Return to the Mekong: The rainy season finally begins!!

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Hello everyone!

It seems to be ages since we last wrote the blog and we can't quite believe we've nearly finished in Southeast Asia now. When we finished the last blog we were about to get the overnight sleeper bus to Hue, in central Vietnam. Well, that was an experience - not the most comfotable of buses and we didn't get much sleep. It's called a sleeper bus, but you can't lie down properly and there's not quite enough room to stretch the legs out, so we were very glad to arrive! Hue was lovely - it's the old capital of Vietnam so houses the old royal tombs and the old citadel, which were very picturesque, with lots of amazing carvings. We also went to visit a pagoda and went for a cruise on the Perfume River - very relaxing! We especially loved the visit to the conical hat village, where they also make incense sticks. After a couple of days in Hue, we contined on the open tour bus to Hoi An, a tiny town has been left much as it was in the 19th century so is a UNESCO World Heritage Sight. It was very quaint, with colourful houses and shops and a lovely old market. We went to see a couple of the old houses and the History Museum, and also a Japanese bridge and a handicrafts workshop.

That evening we set off on our second overnight sleeper bus trip to Nha Trang (even less room this time, especially for Sa, who was on one of the back "beds" right next to an incredibly loud snorer, who didn't wake up no matter how much she prodded him, even when his phone rang!!!!). From there we got straight on a bus to Dalat in the Central Highlands, and arrived there about 3pm - a long journey! Dalat was also a French hill station, but is very different from Sapa, as it's a city and very developed. It's the Vietnamese honeymoon capital and so has loads of corny attractions like a lake with swan boats and Vietnamese "cowboys" who would pose for pictures! We were so shattered when we arrived that we just watched a film (making the most of our cable TV for $5!!) - Ever After!! That evening we explored around the touristy area, discovering a bakery and a nice restaurant for dinner. The next day we decided to do a walking tour of the town, taking in some of the attractions, starting with a pagoda, which unfortunately was closed. We then walked to the Crazy House, which is completely wacky as it looks like something out of an animated film with spider's webs, giant giraffes and turrets and towers galore! It's also a hotel, and the rooms have themes, like "bear room" with a giant bear in it and a "termite room" with a termite mound. From there we went to the Bao Dai Summer Palace, which was where the old king spent his holidays. It looked more like a large toilet block than a palace though - not very grand! Then we walked to the new cable car, getting lost along the way(!), which was also closed when we arrived! The Vietnamese seem to have very long lunch breaks, so we had to wait a couple of hours before they started again. The views should have been amazing, but it was very misty by the time we went on the cable car. We went down the mountain and saw the Pagoda Park, with loads of pagodas and temples, but unfortunately it started to rain very heavily while we were there and we headed back up the cable car and walked back to the hotel in the rain!! The next day we just had a wander around and watched some really good films on the telly!!

On the Friday we got the bus to Saigon, and when we arrived it was pouring down with extremely heavy rain - we got quite wet even with umbrellas and macs! We found the supermarket that night and stocked up on self catering things and then ate at one of the many restaurants lining the streets in the touristy area of Phan Ngu Lao. On Saturday we planned to visit the Reunification Palace, but unfortunately it was closed (again!!) for a big event, so we went to the War Remnants Museum, which was really interesting, with loads of exhibits about the war of independence with the French and the Vietnam War (or American War as they call it in Vietnam), including the war crimes and effects of Agent Orange. We then discovered an amazing shopping mall with a good food court where we had lunch, and also a cinema, where we went to see the new Indiana Jones film - it was brilliant!!

On the Sunday we set off on our Mekong Delta tour, taking a bus and then a boat to see a floating market and a little coconut candy factory, where they also make rice paper and pop-rice (just like popcorn but with rice!!). We spent a while cruising on the Mekong and then got the bus to Cantho. The guide tried to persuade us to spend the night on the boat, as this was what everyone else was doing, but it cost loads more so we decided to stay in the hotel. This meant we had a whole bus to ourselves on the way to Cantho - luxury!!! We then joined with another group to travel to Chau Doc near the border and stayed there that night. Dinner was included in the price but was really really boring and horrible!! The next day we were up early for another cruise to see another floating market and a fish farm (on a boat) - when we fed the fish they splashed all over the place and made everyone really wet! From there we went on to the Cham Village. The Cham people are a Muslim ethnic minority and their village was really interesting - we went to visit the mosque and the school where they teach Arabic - although the little kids tried to sell us loads of souvenirs and cakes. They were very sweet though!! After this we got the boat to the Cambodian border and then had to wait for ages to get our visas processed and get through the border! We kept going up the river until about 5pm and then got off in order to get the bus to Phnom Penh, but unfortunately we were told the bus had broken down so that involved waiting another hour, in the rain. We were so shattered by the time we finally arrived that we just took a room in the hotel where the bus stopped.

Phnom Penh is very different from how we imagined - it's much more developed, with shopping malls and high rise buildings on the main streets interspersed with less developed little streets with shacks and little shops. It also has a wider range of smells than the other cities we've been to in Southeast Asia - it's more like Nepal and India in that respect!! We spent one day in the capital city, visiting various attractions like the Royal Palace (very impressive), and lots of temples and markets. Sa went to visit the Killing Fields of Choueng Ek, which is where there are loads of mass graves from the Pol Pot regime - it was quite depressing but felt like it was at peace.

The next day we got the bus to Siem Reap, and then visited the Temples of Angkor on Thursday. Angkor was amazing - we were worried we wouldn't enjoy it as we'd seen so many temples, but we actually had a really good day! We hired a remorque-moto (motorbike with a carriage attached to the back) for the day and did a circuit of the temples. We visited Angkor Wat first, which was very impressive but not quite as large as we expected! There was lots to see, and we spent a few hours walking around seeing everything, especially the amazing carvings. We then went to the ancient city of Angkor Thom and saw Bayon, which is the main temple in the city. It was fantastic, and looked much more ruined than Angkor Wat. The walls are covered in huge faces looking down, and they're really quite creepy. We walked around a couple more temples in that area and then went on to Preah Khan, which is a ruined temple where there is ongoing restoration work - there are loads of piles of rubble everywhere and fewer tourists than everywhere else so it's very atmospheric! The final temple we visited was Ta Phrom, where they filmed Tomb Raider. It was also very ruined and there were tree roots intertwined with the ruins everywhere we looked - not sure how the buidings have stayed up this long! Some of the trees seemed to be sitting on top of the buildings! That evening we looked around the market and invested in new bags (our Indian ones are getting very tatty now!). Then we ate out at a stall (very good pad thai) and stocked up on bakery items at the Blue Pumpkin, where everything is half price after 7pm - brilliant!! We then had an Angkor Beer (the national beer) in the Geckosaurus bar on "Bar Street". Siem Reap is very touristy so has really good happy hour offers - a tankard of beer was only 75 cents!!! Bar Street was very lively and it was nice to be back in a western kind of atmosphere for a while!

Yesterday we took the marathon bus journey from Siem Reap to Bangkok, which we'd heard terrible things about. The bus started late so we were waiting around for an hour before we even got on, and then it turned out to be a rattletrap with no AC (we've got used to it in Thailand and Vietnam!) and the road was extremely bumpy and dusty. By the time we arrived at the border 6 hours later we were covered in dust and very brown in the face from all the dirt that had come in through the open windows!! We spent ages at the border getting through immigration and then waiting for the AC on the Thai bus to be fixed, and for some other people to arrive! All in all we got quite frustrated!! We finally left the Thai border town of Aranya Prathet at 5.15pm (around 3 hours after arriving!) - at least the bus and roads were much more luxurious than those in Cambodia though! The company told us we'd be in Bangkok for 10pm but to our surprise we arrived at 9.15pm! We checked into our old hotel, the Bella Bella Guesthouse, and then crashed for the night! It's strange being back in Bangkok, a lot of things have changed since we were here last and there are fewer people, but it's nice to have all the creature comforts like the fresh orange juice, cheap food stalls and shops!!

Tomorrow Phil is getting the train to Malaysia and Sa is sticking around Bangkok for a while, then we're meeting up for a final few days in Kuala Lumpur, when we'll write our final blog together!!

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