After 5 fabulous days in Siem Reap it was time to move on. We were headed towards Laos border but we really wanted to avoid going back to Phnom Penh. In this case we decided on taking a rather long journey (more than 10h and a change of buses) to Kratiein the north-east of Cambodia. So far we have been really enjoying this country a lot (with an exception of few minor incidents with Tuk-Tuk drivers) and judging by what we had read about Kratie, we were more than confident that our next destination would be equally good or even better. We arrived in town just in time for a beautiful sunset over Mekong. Kratie is a very small town so our walk from a bus stop to a hotel took us maybe 2 min. We ... read more

Sihanoukville located only a few hours away from Kampot seems like a different world. We went from quiet and cosy to busy and very touristy. Even though we arrived just before noon all the beaches were already fully occupied by holiday makers and travellers. To our surprise this place still looked quite nice considering that there are only local bars and restaurants (Serendipity and Occheuteal Beach side). We opted for Otres beach a little bit further away from the party epicentre but still walking distance to it all. We walked for 30 minutes or so and we could not find any decent place to stay. There are cheap hostels and guesthouses for 3$-5$ per night but we met people who told us how dirty they were and that there were bedbugs in their rooms. We like ... read more

We still had a very exciting time in Vietnam ahead of us – tour around the Mekong Delta. However first, we had to do a stop-over in HCMC to decide where and how we visit the delta. Unfortunately because of the unplanned stop in Phong Nha National Park and longer than anticipated stay in Hoi Anwe only had 5 days left on our visa. We gave it a lot of thinking and research and decided to opt for an organised 3 day tour combined with Mekong border crossing to Cambodia. Not the ideal solution but we did not have enough time to do it ourselves. Looking at the bright side of it we found an agency with great itinerary and the cost of the trip came to a bargain 25$/day per two of us. There is ... read more

It took us 4h to get to Ninh Binh. It is not a particularly pretty place but we only really came there to visit near by Tam Coc village known as 'Halong Bay of Rice paddies'. This town is also well known for its great hotels and we can actually confirm that this is the case. We stayed in Queen Mini Hotel where for 6$ you get big, modern, clean room and really inexpensive food in their downstairs restaurant. Portions were quite nice as well as since we crossed to Vietnam we felt like we were constantly hungry. Maybe it had something to do with huge portions of food served in China and we just got used to the amounts we consumed. I do understand that Vietnamese people are rather on the small side but we ... read more

The way to Heikou - border town with Vietnam was quite scenic and we really loved the views surrounding the Red River. There were not many people going this direction so we were put in a small minivan rather than a bus but we were not alone on this journey. We shared this ride with a Scottish couple – Lorraine and Kevin who happened to go exactly in the same direction as us in SE Asia. The way we met was quite strange (as Kevin says), it was in a dark and empty Sunny Guesthouse very early in the morning and it went a little bit like that: Kev: Hey Guys, where are you going? Us: Hey, we are going to Heikou, how about you? Kev: Us too and then to Vietnam. What time is your ... read more