms.  Mark the Kiwi owner of the hostel showed us around the hostel and
to our rooms, and was extremely attentive, going the extra mile.  That has been proven since as we have met a few people on our travels who also stayed there and rated it highly.

Our time in Hanoi was spent sightseeing, including visiting the old prison and wandering around the lake, and sampling a few cheap beers down beer alley, oh and of course, dodging motorbikes!

From Hanoi, the group heading to Halong Bay and jumped into a boat which took us out to the boat we were staying on overnight.  The sun was shining as we headed onto deck for a spot of sunbathing before feasting on a great lunch
that the crew made.   The afternoon was spend swimming in the South China Sea with a great backdrop of the famous Halong Bay islands, then we worked off that lunch kayaking to see a floating village nearby to where our boat was
anchored.  We all decided one night wasn't enough, but that was all we had as we were booked back into our hostel back in Hanoi, so that was where we headed once again.

CJ jumping for joy at Halong Bay

Mandy and Me having an afternoon dip

our boat for the night

CJ and Jim pondering life on deck

Sunset from deck

Catching the rays amongst beautiful scenery

Back in Hanoi, a group of us when to visit the puppet show, which is a re-enactment of the puppet shows that used to happen in the paddy fields years ago for entertainment. The next day, a small group of us went on a tour of Hanoi
with 'Hanoi Kids', a company where you get to see Hanoi by being shown around by two young adults who practice their English on you and you pay for their lunch and buy them a gift if you want, as they don't accept cash for their tours.  We had two great people, Tu and Tung, and they first off took us to Ho Chi Min's Mausoleum.  We walked in and saw him lying behind glass, and he looked like a wax work.  He had been there a fair few years so he looked pretty good, all things considered.

The guards at the Palace - swinging their arms as they marched

Palace in Hanoi

The most revolting thing I've tried in a while....a very popular desert in Vietnam. Yuk

An early Vietnamese house - built high to show wealth

At the end of our day out in Hanoi, we prepared ourselves for another night bus, this time to Hue.  It turned out to be an even more of an unpleasant journey than the last night bus ride, and I wished I had been one of the others that booked an overnight train instead.  Doh.  It ended up being Aoife, me, Mel, Zoe and Susan in the upstairs 'cave'. No toilet, and decrepit upholstery that hadn't been updated since the 70's and rips and stuffing coming out from all the seats.  It was a long and hellish night, and I vowed never to do one ever again!

Our time in Hue was spent firstly enjoying a few celebratory bevvies for Clare's birthday, and catching up on some zzz's from the (non)sleeper bus! 

The whole of our group also had dinner on a boat whilst we sailed along the perfume river, we let off prayer candles from the back of the boat, whilst trying to avoid the sudden downpour which continued all night.  That night, some of
our lot from Odyssey ran into the UK to OZ peeps so caught up with them as we hadn't seen them since Turkey!

Mel. Aoife and Jenn on the bridge in Hue

Grubs up, street seller Hue

Tourists taking it easy in Hue

Palace in Hue

Amazingly huge lotus leaves

Tidy bush

Boats on the Perfume River

Setting off my prayer candle from the boat on the Perfume River

Aoife, Mel me and Mandy on the boat ride

We had an early start the next day as we were all booked onto the DMZ tour (De-Military Zone).  We picked up ourguide and spend the day visiting various sights to do with the Vietnam war, and we all learnt a great deal from him.

Rock Pile

Kids from the village we visited during the DMZ tour

At the village during the DMZ tour

Vietnamese house at the local village

Helicopter from the Vietnam war

Tank from the Vietnam war

Graves from soldiers from the Vietnam War

Hien Luong Bridge

Jim and a rather large megaphone

Underground tunnels

Russell with his weapon of choice

The view as you leave the underground tunnels

The maternity ward underground

After a rather somber day at the DMZ, we then headed for a little retail therapy, in the form of tailor made clothes in Hoi An!!  I think almost everyone partook in this activity over the next few days, whether it was a new suit, swimming
cossie or new top or dress.  It was very exciting as all our clothes by this stage are falling apart!

We also partook in a Vietnamese cooking course, in a very well run cooking school behind a restaurant. We learnt a lot, and I will be practicing my spring roll making skills once I am home!  It was also Wendy's birthday the same day,
so decided to spend the evening back at the same restaurant with a delicious meal and great fun with the whole group attending, then some of us heading on to a bar until the wee small hours............

Around the market learning about the produce

A brilliant piece of kit for the kitchen

My spring roll that I made!

It was deeeeelicious!!

Wendy's birthday

Market traders

After all the activity of clothes making, we all needed a little rest so what better way to spend the next few days but on a beach, Jungle Beach in fact, where we stayed in little huts and frolicked in the sea, even a spot of skinny dipping was had by all in the night sea to see the phosphorescent which were amazing.  We did little else other that swim in the sea and had a cocktail party, where tent buddies paired up to make a cocktail, name and ingredients and all the others would judge it.  Mine and Jenn's was 'Sex on a west country beach'.  Needless to say, ours came out overall highest score, yay!

Cocktails on the beach.....only thing missing, Tom Cruise

Zoe by her jungle/beach hut

Jungle beach

Everyone having fun

Early morning at Jungle beach with the fishermen

Solitary basket

Four fishermen in a little round boat

Departing Jungle Beach was pretty difficult, especially as the sea was so warm and the days were so relaxing, but never the less, we had to move on and so we did.......to Saigon! Or Ho Chi Min as it's also called.  We were also back to one of my favourite activities - motorbike dodging. 

Saigon city tour

Happy clare

Church on Ho Chi Min

a common sight

We did the usual city tour and decided to do a Mekong Delta tour as we were so close, so some of us got up early and headed on the coach to the Mekong where we boarded a small boat and sailed around the floating market, before getting back on land and being shown how various foods are made including popping rice.  At lunch, I had the opportunity to have a bloody huge python around my neck, he was very heavy and fast, but not at all slimy.

Aoife and Emily on the Delta

Mel and I on the Delta

a friendly python

He was a big boy!

Ladies getting ready to row us along the river

Aoife and I

a cute river dweller

Aoife and here new hat

Me going local

Mel and her vietnamese bonnett

Emily at Ascot

Floating Market

River transportation

Market trader

We ended the day cruising along the delta enjoying the last few sights of Vietnam before heading onto Cambodia.

I also ended my trip around Vietnam with great memories of a fabulous country, and those early days where I really wasn't enamoured with the place were a distant memory.