I took a Capitol private bus to Phnom Penh which crossed the border at Bravet. The border crossing which some people had reported was difficult, I found fine. The bus arrived in Phnom Penh center at about 1pm. I walked to the hotel with my bag ( about 2km) where the rude fat owner gladly took my 7 dollars per night. I stayed at the Royal Palace Hotel. The room was ok, it had a fan, a tv, a small balcony but cold showers :( They really haven't heard about customer service here. I dropped my bags then went for lovely [View Full Entry]

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After spending the morning meeting Bobo's really nice friends at the beach we took the bus back to HCM. It was a quicker journey as we took a mini bus and they can weave in and out of the traffic really fast. In the evening I took a few members of Bobo's family for a meal as a thank you. We ate fish steam boat or hot pot as we call it. It was great - it was really big and very cheap even with beers the whole meal was still under 10 pounds for 6 people. [View Full Entry]

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Went to the beach in the morning. It was the busiest beach I have ever been to. The water wasnt great there was lots of pollution and about 6 oil tankers just off the coast. We didnt swim long as the water was causing our skin to sting, maybe tiny jellyfish ? In the afternoon we cycled to a temple on the top of a hill and visited a family friends house. [View Full Entry]

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Took a short bus trip to the beach resort of Vung Tau for the weekend to visit Bobo's parents. The roads were very busy as the school holidays had just started. We arrived at about 1ish and had a huge lunch which included more fruits. In the evening we went out for Pho (Noodles) and a couple of warm beers. It was really nice evening but rained a lot. [View Full Entry]

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Went out to Bobo friends restaurant and met some of her friends. It was good fun, they are all really sweet girls. Went and visited more pagodas while Bobo was at uni. [View Full Entry]

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Spent the morning doing tasks like posting all my clothes back to the UK (which was very expensive and takes 3 months to arrive!!) I really hope it arrives as its got my lovely new dress in the box. On the way back from the post office I lost my map and got totally lost and was late meeting my friend Bobo but luckily she was still waiting for me. We went for a great lunch where I tried some of the local deserts (see photo). Then we took a couple of buses to the outskirts and to stay at her [View Full Entry]

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Woke up early again had a lovely breakfast and left on boat and then bus towards the Cu Chi tunnels. Cu Chi is a city which has lots of tunnels left over from the war. There is a huge network of tunnels which were tiny inside and have hidden entrances. Here is a photo of me in one of them. There were huge bomb craters everywhere. Then were taken to the shooting range where we could try and shoot a gun. The sound walking towards the range made me jump, it was so loud. Standing near the gun I had to [View Full Entry]

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Left early for the Mekong Delta area. We headed to a city called My Tho where we got a small boat to our first stop Turtle Island where we ate lovely local fruits and listened to music sang by two women. Then we went to a coconut candy making place on the mainland. It was soo yummy I bought 2 packs which have already been eaten. We then took a short donkey ride to the Bee farm where we had honey tea with extra honey. There was also a snake there which we could try on....We then took an even smaller [View Full Entry]

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We took an early flight to Ho Chi Minh City ( previously called Saigon) We arrive at the hotel at 12. Ning took us to the Pho2000 noodle bar for lunch and then we visited the market which sold cheap clothes and yummy sweets. At 4pm Ning took us on a tour of the city for an extra $2usd. We fist visited the war relic's museum which was really shocking. There were images of the war through the whole building and left over guns and bullets. In the courtyard there were some tanks and US planes. We also saw the disgusting [View Full Entry]

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The next two days were spent shopping and lying next to the pool. I got 2 beautiful dresses made for me for about 7pounds each!! So cheap, you can pick the material and the style and about 4hours later your dress arrives completely made!! perfect fit first time. I also had a skirt and some lovely sandals made. And I also bought a red dress with white dots for 80,000 dong (not much) The pool was lovely and the weather was perfect for suntanning. For lunch and dinner both days I ate in this restaurant called the Friendship near the river [View Full Entry]

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