AUSTRALIA (OZ) - Cairns

Australia, the largest island in the world, a continent in its own right has a population which is roughly a third of Great Britain!

We arrived in a rather wet Cairns after a flight from Singapore via Darwin. We had arrived during cyclone season. It would have been brilliant to get to every place we visited at the optimum moment but with the nature of a route is that you have to take it as it comes. This did however have a little bit of a negative impact on our Cairns visit.

We stayed in a hostel just outside the centre. Cairns is quite a laid back kind of place focused on the tourism genereated by something called the Great Barrier Reef. I would love to tell you how beautiful it is and what a fantastic experience it was but unfortunately the weather did not allow us to visit it. Boredom did come over us and the other visitors to the hostel and we therefore had a night out. Everyone had a good time although some people seemed not to remember much of it.

Now it was raining a lot there but it was in some ways very welcome to counteract the heat and humidity. Luckily we were not in Melbourne at that moment. It was 47 degrees there and so dry that the now infamous forest fires began. We just made do with high 30s. Here is a photo of Cairns in the 2 hours while it didn't rain.

We booked our Greyhound Bus ticket which would take us all the way down the East Coast to Sydney and across to Melbourne with as many stops as we wanted. We felt relieved that we would be able to take in the sites of somewhere else hopefully less wet. We had another night with one or two beers in the hostel bar and met a lot of other travellers including a girl who had just finished university at Portsmouth as well, what a small world we thought.

That night Karl and I entered a Killer Pool competition in the hostel. The other competitors were mostly local guys who came to the bar every night as well as the landlord, a big guy with big red handle bar facial hair, what struck me as potentially stereotypical for a remote area of OZ. Gradually each players three lives for potting balls got lost untill there were just a few of us left. Eventually after the other 16 were out, there was just me on 3 lives and the landlord on 2, it was obvious that he practiced on his pool tables a lot and i think they were expecting him to walk all over us. Unfortunately for him i ended up winning which bagged me the 20 something dollars and a lot of free games of pool, challenges from all the locals, including the landlord. It was a fun evening, the last one in Cairns, or so we thought!

Next day we arrived at the bus stop. We had heard many rumours about the busses. Several people had returned to the hostel because the bus was unable to start its journey. It turned out the situation was the same for us. Some towns further south had been flood to roof height, 9ft. It was unlikely that any busses would be leaving within a week, and we made the decision to look for a flight out as an alternative as we didn't want to spend another week, maybe more, in a cyclone hit Cairns.

The next day we got a on a flight to Brisbane.

SINGAPORE

Singapore is one of only a handful of remaining sovereign city-states. It sits at the end of the Malay peninsula and is just around 85 miles from the equator. It is the worlds 4th largest financial exchange after London, New York and Tokyo.

Arriving by bus was a great way to see the city. We passed huge areas of new development all part of a city moving in one direction, forwards, at great speed. We stayed in the Little India disctrict of the city which was lively area full of interesting aromas and delicious food.

On our first day looking around the city we explored on foot and stumbled across a brilliant building. I must apologise at this sort of moment for those reading this with no interest in architecture but Lasalle College of Arts was one of the best examples of a basic architectural concept. The building is designed as a sort of exploded cube, each shard takes on a different department within the college. All the departments are bridge linked and a tent like structure shrouds the entire building from above. The majority of public space is open, providing the large numbers of sudents places to meet, reherse and learn. All in all this is a brilliant way of maximising the use of the building. Some of these spaces also help the music being produced to permeate the outer cube into the surroundings beconing people in to have a look.The outside is monolithic in its "cubeness" but still manages to provide excellent shaded walkways all around bluring where the building finishes and the street begins. The building was given an award for the best new building in Singapore last year, and I am not surprised. Anyway, I have got the architectural speak off my mind for now so those who have fallen asleep temporarily, I hope, may now wake up.

Later we continued on our wonder through the city taking in the luxurious Raffles Hotel, the Singapore Concert Hall, Esplanade and Downtown Singapore. The contrasts of the massive skyscrapers and traditional terraces and colonial buildings make the city a very interesting place.

I was told in advance that the Singapore Night Safari is a must for any visitor and so one evening we headed off to go and see it. It is a really exciting experience, afterall it is not often that you head off to a tourist attraction in the evening when all is becoming dark. Seeing all the nocturnal animals was a truly unique experience and a great way of passing an evening.

We had the opportunity to visit Sentosa a resort island south of Singapore. It would be a great destination for any family visiting the city however it was not to my taste, extremely tacky and touristy. Something which was far more interesting however, but probably doesn't sound it to the majority of those reading this blog, was an urban deisgn exhibition in the city. The exhibition explained some of the difficulties faced by a city, with a population the size of Singapore, in such a small area. Also that day we visited the Tiger beer brewery which was a brilliant experience. The tour included mock up street scenes where walls retracted to reveal the next part of the tour. It also included a section of 3D cinema about the beer making process and a bar where we were asked to pour the perfect glass of beer under pain of downing it. I ofcourse messed up the pouring on purpose to gain an extra beer, unlike Karl who was just rubbish. Believe that and you will believe anything! lol.

We spent the last of our time on the final morning exploring Orchard Road famous for its shopping after making a stop at the post office to send some things home. Karl was in one of his normal helpful moods!

We caught our flight to Cairns via Darwin later that day.

MALAYSIA - Kuala Lumpur

The capital of Malaysia greeted us at the end of a bus ride from the Cameron Highlands. It was quite a busy time of year while we were there as it was Chinese New Year. We knew this was coming up and had therefore planned to spend it somewhere we thought would be quite interesting and lively. However many people started to inform us that it is a real family celebration and they expected KL to be empty! Never mind, we went anyway to see what would happen.

The first thing that is obvious in this part of the world when you get off the bus, which was a sharp contrast to the Cameron Highlands, is the heat. It can literally hit you as you enter it. The heat and humidity combine to form what can be a very uncomfortable atmosphere, one which you find yourself constantly seeking refuge. As we felt the heat eminate from the tarmac beneath us we sort relief in a nearby mall. This became a real recurring theme of our visit there, spending a limited amount of time outdoors. We did have the chance to see several interesting parts of the city, firstly and most obviously were the Petronas Towers, once the tallest buildings in the world. We got a ticket to go up to the skybridge and had to return for the experience later that day. Here they are!

...and the real ones!

Upon returning we got in a lift up to the bridge. It is approximately halfway up the towers and therefore does not have as good a view as one would hope for from one of the worlds tallest buildings.

During the day we visited other parts of the city including the Kuala Lumpur Tower. It was however a complete rip off to go up so we just looked at it from below.

Merdeka Square provided us with quite a surprise. A cricket pitch surrounded by the city. It is the location where the The Union Flag was lowered and the Malayan hoisted in 1957, consistantly making it the centre of national celebration. It is surrounded by incredibly diverse buildings including a cricket pavillion and church.

By keeping in contact with travel aquaintances we met on the way we were able to establish that some people we met in Beijing were in KL and we therefore met up with Eilis and John for dinner and a few drinks. After thoroughly confusing the lady splitting our bill 5 ways we headed our separate way on the monorail.

Fearing a mad transportation shortage at this celebratory time of year we booked a bus early. It turned out to be a very posh one which had armchair like seats with in built massagers. The journey past very comfortably apart from the interuption of border formalities entering Singapore.

MALAYSIA - Cameron Highlands

The Cameron Highlands are the Highest region of the mainland and benefit from all year round reliable weather, never too hot, never too cold. Because of this it is also one of Malaysia's favourite tourist destinations for both people from home and abroad. The British also loved it because of the climate and the fertile mountains and saw the opportunity to turn the area into the largest tea producing area in Malaysia. It is also famous for the trecks that can be taken in and around the area and after checking into our very picturesque and friendly hostel we sampled the delights of the scenic pathways. We were a little taken back by the Englishness of the area, particularly when arriving at Ye Old Smokehouse, a Mock Tudor pub/tea room.

It was like we hadn't let the countryside of England. It overlooked the local golf course which looked like quite a test. We did some investigation and made the decision to have a round on what had been described as the cheapest round of golf in Malaysia.

It would have to wait however as the next day we went on a fantastic tour of the region, take in a rose producer and the views from their land, strawberry farm, honey farm, tea plantation and visitors centre and an insect and animal centre. It was a brilliant insight into the area.

We learnt a little about the strawberries that grow all year round thanks to the excellent climate, the tea manufacturing process from plant to useable leaves at their beautiful site with a stunning visitors centre building and saw first hand some of the creepy crawlies that inhabit the Malaysian countryside including the mighty Rhinoceros Beetle which is one of the largest beetles in the world. Other delights that Attenborough would have been salavating over were lizards, snakes, toads, frogs and giant insects including a 10-12inch grasshopper, stick insects and mantises.

Next day while Clem was having a quiet morning Karl and I had a much longed for round of golf, the first for over 3 months. It was an interesting round with some pretty shoddy rented clubs, but still very enjoyable in some fantastic weather. The course featured a lot of water which Karl visited many times and used many of our allotted 6 balls each. In fact we found ourselves on the last tee, quite an intimidating shot with only one ball left each, we managed to keep the balls in play and finished the round, Karl having lost 10 balls, however he does hold a pose well!

We caught a bus from the Cameron Highlands south. Next stop Kuala Lumpur.

MALAYSIA - Penang

Penang is a region of Malaysia on the west coast. The residents are made up of immigrants from predominantly India and China making it one of the best places to get a takeaway!

I have never been to a place where the people of such different backgrounds get along so well. It seems as though the world could learn a lot from them. Buddhists, Muslims, Sikhs, Protestants, Catholics and many other religions all in one place all living happily and neighbourly. When we arrived however there was much going on. A fire had broken out at a nearby restaurant. We witnessed the fire spread to the next building and threaten many more. Some firemen were already there and more were on the way, however it was at this point that we realise how lucky we are with the emergency services in the UK. The whole situation seemed to be dealt with in a less organised manner, people were all over the streets surrounding the fire, in the way of all the services making everything a whole lot more difficult. We walked around the city on a very warm day and saw many of it's highlights. By the time we had returned to the hostel the fire had been extinguished without crossing over to more buildings. We headed down to Little India for a brilliant diner. It was a Naan Set which was made up of a naan, tandori chicken and three dipping curries/sauces. The meal was delicious one of my favourites of the trip to that point. On the way out I expressed some interest in the way that a man was making naans in the kitchen. I was invited in to take a look by some very enthusiastic staff. They were fantastic and showed and explained what they were doing. Great way to finish the day.

The following day we explored some more of the city including the incredible housing located on piers over the water's edge. The construction of the piers could be seen as nothing less than amazing. We walked out onto them seeing the water beneath through some large gaps between boards. I noticed that some of the pier was held up by concrete buckets. Buckets filled with concrete and then placed in position ontop of each other to form piles. With time some of the plastic had split or broken away leaving piles of concrete in various angular bucket shapes. Later we went up the cities lookout for sunset and to see the city at night. Although not quite as spectacular as Hong Kong it was still a great view, although we did have some interesting company in the form of some rather large spiders floating overhead on their webs around the street lights.

Next day we boarded a bus to the Cameron Highlands.

MALAYSIA - Lankawri

As we queued to board the ferry and have our passports checked a girl came up to me and asked us what country we were currently in. I replied with the answer but couldn't help thinking the same thing about the previous 3 months! ha.

I can honestly say that the ferry journey on the western side of the Malay peninsula was a lot better than those to and from Ko Toh. It was smooth and calm and i certainly didn't hear the slightest hint of a wretch.

Langkawri is a beautiful island with beaches of the most powdery flour like sand that feels excellent between the toes. It has one or two very popular areas including the area we stayed in which has restaurants fronting the beach. Other areas including the one we visited the following day, in a rented car, include large waterfalls and a view point at 800m up with incredible views. Linked to the viewpoint was an incredible curved bridge hung from one centrally located structure. It was however a slightly unnerving experience to cross it, so much so Karl decided to wait for us on one side. After, we continued our drive around some of the island and took in the scenery.

After Langkowri we got on yet another boat, this time to Penang.

THAILAND - Ko Toh

When we got off the train, the next morning, we were ushered quickly onto a departing bus, apart from myself who needed to go and get some cash, so i got on the back of another moped and the bus picked me up further down the road. The ferry journey we had next was appalling. Ignore what i said previously about the bus journey from Siem Reap to the Thai border being bad, this was another level. The ferry was thrown from side to side up and down so much that what must have been about quarter of the boat was being sick around us, all we could do was try and fall asleep and ignore the wretching. After the most unpleasent 3 hour journey of our lives, which would normally take 1.5 hours in good weather, we arrived to Ko Toh. Ko Toh is a world renown diving Island and reputedly the cheapest place to learn in the world, unfortunately for me and my very tight budget it was too expensive, but over the next 3.5 days Karl and Clem proceded to get their Open Water diving liscence, good on them! While they were back to school learning all about the underwater world, bouyancy etc i was relaxing, reading, padling and going for the occasional walk. On the final night Karl and I went for a drink in town. The plan was for a quiet one but a group of travellers saw the opportunity to get us involved in their night out. They bought us some more drinks and we stayed out till late. The next day we had to return to the mainland in order to travel across the country to the west and into Malaysia. Before this, however, we had to cope with yet another awful ferry crossing, maybe marginally better than the first. Then we got on train and then bus to the next ferry terminal on the West Coast. This ferry would take us over the border and into Malaysia to the island of Langkawi.

THAILAND - Kanchanaburi

Kanchanaburi is famous for one reason, it is the location of the famous Bridge over the River Kwai, however there is much to do in the area. It lies a couple of hours west of Bangkok. We stayed in an excellent guest house on the river and booked ourselves in for a day long tour the next day. The tour took in the Erawan Waterfalls, a 7 tierd waterfall, elephant riding, bamboo rafting and a trip along the Death Railway finishing with a look at the bridge itself. The whole day was fantastic and gave us a lot more than we thought we would get from visiting the town.

The next day we took a slightly complicated journey down to Ko Toh an island off the East of Thailand just north of Ko Pangnan and Ko Samuii. We got a bus halfway back to Bangkok then got off. It took a while to find out where the train station was but a couple fo young girls helped us out and took us somewhere to find dinner, very helpful and friendly. We then got on moped taxis to the train station which was a really scary experience. We had been on mopeds/bikes before on the trip, but never with our 20kg bag on our back. Whenever the driver accelerated i almost flew off the back, i managed to hold on and forego the cramp in my leg to get off safely at the station. We then had to wait there for 2 hours for our train. Eventually it arrived and we boarded the night train down the country. It was an excellent train with beds down either side with curtains across them.

THAILAND - Bangkok

Once over the border the journey was very different. We were met by posh minibuses with air-con. But by that point the damage was done i had heat stroke and spent the rest of the journey trying to sleep and prevent myself being sick. I did make it to Bangkok without being ill.

Karl and Clem explored Bangkok without me for the first day there while I stayed in bed, apparently they had an excellent time. Next day I did join them although still not hungry. We did some of the things they had done the previous day so that i could also enjoy them, which was very nice of them. Firstly we caught a Tuc Tuc, a slightly scary experience, to the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre and had a look around the exhibition. We then walked down towards the Arabic area and then to the river to catch a ferry to the temple Wat Pho which is renowned as the birth place of the Thai massage but perhaps more amazingly for a huge reclining, gold Buddha with mother of pearl feet. The temples were quite different to those in Cambodia or Vietnam in that they seemed to be really over the top, some of the decoration almost looking a little kitch from a distance, mainly because they were bright gold with shining reds and blues, etc, however some of the stone carvings next to doorways were brilliant fun.

We were staying in a guest house on Koh San Road. For those who have not been to Bangkok I should explain that Koh San Road must be the most lively road in the city where bars and clubs of all kinds meet in order to try and get the business of holiday makers. It is therefore very much a 24 hour street, perhaps not the nicest area I have stayed in but quite an interesting one!

Unfortunately due to me being ill we were unable to see all that the city had to offer and we were soon on a bus to Kanchanaburi.

CAMBODIA - Siem Reap (Angkor)

Siem Reap is Cambodia's second city and it has developed as a direct result of the Angkor the ancient capital of the Khmer Empire. It has been established that Angkor is the largest pre-industrialised city with an urban sprawl of 3000 square kilometres. It is said to comprise over 1000 temples fo various sizes, Angkor Wat being the most famous, which is the largest religious building in the world. Now that the superlatives are out the way I can tell you about our visit.

When we got to Siem Reap by bus we were greeted by the now familier bustle of moto drivers trying to get our business. We got to a guesthouse and made a deal with the moto driver to pick us up early in the morning for sunrise of Angkor Wat.

We got up at 4.30am and were picked up at 5.00am, it was pitch black and no one else was awake. We headed in our moto for Angkor a short drive away. On the way we picked up our photo I.D tickets and carried on. The roads were getting busier and it became clear that lots of people were doing the same thing. We got to Angkor Wat, although we couldn't see it as it was dark and followed people walking towards it by torchlight, firstly over a 200m wide moat then through a gate house reavealling a 350m long causeway to the temple itself. We found an appropriate place to perch and wait for the sun to show itself. I looked around and found it quite ironic that so many people, many of which i'm sure love to lie on the beach in their own kind of sun worship were here waiting for the sun to rise over a temple. Sure enough to sun arrived and Angkor Wat became a silhouette against a colourful backdrop.

Angkor is different to many other temples as it is orientated towards the west which led to the theory that it was built as mausoleum temple. It's site is approximately 1000m long by 800m wide. We walked around the temple and some of the grounds in a couple of hours and returned to our moto driver Chi who made a suggestion for a place to have breakfast. After. we continued to other areas of the city, firstly to Angkor Thom which is much larger than Angkor Wat in size as it was the ancient city walls. It covers an area of 9 sq kilometres and contains many temples of itself, perhaps the highlight being Bayon a temple of 50 towers with the head of a king carved on 4 sides. We continued up until the early afternoon looking at other remarkable temples, seeing elephants, both real and carved and avoiding being swallowed up by the rainforest. We needed to finish for the day in the early afternoon as we were all templed out and very tired. We knew that we still had the next day to see more.

That evening we were approached while eating dinner by a young boy selling books. He proceded to ask where we were from and then told us the last 4 prime ministers and facts about Great Britain, currency, population etc, he then asked if there were any books that we needed to which Clem asked about the next Harry Potter that we needed. He rushed off in search of it and returned with the wrong one, he went away again and returned with it. Then the price negociations began. These ended when he suggested they played a game for it, if he won she should pay his price, if Clem won she could pay her price. The game was naughts and crosses and he just so happened to have one drawn out with a cross already in place. He was obviously well practiced and won. This guy deserved the money and will definitely go far with the effort he put in. We later learned from other people that we met that these boys know facts abou almost every country a traveller might be from so that they can real them all off at the slightest whiff of selling a book. It was another fine example of very friendly people working very hard for a living and achieving it with a level of cheekiness that even i would have been proud of!

Next day we had a little bit of a lie in after the early morning the day before. We headed off to Angkor again by moto and looked around some more of the temples, the most enjoyable has to have been Ta Phrom which was made famous by the film Tomb Raider. Ta Phrom, unlike the other temples has been left to the mercy of the jungle and the sheer power of the trees is evident. Some of the trees litterally are swallowing up areas of walls. Roots extend to an enormous size and length. It is truly something to be seen to be believed. It has got to the stage where the trees are holding the temple together in places and without them the whole thing would fall down.

The final part of the day was spent at Pre Rup on top of the temple watching the sun go down with a beer. In the far distance, several miles away we could see the top of the towers of Angkor Wat as another day drew to a close.

The next day we would board a bus to Bangkok and Thailand. Angkor had certainly been worth the hype but it would have been nice to spend a little longer in Cambodia.

Throughout South East Asia I had been in touch with a friend of mine, Paul Daniels, who was apparently travelling through the same areas at a similar time, i was a little shocked when he boarded the bus we were on to Bangkok in Siem Reap. The journey was certainly interesting. The bus was full of people and there was no bag storage beneath, so every space inside was taken up with bags, including the isle and under every seat, this meant that you could not move your feet and when exiting the bus you had to climb over every bag or climb out a window as a couple of guys did. The roads to the Thai border was also terrible, dusty, bumpy dirt roads. The temperature was very hot and at one stage the bus broke down. Apart from all that it was excellent.

CAMBODIA - Phnom Penh

Since starting travelling we have heard from many people of what a wonderful country cambodia is particularly in regards to the people, so we were all looking forward to it very much.

We got to the bus station in the capital and were mobed by people wanting to taxi us somewhere or offer us a guest house. We got in moto (a moped and 4 seater rickshaw style trailor) and were whisked off to the Lakeside which is at first glance quite grim place, but has more character than many other places in the city. The place we stayed in was but on stilts over the lake and was called Smile Guesthouse. They were very friendly and it was an excellent place to sit back at the end of the day and watch the sun go down over the lake. Mornings were equally interesting when fishermen paddled past crouched on their canoes checking their nets.

Phnom Penh is an interesting city. The people there are very welcoming and happy despite the terrible events of recent history. For those less familiar with world history I am refering to the Khmer Rouge Regime under Pol Pot. Although we knew that it would not be a pleasent experience Karl and I felt that we should try and get a better understanding of what happened. We hired a moto for the day from the guesthouse and he took us firstly to S-21.

S-21 which means security prison 21 is a former high school converted to a detention and torture centre during the Khmer Rouge regime. It is now the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. It comprises 5 school buildings which were used to hold people for interrogation. The museum does an incredible job at conveying the situation which i can descibe as nothing less than harrowing. Some rooms just had two items in them, a bed in the middle and a photo on the wall of how the rooms were used, normally with a tortured body on. It was obviously not difficult to imagine what a nasty place this was and how lucky we are not to have experienced anything like the cruelty of the Pol Pot regime. Which is why the site was particularly wierd, a place of such suffering and revulsion being a school, normally a place of such innocence. We watched a film about that period in Cambodian history in the museum which explained the background to the situation and we then left the museum to head for the killing fields. We left stunned, stunned that some of what we had seen there we would never be able to explain to anyone else. If we were able to talk about some of it we would not be able to get across the grusomeness repulsion of it.

The killing fields were a number of sites outside the city where truck loads of people were taken daily to be murdered. To save amunition the Khmer Rouge often beat people to death. The Killing Fields we visited have been opened to the public as a reminder of the past and the remember those who perished. A Stupa has been errected near the entrance of the site and it has been filled with skulls of the victims. In the time that the Khmer Rouge were in power they murdered between 1.4-2 million people, about a quarter of Cambodia's 7 million population. Walking round it was easy to feel insignificant amongst the mass graves of so many and i left with a certain anger and disbelief that anything like this could and has happened and in recent history!

I am sure by now that anyone who is reading this is feeling a little shocked and depressed but Cambodia does have a lot to show for itself other than its blood stained recent history. We paid a visit to the Royal Palace which is an incredible site. It is the home Cambodian Royalty and boasts an incredible architectural style. The style prioritises the roof and is ofter much larger in size than the rest of the building. I presume that, like China, the gold colour is used as a symbol of royalty and power. Highlights have to be the Silver Pagoda with it's solid silver floor and the Throne Hall. Further on through the complex is a scale model of Angkor Wat the old seat of the Khmer Empire before moving to Phnom Penh and the next destination on our trip.

After seeing the horrifying sights of the genocides in Cambodia and the war in Vietnam I was very much looking forward to the spectacle of Angkor, perhaps one of the places I have been looking forward to more than anywhere.

VIETNAM - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

Saigon is a crazy place. We stayed in the thick of things where most tourists go. We new that it would be a good place to spend New Year and it did not let us down.

We got there a day early in order to soak up some of the other interesting things that Saigon has to offer.

We took a bus tour excussion to the famous Cu Chi tunnels. The tunnels were used during combat and day to day living and the whole site has been turned into an open air museum in which you can walk down a section, well not walk, crouch, crawl and traverse. the tunnels themelves are so small even crouched completely down your head still touches the ceiling and your shoulders drag against the edges. It is also worth noting that these tunnels have been made 40% larger to accomodate western tourists. The open air tour also demonstrated how smoke from underground kitchens dispersed to look like fog and how ventialtion holes were disguised to fit in with the natural environment. Another area showed all manner of horrible booby traps which were design to cause maximum disruption to the US army, they were not designed to kill people, just to cause enough damage to mean the person would need looking after by another soldier.

Next day Karl and i paid a visit to the War Museum which was worth the visit to see and read about the war from an unwestern biased view. The museum was highly critical of the American's in the war and after seeing what the museum displayed i was not surprised. The after effects of the Orange Agent were appalling. It was used to kill off all crops and vegetation that got in its way, so making it more difficult for normal people, moonlighting as guerilla fighters, to survive. Much of the landscape around Dalat showed how difficult the vegetation was finding it to grow back in these areas, but this was nothing in comparison the the effects it had on people. Many people born after Agent Orange was used were severely deformed and evidence of this was clear in the city and in the museum particularly. The whole experience throughout Vietnam made me realise how lucky i am not to have experienced anything as awful as war or the after effects.

We were lucky enough on New Years eve to have our door open while getting ready as a group of people walking past heard our music and came in to say hello. We spent the rest of the night with them and some others and had and excellent night, mostly in one bar which very cheekily increased drink prices by double in the last hour of 2008. On the stroke of midnight we went into the street which was full of people wishing each other the best for the new year. All in all an excellent night.

A lot of the next day was spent recovering, either from the effect of one to many beers or from the lack of sleep.

Next day we would catch a bus from Saigon to Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital.

VIETNAM -Dalat

Dalat is very different from our other stop offs in Vietnam. It is first of all not on the coast, but infact in the mountains. Secondly it is one of the most obviously colonial places in Vietnam. During the Vietnam War high ranking officals from both sides as well as some French lived there in what became a basic safe zone, an area which neither army was allowed to invade. A very bizarre situation.

It was in Dalat where we did one of the best things on our trip so far, we took a tour with Mr Han and 2 friends from the Easy Riders. The Easy Riders are a group of motorbikers who take tourists around the more scenic and real side of Vietnam. Each of us had a driver for the day and we all enjoyed visiting a chinese temple, coffee plantations, silk factories, an amazing waterfall and finally the Crazy House by a mad Russian Architect, all along very windy mountain roads, an experience not to be missed!

While in Dalat we were lucky enough to be watching the final of the South East Asian Football Cup, or whatever it is called, in which Vietnam were in the final for the first time in 10 years. They ended up beating Thailand in the final. Dalat errupted with people shouting and beeping their moped horms as they toured the streets national flags in hand! Brilliant!

VIETNAM - Nha Trang

Nhtrang is a party town on the east coast just over halfway down. It was raining while we were there and the sea was brown thanks to the storms. Nhtrang was probably one of our least favourite places as it has been purely angled towards tourists looking to go out and not remember what happend the night before the day after, hence there is very little of real interest. we stayed there only as a stop off to catch a bus the next day to Dalat.

VIETNAM - Whale Island

Whale Island is a paridisical, French run resort island, off the east coast of Vietnam around 2 hours north of Nha Trang. We had made special arrangements for our overnight bus from Hoi an to drop us somewhere nearby. We had no idea when they would drop us off as they did not speak english, we also did not know if they understood where we wanted them to drop us off. Anyways, in the early hours fo the morning after a very rough journey we got dropped off on a dark corner of the road and got pointed in a direction. We crossed the road to find a bus from the resort waiting for us, amazing! they drove us quickly through the night down a tarmac road which was being swallowed up by the sand dunes. eventually we arrived at the waters edge and walked along a very rickety wooden pier and boarded a boat. After abour 30 minutes the boat pulled into a harbour with a sandy beach. We had arrived at our Chistmas destination, and sure enough it was raining.

The island was very beautiful, the food was excellent, the people were very friendly and our beach hut was very nice the only thing to slightly let it down was the weather. It rained almost all the time we were there apart from half of the last day.
My first Christmas away from home was a wierd experience, warm but wet we had our main Christmas meal on Christmas Eve in the tradition of the French(apparently). We had an excellent 4 course meal including a yuel log. For two nights including that one we shared our meal with a very nice couple from France and Germany. The wine flowed.

We left on the 27th and headed for Nha Trang.

VIETNAM - Hoi an

Hoi an is a little further south, down the coast of Vietnam, it is famous as being the place to go if you want any custom made clothing. It would have been great to get a suit or two made in 24 hours, however i am on a budget and i restrained. Clem however made the most of it and got lots made. lol. Apart from Tailors Hoi an does not have much else, almost every shop is trying to sell you clothes. While Clem was making her mind up about the colour of shorts to get in one place, a very persistant lady was trying to sell Karl linen trousers. We tried to good cop bad cop discount routine but it failed on this occasion, however, the lady did comment on what a nice guy i was and offered me her daughter, also in the room and also a Tailor, she looked a little embarressed. lol.While in Hoi an we bumped into, quite randomly, Kathryn and Jakob from our China tour, for the 2nd time in Vietnam. It is absolutely amazing what a small world we live in and how many people you bump into again and again!

On the final day there, the heavens opened again, and the rain came down hard. So much so that the river came over the banks on the water front and flooded the road infront of all the bars.

Next day we left to go to a place called Whale Island for Christmas.

VIETNAM - Hue

Hue is the ancient capital of Vietnam and thus has much of architectural merit and wonder, unforntunately the weather was rubbish while we were there and we saw a lot of it through light showers.

We hired a dragon boat down the river which is reported to be quite stunning, in order to go and see a famous emporers tomb, Tu Duc and a famous pagoda. Again the weather was not good and the river was far from stunning. Getting to the tomb was an intersting trip. We got off the boat in the middle of nowhere where we were met by a guy and his moped, soon 2 more arrived and we got moped taxis to Tu Duc. The tombs were also a place of residence for the emporer and his court. The surrounding grounds were extensive and contained the tombs themselves. It was a very mossy wet area and i'm sure the highlight for Karl and Clem was me slipping over quite spectacularly going down some steps. I managed to escape with a couple of bruised knuckles bruised ass and ego! hahaha.

Next stop was the Tien Mu Pagoda. Not till arriving and seeing for myself did i realise that it was the home of the subject of one of the most famous photos in history. Thich Quang Du'c was a Vietnamese Monk who burned himself to death by the road in Saigon in protest to the persecution of Buddhists. The car which he used to get to Saigon was returned to the Pagoda and remains there as part of a memorial to the monk.

Later we walked around some of the Citadel, the original walled city. Within is another Citadel which was home to the Emporer. Unfortunately much of the original palace no longer exists, but the grandeur must have been fantastic baring in mind the size of the site.

Next day we went on a tour of the DMZ. For those unfamiliar with TLA's (Three Letter Accronyms) it means demilitarised zone. The tour took in many of the most important sites in the centre of the country, at the heart of the Vietnam War. We visted some fo the tunnels used during the conflict between the North and South as well as seeing the Rockpile, a strategic U.S viewpoint and a famous US Airstrip which i cant remember the name of at the moment, near the Laos border.

The tunnels were a real eye opener showing amazing Vietnamese resiliance. We ere were shown around by a lady who spoke perfect English, French, Chinese amongst other languages, additionally was a very short man, who grew up in the tunnels. the lack of light and nutrients had a serious effect on his growth and he stood no higher than a small child mayb of the age of 8. He was amazing at finding his way through the nearly pitch black tunnels however, running through areas we had to stoop through. He also could not speak, since birth, but understood Vietnamese, Thai, English and French, an incredible man. After the long day we returned to the guest house and prepared ouselves for the journey the next day to Hoi an.

VIETNAM - Hanoi

The journey the three of us had been dreading, overland from Hong Kong to Hanoi, was over in 16 hours! far less than the 2.5 days which we had been advised it would take on various websites. It was so easy, we got off the excellent sleeper bus in Nanning and were immediately thrown onto another bus which would take us to the border at Friendship Pass. On arrival we boarded golf buggies which took us to passport control, then more buggies then onto another bus and we were travelling through Vietnam.

Hanoi arrived very quickly and we were immediately bombarded with offers of taxis or rooms for the night. Our guest house was situated in the centre of the old quarter which is an absolutely crazy place. Crossing the road was one of the first obstacles, we would later use this as a measure to see how long people had been in Vietnam, if they were struggling, they had just arrived! The trick is, to cross looking at all the moped drivers and never stopping, let them go around you, quite scary at first but not too bad.

Hanoi is a nice city, the old quarter is always busy and there is always somewhere to get a cheap beer, mostly on plastic chairs on street corners, 15 pence was the record!

While in the city we tried to pay a visit to Ho Chi Minh but unfortunately he was closed for the afternoon. We did however make it into his museum and it was a very odd place with examples of all that influenced his life including art and sculpture. Ho Chi Minh famously fought on the front line, for the North Vietnamese, against the South Vietnam/US forces during the war. He wanted Vietnam to be united under a communist government. Throughout our trip through Vietnam we would learn more about this period of history and the subsequent consequences.

We decided to take a day trip to Halong Bay on the coast near Hanoi. It is a beautiful bay full of stunning karst mountains. They are similar in form to those we saw in Yangshao but surrounded by water. We boarded a boat for the day to sail into the middle of the islands. While sailing around them we had the chance to get off and investigate some caves, go Kayaking at to check out the stunning views which the area has so plentifully.

While in Hanoi we made the decision to buy each other Christmas presents to give each other at Whale Island for Christmas. I was buying for Karl, Karl for Clem and clem for Me, how exciting!

HONG KONG

After the border formalities at Shenzen and swapping from the train to the metro we got into Kowloon. We stayed in a hotel very near Nathan Street and had a wonder around. That evening we had a fancy dress party, theme Christmas, in one of the hotel rooms and all had a final goodbye meal.

Next day we went our seperate ways agreeing to meet up for dinner again that evening.
We are lucky enough to have Weiren Lee as a contact in Hong Kong, where he has recently started a new job. After dropping our stuff off at Lee's bijou Kowloon residence where he very kindly let us stay for a couple of nights he took Karl and I around the area to do a little shopping with local knowledge while Clem and the Aussie girls went clothes shopping. Lee tooks us to an excellent Dip sum restaurant where we had all manner of wierd and wonderful foodages. That evening everyone met up for what can only be described as the biggest rip off of a meal i have ever had. After we parted company with everyone again, this time with most for the final time.

Next day Karl and I went up the long escalator on Hong Kong Island after walking around what must be described as a gangles of Filipino women inhabiting the public space inbetween the Star Ferry and The Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank (early Norman Foster). After we met upwiththe Aussies and Clem once more and headed for Stanley Market. the bus journey there was absolutely gorgeous and i could help feeling jealous of all the ex-pats living it up on the south of Hong Kong Island.

Stanley Market however seems to be a real tourist attraction and not real what i was hoping for or expecting. The bus jounrey made it worth while tho. Karl and i headed back in order to get on the peak tram to see the sunset over Hong Kong. It was not dissappointing, the lights were truly awesome.

We headed back to Kowloon where we bumped into Eric and Catherine, who for those keen followers of the blog may remember were with us in Mongolia and some of Beijing. 2 minutes after talking to them 2 of there friends walked past and we all headed to dinner together. It seems that even in a city as large and as dense as Hong kong the world is very small!

Next day we boarded the sleeper bus to Nanning where we would e able to get on a bus to Hanoi and Vietnam!