Four Cities in 1 Week

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The Journey So Far.....

Since leaving Perth almost a week ago we have had an exciting time travelling from Australia to Cambodia. As you all know we are having a travelling sabbatical and will be returning to the UK at the end of March 07.

So after leaving Perth a week ago we arrived in Singapore. Having been there only some six months earlier, everthing there was familar, the main purpose of our destination being our start/finish point for Asia. We managed to do a couple of things which we hadn't done previously, the 70's Disney World that is Sentosa Island and the area around Clarke Quay.

On Friday we checked out of our hotel and took our Tiger Airways flight to Hoi Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Now I have seen some busy places but this place was seriously busy - I have never seen so many motorbikes in one place!! Crossing the road was more like a grown up version of chicken! and it was rather a case of look to the other side of the road, make your move, and just keep walking.....somehow we managed to escape injury free!! Before making the rapid departure to Cambodia (we are going to go back very soon!!) we learnt a lot about the Vietnam War and also went to the Chu Chi Tunnels. (Info:The tunnels were famous for the Viet Cong digging underground and evading the US bombardment). For a small fee of $10US we fired a couple of rounds with an AK-47...not sure we actually hit the target though!!

Yesterday we made our way by local bus to Chau Doc near the border of Cambodia, as we wanted to travel up the Meekong River into Cambodia. It was a 6hr journey through the surrounds of the Meekong, which from my perspective was a great trip....Katherine did note "everybody should be forced to do this sort of thing every once in a while to make them appreciate everything they have in their lives" . She did actually enjoy it (apart from being crammed into the mini-bus) and was relieved when we got there in one piece....so was I!! Chau Doc was a very pleasant town, most of the centre seemed to be one huge market....so much so we ended up getting slightly lost through the various streets and alley ways!!

So this morning I had my first Vietnamese breakfast (completley my choice) which was beef soup and a cup of coffee (with condensed mik) - Katherine opted for the more traditional bannana pancake which was very nice too. We boarded our boat along with the other 15 or so people who had the same idea and we slowly made our way to Cambodia. A very relaxing day and we just sat back on our wooden bench and enjoyed the ride!! However, thinking that the bus ride to the Chu Chi tunnels was slow and bumpy, we hadn't yet experienced the bus ride from the boat landing to Phnom Penh!! It did seem that they were spending a lot of money on upgrading the roads....except that had only just started. After 1 1/2 hours we finally arrived in PP just before 7pm!! It has been a long day and tomorrow we shall explore some of the sites in PP.

As for the rest of the week we have yet to work out the details. However, we are planning to be at Siem Reap (which is very near the famous temples of Angkor as seen in the movie Tomb Raider!) at the end of the week (about 6hours from where we are now). We will keep you updated in a week or so...

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