Still in Nha Trang, but it's my last day, getting on the overnight bus to Hoi An in a few hours' time. I've well overstayed my planned two days but am not beating myself up about it; I've had a ball. After four nights of drunken debauchery I was ready to leave as our group began to disintegrate. However I then realised this would be almost my last time to go SCUBA diving and, at 150 pounds for an Open Water Course (the basic 3-day course for divers internationally) I would be a fool not to do it. So I've ended up here for over a week! Although the Gap Yah crew broke up a few days ago and I've moved from the hostel which is at the centre of things I still hang out there ... read more

"These girls are definitely not prostitutes". With no more than these rather flimsy words of assurance I followed, accompanied by a similarly bewildered Dutchman, into the nightclub. And very nice it was too, as good as anything I've experienced in London or elsewhere, genuinely good music (no Cher here, unlike much else of SE Asia), attentive waiters topping up your drinks, a private table and s crowd of well heeled Westerners and Vietnamese. At first, still cynical about the motivations of the Vietnamese party-girls it was rather awkward and they seemed rather put out by my caution, however, after inventing a girlfriend at home "yes, very serious, maybe I marry..." to avoid offence, it all went rather well. At the end they asked us to contribute towards the bill- a not unreasonable $10 for a night's ... read more

I've got an afternoon to kill so it seems a good time for a spot of blogging. I'm now in Siem Reap in Cambodia. This city has grown up almost entirely thanks to the nearby temples collectively known as Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is in fact simply one (albeit the grandest) of over 100 temples and archealogical sites spread over a huge area, although most of the best ones are accessible via a 17km 'Grand Route'. They were built between about 850-1250 and really are worth the hype. The first two days I went via a tuk-tuk to most of the main sites and today I hired a bike and rode before dawn to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat (sunrises and sunsets are the most dramatic time to see them). I set off on my ... read more

I've got 24 minutes left on my computer, then it's been over an hour which is way too long to spend online when I'm in Thailand, I'm going to have to limit myself otherwise I'd write reams- to no one's benefit! On my third day I went to Ayuthaya, the former capital which was sacked by the Burmese in 1767, after which point the king moved the capital to Bangkok. It was was one of the most splendid cities in Asia but sadly the temples now lie in ruins. It was interesting but I did get temple-fatigue by the end of the day, especially in 38C, annoyingly my camera was out of battery so I couldn't get the photos I would have liked to take, but I suppose I probably looked around more; it's easy to ... read more