Bia Hoi in Hanoi!

Tara and I had teamed up with American Ex-Pat Ethan Lieberman in an attempt to get tickets on a train to Sapa the same evening arriving back to Hanoi from Cat Ba. We had a ridiculously difficult time trying to get help from anyone. Most, sorry ALL, of the trainstation staffs attitudes ranged between "I can't really be bothered trying to help you" and, more bluntly, "Piss Off".  It was very frustrating and tied us up at the train station for several hours while we all ran around trying different ways of getting information. In the end we gave up and had to grab a hotel as it was late and we were hungry, and it was pretty clear we weren't going to Sapa that night. We sadly would discover the next day that there were no tickets available to Sapa for several more days, meaning that if we did go, it would be for one night before we had to return to fly back to Bangkok. Faced with spending more time on the train getting there and back than what we would have in Sapa, we made the call to stay in Hanoi for the next 6 days. To this point, the longest we would stay anywhere without moving on.

We grabbed another hotel which was much better value, and didn't stink like a mouldy basement, and on the first evening we set out to see what happens in the evenings in Hanoi. Just up the street from our hotel we had already discovered a highly regarded but very simple restaurant called "Bun-Bo Nam Bo", who craft an excellent noodle/soup meal that is very different from the typical Pho. As we went past it on our way, we looked across the street to see a British couple that we met on our boat trips in Cat Ba, walking out of dining area!

Jess and Sam had one last night in Hanoi before continueing on into Laos on their trip, so we teamed up to find some street meat for dinner and a suitable location for some Beer Hoi. Beer Hoi is a cheap draught beer that is sold by various private vendors that set up small tables and chairs (about 8" high, so kind of awkward when you are tall) along the streets and keep the masses happy until the police sweep the streets shortly before midnight shutting everything down. At the equivalent of 25c a glass, its hard to say no to, especially with the heat and humidity that continues on into the evening. 

As the four of us wandered a street looking for some spare chairs (the streets are thronging with punters both local and foreign) when I could have sworn I heard someone shout my name. It took a few seconds as I continued to walk before I finally made myself stop and actually look, and when I turned around I saw another couple from our Cat Ba adventures, this time Kim and Nadine from Denmark! They had a seat already so the 6 of us ended up siddling up with pretty limited space but all with access to the keg of glorious street beer.

We sat and chatted about our experiences and where we were all going next, and then met up with Kim and Nadine the next evening for a meal and couple more beers to send them off, their journey had come to an end and it was time for them to go home.

The next few days in Hanoi were spent exploring the streets and markets, walking the lake and getting Ice Cream at a rather spectacular ice creamery that attracts thousands of customers in the evenings. Thanks Kim and Nadine for showing us!! The traffic in Hanoi is intense, there seems to be an endless hoard of riders on scooters at some intersections, stretching as far back as you can see down the road. The many streets of the old quarter are organised by the product category that is being pedalled. Coffins, Flowers, Hats, toys, shoes, pots and pans, grinders and mincers, motorbike seat covers, gold, silk, I could go on and on. Each street you walk down just has store after store selling almost the same thing. It's hard to understand how they can operate and compete like that, but apparently it works.

We spent some time chilling out and just watching the sudden midday downpours that would come bucketing down out of nowhere, and visited a few places of interest such as the museum of literature which had some impressive temples, Bonsai gardens and incredible big trees.

Before we new it we had arrived at our flight date back to Bangkok, our next adventure involved cramming 18 people (and all there luggage) in a 12 seater van to get to Hanoi airport, followed by racing to Mo Chit bus station once arriving in Bangkok, hoping to get a same day bus to Chiang Mai. This worked out and we caught a bus with Nakonchai Air, it was impressive service, with big, massaging seats, loads of leg and recline room, and even a meal. 

We couldn't wait to dive into a Thai cooking class, go and visit the acclaimed Elephant Nature Park, and most excitingly, feed Tiger cubs. 

Cat Ba Island

Tristan

After a noisy and constantly interrupted night of train hell to Hanoi, we arrived in the early morning and made our way to a Bus station a little bit out of the city. From here we booked a bus-ferry-bus ticket that would get us to Cat Ba island, East-ish of the Coast from Hai-Phong. 

We wanted to go and see the great Limestone cliffs that many associate with Ha Long Bay. It is one of Vietnams most popular tourist attractions and is yet another UNESCO site. To avoid the multitude of tourist traps and rip-offs associated with a Ha Long Bay visit, we discovered that you can quite easily get to Cat Ba Island and take cruises from there through an area known as Lan Ha Bay, some distance South of Ha Long, but equally as stunning with the same geographical features, minus the 500 tour boats.

We got in touch with an outdoor adventure company called Asia Outdoors, formally known as Slow Pony. They specialise in rock climbing trips but can take you cruising out through the bay, Kayaking, deep water soloing (free climbing a cliff as high as you dare before dropping off into the water below) and the likes. 

The food in Cat Ba is terrible and the service isn't much better, but the things you will see once you get out of the harbour or climb the hill up above town are fantastic. Many Vietnamese visit Cat Ba and they were here in full force. During the day they would mostly stay inside (the women seem to have a fascination with being as white as possible) and then as the afternoon wore on they would come out of their hotels in droves, sometimes groups of hundreds of them walking down the street like it was some kind of peaceful demonstration, it was quite a site. Apparently another interesting site was me and my beard. I had numerous people stop and ask to have their photo taken with me, or point and stare without shame. I was a side-show freak and went on for several days while we were here, although it happened elsewhere just nowhere near as much.

Our first night we had dinner and watched an electrical storm off in the distance. The beer here was some of the cheapest we had come across. We were buying Bushies of Tiger at 2 for 25k Dong during happy hour, thats 50c a bottle. Thank you mother for the rabbits!! We explored the harbour area and yet again were simply disgusted at how much rubbish was in the water of what should be such a beautiful place. Seriously, the water at the edge of the main peer, which has several seafood restaurant just meters away, looks like a dump. It is truly sickening. What can be done to get the word out that it isn't cool to just throw all your rubbish in the water? The fish they all love to eat come from there!! It's so frustrating :(

Our bay cruise / Kayaking trip was excellent. We left in the morning and the slow trip out to pick up the Kayaks had us sliding through incredible limestone cliffs jutting out of the water. We stopped and dropped anchor near a completely enclosed lagoon, paddling under the small arch that was the only way in or out, then swimming from our kayaks in the green-blue warm water. We kept exploring the areas many arches and secluded sandy beaches, swimming and discovering cool little coves and rock formations. 

We made several friends on the boat and managed to get a crew of people together to take the overnight trip out again into the bay. The pricing is based on how many people go, and starts of fairly expensive, but once 6 or more are onboard, it becomes a great deal! you go out in the afternoon, jump off the boat all evening, have a great seafood dinner prepared for you, drink and play music and then rise to dawn in one of the most beautiful places you will ever go. In the morning before the overnight stay, we walked up cannon hill to see the views over the harbour to the south and the bay to the north. The light was not great for photographs, so sadly the pictures that can be remarkable were not great, but you could see how impressive the area was, and gave a good sense of scale.

The heat and humidity at 8am on this day was in my opinion the worst we had experienced. I say this in spite of it having been somewhere between 35 and 40 celsius for the past 5 weeks or so, we were sweating more profusely than ever. It was insanely humid and we were dripping wet within minutes of leaving our hotel, and the uphill walk hadn't even started. When handling my camera I was constantly wiping sweat from my face and arms because I kept dripping on it. 

As the day wore on the weather changed and storm clouds rolled in. Great, we are going out on a boat for the night and the storms are going to throw us around like corks in the ocean!! We still went and although it rained and the thunder and lightning raged, there was very little wind and we were in a pretty secluded little bay with pretty calm water. We jumped of the double story boat and swam until it was almost dark. The lightning show that went on few the next few hours was stellar, constant striking and deep rumbling thunder, it turned out to be a unique experience and I cant wait to process the photographs I got of the sheet lightning rolling through the low clouds.

Dawn was very beautiful and still, but sadly the clouds were still around and yet again I got zero light for sunrise. The peace was briefly interrupted by a local fisherman using dynamite to fill his boat with bounty, that was an interesting sight to see!!

We will not forget our time in this incredible place, another highlight of Vietnam and one of my favourite experiences of our trip. We had Hanoi and Sapa still to come before heading back to Thailand for the final stretch.

Phong Nha Caves

Tristan

Through some random google searching before we left for our trip, I inadvertently discovered that the worlds largest cave had been discovered just a couple of years ago, and it was located in an area of central Vietnam not far from the DMZ from the American war. Its not open to the public yet, but there are a vast number of caves in the same area, some of which can be visited with relative ease. 

We discovered a place called "Phong Nha Farmstay" run by an Australian guy and his Vietnamese wife. The place is located in probably the most rural area of Vietnam that we would visit, on the outskirts of Phong Nha Ke-Bang National Park, another Unesco World Heritage Site we would visit on our trip. Trains wreaked havoc with our planned dates of the visit so we didn't get to stay as long as we would have liked too, but we still were very happy with our time out there.

We met a delightful little girl named "Coffee" on the train, she couldn't stop staring at us over the seat in front of us, and eventually her mum just plonked her on my lap, she was just a little bit cute! We were collected from the Train station and driven almost an hour out into the countryside. We arrived in the dark, but in the morning we discovered that the place looks out over beautiful farmland and to the mountains of the park in the background. They had a rooftop terrace with an even more impressive view, they even had a cable driven drinks delivery system from the bar down below, pretty ingenious!

We chose to take the national park tour which included some visits to historical war sites, swimming holes, and the highlight, Paradise Cave. The drive through the mountains is impressive, we followed a route that used to be a part of the Ho Chi Minh trail, the stories of how they built it and kept it going while the Americans bombed the crap out of them daily is phenomenal. The river of Diesel and blood tells the story of how the Vietnamese used to try and float tanks, artillery, platoons of infantry and other supplies down the river, but would be frequently hammered by American payloads.

I was chomping at the bit to get to the cave and explore and photograph this incredible cavern. Some 31km long and hundreds of meters high and wide in many places, it promised to be a visit not to forget. We timed our arrival well and got in to the cave while the 50 odd buses of Asian tourists ate their lunches in the restaurants lower down the mountain from the cave entrance. We had a good couple of hours inside with relatively few other people, it was peaceful and very enjoyable. 

I was pretty disappointed to see that although we were in a National Park, at Unesco site, with garbage bins everywhere, that many Vietnamese and other Asian visitors were wilfully littering every where you looked. Throwing rubbish on the ground was just normal behaviour, I even saw children doing it right in front of their parents. It makes me so angry but I can't change the entire culture, what can I say to them? I just picked up a few pieces and place them in the bin, but that won't save them from totally trashing this amazing place.

As you descend in to the first section of the cave, the opening is fairly narrow, but you follow wooden railings and steps as you descend into the first large open space. There is a massive Stalactite to your left and then an open space that you could easily kick a footy around in, it is seriously huge. The place is tastefully lit with earthy coloured lights to help highlight the impressive sections of the cave floor, walls and ceilings. We slowly made our way through the first 1km of the cave and absorbed the extremely impressive Stalactites and Stalagmites, some of which were 20 feet tall. All shapes and sizes, intricate patterns and strange textures, naturally formed over millions of years. I was dumbfounded and often just stood there thinking about the eons that have passed and the things that have happened up above, all while this place just quietly existed. The people who first discovered this place only some short years ago must have felt incredible.

On the way back out about 2000 tourists shrieked and screamed their way into the cave, destroying all atmosphere and enjoyment that there was inside. The megaphones with Chinese translators for the Vietnamese  guides bellowed over the sounds of kids shouting and running up and down the platforms. It became rapidly clear that my time here was done. But wow, another incredible place that I will never forget.

Tara took some great pictures despite the darkness, and I think I have many incredible shots as well, will have to wait and see. 

We spent the next day chilling out by the pool at the Farmstay. It was a welcome spot of relaxation as it was insanely hot. Tara layed in a hammock and read her book and  I went for a walk down a few roads in the area as the last sunlight of the day bathed the rice fields and banana plantations with golden light. The people in this part of Vietnam were very warm and friendly, even encouraging me to take pictures so they could see themselves on the back of the camera. I felt the closest to the people right there in that moment. 

We sadly had to leave the next day but we were headed for Hanoi to make our way to Cat Ba island and explore Lan Ha bay on a boat so it wasn't all bad!

Hoi An - The Pretty City

Tara:

After learning about much of southern Vietnam's history in HCMC, it was onto Hoi An, a town we'd heard great things about!

All of our travel in Vietnam was to be by train rather than bus, as we'd heard the buses could be pretty dangerous, and the risk of theft quite high. As we would learn along the way - the limitations of travelling by train has its drawbacks given that we are indeed in Vietnam for their peak season. It's summer in Vietnam, and summer holidays for all the families and train travel is the preferred choice for locals as well.

Hoi An doesn't have a train stop of it's own, instead we have to get the train to Danang and make our way south to Hoi An. We'd decided to take the public bus to save money. Many forums online let us know that there is the inevitable "tourist tax" on this bus, but still far cheaper than a taxi or private car. Upon leaving the terminal, we were swarmed by offers of taxi's, mini buses and private cars - but we just kept going! As we were waiting to cross the street to the bus stop, one final tout came to speak with us - his offer was outrageous and we let him know we'd be taking the bus. As we continued to walk away he halved his offer - which was then comparable to the bus and half the time, so we decided to take him up on it! Perhaps we are getting the hang of this negotiation thing after all ;)

After getting settled into our homestay we rented bicycles for the afternoon to explore Hoi An. The town itself is so picturesque with yellow colonial buildings lining cobble stoned streets. There is a river running through town with a beautiful bridge crossing over into An Hoi. The bridge is illuminated at night by lanterns and dragons - we weren't the only ones taken with it - there were hordes of tourists (domestic included) taking pictures along the bridge. This is where we first learned about the Vietnamese photo shoots! It is as though everyone is doing a glamour shoot at every opportunity! Hoi An is also where we started to get our "celebrity status" - being asked by locals to join them in their pictures!

We arrived in Hoi An in perfect time - for the full moon! It turns out there were also some additional festivals and celebrations going on, so we were able to see a lot of special things. Our first afternoon we witnessed a parade - it appeared to be various choir groups from around the world - some in very ornate outfits. Huge crowds gathered to watch the performers and beauty pageant queens pass by.

As the sun goes down, Hoi An is at it's best. There are lanterns lining the streets, hanging from trees, decorating buildings along the way. Also, with the full moon the streets were closed to cars and motorcycles for the evening. Young girls and older women were selling lanterns to be sent down the river - all adding to the beautiful atmosphere.

The following day we rented bikes again - from a lovely woman down the street from our homestay! Her bikes were in much better condition than the ones we had from the homestay - still just one gear...but there was air in the tires! ;) Fortunately Hoi An is pretty flat, so one gear isn't a problem. We explored more of the area, outside of the Old Town & had a great lunch at Bale Well (thanks again for the recommendation Amy). We didn't quite know what to expect when we arrived at the somewhat out of the way restaurant. We sat down, looking at the menu on the board - the choice of 6 items and figuring out what we'd get - when all of a sudden trays of food were delivered to our table! We were obviously confused since we hadn't ordered anything yet! One of the women working there came to our rescue as she could tell we didn't have a clue what was going on! She let us know it was in fact the ONLY thing they served - and showed us how to make our own spring rolls! Loading up rice paper with a skewer of pork, some greens, another spring roll and some other veggies and dipping it into a delicious sauce, we were set! I shared many smiles with the locals enjoying their meals as well - we were the only westerners there at the time. When we were finally finishing up, they brought us even more food! Then there was dessert! Yum, it was all delicious and super filling and such a great experience!

The people in Hoi An were really friendly and welcoming and we both immediately felt so much more comfortable in Vietnam than we had in Cambodia.

After a day at the beautiful, nearly empty beach, it was time to leave Hoi An and head north to Hue. We once again opted for the public bus to get back to Danang - this time we actually took it. We asked our host at the homestay about getting to the bus terminal and he let us know he'd arrange to have his friend come. When a taxi showed up we weren't shocked - but then our host let us know he'd paid for it! That was shocking! Especially as we were already on our way out, he'd already been paid, etc. Vietnam is definitely different - we like it! :) When we arrived at the bus terminal, there was a bus waiting, so we were directed over - our "herder" for the bus quickly ordered someone to cover the posted prices on the side of the bus - which I joked around with him about for a bit. Let him know I'd seen them at least ;) It didn't make much difference in the end, we still got charged the tourist tax, but at least they were helpful - helped us get off at the right bus jump - not without a slight slip of the hand as he assisted me! We were in Danang with plenty of time to spare before our train departed, so we went to a little restaurant near the station - complete with kids sized chairs. There was a young girl selling gum there - she was really cute and curious and shy around us - and even though she knew we weren't buying - when she left she waved goodbye. Again the friendliness and the lack of wanting something from us in return was a breath of fresh air!

Here are a few pics from this leg of the trip - next stop Hue!

Good Morning Vietnam!

Tristan:

The bus ride from Siem Reap through Phnom Penh, across the Vietnamese border and into Saigon was going to be a long day and it did not fail to live up to that! We narrowly avoided hitting a huge buffalo about an hour out of Phnom Penh when it casually decided to walk out in front of the bus. Tara and I were only 2 rows from the front and I happened to be watching when it happened. Very close.

The Vietnamese border crossing wasn't too bad, certainly a better experience than the land border from Thailand to Cambodia. The bus company handled much of the transactions, however it was still a pretty slow affair, we were just blissfully unaware of the goings on while we sat on the bus (with the lights on and the door open, at dusk, with a couple thousand mosquitos joining us). I couldn't help but laugh at the two "security" officials that were x-raying our bags at the passport control gate. We had to get off the bus for a second time and drag all our belongings for screening. After slowly making our way through the lines, I watched as one of the guys was playing with his phone as our bags went through the machine. I walked a little further until his counterpart was also in view, he was engrossed in "candy crush saga" or whatever on his phone, perhaps I should have listened to that shady Cambodian guy that offered me a quick buck to smuggle in money, guns and drugs. It would have been too easy.

We arrived pretty late into the city and got some cash and then a cab for our hotel. It was still outrageously hot at 11pm and we crashed to bed after finding a small bakery that made salad rolls for dinner.

The next day was to be our only day in the city of Ho Chi Minh, as we started to be made aware of the freakishly busy domestic vacation period that was just starting in Vietnam. The trains had limited availability and so we had to book one that left the following morning, early, it was the start of many itinerary changes made based on ticket availability. We made the most of the day by visiting the war history museum and the parliament building were the Northern Vietnamese tanks came crashing through the front gates at the end of the war.

Another first was our exposure to the continuing trend of tourist traps and scams. Vietnam was to become even worse than Cambodia, though as I write this at the end of nearly 3 weeks, we have become accustomed to many of them. We were approached by a sly coconut milk street vendor who wouldn't leave us alone. He was friendly and trying to help give us directions to the 2 above mentioned places of interest. We already knew where they were and tried to stop and take pictures for a few minutes in the hope he would stop following us. I stupidly fell into the trap of letting him put his weight-bearing plank with two vessels hanging from it on my shoulder as he encouraged Tara to take a picture. After this Tara walked away and he grabbed a coconut and quickly cut the top off as I said no about 10 times, thinking to myself "here we go". I gave in thinking "fine, its a billion degrees, I will have one". However he then started preparing another as I continued to raise my voice saying NO again repeatedly. This was not a case of not understanding, he knew full well what I meant. He then demanded 150k dong for the 2 coconuts, a bit short of $8. I had already seen them selling elsewhere for around $1-$2, so I laughed and offered him far less but he ironically said "no-no" and then dropped his priced to 140k. I pulled out a 50k note and gave it to him and put my wallet away. He had the audacity to look at me and wave his finger in my face like I was some kind of bad man, I was relieved he was leaving and just mimicked the same action and pointed at him. Although it was an annoying experience, I felt like I had possibly taught him a lesson. But in reality I doubt it, I am sure he runs that bit over and over, day in and day out.

The War Museum was another moving experience. It was quite a large place with much to absorb. It was broken in to many segments, with loads of photographs and stories, and also physical exhibits of many of the tools of war. I was particularly drawn to the photographic section dedicated to photographers who died during the war. The images they captured and sent home of the horrors of war ranged from arresting to down-right frightening. They risked, and ultimately, lost their lives trying to show everyone who wasn't in Vietnam just how nasty it was. The other aspect that was most gripping was the section of the museum dedicated to the victims of chemical warfare. Agent Orange and the other colours, all derivatives of the EXTREMELY toxic chemical "Dioxin", were used to defoliate the jungle across vast areas of Vietnam. It not only burned through a triple canopy jungle leaving it look liked a desert waste-land, but it permeated its way into rivers and farmland, the water table, animals and fish. Direct and indirect contact with even the most minuscule amounts of this poison has led to countless deformities, skin conditions, cancers, and numerous other serious illnesses. Seeing images of both living and deceased victims with their array of afflictions sat me firmly on my arse. It was troubling to see all this and realise that many war crimes were committed by the US Military and the company that manufactured the agents, much of which has gone without repercussion.

The propaganda posters were also of interest. I particularly liked one that came out of Australia, talking about the way military arms contracts that were linked to very rich and powerful Americans in politics were what was driving this completely unnecessary conflict, and it even touched on false media stories that were used as excuses to go to war. It made me feel as though nothing has changed in the half century since this happened. The same kind of people are still pulling the same tricks, and the world just lets it happen.

We made the mistake of choosing Nha Trang over Mui Ne as the next destination. Nha Trang was a trashy beach city with no character or charm. Aimed at package tourists, it was expensive and tacky. The beach was nice, though like many Asian beaches suffered from littering. An incredible weather front came through at a time when I didnt have my camera, by the time I got back to the beach it had moved on to far so I missed the best shots of it. We spent some time at the "Sailing club" which had lovely grounds and pretty nice beach front bar. A small highlight.

I thought I had left the distressing images of agent orange in Saigon, but walking back to our hotel on the last night I saw in the flesh how devastating it really is. We had seen missing or miniature limbs, and some skin issues, but the poor boy I saw chilled my spine. I am putting in a guess at him being in his mid teens. He was walking on his hands, using flip flops as shoes for them. He moved from side to side as his arms swapped "strides". He was moving in what may resemble the "downward dog" yoga position. His spine curved quite drastically to the left and then his two very skinny legs trailed behind. One of them supported weight and was almost like the third leg of a tripod with his two arms, the other leg dragged lifeless along side it, it's club foot hanging to the side at an odd angle, dragging along the pavement. Both legs were literally skin over bone. I was coming up behind him and felt a wave of embarrasment come over myself. How do I just walk past this guy? Is it disrespectful if I do, do I say anything? do I look at him or smile? I couldn't handle it, I delayed for what seemed like a minute but was probably 10 seconds, then as the street corner approached I sped up and overtook him. From the corner of my eye I saw him look up at me with a smile. I felt awful, and I still do writing about it.

Our next destination was Hoi An, one of Vietnams culture capitals. We had our tickets and had set it up so that we would arrive on the day of the full moon, when extra celebrations take place and the town is buzzing with life. We were extra lucky in that it was Saturday night, and the city was also hosting a festival run by the ASEAN group. Tara will talk more about our time there.

All photographs by Tara

The Temples of Angkor

Tristan:

It was an early start. Sunrise at Angkor Wat is one of those incredible experiences on the bucket lists of many travellers, and even in low season there were hundreds of people making the journey out from Siem Reap in the dark. We were up at 4am for a 4:30 pickup. We bought our tickets amongst the rain and thousands of insects at the ticket booth. The weather was not cooperating and as we arrived on the scene, our head torches illuminated just some of the hundreds of puddles I stood in as we walked along the promenade into the inner area of the temple grounds.

Humidity wreaked havoc with my filters and I had absent mindedly left my lens hood in my other bag at the hotel. It was raining, my lens was fogging up and as people arrived, my position was thwarted by people with no quams of stepping in front of me to take their pictures. It didnt matter much because the clouds were pretty thick and their was nothing happening in the sky. Either way I was pretty disappointed as it became apparent that my opportunity to capture an image I had wanted for years was not going to come to fruition. The weather forecast for the next few days was the same....

We moved on quickly to Ta Prohm, the famous buildings with the trees growing out from the stone structures, crushing them and sending them crumbling. We beat all the crowds here and it was beautifully quiet for the first hour or so. After finally cleaning the condensation from my filters so I could make clear images, I slowly made my way around and through the incredible buildings and towers, it was lush and green, with incredible carving and stonework, from the 11th century. Selfishly I was pretty disappointed with the many areas that now have boardwalks and handrails that remove the look of something that was well before our time, and the cranes, scaffolding, works tools and employees that were restoring the buildings. Without question it is great that teams of people are working to keep this marvelous place from totally collapsing, it just made it look so ugly and very difficult to photograph.

We revisited Angkor Wat later in the morning and went inside the structure this time. I had a moment where it sank in that I was standing in this remarkable place, but it was quickly washed away by the throngs of tourists, guided by a bloke with a megaphone blasting out his commentary to his group of sheep, they really do suck the enjoyment out of these places.

There was a quick break midday for lunch and a pool dip to cool off back at the hotel, then we returned in the afternoon to see Angkor Thom and it's impressive gateways and temples such as the Bayon with its dozens of larger than life faces, the Bauphon, and the Elephant terrace. By days end we were pretty beat from walking and exploring, and I was even getting slightly bored.

Our hotel was probably the best we have stayed in SE Asia, incredible value with a great breakfast and a nice little pool, close to town and friendly helpful staff that could communicate well with us. We wandered through the markets, sat and had street food and wandered the loud streets at night, enjoying 50 cent beers and various other cheap drinks and cocktails. I had a mixed fruit smoothie that was so good at one place that I had to have another straight away. The heat is pretty over whelming so icy drinks really are refreshing.

We had dinner at a Khmer restaurant and discovered that we really do love the Cambodian curry, and I am a big fan of the Chicken Amok dish, when it's done well. The green mango salad is also very good, a mixture of the fruit, salt, and chilli, that really beats a hot meal in the middle of the day.

Our time in Cambodia was coming to an end, but we had experienced their beaches and islands, eaten their traditional dishes, discovered more of their unfortunate history and gazed in wonder at some of the worlds most unbelievable structures. Vietnam was next, and I remembered suddenly that Vietnam held many treasures that I was looking forward to also: Caves, jungle, historic villages trapped in time, hilltop rice fields, mountains, lime stone cliffs, and their own version of the twelve apostles, except there are hundreds!!! it really should be great fun!

All photographs by Tara