3 Weeks, 3 Countries, 7 Cities, 4 Islands, 9 Buses, 12 Boats, 1 Flat Tyre...and 1 Lost Bank card

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We can't quite believe it's only been 3 weeks since our last blog, it feels like so much longer because we've been to so many places and done so much (as the title suggests...).

SO...The much anticipated soft sleeper train from Nah Trang to Saigon was a huge improvement from the hard sleeper, mainly due to the fact you could actually sit up on the beds, there was working air conditioning and fewer children. A successful train journey at last - personal boom! Unfortunately the soft beds couldn't make up for the fact that we pulled in to Saigon at the unearthly hour of 4am. A taxi took us straight to our hotel where thankfully we could check in and get a bit more sleep!

We were only in Saigon for a couple of nights because we wanted to escape the city as soon as possible and get to the Mekong Delta. The highlight of our short stay in Saigon was the War Remnants Museum, a series of well done (if rather harrowing) exhibitions depicting Vietnam's struggle during the war and its aftermath.

We decided to travel to My Tho in the Mekong Delta as part of a tour, which included a boat trip to the nearby island of Ben Tre. We sampled some tasty honey tea, various local fruits and some coconut candy along the way, as well as listening to some traditional music, getting a ride in a Vietnamese rowing boat and taking in the pretty surroundings.

The bus left us in My Tho, which turned out to be a small and rather uninteresting town with very poor transport links. At the only restaurant with an English menu we started chatting to a Danish couple who were planning on doing the same route as us, so we decided to hatch a plan and travel together to save money. After asking various local people how we could get to Can Tho, it turned out the options were to either catch the local bus at 5am (not an attractive prospect because it takes around 6 hours and doesn't have air con...), or we could take a taxi to the 'highway''and flag down any bus that was heading in the right direction. We decided on the latter option, so at 8am the next morning we were standing by the side of the road, francticly waving at all buses going past and hoping one would stop and let us on. With the help of a local man and also the fact that most buses slow down as they drive past because they are kean to pick up more passengers, all 5 of us managed to squeeze into a mini van headed for Can Tho. It even had air con, and due to the fact the Vietnamese don't travel lightly at all, there was a television and a motorbike too (but still enough room for us and our bags!).

The main attraction in Can Tho are the floating markets which a cheery lady in her pajamas (standard practice in SE Asia) took us round in her boat. The best time to see the markets was early in the morning, so we set off as the sun was rising over the Mekong. The vendors were mainly selling fruit and vegetables from their boats, except for one lady who tried to sell us lottery tickets, and they advertised what they were selling by sticking the item on to a very long pole (this could be a watermelon, banana, pineapple or a combination of various fruit and veg). As an added extra she randomly took us to a rice noodle factory and to see a giant fish, which they fed coconut and bread to. Despite this little detour being a bit odd, the rest of the trip was definitely worth while, the markets great and we got a real insight in to life on the delta.

After various transport complications, because we can't seem to do things simply, we got to the island of Phu Quoc. We stayed in a small family run resort in a simple bungalow next to the beach. It was so nice there we barely left it the whole time we were on the island, other than a quick trip to the main town Dong Duong for some ice cream sundaes. Our one trip away from our hotel was a slight fail due to the fact an evil ATM decided to eat Hannah's bank card - all travellers beware of Donga Bank!! Desipte this slight inconvenience we had a lovely time relaxing on the beach and eating lots of yummy sea food. We really didn't want to leave but time is pressing on and we had to get to Cambodia!

We made it to Phnom Penh via Ha Tien after a stress free overland border crossing and with a nice new shiney visa stuck in our passports. As we were only staying in Cambodia 2 nights before heading north into Laos, this Visa had a very short life and wasn't quite worth the $30 (plus 1$ for a ''medical test" which consisted of having your temperature taken) paid but it was the easiest and cheapest way we could get back into the south of Laos.

Despite not being the poorest country we've been to, Cambodia has a lot more visible poverty than elsewhere and in Phnom Penh children often come up and beg at cars waiting at traffic lights.

Our one full day in Phnom Penh was spent at the Choeung Ek Killing Fields and the S-21 Prison Museum. Considering the subject matter we really enjoyed both, which were very well done and incredibly moving.

The journey from Phnom Penh to 4000 Islands in Laos took 11 hours but was surprisingly comfortable and we got the chance to see LOTS of the Cambodian countryside. A short boat journey took us to Don Det (a small but busy backpacker island) where we stayed for 3 nights. During our stay we went on a boat trip to see the irrawaddy river dolphins and the largest waterfall in SE Asia. We also did some casual tubing on the river in front of our riverside bungalow. Other than this we spent our time reading, enjoying the beautiful sunsets and trying to prevent water buffalo from coming in to our bungalow.

We moved to the neighbouring island of Don Khone for a couple of nights. Don Khone is a lot quieter and more peaceful than Don Det, so we easily slipped back into the Laos culture of relaxing a lot. We did have one active day where we went on a bike ride to see a waterfall and a beach where we worked on our tans/lobstered a bit more. On the way home we decided to stop at the old locomotive that was used to transport steamer ships, avoiding the waterfalls. However, Hannah's bike got a puncture on the way so we had to leave the bike behind and she hitched a ride on Suzanne's bike - luckily we were only 300m from home because Suzanne's legs weren't quite up to the task...

Our last stop in Laos was the tiny town of Champasak, which is a couple of hours north of 4000 islands. Upon arrival we were greeted by probably the most enthusiastic man we've ever met who took us to his guesthouse whilst laughing hysterically the whole way. At 15,000Kip each (around £1.20) per night, it was the cheapest place we've stayed at so far (and definitely not the worst!)

Wat Phu is a 8th century pre-Angkor temple that has put Champasak on the map. The hotelier's brother (not enthesiastic at all) handily owned a tuk tuk and took us and 2 other girls from our hotel there. The temple ruins and surroundings were beautiful and there were very few tourists there which made it even more pleasant. Whilst we were having a quick break at the top of the many stairs, a group of Cambodian women with an entourage consisting of some monks and servants arrived and got very excited we were there and got their servants to take lots of photos of us with them.

We left Champasak after 2 nights and made our way back into Cambodia to Siem Reap, by taking various buses of different sizes and comfort, which took around 18 hours. When we eventually did get to Siem Reap at 2am, we were very glad to be approached by a tuk tuk driver who took us straight to a hotel where we managed to get the last room and finally sleep!

As we've been moving around a lot in the past few weeks we have decided to stay here for 4 or 5 nights (partly so we can get a mammoth load of laundry done). Our next update will include A LOT of temples because we are going to see the famous Angkor temples over the next 3 days, so be prepared for that.

It is our 3 month travelling anniversary in a few days, then we will only have about 6 weeks left, which we can't quite believe....

Over & Out.

Lots of Love,

Taz, Hannah & Suzanne xxxx

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