It's hard to believe the glorious sunshine, ease of doing stuff, a pristine pool, more shops than you could shake a stick at, liquor at prices not seen by me since Manila in the mid-70's and outstanding, remarkable food. Our days have settled into a delightful mixture of doing interesting things, travelling from one place to another, walking and shopping, sussing out the locals, attacking the ATMs ( oh man, max withdrawall is $2m dong) around $120 NZ - painful), we have also developed an astounding talent for finding excellent restaurants and cheap grog. We flew from Sai Gon to Da Nang yesterday, and then drove via China Beach, an amazing marble carving centre and into Hoi An. This is a stunningly pretty town, with far less people and traffic. We are staying at yet another ... read more

Just a quick update. The journey back from Mui Ne was as uncomfortable as expected, but it was much more interesting as we could see things like the huge plantations of what we origininally thought were aloe, but turned out to be dragon fruit. There was rubber, tapioca and all sorts of plants we could not identify. The hotel in Sai Gon is a classic grand old lady which has been maintained to a very high standard, which of course is reflected in the prices. No $1 beers here. But very 1930s glam and luxurious. Needless to say we ate out, in a charming and much more reasonable place. Sai Gon is full of contradictions, like any major Asian city, beggars outside Gucci, and hawkers with all sorts of wares to sell. We were told the ... read more

Gorgeous resort called Saigon Mui Ne, some 200k north of Saigon on glorious beach with evrything a 4/5 star resort would have. Spent the morning strolling though local shops, or more like a fixed market. Big straw hats, cotton tops and beer were purchased before we settled down by the pool. The pundits are right; Vietnam is cheap shopping! It is aso infested with the ubiquitous Hon Da - (Honda 100cc motor bike) with seemingly one bike per two of the population. We've al seen the pictures of families and biazzare loads on such bikes; they are true. Our flght from Cambodia was mysteriously changed to a later time, so yesterday became never ending. We left our hotel at 10am to supposedly ensure we were in the front of the queue for a normally overbooked flight. ... read more

Yesterday at Ankor Wat it was seriously wet. Seriously tropical rain. Flooding, red mud, slippery and absolutely NO occupational and health safety officers or rules. Mrs Bumblefoot (aka me) did not fall down, for a change. Davie did, and was terrifically brave with the hydrogen peroxide cleanse. His knee will recover. Oh wow. Frank, our dear friend, did you really see all this before the trees and jungle were removed from these unreal temples? This is mind-boggling stuff. 100s of temples, both Hindu and Buddist were built in this region, then the king moved south, and the temples were forgotten for 600 and more years. The jungle moved in and took over. Apparently the land mines left from the 70's and early 80's mean that it is expected that many more of these temples will be ... read more

Given all the normal dramas of travel, we have arrived relatively unscathed. Ali's bag did not arrive at Siem Reap, and I brought the wrong connection for my camera/iPad photo transfer. Ali's loss meant we had to go shopping last night shortly after our arrival in this hot town. Roads are sort-of sealed and there are at least a million motor scooters and hundreds of scooter drawn tuk tuk carriages. We were taken in three of these tuk tuks to a departmental store. This is obviously where tourists are taken, with lots of jewellry, scarves, polo shirts and "louis vuitton" bags. Much laughter later Ali was outfitted, grog purchased, sundry hats and dear little tops for tiny children purchased. Then it was off again in the tuk tuk convoy - a couple of pairs of sandals ... read more