We left Phnom Penh and travelled west to the city of Siem Reap. In the past Siem Reap was a sleepy little town that no one rarely cared to much about then suddenly one day the world woke up realised the largest religious building in the world was 14 kilometres away and now Siem Reap attracts over four million visitors a year. The reason all these people come to Siem Reap is to visit the temples of Angkor and specifically Angkor Wat which is the largest religious building in the world and was built in the 12th century by the Khmer [View Full Entry]

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The first thing that you notice when you enter into Cambodia is the “Khmer smile”. Everyone is very friendly and smiles all the time. It immediately puts you in a good mood! It also makes you wonder how such a friendly nation could have had such a violent past. To write about the country and to read about how it is now you need to understand some of the countries history. In Ancient times Cambodians where fierce warriors and this lead to the expansion the Khmer empire the centre of which was Angkor Wat. Gradually the Khmer empire crumbled and the [View Full Entry]

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Saigon is the former capital of Vietnam and the city where the French based their colonial activities when the colonised Vietnam. When Vietnam was split into North and South it is where the Americans and their lackeys (if you believe propaganda) were based. After the North took the South they renamed the Ho Chi Min City after the former North Vietnamese leader. However the name never really caught on and anyone who isn't in the communist party still calls it Saigon. We had been told that Saigon was crazy and chaotic and that we would be in for a big [View Full Entry]

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Nha Trang, Mui Ne and Dalat Nha Trang and Mui Ne is the beach section of our time spent in Vietnam which was great for aiding Peters recovery from Giardia. A lot of our time in Nha Trang was spent inside because it was raining but luckily we had perfect weather whilst we were in Mui Ne. Not much can be said about what we did; it involved a lot of swimming, sitting under a palm tree and reading. Dalat is located in the highlands of Vietnam which meant a dramatic change in the temperature and the landscape. Lonely planet described [View Full Entry]

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Hue and Hoi An What a horrible experience a night bus in Vietnam is! It is not that the chairs are to short or that the bus is incredibly cold that keeps you awake all night. Its the fact that Swiss cheese has less potholes than the average Vietnamese highway (I use the word Highway in the loose sense of the word), combined with the crazy driving skills of our bus driver and everyone else on the road. Its hard to sleep when you get thrown off your seat every ten minutes! So after 13 hours of this we arrived in [View Full Entry]

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Hanoi and Halong Bay What a shock to the system Hanoi is. This is a capital city like no other that I have ever seen; it is crazy chaotic in a city where it is every person for themselves. The main thing that you notice in Hanoi is motorbikes, motorbikes and motorbikes! We found that the limitations that many people have about a motorbike and family life have been overcome here. The idea that a big car is necessary for a family because you need to be able to transport people and goods around is a misconception that has been proven [View Full Entry]

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Vang Vieng and Vientiane We had heard about Vang Vieng back in Australia as this place where you can sit in a tube and go down a river whilst people give you drinks. It has definitely become an essential stopping point along the backpackers route through Laos. We were excited to get there all we had to do was get from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng. We decided to book an early bus from Luang Prabang because we wanted to arrive into Vang Vieng at a normal time so that our search for accommodation will be a little easier. The trip [View Full Entry]

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It is approximately 200km from Luang Nam That to Luang Prabang; in Laos this means 11 hours in a rickety death bus. Eventually though after around 4 near misses (that I saw), the roof leaking during a storm and a crazy girl sitting in front of us; we made it to Luang Prabang. The town of Luang Prabang is a UNESCO world heritage site which for us originally meant that our bus was not able to get into the city centre and we had to chuck our bags onto the back of a tuk tuk and ride into town. The tuk [View Full Entry]

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After a few non eventful stops on the way to the border we have now left Thailand and entered into Laos. Our first night in Laos was spent in a small border town by the Mekong river where we immediately felt an overwhelming desire to leave. Eventually we reached our destination of Luang Nam Tha. We had heard that Luang Nam Tha offered a lot of good trekking and kayaking tours so we were keen to give it a go. We at first investigated kayaking tours but found out that they were booked out by a private group for the next [View Full Entry]

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In Thai Chang means elephant which was largely appropriate for our time spent here. Chang Mai is largely known for its trekking and elephants. At first we had thought that we would organise a trek from Chang Mai but decided against it when we realised how expensive and boring they looked. We did some further research and now feel that Laos is our best option for trekking in this region. We decided to spend our time in Chang Mai relaxing, playing with elephants and learning to cook Thai food. Triona also tried to convince Peter to take a massage course but [View Full Entry]

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