"Annnnnndy.... I don't feel well....."

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[youtube=9jjxfGzrDcs][youtube=1XgFfCr35F8]

So we were off Koh Tonsay and set off for Kampot as we needed an ATM and more conditioner (not really but she did need some type of cosmetic). We checked into somewhere with warm water and air conditioning and 24 hour electricity - finally!

Kampot was fairly small and on the first night we went in search of an ATM only to get stuck out in the dark. After feeling our way home ( yes they had electricity but not so many street lights) we decided to leave the exploring to the next day.

We soon discovered that there wasn't loads in Kampot but it did have a nice relaxed feel and wasn't too busy after we had gone Swiss family Robinson on the island just a few days before. We stayed for two nights planning on visiting the pepper farms nearby but being put off after our waiter told us it was literally just a driver taking you there and pointing at a field before driving you back. There were plenty of tours that come through Kampot and so the food was typically western - this did however mean we got to eat some amazing sandwiches and Emma had a beautiful BBQ'd pork rib.

We had been checking the dates so much to check we had time to get to our flight to Burma that we hadn't realised we were 3 days away from Chinese New Year (Tet) on Sunday 14th. We made the decision to bomb it to Ho Chi Minh City and see the fireworks and celebrations there. We went to a local travel company to arrange this but came up across a few problems.

The only way to get into Vietnam was to get your Visa before you reached the border - something we hadn't planned on. There was no embassy in Kampot so we had to get to the one in Phnom Penh. This would be too late as the embassy would be closed on Saturday and we were told it would even be closed for a minimum of 4 days for Tet. We decided to gamble on this and get to Phnom Penh as it was the capital and so should be a bit more lively than Kampot anyway.

We got early morning bus that got us to the capital for around 3. Phnom Penh was nothing like the previous major cities we had visited. It was not as flash as Kuala Lumpur or as modern as Bangkok. Once you left the main tourist street the roads became very dirty and rubbish was piled up in places. The poverty was a major factor in this and every place you sat for more than 1 minute was soon crowded by children selling books and scarves. They were very adamant and tended not to leave until it was definite you would not be giving them anything no matter how much they touched and joked with you.

Emma had also had a bad experience early on in the day with a vegetable stir fry (which she would normally insist was the safest option). Her cauliflower had come with a non-vegetarian addition - some sort of worm curled up in every shoot. This gave us a reason to stay longer in Phnom Penh but not for the right reasons. In the next 24 hours Emma progressively got ill until she was in no condition to leave the room. So on the bright side we weren't being pestered to buy postcards but we soon became familiar with all 5 English channels on our TV ( and Emma got to know the porcelain in our bathroom intimately).

After a few days Emma was on the mend and we set ourselves the task of getting out of Cambodia asap. We found out the embassy was closed but that one in Sihanoukville (about 1hr away from Kampot) was still open. Rather than backtrack we paid a little extra for our hotel to arrange for our passports to be sent here and a visa arranged. This took 24 hours and as soon as we had them we were on the next bus out of there to HCMC.

After one of the better border crossings (the bus company were with arranged it all and just pointed us which line to queue in) we were in Vietnam. We arrived in Ho Chi Minh late (around 6) and decided to get to a room and sleep off the last of Emmas illness. We had no idea where we were and so hailed a cab and said the name Madame Cucs (one of the main guesthouses in the city). We were both pretty tired by this point and it wasn't until we say the meter reaching 200,000 Dong (around 8 quid) that we began to panic and query what was going on. The driver assured us it was just around the corner and we would be 1 minute. Once he dropped us off we started to dispute the price but he was insistent simply pointing to the meter. He took the money and sped off as quickly as possible. The next day we discovered that it had been a 5 minute walk round the corner and he had literally taken us for a ride.

Our place came with a breakfast and evening meal (pot noodle) included in the price but we soon realised how much this limited our culinary exploration of the city. After 2 nights there we moved to a breakfast only hotel for a lower price. Our first day in HCMC we decided to take the tour suggested in our guidebook and got to see the main markets, the Peoples Committee Building, the Opera house, Notre Dame cathedral and the highlight for Emma - the post office. All of these were beautiful buildings with definite French influences and were all surrounded by nice parks and clean pavements. We managed to try out the national dish at their equivalent of McDonalds - Pho 24. Pho is basically noodle soup and it seems to be the staple diet for most locals.

Unfortunately I chose this moment to get ill - and despite what Emma says I was not just faking it to compete with her. This unfortunately put a spanner in the works as we still had to visit the Reunification Palace and the Cu Chi Tunnels. I was out of action for 24 hours and Emma faithfully stayed to tend to me and play games on the iPod. When I was better we went on to do the Reunification Palace and skip the Tunnels as we simply didn't have the time or the money for both as it would have meant another day in HCMC. The palace was a building we had walked past a few times and each time commented on how it looked just like a 60's style college. The architecture was definitely dated but the rooms inside were nice and posh and apparently are still used to date to welcome foreign diplomats and important meetings. Ok so we bought the guidebook but didn't really read it all the way through. I do remember there was a helicopter and a cinema/gambling room.

This all done we went for lunch in a slightly posher place to have posh Pho - it was nice but still just soup and noodles. We trawled the travel agencies again to find the best way of getting to Dalat the next stop on our trip. We found a deal that gave us an open ticket to Hanoi for 50 quid (by the way we keep putting quid because there are no pound signs on these keyboards) allowing us to stop off at the major sights along the way. Yet again it was an early night and an early morning to continue our journey through Vietnam

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Comments

[kate]

fab photo's
Hi guys just caught up with ur blog some amazing photo's!!! Great to see what your getting up 2. Every1 is ok here. Dad has just started to paint the cats room. Snow has gone now just raining now ( whats new!) Anyway great to hear from u and stay safe!!!!!!!! love ya kate XXX

[Kath and Gill]

Hi guy's, we have just been catching up on your travels - fantastic times..... despite your "dodgy belly" syndrome. We loved your tree top hotel and we were very proud of Andy for tackling the fire ants - Hero. Love your photo's especially sunset/rise. Your tuc tuc stories remind us of our trips in Bangkok. Were taking Graham to Eastham Ferry this afternoon for a birthday drink - or two, other than that, it's work work work. Take care both of you lots of love Kath and Gill xx