I hadn't seen the Cao Dai temple in Ho Chi Minh City when I was there, so I didn't want to pass up the chance to see the second most important one in Vietnam when I was so close to Da Nang. Cao Daism was founded in Vietnam in 1926, has several million adherents globally, and has at its core the concept of a universal god. With Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius, and Lao Tzu (Taoism) all in its saintly hierarchy, it's attempting to bridge religious and philosophical divides in a way that few other religions are. Unfortunately by the time I got to Da Nang I was anything but angelic, courtesy of the scam perpetrated by my moto driver. He spoke good English, and we had agreed a price for him to take me to the ... read more

My final Cambodian travel experience was as disappointing as all the previous ones had been. I was refused the free pick-up included in the cost of the bus ticket to Ho Chi Minh City because the company claimed they didn't know where the guesthouse was - despite me giving them the name, address, and phone number. The supposedly aircon bus had the faintest breaths of air coming through the vents, and the toilet - near which I was seated - was almost constantly in use by the Chinese tour group who took it in turns to go in there to puke. Taking my Cambodia blogs as a whole, it's probably apparent that I didn't really like the place. Leaving after a mere 2 weeks of my 30 day visa is another indication of that. Apart from ... read more

The trip to Battambang was a further confirmation of the direness of Cambodian transport. The "free pick-up from the guesthouse" turned out to mean a walk to the bus company's office, from where we had to grab a lift on another bus to the main bus station, wait there for 45 minutes, then get on the Battambang bus. Which promptly drove back to the bus company's office. Roughly 5.5 hours of non-aircon existence followed, with a miniature dust storm coming through the open windows. The first two thirds of the ride were essentially on a dirt track that just happened to be the width of a road. Potholes and ruts punctuated the surface, leading to slow, frustrating, uncomfortable progress. Arrival in Battambang was marked by a cavalry of astonishingly persistent motorbike-mounted accommodation touts. A couple of ... read more

A 5:15AM rise isn't so different from a 4:15AM one, but it needed to be sucked up for archaeology's sake. We caught dawn at Ta Prohm, as featured in "Tomb Raider" and the site chosen by the Ecole Francaise d'Extreme Orient (the organisation involved in much of the preservation of the complex) to be left in as natural a state as possible so that people could see what Angkor was like when it was "rediscovered". Silk-cotton and strangler fig trees have insinuated themselves into the masonry at various points, creating striking images but also weakening the building structure. In the quiet of early morning, it was most atmospheric. Briefly visiting Pre Rup and Ta Som, we then arrived at Preah Khan. One of the virtues of "Ancient Angkor" was that it gave detailed descriptions of what ... read more

Phnom Penh must rank as one of the least appealing capital cities in Asia. Arriving there after a 7 hour journey on a non-A/C bus, including a lunch stop inconveniently scheduled 30 minutes earlier during which we'd been constantly assailed by hawkers, I received the most tout hassle I've received since India. We had to force our way off the bus and away from the bus station before we could escape from hotel brochures being thrust in our faces. My mood was not improved by continual hassle by tuk tuk and moto drivers as we plodded around, and our first 3 choices of guesthouse all proved to be full. The city is also pedestrian-unfriendly, with pavements (when they exist) an obstacle course of parked vehicles, trees, street vendors, and mysterious holes, and traffic lights appearing to ... read more