Fried Tarantula's and Crickets!

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Hello people!
Been a few weeks again! I'm writing this on my pod aswell so use your imagination as it has that auto correct thing and makes up words sometimes!! At the moment we're in Siem Reap, Cambodia. We spent a little longer in Vietnam then we planned as we really fell in love with the place, it's awesome and I would def recommend going if you ever get the chance, it's beautiful, friendly and CHEAP! We started in Hanoi, the capital, which I didn't really enjoy, we stayed in the old town and it's crazy hectic with mopeds everywhere, literally everywhere! You have to walk in the traffic which is hot and scary as they park the bikes on the frigging pavement! That makes no sense to me and pissed me off daily! We went to an old prison there, which kept anti communist prisoners, who weren't treated that great and also POW, apparently the Americans were treated wonderfully, but you never know what lies are behind the propaganda! We also went to Halong Bay from there on a 2 night 3 day trip. First night was on the boat, second night on a tiny tiny Island! This place is frustrating because it is so so beautiful, but the vietnamese haven't caught on to the fact that they need to look after the waters etc! They just dump the rubbish in the bay, so when your sailing along in blue waters and you see plastic bags, wrappers and crap in the water, it takes the wowness away! I don't think it's the tourists either, we saw the staff empty bins in the water, and when we were on the island there was a plank of wood with a 4inch rusty nail sticking out of it! (I know because it almost ended up in the bottom of my foot!!) It was quite cool, don't get me wrong, we slept under bamboo huts, just a roof, a mossi net and a thin mattress! I did sleep with my torch in my hand as every noise was that smoke thing from LOST coming to get me! After Halong bay we caught a sleeper bus, not a train, a sleeper train is pure luxury, a sleeper bus is a bus, that you can't sleep on! The roads over here aren't, smooth shall we say, so the whole journey was like trying to sleep in a bumper car, same comfort level, same amount of space!! We arrived in Hue, very dirty, grumpy and tired at about 8am. Once we arrived at the hostel and checked in, again to a dorm room with a double bed, we realised we were sharing with about 10 others, who had just woken up and we were sharing 1 shower! So we moved to a much smaller dorm, no double bed, but we've been travelling long enough not to care any more! Single beds will do just nicely, cooler and more room! Anyway.....Hue is gorgeous! Right on a river and near a beach, no mopeds, well, maybe a handful, I can work with that! This was also the first place I got a pedicure and foot rub and Liam got a full body massage, very cheaply! They even undercharged us by mistake, we felt bad and went back, but with the language barrier, they tried giving us money back! We were good though, and paid them what we owed them, plus a tip! They were so happy when they realised what just happened! Not much to do in Hue, we had a few drinks with 2 guys we met in the bus who were traveling from London bridge to Sydney bridge in 50 days for charity! Very cool! Also played pool, or attempted too, I suck at it, with the locals and were invited to dinner at Giang's restaurant. She is 27, teacher by day and owns the restaurant so works there in the evening, we ate there 2 nights in a row and she introduced us to some awesome vietnamease food! We also did a tour of the DMZ whilst we were there, which was the De-militarised zone during the war. It was quite interesting, went to a well known air base which was the USA's and was taken over by the north. Went to some tunnels, the rockpile and saw a lot of napalm burnt places which was weird and not very nice as trees and things still won't grown wherever it landed, 30 years later, scary to think what chemicles were in there and the unimagional pain inflicted on the people it landed on - i've just finished reading 'The Girl in The Picture'- a must read. She was 7 when she was burned by napalm, the americans bombed themselves (again) and it landed on her village, south Vietnam!

After Hue we took a 4 hour bus ride to Hoi An, which had some great views, but was very hot n stuffy! Hoi An is also an amazing place, on the beach and along a river, old streets and again, very little traffic! Stayed in a beautiful hotel with a pool, so cheap here, they don't have many hostels! They have about 400 silk shops here, so of course we had some clothes made, Liam had 2 suits and I had 2 dresses made! Very exciting and they look amazing! We also had loads of extra stuff so decided to send some things home to give our backs a break! Didn't cost as much as we expected, because we're tight and sent it by boat, only takes 3 months apparently, and they came to the hotel to save us going to the post office! We rented bikes one day and cycled down to the beach, only about a 10min flat ride, which in England would have been lovely, but in this stupidly hot temperature - it was interesting! Beach was clean and water was clear and blue! Lovely jubley! Lots of chilling out here as it's a chilled out kinda place, we weren't complaining!

After Hoi An, we caught another sleeper bus of evilness down to Nha Trang. The bus was a lot better, at the back of the bus there are 5 beds in a room and the sit up aswell, so a little comfier, however, Liam's didn't have an 'end' as it was the bed you used to climb up, so he spent the entire night grabbing onto the top handle so he didnt go flying down the bus. I acted like mum and nagged him into putting his seat belt on, not like the cool kids, then we realised the belt was there, but not the plugging in bit! Another restless night! When we arrived at the hostel at 7ish, they told us we couldn't check in until mid-day! GRRR so we settled on the stupidlt small sofa and watched a crap film, this took us to about 9am....so we went out for a wander and to find another place, as they only had one night any way (a blessing in disguise as it was a hole!) We happened to walk past a huge ice-cream place so we went in and had pancakes and sherbet flavoured ice cream for breakfast, why not eh! Nha Trang is ok, but its very very touristy, so kinda like Blackpool or Newquay, but with Viatnamease, and really hot! The place was just full of English cafes and bars offering all day breakfasts, we didn't really enjoy it here, its ok, but nothing to write home about, except I am writing about it now, but just shhh and don't go there 😊 There was one good thing however, which was the mud baths! Liam was a little unsure, but we still went! We paid a little extra for a private bath as sharing with a Vietnamease family of 15 wasn't overly appealing, esp as you could only fit about 6 in anyway! So its all set outsife the city up a big hill, they run the mud bath like you do at home, just out of a tap! They told us to get in when it was full, but everything in me was saying not to get into this tub of what I can only describe as what a nappy would look like aftera curry! I stepped in and felt it oozing between my toes and feet, very weirdly warm as well, but once we were in and settled, it was quite relaxing! After 20mins, your meant to sit in the sun to let it bake, but we went later afternoon and it was just cold and awkward! Then you move to this tiny allyway thing that sprays water from both sides, powerfully to remove all the mud. Now this is fine if your Liams height, relaxing maybe, but when you are 5ft and you have salf water being sprayed in your face, not so relaxing! Then when i could see again you go to a really hot mineral bath which after about 10mins we had to get out of as it was too hot! We both looked a little flushed! Then you are free to use the pools for the rest of the afternoon, however, we both kept getting a strong whiff of urine so after a little swim and avoiding any water getting in our mouths, we dried off and headed home!

After Nha Trang it was time to move on to Ho Chi Minh City, or HCMC or Saigon. Everyone still refers to it as Saigon, however, anything that is offical calls it HCMC after Uncle Ho as the locals (nothern) refer to him. For anyone that isn't a history geek, Ho Chi Minh was the leader of the north during the war. His photo is everywhere here, so you really learn a lot about him in Vietnam! The first night here it was raining asian style, we're just entering the rainy season, and when it rains, god dam does it pour down! The hotel didn;t have a restaurant or anything, and being to scared to venture into the rain, the receptionist mentioned that KFC deliver, if we were interested...Liam's face lit up as he already had the menu in his head ready to order. Unfortunatly with the language barrier forever in our way, we didn't get what we ordered, but it was still chicken and a pepsi, so it did the trick!

Next day was museum day, and a little emotional 😞 First of all we went to the reunification palace - that was interesting and still had (replica's) of the tanks that invaded in 1975 which signified that the north had won. Then we went to the war museum...bleugh, I felt sick after! Some of the stuff we learnt about was horrible and the pictures don't hide anything, they have it split into different sections, the part I found the hardest I think was the Agent Orange section, which showed what the chemicals did to not only the locals, but the Americans that worked with it and all the younger generations. Children who' parents had been in an effected area's or unknowingly drinking contaminated water or eating fish or vegetables. The stuff it does to the human body could not be imagined, you wouldn;t see it in a horror film. Shame on the scientists who invented this stuff...SHAME ON YOU! Rant over! We did go and watch Kung Fu Panda in the evening so I didn't spend the night crying at the shitness of the human race!

Next day was a tour of the Chu Chi tunnels, about an hour n half out of HCMC, the tour guide was an ex southen soldier, which gave an interesting perspective on it all! Liam went down one of the tunnels, you couldn't have paid me, as I openly admit to being scared of the dark! The whole to get down was just a bit bigger then an A4 piece of paper, Liam just about got down there, then you have to crawl through the dirt, in the pitch black till you see light, after fighting with a bat, he eventually came back up the otherside, covered in mud and bat poop! We also saw the traps that the VC used, and now I can see where they got the ideas for the SAW movies! They were so inventive, they basically adapted the animal traps they used for farming, but for humans...wrong! Liam also got to shoot an AK47 - I will double check that with him as I am a girl and have no idea - I went with him to film it but the film jumps everytime he shoots, they're a little loud!

Well after a few days in HCMC we decided that as our visa's were almost up for Vietnam, we should really move on to Cambodia, so we booked our coach and left the next day!
The border crossing was quite funny, the coach driver collects your passports, then you get off the bus and walk through a customs smaller then Plymouth airport, watch the bus drive to the otherside, then the security guys attempt to shout out your English name, give you back your pass port then walk through. Get back on the bus drive about a meter down the road, get off the bus, walk through the Cambodian side, where they are a lot funnier! They have to check your health, and as we were having our passport checked, without explaination the shine a red lazor on your forehead, they think its histerical to watch you panic, then they explain they are taking your temperature! HILARIOUS! With this they give you a little letter to staple in your passport, basically saying that any foreigners entering Cambodia are probably going to get ill so show this to the dr when it happens! Great!

We arrived in Pnom Penh and were literally jumped on by tuk tuk drivers, we bargained about $3 to our hotel, once we arrived we went out for a few drinks with an irish couple we met on the bus. The first pub was The Zeplin Bar, playing very good music with really cheap beer and cocktails! Then it was onto a club...I say club, picture the scene, 'banging music' trance or dance or whatever the hell it is, lonely western men and young asian girls wearing very little! We stayed for a few then went home as we were a little bit tipsy, luckily the hotel was really close, cue the drunken munchies, and 2 chicken burgers on room service! Mine was tasty, Liam decided to leave his till the morning as he had to make a call to the big white telephone! So he spent his birthday in bed hungover! I think he managed to get up at one point to get some dinner, then it was back to the room! On the Sunday we went to the Killing Fields and the Genocide Museum....again...this had me questioning humen beings. We paid a few extra $ for a tour of the museum, and the lady that showed us around, had survived. With her parents brother and sister they were marched out of the city to the rice fields, she said they walked for a week with noe food and little water. Once they arrived, the KR soldiers killed her father and brother, for no real reason. Typically the KR would then kill the entire family to prevent any revenge in the future, but luckily she escaped into Vietnam during one of the evenings with her mother and sister, they came back in '79 when Vietnam invaded. I just wanted to hug her, I felt so badm you could still feel the pain as she was telling us her story. You could also feel her anger at the government as she explained that many of the KR soldiers are known to the government, but they won't punish them as they were young when it all happened, and were brainwashed by the KR. Some of the higher ranking soldiers are also known, some still in government and some awaiting trial, still. She said she did not want to discuss politics ever as it made her so angry, I sense a lot of this injustice with the Cambodian people.

Heavy stuff eh! Don't even get me started on the killing fields, google it or read a book, I think the west is completly blind to what happened here, not that long ago!

Anyway, after Phnom we moved on to Siem Reap, but on the way here I caught Aids or something, maybe just a cold, who knows! But I spent the first few days in bed, watching HBO and having Liam run around after me like the amazing boyfriend he is!

Once better we headed into the old market and had a look around, its quite western here, lots of expats and mostly just little shops and cafes here, alot of the cafes and shops are involved with helping the poor or children who have lost there parents, or families can't afford for them not to be out begging and in school. We also went to the temples which is what most people do when they come here! They are amazing, some of them I think are where they filmed Tomb Raider, and are millions of years old, very intersting! Today we went to the floating village, and spend more money then we could have expected! The ticket each was $20 each for an hour n half boat trip, then they ask you to buy food or water for the orphans who's parents have dies out fishing, can't really say no tho that can you (Liam wanted too) then at the end the boat driver and his friend who speaks very good english ask for a tip! Cheeky! Any way, it was quite cool to see the villiage, and the school etc. They stop you at a little restaurant where they have a catfish farm and a crocadile farm - it was horriable!! They keep about 20 crocs, quite big as well in this small box thing which you walk over, its not overly safe, one lose nail and you'd be dinner! You can see the crocs through the planks of wood which really had my hear going, i'll get the pics up on FB! They also had some pythons in what I would call a washing basket, I went to take a photo, and one of them came over grabbing it out the tub, I ran to the other end shouting no no no! He laughed and put it back! Also had the privellege of seeing some croc skin hung up to dry, having clearly just been skinned, i gues for meat etc! Also on the way there, the van in front ran over a dog which i watched in slow motion, yes I screamed and panicked and put my fingers in my ears! He carried on driving and a few locals came out to prod it, our tuk tuk driver drover around it, dogs are wild out here so I think I was the only one who was upset, I hope they put it out of his misery, poor thing!

So not a good day for animals today!

Well its dinner time and Liam is getting Hangry (angry when your hungry!) And we need an early night as its a 7.30am coach to Bangkok tomorrow!

Speak to y'all soon, take care of yourselves and be good!

Love love love love

Dani n Liam

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