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Published: October 17th 2009
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Freedom
On the boat being rowed out of the hotel reception and down the street in Hoi An Made it to Ho Chi Minh city, upset some local who told us to go to hell when tryin to find a room. Was highly entertaining when Russ said we would see her there. Bloody ppl after comission for helping you find a room. Looked around the city not much there, yet more wats (yes Kim they do all look the same), a palace, church called Notre Dam....., old art deco post office. Lots of ppl having weddin pics done, Russ found his vietnamese bride, she just didnt know it- see photo. Got bus to China town, not much there either, saw 2 more wats, there were fish swimming on their sides as not enough water in their pond. Ppl giving offerings to fertility statue, we knew what they would be up to later....eating their blessed fruit of course!
Next day went to Cu Chi tunnels and some random Cue Dae temple with a guide called Slim Jim. He was ex army and discribed himself as eats like a bird, drinks like a fish and smokes like a chimney...nice. Temple was a new religion mixture of all. All dressed in white cloaks, looked rather like the Klu Klux clan without the
Please come back for us
View from the hotels balcony of other ppl rowing to safelty, Hoi An hats. They all sat on the floor of their temple cross legged for the service listening to prays and when they banged the drum they bowed their heads. Very easy, Carinas kind of religion, apart from the cult part. The tunnels were wet, as the heavens opened on the way there and poured down. The paths turned in to rivers and once again we had to wade thru to see the boobie traps to chop of ur leg, hit you in the head and naughtly bits-ouch. Went in to tunnels and had to crouch down to get thru, managed to lose the rest of the tour as we were the only ones who decided to crawl thru the last area back to the surface and the rain. There tunnels had been widened for fat Westerners and were made double the size - Vietnamese are tiny ppl. Found the group and were given Vienames tea - Dad A it in no way tastes like Saisburys red lable, and tapioca which was also not too tasty. Headed back, and guess what, the rain stopped.
We have now made it safely to Cambodia, if anyone says these border crossings are hard they
Plane from Top Gear Vietnam special
Opps its landed in the middle of a residential area, lucky there is a lake here, Hanoi are lying. Very easy to get in by land on a bus, didnt even need to take bags off the bus!! So of course we took our bomb in.....ok maybe not but we could have, along with drugs. The only slight problem we did have once leaving Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh was the bus broke down. The driver tried for 2 hrs to fix it, he was covered in sweat and grease, so we got on the next bus and left him there surrounded by rice fields (at least he wont go hungry😊
Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, was a suprise at how expensive everything is. Got money from ATM and it gave us American Dollars.....where did the Cambodian Riel go??!! So you pay in dollars and get change in Riel, so overall you pay more and they screw you with the change.
Saw the S-21 prison where during the war they took educated ppl and tortured them. It is left just as the Americans found it when they liberated it, with iron beds, bullet holes, barbed wire and blood stains. It was formerly a school, still has play equipment. They used the chinning bars
Hot Pot
In Da Lat we had hot pot which is when you cook your own food on the table and they keep giving us more fire cubes to keep it hot. Yummy to hang ppl by there feet and dunk their heads into water until they passed out, then they were dunked in fertiliser to bring them round before repeating the process. There are rooms full of pictures of ppl held there who were killed all looking at you as you walk around. They have wooden and brick cells with chains and holes for the electric wires to go thru for electocution.
Got a tuk tuk out to the Killing Field where there are plaques where building used to be and craters in the ground where the bodies were taken and dumped. Ppl were also killed here. There was a mass grave that once had 400 woman with their babies. One had 160 headless ppl in it. There was a big memorial in the centre that had 9 levels of skulls, bones and clothes they had found.
Got dropped off at the royal Palace where again it rained. Looks a lot like the palace in Bangkok, also the Silver Pagoda, which we were told had over 5000 sliver floor tiles. They were covered by carpet, and the ones you could see were sellotaped together!
Left Phnom Penh for Battambang on the
Vietnamese Bride
Russ went off shopping one evening to find his new bride...which one to choose as he views from behind bus. Battambang. (Yes Hollie we did call it Battamburg everytime and thought of you 😊 Not much there it rained all morning and did all the sites in about 4hrs in the afternoon. Wats, Governers Residnece, French architectured houses. Were going to do cooking course, changed the day, man got mad and ran us out of town.....was convenient as we were going that way to see a killing cave! Silly man, but an experience being chased by an angry man on motorbike while we were winding him up from the tuk tuk....😊 At the cave asked a Monk for directions and he ended up guiding us around as he was there to practice his English. Saw lots of bones as it was one of the places where they threw ppl headfirst into the cave during the war. Walked up hill to another Wat talking to another Monk who ran a local school. Drove to another temple but it we found it was in ruins once we climbed a bizillion (or Russ says 70) stairs. It once had 5 towers that looked like sweetcorn and of course we met Buddha hiding in one. Back into town and had a ride on
Bad elf
Bad elf sitting on the bed in the palace in Ho Chi Minh City, had to wear shoe covers the bamboo train. Its a local train that runs on a disused line. Train comes in 3 parts, wheels, base where u sit and engine. You just sit on the base and it shakes and rattles along while flies jump in your mouth and down ur bra! At the end or if you meet another train, the one with the most ppl/chickens etc has to get off. So they lift up the base, unclip the fan belt and take the engine out and lift the wheels of the line. Then put it all back and continue along the track.
Headed off to Siem Reap for Anchor wat where we have been for the last 5 days!!!! But shall write again soon as my fingers hurt.
Dad Lauson, we have booked a campervan so if u wanna join us you can but you might be on the roof rack
Dad A We are recieving Mum texts. Still same number and sim card, last text received mentioned visiting tony and madge and matt and gaby going on sun holiday to snowdon.
Thank you for the offer of Sean Long book, but hopefully you have not purchase a copy
Conference
VIP Carina giving important talk in the Palace, Ho Chi Minh City to many Japanese with cameras yet, as Im not a fan of his so dont buy it for me.
No local calls, last one from India, all others from mobile
Have you got your wii yet??!! Ru sure u can use it as u have trouble setting the VCR and clock on microwave....hehe
We think Patrick has sent u an address for xmas cards in Sydney as yet we dont have any addresses
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Hollie
non-member comment
Ummm
Ummm battenburg...ummm! I am loving Carina's oh so impressed face in the poncho picture! Have fun. Miss you xxx