"One of these temples—a rival to that of Solomon, and erected by some ancient Michelangelo—might take an honourable place beside our most beautiful buildings. It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome, and presents a sad contrast to the state of barbarism in which the nation is now plunged." By Henry Mouhot, a French explorer who visited Angkor in the year of 1858 - 60 The temples of the Angkor area number over one thousand, ranging in scale from nondescript piles of brick rubble scattered through rice fields to the magnificent Angkor Wat, said to be the world's largest single religious monument. Angkor Wat (or Angkor Vat) is a temple complex at Angkor, Cambodia, built for the king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city. ... read more

The Mekong Delta (Nine Dragon river delta) is this big region the end of Vietnam abut doesn’t always get as many visitors as the rest of the country because it I below Saigon and if you are going north you have to backtrack. Also it isn’t a must-see on the tourist trail. AJ and I decided to do a tour of the Mekong Delta before heading off to Cambodia. I’m not sure how we came to be planning things together, I guess we just hung out together and sort of bonded a bit with Mike and Eddy. In fact, when you share a room with someone for a good few days as well as have a few good dinners and you haven’t gotten on each others nerves yet - I think you’re onto a god thing. ... read more

Hiya, hope you’re all enjoying the Summer weather back in Blighty, it’s gradually getting more and more humid over here, and so the sweat is literally dripping off me. Anyway, I’ve been in the Central Highlands, now I’m further south… Dalat When I arrived in Dalat it was cool, quite literally! All around me were local Vietnamese wearing jackets and coats and truth be told, it was a bit on the cool side, but after months of hot and humid weather, it was refreshing. This place is hyped as some kind of French colonial Alpine resort but it’s not really. It’s true there are lots of villas, if you can see them hidden between the ugly Chinese built hotels. It’s also definitely hilly and there are definite mountains surrounding the town. I guess Dalat is of ... read more

Open tour bus versus local bus So I was ready to leave Hue, but instead of doing the same route everyone else seemed to be doing, that of the trip south to Na Trang, I decided to go to the Central Highlands. The hotel receptionist in Hue just couldn’t understand this and asked “why you not go to Nah Trang?” even saying that the Central Highlands were not nice! They are so obsessed with getting us foreign tourists on the open tour bus because they all get a commission for each hotel - that getting a “local” bus instead is not an option. Frustratingly, not one travel agency I visited was able to find out when buses ran from the local bus station. So I just had to get up early and make my way to ... read more

To DMZ or not to DMZ "Whatever you do don't do the tour of the DMZ, man - it's not worth it. You'll just be stuck on a badly air-conditioned bus for hours on end." So said the jovial Canadian guy I met on the island of Koh Phi Phi in Thailand. I didn't tell him that there no was way I was going to miss the DMZ - regardless of how tedious a bus journey. I'd studied the Vietnam War at university and it was the scene of some of the fiercest fighting of the entire war - I wanted to see it. War, war and more war If you're like me Vietnam is not just a 'country' but a war. Somewhere in the recent past twenty five years ago the US of A was ... read more