Who Wants to be a Millionaire?! (In Vietnam)

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Yes, that's right. We're millionaires!
It's almost 29,000 Vietnamese Dong to the pound so it's not too hard.
Alex has already made all the 'Dong' jokes I ever care to hear..... -__-

The bus from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City (otherwise known as Saigon) was very long but thankfully for the most part we were spared the Cambodian music! I must say I loved everything about the country except that... Haha.

Saigon is CRAZY. There are 9 million citizens and 6 million motorbikes. We took a video of us crossing the road... an event that's enough to satisfy any thrillseeker! It's absolutely insane the amount of motorbikes that are here. Zebra crossings do not mean zebra crossings, what you have to do is walk slowly and steadily into oncoming traffic and hope they'll go round you... We have already lost two of our group... (joke)
I likened it to being a pebble in a raging torrent! (very zen analogy I thought)

It's cool to know that Rick Stein is following our footsteps (or us in his!). Was he cooking a kind of catfish thing? That seemed to be the fish of choice in Cambodia although I never did try it, I almost did but Alex scared me into thinking I would die of food poisoning. haha.

The killing fields, tuol seng (?) and teaching English for an hour:

On our last day of Phnom Pehn we actually did quite a lot - it was a very harrowing day as we visited both S-21 (the former school turned into a torture camp by the Khmer Rouge) and the Killing Fields, the masses of shallow graves where the victims were dumped. S-21 was incredibly moving and brought tears to my eyes as we walked past rows and rows of photographs the khmer rouge documented of their victims, all with the same haunted expression. The worst ones were of the young children and parents with babies... It was terribly sad. There were even bloodstains on the floor still.
It really brought to light how recent these events are and how the scars are still raw for many people, our guide Kakada never knew his grandparents as they were killed in the civil war.

The killing fields were equally awful, they have erected a stupa full of the victim's skulls which is sad as when you look in you can see the violent ways some of the victims were killed. When you walk around the shallow pits that are the graves you see bits of clothing half-buried in the earth you're walking over, and in some parts human bones are also visible on the surface. It's shocking but an effective reminder I think of history that should never be repeated. It's strange that the place is so peaceful now, you can hear children playing and goats grazing which is comforting and gives some hope for the future of that stunningly beautiful country.

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Alex: In other news, I have been finding the Vietnamese currency very amusing (The Dong). I have come up with such inuendos as: "Look at my Dong", "Can you get your Dong out" and my personal favourite, "Can you hold my Dong". I hope you all find it as amusing as I did.

Whilst in Cambodia Kelly and I volunteered to help teach some of Kakada's school kids English. I don't think they understood a word of what we were saying but they found Kelly's stick drawing of Neo (her cat) amusing and her dance at the end was equally hysterical. I personally don't think they understood my lesson on money and capital markets but who does?

There was another equally painful bus ride in which I was close to throwing myself out of a window on the way to Vietnam but we are here and I have had my first taste of being a millionaire...it feels gooodd.

All our love

P.S. We can't upload any photos on this computer for some reason but we will asap

K&A

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Comments

[Dad]

Top Gear
I thought the Killing Fields would be haunting. I am reading a book from WW2 about the Japanese - very similar behaviour when it came to the respect of otherhumans. The politics were obviously very different though. Remember the top gear programme with the motor bike (more moped than bike) trip across Vietnam? Just like your description. Rick Stein was doing mainly shrimps - lots of shrimps. But talking of catfish a 12 year old English girl on holiday in I think Spain, has hooked a world record 165lb (or there abouts) catfish from a river. It was longer than she was tall and her Dad had to come to her rescue to stop her being pulled in the river! All for now - look after the Dong xxx