After spending the previous day ill in bed I was really looking forward to getting out. Windy collected us from our hotel and drove us to our first stop of the day, The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. First we walked around the museum so that we could learn more about what we were about to see. The Killing Fields are where most of the 17000 detainees held at the S-21 prison were executed during the rule of the Khmer Rouge. The most atrocious crimes against humanity were committed in these fields. Small children were often killed by swinging them against trees and many of the prisoners were bludgeoned to death to avoid wasting precious bullets. When it rains there are still pieces of bone washed up from the ground. There is now a memorial stupa ... read more

At 8am we met Pete on a tuk tuk and went to get our Angkor passes. We stood in line and paid our money, but they didn’t tell us when the picture would be taken. We were planning on framing our passes, but this plan will now have to changed. My picture is really unflattering and looks more like a prison mug shot! First we visited The Bayon and Banteay Kdei with Pete, but then we had to say goodbye as he had a flight to Bangkok to catch. Andy and I went on to see The Baphuon, which is in the process of being restored, The Terrace of Elephants, The Terrace of Lepers and Pre Palilay before finishing the day with Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat in particular was the temple I was most looking forward ... read more

When we walked down for breakfast we discovered the reason the hotel had such good reviews…. The staff. Each and every one of them from the manager to the gardener stopped what they were doing, gave us a big smile, a wave and a cheery good morning. The receptionist came over and had a chat to us while we ordered breakfast and gave us tips on what to do and see. We felt a little bad telling him that we were checking out. The tuk tuk dropped us outside the Mandalay Hotel. We were shown a room which was just $1 more than our previous hotel, but $1 made all the difference. We now had freshly painted walls, modern furniture and best of all we were just a few minutes walk to the market and pub ... read more

After meeting Pete for breakfast we went to catch our bus. We were told that a taxi would collect us at take us to the bus station, but when he didn’t turn up till 12.25 we were a little worried. When we got in the taxi we were also worried that it may not make it to the station without breaking down. It wasn’t that old but it had not been looked after. All the window tinting was pealing off , there were so many dents it’s a wonder that it still looked car shaped and it made some noises that really were not healthy. As we got on our way we found there was even more wrong with it. Every time the driver took his foot off the accelerator we stalled. Mostly this didn’t matter ... read more

When our coach turned up we were surprised to find comfortable seats and air con that worked. This gave me a good chance to practice my ever improving napping skills - I managed to sleep most of the way. We made a silly amount of stops on the way - it seems that bus drivers in Vietnam don’t like to travel too far without having tea break. As we reached the outskirts of Saigon we thought we were making good time. With about 45km to go we estimated we would probably arrive an hour early, but things all changed about 40km from the centre when we hit very slow moving traffic. When we finally reached the centre the first thing we noticed was the traffic - it was difficult not to. It was absolutely crazy with ... read more