Stig

B the first- Battambang. This is the second largest city in Cambodia and, except the motorbike chaos around the central market, it's a pretty chilled out town. I took the boat from Siem Reap to there (well, slightly skanky village south of Siem Reap to there) and was amazed (even after Kampot) how much of the land was swallowed up by water: we were floating through waterways so narrow that they were obviously nonexistent during the dry season. Apparently during the dry season the boat only goes part of the way and you have to do the rest by bus, so I guess there ares ome advantages to coming here right now. It was a good trip, sitting on the roof of a boat, trying not to get sunburn, seeing the riverine people of rural Cambodia ... read more

Now reporting from Siem Reap, the closest town to some old temples you might know about. If you don't know about them, read on. From Phnom Penh I tried to go into the south of Cambodia to Kampot, which I'd been told was a nice town and a good place for exploring the abandoned and supposedly atmospheric French hill station at Bokor. Unfortunately, this is the rainy season and as the long, wet (I had to get out of the bus and walk across a bridge to the other bus in the rain and mud. Strangely, it started raining just as everyone got off and stopped as soon as we got on again. Odd, but that's life out here.) and bumpy ride through flooded fields and villages hinted, not much was going to be happening in ... read more

I'm in Cambodia and I like it! It's a pretty cool and interesting place. Looking back though, Savannakhet in Laos turned out to be a nice, non-touristy place to spend a day and included a good, though incredibly small dinosaur museum with an enthusiastic curator which brought me right back to my childhood fascination with these bones that people dig out of the ground. It included a portion of the skeleton of a dinosaur species only so far found in Laos arranged into a life sized model. Otherwise I just strolled around sampling the Laoness/Frenchness of it all. After that I stopped at the rather dull Pakse overnight and then went to Si Phan Don (literally Four Thousand Islands since this is where the Mekong River fans out into lots of small rivers and islands), or ... read more

So lazy I don't even bother to update my journal. Aah. In Luang Prabang, the seductive town where I left you I spent most of my time hanging around in cafes and sampling the excellent coffee, baguettes and Lao food on offer, reading books and chatting with whoever happened to be around. It was nice. I also paid a visit to the waterfalls/swimming lagoons outside town and got wet and cool in a forest setting just before the hordes came in the afternoon. While exploring these waterfalls I noticed that young local monks seem to be able to gain acces to pretty much anywhere: sure footed boys in orange robes appear at the most precarious and slippy outcrops and waterfalls while foreigners slide down mud and get hot and sweaty to get to safer vantage points. ... read more

Well, I'm out of Vietnam now. It took a cramped bus journey, a spectacular but extremely painful motorbike ride over the mountains, a breakdown on said motorbike and frantically pouring water over the red hot exhaust pipe, serial overcharging ("Oh, but your bag is so large! We simply must almost double your ticket price!" Balls, frankly, but that's the sort of stuff you have to put up with.), running out of Dong (In fact I was 1500 short and had to make it up with a dollar), sleeping on the floor of a stilt house, taking a relaxing stroll through the rice paddies and all the other stuff associated with getting out of Vietnam. At the end of it the Vietnamese border guards signed me out, had a poke around in my bag and then I ... read more

Wow. It has been a while since I wrote on this thing hasn't it? I guess now is the time to give you an update before I venture into the back end of Laos and kiss goodbye to decent internet connections for a while. What have I done in Hanoi then? Mostly attempt to get out of Hanoi. The city itself is nice enough, with narrow winding streets and a lot of character, but unfortunately me and most of the people I've met have found its reputation for hostility and greed (a reputation I didn't even know about before coming to Vietnam) to be mostly justified. I've met some very nice and helpful people in Hanoi but the prevailing attitude isn't a very welcoming one and too many of its citizens seem to resort to deception ... read more

I got out of Hoi An. And into Hue! This used to serve as the capital of Vietnam during the days when it ruled by Nguyen dynasty emporors and contains a large citadel and several royal tombs. It turned out these were a bit of a dissapointment and probably only worthwhile if you were really into Vietnamese imperial history. The tomb I went to (belonging to Tu Duc) had some quite nice buildings (although the admission fee was extortionate considering what was there. It turned out to be the emporor's private palace during his life as well as containing the tombs of his Empress and adopted son. It would have been a lot better if it had given you more information about the history rather than signs saying 'Mandarin Guardhouse' or 'This was where the emporor ... read more

I hate Hoi An. I go out to check my emails and I buy 2 suits, 2 shirts, an overcoat and 4 pairs of shoes, all personally fitted. Apparently this a completely normal reaction to entering this lovely ancient town that happens to also be a notorious frenzy of cheap tailoring- luckily my little spree comes to only 180 pounds though the most highly skilled sales people in the world wait around every corner to part me from even more. Expect a package home. I do however adore Vietnam even more after the other recent testament to my monetary incontinence- a guided motorcycle trip over the central highlands of Vietnam from Dalat to Hoi An. This was a mere 150 pounds and it rates as one of the finest experiences of my entire trip. No crowds, ... read more

Ah Dalat! The cool climate, lack of hawkers and relaxed atmosphere in this hill town suit me nicely after the intense humidity and annoying shouts of Saigon. I spent my last day there sending out postcards and taking a walk. And thus I went north to Dalat. The main insustries in Dalat and flowers, art, cheesy tourism (fake Eiffel tower anyone?) and coffee. Most tourists here are middle class Saigonese and western backpackers are comparatively thin on the ground. Last night I went into a cheap local restaurant and, after getting a little absorbed in my food, looked up and found that I'd gathered a large audience of small children. Whether they were staring at my skin tone, bizzare table manners was amystery, though it was probably a mix of both. I grinned and waved and ... read more

Saigon. Shit. I'm still in Saigon... Sorry. Anyway, it's all been a bit of culture shock for me. This place is very full on, very hot, very humid and extremely hard to navigate and by the end of my first full day I wanted to curl up in my room and avoid all of it. I've been told by some people that I've met that this is actually a 'good warm up town'. I really do need some warming up since I've made loads of mistakes overpaying for my room, rides around town and some goods, navigation, language barriers etc. However, I'm getting used to it and it's loads more fun and interesting than my other travel so far and I'mn starting to gain a large measure of affection for Saigon. I still despise haggling though. ... read more