Pai, Thailand, 17-22 August 2012

We were picked up from Chiang Mai by a taxi (not really a taxi, a pickup with bench seats down the outside) along with an American who had been travelling for over a year, 3 English lads at uni on holiday, and 2 English sisters who were proper slappers, having been out all night but ominously, neither having stayed at their guesthouse that night, so had got in the taxi still in tiny dresses but looking dog rough with makeup smeared everywhere. This little group plus a quiet French bloke made up our little minibus ride up and around the mountains to the chilled out little town of Pai. Having arrived and given a map of the town and realised that the places to stay were well spread out, so we picked a few in our price range, rented a motorbike, dumped our bags and went off exploring. A few miles later, we had a really nice place to stay. We left the bike, went for a walk and a couple of drinks, got some BRILLIANT pad thai from a night stall and went back to the room to eat it out of the sudden downpour.
At breakfast the next morning, we realised that it didn't justify the higher price for the room, so we checked out and moved our bags to another place, then set out exploring for the day with a pretty crude map as our only guidance.
We first rode toward a waterfall. We started on road, then dirt road, then track, until we were stopped in front of a bend in a stream. I looked around and walked up the stream a 100 yards, but could see no track or any evidence of a waterfall, so we turned around and rode off in search of natural hot springs. We passed a few elephants, and came to a private place that pumped the hot springs into pools in their garden, but they were pants and not what Jo was after, so we carried on and found the state run pools. There were about 7 of them in all that you could sit in, one flowing down into the next. We got in the third and it was really hot. I managed to get in, but Jo took about 10mins, so we moved to a slightly cooler one further down. There were also two pools where the water bubbled from the ground which was 80degrees, and you could buy eggs in little bamboo baskets to drop in and boil for a snack. After chilling out there for a while we got peckish, so we rode off back to town via the WW2 bridge... Which wasn't actually built in WW2, but in the 1920's and then dismantled from Chiang Mai and shipped to Pai to replace the WW2 built bridge under Japanese occupation after it had swept away in the 70's. Still a nice bridge though!
We spent the evening and night eating and drinking and being merry!
The following morning we got up to make the most of the bike for our last full day. We first rode out to another waterfall, where Jo made friends with a puppy that must have had a bit of mountain goat in its genes judging by the way it was jumping all over the rocks. We rode for miles around the stunning mountainous scenery, and eventually reached another waterfall, this one with a lagoon at its base. Jo wasn't in the mood to strip off, but I couldn't let the opportunity pass, so I got down to my boxers and went for a refreshing swim under the falls. We walked back to the bike, I tied my soaking boxers to the back to trail in the wind, and we headed towards town. En route we came across a cafe called 'Coffee in Love'. This was a charming little place with views all over the valley and the hills, and pretty good coffee too. We sat for quite a while until the bike was due back, dropped it off, and went back to our guesthouse, where we sat in the gardens by the river. Jen had given me some blank postcards and some paints, so armed with these and some felt-tips and crayons, we made up our own postcards to send home.
That evening was clear and dry, and a lot more market stalls were out than the previous nights, and for some reason every douchebag, hippy-wannabe, dreadlock-wearing westerner was also out in force. I find it strange that of all the out of the way places, where life is truly different to that of back home, that we've been, none of these people settle or even go, but in Thailand, where every convenience of home can be found, these people settle and play at being so different and ethnic despite doing the same sort of job as home with the same luxuries as home. It makes me wonder what they are running from.
Anyway, I had pad thai again (it was just that damn good) and we walked around all the little stalls, a couple of beers and played some cards, then headed back to our room as places closed up.
Next morning we were up pretty early, walked into the centre, had breakfast and hopped on the minibus to take us back to Chiang Mai and from there onto the nightbus to Bangkok.

Koh Tao, Thailand, 5-11 September 2012

We left Koh Phangan by boat, and a couple of very choppy hours later after quite a few people (not us luckily) had lost their lunches, we docked at Mae Haad in Koh Tao. Par for the course we had no idea where to go, so quickly picked up a map from a taxi man, wandered up the road to what looked like a busy convergence of streets, and had lunch while I studied the map for where to go. After we'd worn a bit more of our ever slimming flip-flops away, we had an air con room to chill out for the night and sort ourselves out. Jo was wiped, so we put the tv on and I researched on the phone who to do my diving with. When we went out to eat we realised that nothing really happens in Mae Haad, and decided to get up to Sairee Beach first thing in the morning. This we did, and after a taxi man wanting 200baht off us and not budging on the price, we told him where to go (bloody hate taxi drivers, all out to bloody con you) and walked instead. This was less strenuous than expected and took only 20 minutes dawdling. We ate brekkie at Bans, the biggest dive school in the world, and I wandered off to talk about diving to people. Finally I settled on Simple Life as they seemed friendliest, they weren't huge and impersonal, and they did all the specialist dives I wanted to do. The rest of the day was then spent exploring, relaxing in cafes, and eating.
Next morning, I was up early to meet at the dive shop at 7 for my first 2 of 5 dives for my Advanced Open Water. The previous day was wet and windy, and it had calmed a bit, but the sea was still bloody choppy which made the boat rides fun!
First up was a deep dive to 30m at a site called Chumpon. There were 4 of us on the course, and I was lucky to be buddied up to the only other decent diver who neither had no spacail awareness, nor dwelled on the seabed the whole dive. My buddy didn't however, pay enough attention to me, and because of this, only me and one guy doing his divemaster course saw the two bullsharks! Considering the dozen or so of us all over the dive site, I was very happy to have seen them! We saw lots of other wildlife including a shoal of chevron barracuda who engulfed us as soon as we descended.
Our second dive was a wreck dive on the Sattakut. As this ship was only sunk less than a year ago, it didn't have masses of life around it, but did have some cool swim throughs and some big guns to play around with. Somehow, one guy on the course burned through 180bar before we even got to the safety stop at 5m for 3mins, so had to use the octo of Ana, our Swedish instructor! God knows how, we were only down for 40mins!
We had tea and biscuits on the boat, then got back to the dive shop by 12, cleaned our kit, then Jo and I went off and rented a moped. Much against my better judgement I handed over my passport and signed an extortionate schedule of rates (think I was just tired), and we went off exploring and ended up playing crazy golf. By the 16th hole the clouds were gathering, so we rushed through the last two (I whipped Jos arse) and we got into the 19th hole bar for coffee just as the heavens opened. We waited for a gap in showers and headed back, and I dozed off. Jo was the kind and lovely girlfriend I've always wanted and took photos of me, though thankfully, didn't balance anything on me or write on me. We went out for dinner and had some drinks around the town as I wasn't diving til the afternoon the next day.
In the morning, we had a lie-in, breakfast, moved rooms to a cheaper one, and then I went off diving. It was now time for Peak Performance Buoyancy (ppb) and Navigation. First was ppb at a site called twins, where there was a kind of playground for us, with suspended hoops to swim through and other obstacles. Despite how it sounds, it was great fun, using our breathing to rise and fall over and under concrete octopus arms, and suspend ourselves upside-down in the water. We also had to do a somersault which I was the only one to complete successfully. We didn't see a lot, though there were a lot of curious groupers coming right up to us. After we were done, we had tea and biscuits as the boat swung around to the next dive site; Japanese Gardens. As some open water students were doing 2 dives, we had some time to kill, so my buddy and I went out snorkelling for an hour. A mass of curious little sergeant majors (little black and white striped fish) took a fancy to me and I was swarmed in them. We then followed a shoal of juvenile parrotfish for a bit, then swam back to the boat to kit up. We descended and swam up and down lines and into a shoal of yellow fin barracuda, in 20m squares and showed we could navigate properly. After this penultimate dive of the course, we motored back to shore. That night Jo and I had a few beers and found a place doing all you can eat pizza, so seemed rude not to.
The next day I wasn't diving, so we went looking for a bike to do some exploring. After a little walking around, it was apparent that bike rental on Koh Tao is a big con, with no insurance available, and ridiculous rates for damage (£11k for £5k scooter if stolen, £50 for headlight if damaged, £40 for small plastic panel if scratched) so we abandoned that plan and hit the beach instead. Jo was still a little burnt from the day before after using a local sun tan lotion (called Samui: avoid!) which I strongly suspect was actually mayonnaise, but we still got a bit of sun and showed off our blinding bat and ball skills to wowing admirers (well, one bloke sunbathing nearby who laughed at our longest rally of about 8). Before we knew it, the sun was starting to set, so we sat in the bar on the beach watching the sun go down then we met up with Nick at the Bans bar and went to the Cabaret. Although it had pretty pricey beer, the cabaret was free to watch. We sat and watched about 12 ladyboys of various stages dance and mime to all the big favourites like 'it's raining men', often with their boobs out. I found myself saying strange things like "for a bloke, she's got a cracking arse", and debating whether some of them actually were women. There was one person who looked like they were a boxer until a year ago, then suddenly decided on a change of career and had some really agressive and unnatural plastic surgery, but still had big muscles and was ripped. At the end, they asked for volunteers, and Jo doing her good girlfriend bit again, volunteered me. I was marched out back with 4 other guys, stripped to our boxers, given a big curly wig and a bikini top, then sent out on stage to ponce about with some ladyboys. Not exactly how I was expecting to spend my evening! We left at the end and went looking for another bar, but town was dead for some reason, so we went back to Nicks resort bar for a drink, then wandered home.
Following morning Jo was a bit hungover, and we were contemplating getting the stupidly priced cabs to take us to another beach. Instead, we just enjoyed the same beach again and this time wowed the crowds with our frisbee skills. I then buggered off to the dive shop to get kitted up ready for my last dive; the night dive. It had taken a couple of days to do it, but so worth it. We got the longtail from the beach to the dive boat as the sun was setting, and the wind was really picking up, making it a choppy ride. We got to the site and a few other big boats were already there from other dive shops. As I was the only Advance OW person who wanted to do the dive (madness of the other guys!) I was buddied up with my instructor Ana. She gave me a torch and said we'll just have a long dive until I hit 70bar. I was happy with this as I was getting pretty good on my air. We descended off the line as there was a queue, and then Ana took us around, somehow finding loads of places where there was no-one else which was great. We saw quite a few spotted rays, lots of big groupers trying to sleep, 2 kinds of pufferfish, and some great barracuda. One we saw just as he swam and caught a fish and killed and ate it. Very intimidating fish, and scarily quick swimmers. We headed around one point where there was no-one or any lights at all, and we turned off our torches for a minute and saw the effluorescent organisms in the water glow in clouds of dirty yellow/greenish hues all around us. Luckily I'd got pretty good at buoyancy as when we turned our torches back on I saw loads of huge sea urchins littering the seabed; just a touch overweighted and I wouldn't be sitting down for weeks! We swam around for about 40mins, then I hit 70bar, so we headed back towards the boat, en route seeing the a turtle someone pointed out to us that we didn't realise was a turtle until we got back on the boat. The sea had got worse, and thinking I had a foothold on the ladder turned sour and before I knew it the rear of the boat was leering 8ft about my head. I got clear before the ladder could smash into me and hauled myself up safely onto the rocky little vessel on second attempt.
We motored back to the harbour, all elated from a great dive, and my Advanced course complete. We got back to the dive shop, I said my farewells and thank-yous, then went back to the bar to meet Jo and Nick, and strangely Fern and Pauline, who we'd bumped into in Saigon and at Full Moon. We ate, chatted, drunk beer, then Jo and I retired to pack and get ready for our snorkelling trip early the next morning!
We were picked up at the bar whilst still waiting on our breakfast, then taken to a boat in the harbour. We hopped on and had tea and biscuits while we motored to the first dive site. We saw:
1st site (shark bay): sergeant majors, parrotfish, crocodile fish, angelfish, yellow butterfly fish.
2nd site: sgt majors, parrotfish, adolescent parrotfish, groupers, trumpetfish, crocodile fish, squid, jellyfish (with the flashing colourful lights).
3rd site (mango bay): sgt majors, parrotfish, groupers, wrasse, octopus.
We then had lunch on the boat and a load of fresh fruit before heading onto our 4th dive site which was more of the same, but nothing special like octopus or jellyfish, then onto our 5th site which is an island (strictly it's 3 islands joined by 2 big strips of sand (though seems to be mostly dead coral). One side of this was Japanese Gardens that I'd already snorkelled, so we sunbathed for most of the 2 hours, popping out by ourselves for a little snorkel. Neither of us saw much, though I did see a big colourful wrasse (I've got to learn more fish names) chomping away at the coral, trying to make a big hole for some reason. We wandered back to the boat, then were taken back to the harbour and to the bar, where we ate, played some cards, and waited for our taxi to take us to the nightboat onto Krabi!

Chiang Mai, Thailand, 12-17 August 2012

Night market when it peed with rain

Chang

We arrived in yet another bus station in the arse-end of nowhere in Chiang Mai at about 5.30am. They do have tuk-tuks up there, but mostly they have converted pickups with bench seating which are like shared taxis, so we got one of these to our guesthouse we booked from Bangkok online. As no-one was up when we arrived we spent half an hour just sat in the living room area of the guesthouse, then a lady got up and said our room wouldn't be ready until 9ish when the cleaner would be in, so we left our bags and went in search of food. We found some good grub (and some Olympic action) and a market, then got our bearings a little before heading back to get some sleep. We got up later and went out mooching, and before we knew it, it was evening and the Sunday market was out. We wandered up and down, and I tried some funky street foods, ending up eating far too much as Jo didn't like anything she bought so she palmed it off on me! By about 8 it started to rain, then suddenly hammered down. Jo had her tiny umbrella with a broken handle so it only half extends from China in her bag, so we got that out, and suddenly the national anthem (theirs, not ours) started playing and lots of the stall owners had whipped out candles from nowhere and were stood in vigil, so Jo and I stood and had a cuddle in a rainstorm under a tiny brolly in the middle of the road! When the music stopped, some fireworks went off in honour of the Queens birthday, and we watched before legging it to the nearest pub for some beers, Olympics and Bananagrams surrounded by British ex-pats. It felt just like when I visited Dad when he was out in Portugal, very home-from-home.
We headed back and slept like logs.
The next days plan was to rent a motorbike and have a proper explore, but it wasn't to be. By the time we'd got up, decided what we wanted to do, found prices, changed money, booked up and eaten lunch it was about 3pm. We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon then walked to the night bazarre which is a huge market every night selling clothes and nick-nacks. We walked and walked, lasted until 11ish and gave up, heading back by tuk-tuk.
Following morning we went out in search of another place to stay. We had spent our 2 booked nights in Jaidee guesthouse and we weren't impressed. You know those jokes about online dating profiles with 20 year old pictures of the person? That's what it was like. When we arrived, you could see that the picture online was lurking somewhere behind all of the overgrown grass, drooping tree branches and random crap littering the garden. It's a shame as it had potential to be nice, but was severely run down. We found a nice place called Baan Nud Cun, moved our bags, and then went to our days activity; cookery class. We did it with a family run place called Baan Thai, and we made the schoolboy error of eating breakfast before we went. We were sat on a big table with six others, were given some Thai snack foods and filled out forms of what we wanted to cook. Jo and I chose different dishes, but we didn't realise that there were 2 other tables of people and we were all mixed up together so those cooking the same dish cooked together, which meant Jo and I weren't going to cook together at all. We were all taken to a local market, talked through the ingredients and their foreign alternatives, and given time to cool down and get a fruit shake before returning. We got chatting with a Spanish couple opposite us called Oriol and Mariane. Oriol and I had chosen almost the same menu, so we would be together on most of the classes. This was good as we just swapped cameras and snapped away at each other. The dishes were really fast to cook too, so we only spent about 15 minutes cooking each dish before taking them back to your table to all eat together. I made:
•green thai curry paste

Wot we made at skool 2day

•green thai curry
•spring rolls
•hot and sour prawn soup
•stir fried chicken and cashew nuts
•deep fried banana and ice cream

The food was amazing, and we got given cookery books with all the recipes of the day and more in. By the end of the day we were absolutely stuffed, and headed back to our new room for a lie down! That night we went out for a drink and I was surprisingly hungry, so we found a cool bar called The Wall for cheap beer and good food. We were then going to head back but we found another bar we had been in called The Saloon showing the Olympic closing ceremony, so we sat for a happy couple of hours drinking Chang watching that!

Camp teacher talking us through ingredients at market

Still no lie-in the following morning as we had whitewater rafting booked. We got an early breakfast and then got picked up by our Thai guide who had a confusingly strong German accent. It was like he learnt English from watching "'Allo, 'Allo". In the minibus with us were Chanda and Kuley from Brum who were studying dentistry in London, and Dom from Northampton, a flamboyant gay lad who didn't stop talking, and told us stories of partying in a club with a very drunk Gok Wan who then went home with a burly Canadian who had no idea who he was!

View from our room

We got to the camp, were fed a big lunch of chicken, pork curry, rice and fresh fruit then 3 people who had stayed in the camp the night before joined us to make us 8 and 2 full boats. We had a load of pictures taken as a bamboo raft full of girls doing the macarena floated past, then got on the water. In our boat was Kuley, Chanda, Jo and I, plus our Thai guide who sat at the back steering and shouting orders. He was a funny little bloke, pretty ripped from doing this job every day, and really knew what he was doing, making sure we hit the rapids the right way around but still having a lot of fun. We spent a couple of hours on the water, having pictures taken as we hit the big rapids by our germanic-siam guide and jumping off the boat and having a float on some gentler stretches. On our last big rapid one side of our boat went up a rock like a ramp, throwing me backwards. I did have my feet wedged in to stop this, but 8 months without training have whittled away my core muscles and in the drink I plunged, landing hard on a rock a few inches below the surface on the small of my back. I managed to keep my grip on the boat though, and with some assistance from Chanda, was back in the boat. We then spent the last 500m or so to the pickup point getting rinsed off thoroughly by the heavens. It was then out, changed, some fresh fruit, oreos and drinks while we all chatted and looked at the photos taken of the day. Between 5 of us we agreed to buy one dvd of the pics and copy the disc. We got back to town, and Jo and I knew that if we didn't go straight back out we'd pass out, so we went for coffee, then some grub and topped off the night at the night bazarre.

Jo on the 'hog', though she obviously didn't ride it

The following morning we moved accommodation for the second time to our third place. We got up early as Jo was off on an elephant mahout day, where you learn to be a mahout (the elephant master/keeper/carer). After doing the chores of packing and moving all of our stuff I had a leisurely breakfast trying to figure out where I could find a shooting range. After a while I found that they were all far too expensive to make it worth it, so I went for a walk around a part of the old city we hadn't yet seen, then rented out a moped and went for a spin around town, looking for Doms hostel to drop off the pics. No luck, but a great couple of hours whizzing around exploring. I then headed back as I'd arranged to meet Jo in a coffee shop at 4. After two drawn out cups of coffee and two hours reading Harry Potter, she finally walked in! We went and got some dinner, then took the bike for a spin to a cinema, but everything showing was dubbed in Thai, so we resigned ourselves to head back and watch a film in our room.

Me on the 'hog'

In the morning I took the moped back and exchanged it for a 200cc Honda Phantom, a chopper with a clutch and everything! It was a lovely big beast, and Jo was well impressed when she saw it! We went for a spin and then headed for Doi Suthep Wat, the most holy temple in the area, up a mountain. Riding up the wide, winding roads was heaven! We had a look about, and despite being a bit templed out after all of our time in Asia, it was still impressive, with everything blazing in gold. As we walked back to the bike, a dog on the back of a pickup was having a blazing row with another dog on the ground. This was nothing new to see, but the one on the truck, a golden retriever, had had a pair of bright blue eyebrows drawn on! Unfortunately they didn't match his mood, and instead of 'angry' eyebrows, and more 'smiley' eyebrows. Was so funny, a shame we fumbled with the bag for too long to get the camera out to document it.

Jo at Doi Suthep

We went back to town, had lunch and then Jo went for a massage. I was given a time to meet her, and I went off happily motoring along the river and exploring another part of the city. I then got back to the massage parlour (that makes it sound a bit dirty, but it wasn't) and stood by the side of the road for 3/4 hour before giving up and going back to the room. Jo wandered in half an hour later, very apologetic that she'd stood me up for the second time in as many days! We then got back on the bike and went for a ride to a cafe to watch the sunset over the river. We finished our last day in Chiang Mai drinking beer in one of our favourite bars.
In the morning, we were up early for breakfast and minibus to Pai!

Bangkok, Thailand, 10-11 August 2012

This will be a short entry I hope; we were only in Bangkok for 20 hours! We arrived late, wandered up Ratcha-something-something (just off the infamous Koh San Road) and found a dirt cheap little double which looked just like the room Daffy is in at the start of 'The Beach' if a little smaller, cleaner and less dead bodies in it.

We went straight out and had pad thai from a street stall and I fell in love. So fulfilling, so many ways to alter the taste, and so bloody cheap! I was over the moon! We then had a wander down Koh San Rd, which wasn't nearly as mad and bustling as I expected, and then found a little bar on a parallel street with cheap Chang and live music to top off the night.
Next morning we ate then went out to try and sort out our bus to Chiang Mai. We didn't realise that the Queens birthday was the following day, and as a national holiday the whole population were boarding buses and trains back to see family, and there weren't any beds or seats together for 6 days! Luckily, we found one place with 2 seats on a night bus that evening at a silly price, so we bit the bullet, legged it back to our guesthouse to check out, then wandered around getting our bearings and relaxing for a few hours before getting "picked up" for our bus. I put this is quotations as in reality it was a man getting dropped off at our pick up point and leading us on foot for a mile through windy alleys and a muay thai gym to the bus! As expected, the bus was chocka, but we had good seats, and dozed off as we weaved our way north to Chiang Mai!

Pursat, Cambodia, 9-10 August 2012

Our big bus rolled along the main highway and stopped in a small town. In this small town only a handful of locals got on and off, and Jo and I were the only westerners to get off. A few other travellers on the bus looked on at us as if to say "why are you getting off here?!" This is because Pursat is a tiny place and with little to do there or go there for. The reason we were going there was for one reason solely; the biggest floating village on the Tonle Sap lake. As we had no idea where we were or any map, we got a tuk-tuk to take us the couple of hundred metres to a guesthouse, where we resumed our roles of Jo going to check out the room and I stay put, laden with bags. She came back out of the corridor laughing, so I knew it wasn't good. She reported that it was ok for one night, but a touch small. It was a prison cell with pink curtains. It just fitted a bed with enough room to open the door. She was right though, it'd do for the night, especially at about a pound each.

We abandoned the bags and looked for a tuk-tuk to take us to the floating village. One guy wouldn't budge on his price, but continued to follow us up the road to the bus ticket office (we were getting out of this place as soon as we could!). We then found someone to take us at the right price, and after a quick purchase of bus ticket to Bangkok for the next morning, we set off on the hour journey, of which, it rained for 45 mins. Luckily, it stopped and brightened up when we arrived. The place isn't really a tourist hotspot, with very poor families littering the road up to the lake, although all very happy people, with lots of kids playing and screaming "HELLO" and waving like lunatics at the white people.
We got a boat to take us on an hour ride around the 'village' which is actually the size of a small town. There were buildings floating on bamboo or proper boat hulls, containing everything from small shops, to ironmongers, to petrol stations. Was really surreal to see, especially the latter, which for some odd reason doubled as an animal sanctuary, with lots of chickens and dogs running about amongst the petrol pumps. We went right out onto the lake, and anchored up was a big modern looking yacht very similar to the boat that took us around the islands in Fiji. It turned out this was the hospital ship, and came past once every week and spent its entire time circling all of the floating villages on this vast lake. Tethered to it was a much smaller boat which was the pharmacy.
When we were done, we got back in our tuk-tuk and headed back, in the evening sunshine. We then went in search of food. We found a little local place almost opposite where we were staying where no-one spoke English either, and had a really good meal of fried rice and spicy fried beef with ice-tea (this is just a cold teapot in the middle of the table and they bring you a glass of ice, I have to remember to try it with cold stewed tea at home!). We went for a wander to see if there was a town or centre to this little place straddling the main highway between Battambang and the capital and found a few more streets, one or 2 tiny hotels and a couple of shops and a market, but nothing too built up. Eventually, we made our way back to our cell, found a movie in English on the little tv and dozed off.
The next morning we got up early for our bus, showered with a bucket of cold water and went back to breakfast at the place we ate at the night before. Then it was onto the bus and onwards to Bangkok, via Battambang! Our penultimate country of the trip complete in no time at all! We'd done a lot and seen everything we could and Cambodia had to offer, but we were still sad to leave, and knew that if we stayed longer in Cambodia we'd just be dragging it out in a vain attempt to deny the inevitability of finishing our trip and going home.

Battambang, Cambodia, 7-9 August 2012

Battambang should actually be spelt 'Bat Dambong' as it means 'lost stick' after a former Kings magic stick he lost which caused him to lose his throne. Loving the facts these days I am.
Battambang is a smallish city, though supposedly Cambodias second largest. It's a busy and bit dirty little place with a big local market and some really run down old French buildings. Lonely Planet raves about the French architecture, but the little I found was either hidden behind signage, or crumbling to pieces. I don't think the Cambodian people know this is a potential tourist puller, so don't make anything of it. The reason people DO go though is the bamboo train amongst a few other things. Our tuk-tuk guy, a bloke with a huge grin permanently bolted to his face was eager to give us the lowdown on where he could take us that afternoon and how much for. The price was silly money, so we said we'd think about it, and ventured off to wander the streets seeing the city, then ended up in a place called Gecko for dinner overlooking the bustling streets. We went to the bar opposite our hotel that night as it seemed to have the most life and the cheapest beer, and went back to our room where I watched ESPN until the wee hours cheering Chris Hoy to his deserved gold medal, and getting thoroughly annoyed at the judges pissing around which caused Pendleton to have to settle for silver to the Ozzies.
Next morning we had breakfast in a nice little place next door to the hotel, and our tuk-tuk driver came bounding over. He said he had 2 people going on his little tour that morning and we could go for $5, so we polished off our coffees and joined them. The 2 people he had we a pair of Irish girls called Sarah and Emily, and turned out they were the people who I sneered to Jo "who goes travelling with a bloody guitar" when we saw them arrive the day before but discovered they bought it along the way, (so proof you shouldn't judge!) and we got on great with them.
Our first stop was the bamboo train. This is a length of track left by the French (so now almost 100 years old) with little bamboo trains that go up and down, though almost entirely for tourists now. The trains are ingenious; they are 2 axles with a set of bearings close to each wheel and a fixed hub in the centre of one axle with belt around it. There is then a bamboo raft that sits on the bearings so that the whole axle can spin freely and a small engine on the back of the raft on a sliding track. This is so that the driver levers the whole engine back with a stick, which increases the tension in the belt connected to the axle, which increases friction and so drives the whole thing forwards! So bloody clever! Just a huge clutch system whereby the engine moves wholesale by a man pulling a stick! I was thoroughly impressed, and pretty surprised, as were Sarah and Emily, at the speed we got up to. We flew through the countryside for a couple of km, then pulled up as we saw a row of 3 or 4 other trains coming the opposite way. This is where the simple nature of the train proves its cleverness again; you just lift the bamboo platform off the axles and put it by the side, then lift each axle off and the whole thing is dismantled in seconds! Within 5 mins, our train was reassembled and we were flying down the rickety track again. We got to another sort of station and stopped for a bit, a little girl made me a grasshopper out of leaves, we turned around and headed back. We pulled up to the start again and a bit miffed to be told to tip the driver as apparently the $5 each we paid at the start mostly gets pocketed by the bent police. Bloody corruption everywhere, and it just seems the rich get richer and the poor stay put. Cambodia seems terrible for this and it's so sad as they're such a happy nation who've been through so much in recent history.
Anyway, enough of that. Next up was a winery! For a couple of dollars we got some grape juice, ginger juice, red wine, and brandy! I have to be honest, the red wine was fruity and crap, and the brandy like fire-water, but the ginger stuff was spicey and really nice! The grape stuff also made the brandy pretty nice too! We finished our drinks and headed to a Wat with a couple of big trees by the entrance packed with fruit-bats. There were hundreds of them making a right racket, and flying all around us. We took some pics, then carried on up to a set of temples on a hill that the locals reckon were the inspiration for Ankor Wat. I really doubt this after looking at them, and they are falling to pieces with no sign of any restoration going on sadly, but they were quite impressive, especially considering how many stairs we had to climb to get up to them. We had a drink and moved on to another big hill with temples at the top, but this one was where the Khmer Rouge took the temple and turned it into a prison, and used some caves up there for murdering people. Not a nice place, although the temple is now almost complete in its return to original use complete with many painted depictions of Buddha. The killing caves have also been turned into a place of worship, and some bones and skulls kept on display. This may seem horrible, and it is to behold, but in a nation where nation where you can really feel and notice the lost generation, it is necessary to remember.
We were then done for the day, and wanted to head back and get some circus tickets, but sadly it wasn't on, so we ate, got showered, caught up on some Olympic action, and went to the bar opposite for a few drinks. Emily was wiped and hadn't been feeling too hot all day, so it was just Jo, Sarah and I, and we chatted for hours in the warm evening with cold beer.
The next morning we found our way to the post office, found a cashpoint to flex the credit card, ate brekkie and said goodbye to Sarah and Emily as they moved onto Phnom Penh, and we boarded a bus to Pursat!

Siem Reap, Cambodia, 1-7 August 2012

Siem Reap means 'Siam Defeated' after Ankor Wat was captured back from the Thais, bet you didn't know that did you? Thought I'd start with a fact this time. We rolled into a bus station bloody miles from town, where the gates were locked behind the bus as it entered to keep all of the tuk-tuk drivers at bay. Was quite funny to watch as we had the benefit of booking our guesthouse ahead and sorted our free pickup, so had no need to deal with the hyper blokes shouting and postulating at the gates. We got to our guesthouse after a good bit of fresh air in our little tuk-tuk, and immediately headed out to find a shop to get some cold drinks. Jo and I both still felt crap from our bargain pizza the night before in Phnom Penh, and had no interest in eating, so we collapsed on the bed with the ceiling fan going full tilt in a vain attempt to cool the room. Jo dozed off by about 7.30, and I lasted 'til a bit later.
We awoke next morning with rumbling stomachs after not eating the day before, and sat down to the free brekkie of tea, coffee, eggs and toast. Was modest, but did the trick. We then found our way into town, and spent the day planning our route of the famous Ankor Wat and other many sundry temples. We spoke to a few tuk-tuk guys, and one nice bloke got the hump with me when I wouldn't 'promise' him I'd go with him. I then got wound up with the bloke in our guesthouse who wanted $12 for one day, but $45 for 3 days! He couldn't work out what was wrong with that! We abandoned hope and went to pub street for some grub and watch some Olympics.
In the morning after some grub, we found a bloke who wasn't trying to flog a 'tour' (not a tour, just a route that they take) and was willing to go to where we wanted and in the order we wanted. Jo found it funny in all the negotiations that barely anyone listened to us and just said "no, we won't do that, I'll take you there instead"! Imagine a taxi driver in the UK saying that! "No mate, I won't take you to Oxford, I'll just drop you off at Milton Keynes"! Anyway, he was a nice bloke, and whisked us off to the ticket office and onward to an array of temples increasing in size and stature as we progressed. I can't decribe them all (this blog is boring enough as it is for you few readers), but I can summarise that:
• Baphuon looks like the castle in Mario 64
• Phimeanakas at the top looks like King Louies palace in The Jungle Book
• Bayon is the one with the cool but bit freaky heads everywhere
• All of the temples are being sponsored and repaired by different countries, which is unfortunately meaning that some are delicately and sympathetically done (France, Germany), some are taking forever (Japan), and some look terrible and are being repaired with shitloads of concrete (China... Who else) which just looks terrible.
• Trees can straddle thousand year old stone walls like lapdancers
• We didn't make it to Ankor Wat on day 1
That is the long and short of 8-9 hours walking around the temples. We got showered, headed out and found a brilliant little family run place doing great Khmer food, then had a drink watching the Olympics again before an early night.
Day 2 in the temples was a more relaxed affair. We hired bikes (would have used motorbikes for the whole thing, but you can't rent them anywhere in Siem Reap, probably so that tuk-tuk drivers won't go out of a job) and cycled the 6km to Ankor Wat, then spent about 4 hours wandering around it. Very impressive, especially the moat around the outside. Took lots of pics, then headed back to town, dropped off the bikes and showered, then went to town for coffee in the Blue Pumpkin, a trendy little cafe chain with air con and lovely big sofas. Jo then wanted to be pampered, but not by me, by some fish. She somehow persuaded me to join in (think it was the free beer that swayed it) and we sat down to have out tootsies munched by fish, but not like the ones in shopping centres in the UK, these were big buggers (you could gut and eat them) and we pretty hungry... Either that or we have minging feet... I'll pick the former. Due to me being unused to the experience, it took me 18 of the 20 minutes to stop giggling like a little girl. We then had a foot massage (I'm losing man points by the second here, it feels more like confession than a blog) and then sat in a bar for 20p beers and more Olympics. We got chatting to a really nice kiwi couple, but as is the way, we were meeting Jos friend from Ghana, Elysia and her boyfriend that night for drinks, and the kiwis were off the next morning. We spent so long chatting that we had to leg it to meet Elysia and her boyfriend Nathaniel at a cool little bar with $1 cocktails. We stumbled back and asked at our guesthouse about getting a tuk-tuk to Ankor Wat for sunrise the next morning. They quoted a silly number and said we would have to pay for him for the day despite our argument that he would be back by 9ish, so, convinced we could do better, we found a moto guy (a man with a scooter basically) and asked him and he said yes. The next morning, we blearily made our way towards the meeting spot and a man on a bike waved at us. We waved back and he came over, but I'm almost certain it wasn't the right bloke. This fact was reinforced by him asking me at every junction which way to go! Surely a moto-man would know the way to Ankor Wat in his own town! He then announced as he dropped us off that he wouldn't wait as we'd agreed (see, told you; wrong bloke) so we paid him half fare and away he went.
Sunrise at Ankor Wat is a bit hit and miss in wet season, and we weren't very lucky. The sky was pretty cloudy on the horizon, and the most interesting part of it was seeing all of the people around us, there were hundreds! As well as a western couple in wedding dress and morning suit there for a photo shoot. We sat down for a cup of coffee, as people dispersed after we saw nothing, then suddenly it broke through thr clouds. I legged it over to the big pond and got a couple of pictures of what we got up and crammed onto the back of a moto-man for before it quickly disappeared. We then had a wander around, went up to the very top, took some nice pics then found a cheap tuk-tuk to take us back to the guesthouse. The plan when we got back was to kip for an hour. I awoke at midday, and we eventually made it to town around 1 for lunch (with the best and cheapest ice coffee we've found so far), coffee, beer, Olympics, fish feet eating (forgive me Father, for I have sinned...), and dinner. We stumbled home late via the night markets and looked forward to a lie-in.
We decided to stay one more day a relax in Siem Reap by a pool, but this meant finding one, but all we found we tiny hotel pools and scattered rain showers, so we spent the day reading, playing Bananagrams, drinking, eating, and hunting down the gymnastics (which we also failed at). Had a great meal that night with our own little gas barbie, some beef, chicken, crocodile, goat and shrimp, a load of veg, noodles and rice and a load of soup/stock to cook it up with.
Next morning we were up earlyish and on the bus bound for Battambang!

Phnom Penh (again), Cambodia, 30 July - 1 August 2012

We boarded a tuk-tuk, then a minibus, then finally a big bus back to Phnom Penh, after umming and ahhing whether to stay another day (that put East 17 in my head AGAIN!) and hope for sun or head off. We made the right decision as the skies darkened above Sihanoukville.
Like all decent travellers, one of the main reasons for being in these foreign countries is to try new and exciting foods. For this reason, I took it upon myself to be brave and tried something completely new; Jalapeno Pringles. Bloody nice they were too.
Anyway, arrived safe and sound and found a nice place to stay, then went out for cheap drinks and tacos on the riverside, then, as the rains caught up with us, we took a tuk-tuk to a cinema and watched Dark Knight Rises. Amazing film, but this is my travel blog, not a film review, so we'll carry on.
The next morning after breakfast we found our way to a big Wat temple, then to the central market. En route to the market, Jo popped into a corner shop, and as she came out she bumped into a girl she had spent 4 months in Ghana with 5 years ago, and hadn't seen since! Small world! At the market Jo had some great success. She got a pair of Beats headphones for under 4 quid, and a shoulder bag for 3 quid! We wandered back through town, stopping for a bit of lunch and a drink, then onto the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda which were both rather disappointing. Almost half of the estate was closed off to the public, and the Silver Pagoda looked a bit like a kleptomaniacs front room, crammed with lots of Buddha statues but in ageing and mismatching cases. We stopped off for another drink and then headed back to the room to freshen up. We popped down the road and got a cheap pizza which, was nice at the time, but both of us awoke the next morning with stomach aches, making for an unhappy busride to Siem Reap! Par for the course, we didn't get picked up from the hotel until we called up to say "where are you", and were the last on the bus!

Sihanoukville, Cambodia, 26-30 July 2012

The three of us arrived in the seaside town of Sihanoukville after a short minibus trip from Kampot. We were expecting a bit of a tourist town centred around a few beaches, but we discovered something far more developed. Sihanoukville is like Ibiza, with dozens of bars, most Western run, serving up cheap beer and full English breakfasts all day and night. We stayed at a place called Monkey Republic for less than a London pint in our own bungalow with en-suite. We wandered down to the closest beach that afternoon, and were a little shocked; the bars all dominated the beach, stretching all along, and covering the sand in front of the bars with their own seats and sunloungers leaving pretty much no room to lay down between the end of the bar and start of the sea. If you bought a drink in a bar it was free to use the sunloungers, so we milked a couple of cans of coke and topped up our decreasing tan. Jen however fancied a bit of shade after a while and sat a chair away under a brolly, but this made her look like she was on her own and the ladies coming around offering manicure/pedicure/threading/massage wouldn't leave her alone! Was quite funny to a point, but when they perched on her seat and wouldn't listen to her firm "no thank you", she was forced to get a bit ruder to get them to go away. We sat down at another bar as the sun went down and enjoyed some 50c beers.
After some Western grub at our hostel bar, we decided to give the impersonation cinema (it was a room with a big tv rigged up to a network drive packed with movies) across the road and watched The Help.
The next morning the clouds didn't want to budge, but it was still bright and warm. We wandered around, played bananagrams in the bar, drank ice coffees and beer, and finished the day watching the sun go down on the beach again. A lazy day, and the most productive bit being Jo skyping Lou and her niece and nephews!
The next morning the sun had come back out proper, so we got a tuk-tuk to Otres Beach, about 7km away. This was a great move as it had some of the same style bars on a bigger beach, but nowhere near the number of people or sellers offering sunglasses/bracelets/massage/pedicure, and the surf wasn't so violent so you could chill out in the sea a bit more. We spent a happy few hours in the sun when a huge black rain cloud started to envelope the beach, so we went into the bar for grub. A little later we our tuk-tuk picked us up and took us back. It was Jens last evening with us, so we found a nice Italian place and had a few drinks afterwards watching some Olympics. I eventually managed to skype Vegas late that night too after a month of trying and failing.
We got up early next morning to see Jen off on her bus. She got picked up by a tuk-tuk, and there was very little proper 'goodbye', but we'll see each other in 2 months anyway, so no bother. She set off for the bus to Phnom Penh, and a flight the following day to Bali - a place on our original itinerary, but that was soon scratched off when we realised how far our money would stretch.
The weather was still a bit pants, so we watched some "How I Met Your Mother", played bananagrams, and went back to the bar showing the Olympics, where we drank beer for hours watching cycling, swimming, rowing and gymnastics. We finished off the evening by wandering down to the market for some cheap dinner with the locals.
We waited until morning to make the decision to stay or go as we didn't want to spend another day sat indoors if the weather was pants, and alas, the clouds closed in, so we packed and had brekkie where a dog walked up and peed on my bloody bag! That wasn't even the worst bit, as I then knew that other dogs would smell it and want to mark ME as their territory, even though I tried to clean it with Windowlene - the only thing they had behind the bar -  and sure enough, first stop we made on the bus a german sheepdog was sniffing around me! Anyway, we were off and away, back to Phnom Penh.

Kampot, Cambodia, 24-26 July 2012

A little minibus took us the few hours to Kampot along with a very unhappy couple who were picked up from the same guesthouse as us, an hour and a half before us while we were still in bed.
On arrival Kampot seemed a bit quiet and run down, with the skies looming dark and heavy. Some hawkers trying to get commission from hotels met us, but they wouldn't listen to our need for a triple room, so we just ignored them. It then typically started to rain, so Jo and Jen stayed in a cafe and had a cup of tea while I went hotel hunting. Not far away I found a huuuuuge room for well in budget.
Kampot is a very quaint little place, but looked to be well out of season and having a lot of work done. A big market in the square is still being built/refurbished, and lots of building work was going on all around. This didn't inspire us much, and coupled with the bad weather, things weren't looking good. We found somewhere cheap and really good to eat and bumped into the German girl we wandered around the paddy fields of Yuanyang in China with, but she was anything but pleased to see us for some reason so we gave up even making polite conversation as she obviously wasn't bothered and left her to it. Jo and I then wandered around exploring the town a bit and found a nice little cafe/bakery to sit and play Bananagrams for a bit. That evening we found a nice little place to play some pool, drink some happy-hour beers and have some decent grub.
The next morning the rain had subsided from the downpour overnight, so we went out for breakfast where I chose to have steak and chips (I'm on holiday! I'm allowed!). Jen then decided to stay around the town wandering about as she still felt crappy, and Jo and I rented a motorbike. The joy of having a bike licence is I can ride manuals which are cheaper to rent! We went off across the river and up towards some rapids. We then pulled in to take some pictures and a shower opened up so we had a drink in a shack which was actually a womans living room/kitchen. The rain didn't last long and we continued up to see the rapids. We actually went straight past and I ended up riding around a hydro-electric dam, but we figured we really shouldn't be there, so we went back down to the rapids. It was really more of a fast flowing river, but was a bit of a locals highlight as there were lots of elevated wooden platforms with little roofs, with locals sat in having picnics and teenagers tubing a short way down the river. We headed back to town, with Jo shooting lots of pictures over my shoulder, and had some lunch. From there we rode around town, found a market, but was a local one full of car parts, kitchen appliances and food, so we headed back to find Jen, said hello and then went back over the bridge to do some more exploring. Before we knew it we were in the middle of nowhere, bouncing over the bumpy, bloody red track, paddy fields and water buffalo flanking us as far as we could see. Was great fun riding it, and beautiful scenery to boot. I did go a little further off-piste, and ended up riding along a sandy beach on the rivers edge on the way home.
That afternoon and night was the same as the day before; cake, coffee and beer with Bananagrams, followed later by cheap beer and good food on the riverside again!
In the morning we had just enough time for a quick breakfast before it was time to catch the bus to Sihanoukville!

Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 21-24 July 2012

Our bus to Phnom Penh was a pleasant surprise. The seats were huge, with adjustable leg rests, and acres of legroom. We were supposed to leave at 2pm and arrive at 8pm, but of course that was wrong, we were picked up a little late then dropped off at gone 10pm. Luckily Jen had arrived that afternoon, so she had a guesthouse sorted for the three of us. I somehow managed to barter for a tuk-tuk despite the fact we were miles from anywhere to stay and with no other way of getting to the centre. The room Jen had booked was recommended in LP, but it was pretty crappy, with dirty towels, windows that wouldn't close, and big ventilation holes in the walls letting all the mozzies in, so we moved on the next day. We went in search of some breakfast and somewhere else to stay and found a really nice place called Fancy Guesthouse, and after Jo was let loose on him we had a cheap room. She's got very good at bartering now, so she does most of it for the rooms!
As it was Jens birthday, we let her choose what to do. Understandably she didn't want to see the killing fields or anything like that, so we went for a 'Seeing Hands' massage done by blind people. When we came out Jo was grinning ear-to-ear with how relaxed she was, whereas Jen and I were battered and bruised. It was a good massage I got, but I think they just pick and choose what type of massage to give, and the bloke I got must have thought "I'm going to make this bloke hurt". He spent a couple of minutes with all of his weight going through his elbow into my lower back! Real pro though; left no bruises! Afterwards we went in search of cake as you always have cake on your birthday, and I never found one on mine. We walked along the river and found a bakery and picked our cakes then were told to take a seat upstairs. When we got up there, the whole place was glistening white with floor to ceiling glass along the whole frontage, and a massive sofa/cushioned platform to sit on. We had tea and coffee with our cake and sang 'Happy Birthday'. It was then decided that we'd go to the cinema that night as it was showing 'Four Weddings and a Funeral', so whilst Jen went for a little lay down (she hadn't eaten properly for a few days and was still a bit woozy and don't think the headless dog on the market we saw that morning helped) Jo and I went in search of the cinema to get tickets. To follow tradition, our map was wrong, very wrong, and although we got to walk past the palace, silver pagoda, independence monument and lots of other nice places, after an hour and over 3 miles, we discovered the cinema was definitely not where the map showed it. We then found another map which had the cinema on it again, this time only two streets from our guesthouse, so we got a tuk-tuk back to the centre and arranged for the same guy to pick us up the next day to take us to the museum, killing fields and the russian market. When we got in, Jo swapped places with Jen, and Jen and I went off in search of tickets and some grub. We found the cinema easily as well as a nice little place serving 35p beer and good food. When we returned to the cinema a little later, we discovered it was actually the English owners hard-drive rigged up to a projector, showing pirate movies and dvds, but done really well. He'd soundproofed the room, set up a proper sound system, laid out some mattresses and loads of cushions on stepped levels for seating, and only used really high quality pirate movies. He'd even shown trailers for films coming to his cinema soon, one of which was a BBC show. After the fim, the girls were tired out, so we just headed home.
The 23rd started with a bargain buffet brekkie we found on our ramblings the day before, and then a tuk-tuk to the museum, which had previously been S-21 the security prison of Khmer Rouge, and prior to that a school. It held nothing back, with pictures of the last 14 people found badly tortured and dead in the prison, and those prisoners shackles and beds still unmoved from where they were found. There were classrooms divided up into tiny 800mm x 2000mm cells, and bloody handprints on the walls. An incredibly horrific place, where in total 10,000 prisoners passed through before being sent to the killing fields, and an estimated 20,000 children were taken from and also killed. Remarkable how one mans paranoia could take things so far. There were also testimonies and statements of some of the prisoners. One is from an Australian who was held, tortured and killed. His handwritten statement states his history of birth and education and where he was captured. This was then typed up by someone else to include fictitious statements about the CIA and strange resistant sentences like "the CIA have sent me... And will never stop sending agents here". A lot of the prisoners in the latter 2 years of the Khmer Rouge rule were actually members who would be at work one day and suddenly told to report elsewhere, only to be blindfolded and chained and tortured until they admitted whatever minor fictitious crimes they were told to have committed. A very sad place, and even sadder that the heads of the regime never truly were punished, and at their ages probably never will be properly.
From one contemplative place to another, we moved onto the Killing Fields. They are about 20km out of town, and are scarily smaller in scale than I expected. The mass graves are everywhere, a lot not exhumed, but some are the size of the serving box on a tennis court, and had upwards of 600 people in them. A terrible place with one really terrible tree which I won't write about.
We went back to town and to the Russian market, which didn't seem very Russian, just lots of stalls in a maze all under one roof. Jen got a bag made of cement bags, and I got another wife-beater, then we headed back. We were all a bit quiet, and Jo was quite short and ill-tempered, so we went for dinner in a place with cheap beer and $1 tacos. A bit more perked up but not enough to go out, we booked our bus to take us to Kampot the next morning and went back home to pack.

Saigon, Vietnam, 19-21 July 2012

We arrived in Saigon in perfect time for the heavens to open and soak us. Luckily, Jo and I still had our fetching polka-dot ponchos from our motorbike tour. A bolshy woman built like a brick shithouse met us from the bus and offered some hotel very close by and a fair price. She then led 6 of us (Jo and I, James and Lisa, and Nick and Gaz) down a labyrinthine set of pathways to a crappy looking place we'd never find, so we said thanks but no thanks and wandered off in the rain. Back on the main street we poked our heads in a couple of places, then the same woman came back and led us into a brand new hotel. Rooms were good and included brekkie so we were sold. It was already 5pm by this point so we arranged to meet at 7 for dinner, and Jo and I ventured off to arrange a tour of the Cu Chi tunnels the following day and our bus to Phnom Penh. For dinner we also met up with three girls that the others had met a few times along the way and who James was smitten with. We had a good few beers, finished dinner then Lisa and Jo headed back and the rest of us went in search of drink. A group of 7 tentative westerners in the street proved to be like chocolate bar at weight-watchers; at one place two guys from the same bar but different floors actually started fighting over us! All the bars we went near were a bloody rip-off though, and offers like "buy 1 get 3 free" actually meant buy a bottle of 50 quid vodka and get 3 bottles of beer free. We ended up in a beer hoi type place on little plastic chairs on the pavement drinking 26p bottles of ice cold Saigon beer, surrounded by dozens of tables of locals and others travellers. Spent quite a while having the craic, then moved onto a little bar, where I had a final beer and left concious that I only had a few hours until I had to be up to get on a tour bus. Following morning I didn't feel great, but no rest for the half-cut, and felt better when two saffer girls in front of us were in a much worse state. The bus stopped about 40km into the 60 to the Cu Chi tunnels at a factory and warehouse set up by the government for sufferers of physical disabilities due to US use of Agent Orange in the war. It made loads of handicrafts and quite a lot of intricately hand decorated vases, crockery and titbits. Was very good to see these people, a lot of whom had no legs, able to lead normal lives. I did wonder what ironic affects the chemicals they used in the factory were having on them though. We arrived in the sweltering area of Cu Chi where the Viet Cong hid and built 250km of tunnels only 60km from the US occupied Saigon. We were shown around by our batty old Vietnamese man of a guide, Ky, who would say "ooh la la", "ay ay ay", and "you can imagine" over and over. Lovely bloke though and very enthusiastic with his war stories (he was a student, too young to be called up to fight in the war). We were shown lots of booby-traps, including a brutal looking tiger trap, and secret hatches used to hide away quickly, barely bigger than an A4 piece of paper. We then saw some weapons and there was a shooting range with lots of guns, all either rifles or machineguns. I wanted to have a go, but there was a minimum number of bullets you could buy, so I gave it a miss for now. We then went into the actual tunnels themselves. There are only a few still accessible, most having collapsed, and the one we went in was made bigger for tourists. Despite this, I still almost got stuck, and was unable to walk in a crouch at all and resorted to walking in a pressup position. We got out and went to try some typical guerilla lunch. This was cassava, skinned and boiled so it was like a boiled potato (and tasted a lot like) with a powder made of ground peanuts, sugar and pepper. The kitchens they built underground were very clever, with the smoke going through three or four chambers to filter out as much smoke as possible before coming out of the ground 25m away from the kitchen itself. We got back on the bus and awoke back in Saigon next to the War Remnants Museum, so we hopped off. There were lots of captured US planes, helicopters, tanks and artillery, and a section on the prisons used against the VC including lots on the torture they suffered at the hands of the French, American and South Vietnamese. As this is Asia, they don't hold back on details and lots of the pictures and stories were horrific. Inside it only got worse, with various sections torture, interrogation of civilians, chemical agents and the various tactics (mostly scorched earth) used by the Americans. There was one piece on former US senator Kelleys actions in the war. I won't go into it, but I don't know how he can sleep at night. We finished our tour looking at the effects Agent Orange has had on the subsequent generations, which had bottled embryos that had been stillbirths. A very graphic exhibition, but you can't shy away from what has been done and so recently. After our harrowing visit to the museum we went in search of a cinema to watch Brave and cheer us up. I had a little map marked up by the guy working in the hotel reception, but he obviously didn't know, so we just walked around asking people. We found our way to a mall, and then discovered it had a cinema in the business part of the building next door. Very strange and wasn't showing Brave so we left. I then took us along a road I had a hunch about and found the cinema we were looking for. But it wasn't showing Brave either. Bugger. So we walked home, now totally knackered. We spent the evening chilling out, then went out for dinner and to the night markets, wandering home through the park packed with couples dancing and little kids playing. The 21st was our last morning in Vietnam. We packed up, ate the crappy breakfast on offer (I say on offer, but the only option was omelette and bread, so the true option was eat or don't eat), then went to post postcards, and take some last pictures, then had a decent lunch before the bus to Phnom Penh at 2pm. Suddenly Vietnam was over all too soon, and although we didn't feel we'd missed out anything, we still were sad to leave as it meant only two countries left and a step closer to going home.

Dalat, Vietnam, 17-19 July 2012

We got off the bus in little Dalat, Jo with a minor concussion from smashing her head into the ceiling from a hitting a pothole at speed, around lunchtime. The hotel we were dropped outside had a cheap room, included breakfast and was a minutes walk to the centre, so we didn't venture far in search. The guy working there was very friendly and tried to flog us his fake Easy Rider tour. We were quite taken with the idea, but went in search of the city first before deciding. We found a dirty market selling every ingredient possible in every state of decomposition from the smell, then the lake with it's romantic 'swan' pedalos. We couldn't resist and climbed in our floating chicken, sorry, I mean 'swan' and had a lovely hour on the lake. We went off in search of a drink and then onto an official Easy Rider cafe. We got chatting to a couple of the guys who run it in Dalat. They do long trips up and down the country, or just daytrips around the countryside. They were set up almost 20 years ago, and have been such a success that lots of people try and claim the name Easy Rider. The guys we spoke to were the real deal. The big selling point was they were the same price as the guy in the hotel, but with the bonus of letting me ride a real bike instead of a moped. We booked up for the following day, and got some directions to the crazy house. After a 10 minute walk, we got to the house designed and built by a female Vietnamese architect to bring tourism to the city. It took her a long time to get built because of the look and design, but her dad was a famous politician so that must have helped. The place is currently having a big extension put on the side, and the whole lot looks a bit like if Salvador Dali made The Animals of Farthing Wood. There are lots of rooms with big beds in that you can stay in, but during the day is just for people to look at. I would love the idea of having something similar built in England, but it would never happen. At one point there's a walkway only 500mm wide with sides about the same height, no handrail and a 30ft drop below. Quite scary for those not fond of heights I'd imagine. I was well chuffed as there were no barriers up to stop you walking into the extension parts. I had a good mooch around, then we took some more pictures and left as it started to get dark. We wandered back, bumped into the Raptors who were two lads on my boat in Halong Bay, then had a lovely dinner in a very slow service but charming restaurant that wouldn't look out of place in the middle of nowhere in Northern France. When we eventually tumbled into bed I discovered that though we'd only been in Dalat for a few hours, we'd taken 130 photos already. The next morning we were up early for a good breakfast before our motorbike tour. We met our guide, a guy called Quan, but known as Buffalo due to his size (and as we'd later discover, his appetite). I was shown to a little Honda CB125, and Jo and I were both handed helmets you wouldn't let your child use on a skateboard. Jo was pretty scared, but as soon as we were out of the city she was loving it, sat behind me taking pictures as we sped through the countryside. We first stopped at the Dragon Pagooda which true to its name had lots of dragon statues, then onto the valley to see all the farms of stepped fields below us growing strawberries, avacados, spring onions, pumpkins and more. We then stopped at a hill that after a 20min hike took us up to views over the whole valley and Dalat. A little further on we stopped at some greenhouses where they grow flowers. These weren't as high-tech or vast as the ones in Holland, but were developed by a Dutchman who came over years ago, married a Vietnamese girl, and set it up as he saw the ground and climate conditions were perfect. Was quite cool, especially the rows upon rows of them made out of bamboo. En route to the coffee plantation, we stopped to try some red coffee beans, which are quite sweet, then another stop to see hundreds of huge spiders who had made a home between a row of trees and some power cables above. It seems a lot of mozzies and flys must be around as these spiders were easily 4inches in diameter, and all pretty fat. Jo freaked out a bit and almost leapt off the bike into the middle of the road. We got to the coffee plantation where a family live and work. They grow the coffee beans, then feed the red beans to a load of weasels they keep who love them, but can't digest the actual beans themselves, just the skins. The weasel poo is then harvested, cleaned and dried and used to make an expensive but quite smooth coffee! They also made normal coffee, just by drying out the beans, and with the dried out skins they're left with, they burn them to heat pots of rice and make rice wine! Nothing goes to waste, and the result is some 'happy water' at about 75% proof! We sat and tried some coffee, then rode off to the elephant waterfall. The elephant waterfall looks pretty cool from the top, but the best bit is climbing down and getting behind the bottom of the falls. We teetered across the wet slippery rocks and got soaked in the backdraught of the spray, then back up to another temple built above the falls. I'm not sure why this temple was so grand, but it had a couple of Buddha with many hands, the three Buddhas representing past, present and future, and outside a huge happy Buddha (the fat, bald Buddha sat on the floor laughing). By the time we'd done all of this it was about 1, and we were starving, so we went for lunch and Buffalo ordered a set menu for the 3 of us to share. There was loads of food, including; frog in banana leaf that looked and tasted like a really strong coarse English sausage, beef with vegetables and ginger, various spring rolls, morning glory (a green vegetable wilted and lightly pan fried with some pork fat and garlic), chicken, pork belly chopped into bitesize pieces, fish in an oily broth, and loads of little crabs, lightly fried. Oh, and a massive bowl of rice of course. Was lovely food, and the frog and the crab especially good. I was worried it was going to cost a fortune, but only 45k VND each (about £1.30). After our hearty lunch it was onto a silk factory where they harvest the silk worms, boil and spin the silk thread, spin it again to thin it out, then again to dry it, then there were a few looms making doyleys and table cloths and the like. There were also ladies hand sewing pictures in silk. The pictures, depending on size take 2 to 5 months to complete! We left the silk factory fascinated and educated.   Next we stopped at a small family house with a lean-to made of tarpaulin under which the family made brooms out of a coarse straw harvested further into the mountains, and then a little further on again at another small house where big round shallow baskets, a bit like upside-down jar lids, were made of woven cut down bamboo. They are then taken and sold at market for use at drying coffee, tea leaves or chillis. Whilst we were there the mother of the house cleared seats for us and made us some artichoke tea (we'd never heard of it either, but it tasted really good!). We asked Buffalo if we should pay for the tea or something, but he said no, it was just the woman being friendly. Felt very humbled by this, as they worked in their one room house, they would still give the little they have to strangers. We rode on and stopped at the coffee plantation again for a bit to let the rain that was falling in the valley ahead of us clear before continuing, then stopped briefly at a minority village, where one of the 50 odd minorities of Vietnam live, with their own customs and dialects. We carried on and soon found the rain, so we stopped for some sexy polka-dot ponchos, then ploughed on back to Dalat. Our last stop was the old railway, built when the French still occupied, with steamtrains and cogs to get the trains up and down the mountains. We got back into the cafe and had a coffee to warm us up (due to its altitude, Dalat is quite cool, and the rain only made it worse), thanked Buffalo for a great day, and went back to the hotel to chill out. We lazily ate at the same place for dinner as the previous night, then packed up ready to get the bus early the next morning to Saigon!

Nha Trang, Vietnam, 11-17 July 2012

Arrived in Nha Trang bright and very early after an ok nightbus with a driver with no fear. After a bit of wandering about asking prices and looking at rooms, we finally found a triple room for a good price in the hotel next door to the one Liv and her friends were staying in. We found some breakfast and headed back to the room so Jo and Jen could have a kip. The afternoon was spent searching up and down the beach for Liv and co but never found them. We arranged to meet Liv later on in a bar, but we got there early to see them all walking back giggling like schoolgirls after an afternoon on cocktails, so no wonder we never found them on the bloody beach! We decided to meet after dinner, but again we never found them, so after a few more drinks and lots of poking our heads in doorways we retired. The next morning as we looked for some breakfast we bumped into Marc and Patricia who we met in the 4000 Islands in Laos. We swapped stories and advice (they were going North and we were heading South) over breakfast then said our goodbyes again. We then wandered down to meet Liv and co at the beach in a certain spot, but we still nearly missed them; they weren't on the beach but by the pool of a bar on the beach. Spent the day getting crispy, then Jen and I went to find the bus booking office as she had decided she wanted to go off on her own for a bit and meet up together again in Cambodia on her birthday. She wasn't keen on going to Dalat, so she would forge on to Saigon, then fly to Bangkok, then go overland back to Cambodia and meet us in Phnom Penh in 9 days time. That night was our last evening with Liv, but her friends wanted to eat somewhere else, so the four of us (Liv, Jen, Jo and I) went for a set menu curry that Marc and Patricia had recommended that morning. Was great grub, and we went off to meet the other girls in a bar, but they weren't to be seen, so after a while we found them for Liv to get the key to the room, and we went off to another bar for more drinks (including free passionfruit daquaris for ladies) and Jo and Liv to have an emotional farewell. The next morning it was just the three of us suddenly. We did much the same as the previous day, going from pool to sunlounger to restaurant to bar to bed. The next morning we had to leave our hotel as Jen was leaving that evening, but the two of us couldn't now afford the hotel we were in. Lots more looking at rooms and bartering, and Jo found a lovely little place for USD10 for the room including breakfast. We shifted bags, spent more time by the pool, then had a decent meal before walking Jen to her nightbus to Saigon. Suddenly we were two again. We spent the following day in the now familiar holiday routine, and the day after that was my birthday and our last full day in Nha Trang. The only real difference was that we went in the sea (tempted to get the bus to another beach, but as the one on our doorstep was often mostly deserted, we didn't bother). Was a great and relaxing way to spend the day though, with a few drinks in the afternoon, back to the Indian place for dinner and more drinks! The following morning we were up at 6am so we had time to walk to the bus station and get on the bus to take us onto our penultimate stop in Vietnam; Dalat.

Hoi An, Vietnam, 8-10 July 2012

On arrival in Hanoi from Halong Bay, Jo, Liv, Jen and I met up for some grub before the nightbus to take us straight to Hoi An. The bus was obviously overbooked, and after a few people who had settled themselves in were removed as they were put on the wrong bus, we 4 took the last remaining beds. Jen at the back on a bank of 4, Jo and Liv on some singles, and me on a bank of 3 against the window next to an Aussie couple. 18 hours later, and after a coffee stop in Hue for an hour to change buses, we arrived in Hoi An. We were greeted to beautiful sunshine and clear skies and a free minibus to take us into the centre. Liv departed to take a motoman to her hotel that was already booked to meet her friends. The first hotel we tried was in our budget and got us a very nice triple room, so no buggering about required (it even had a pool!). Jos friend Izzy and her boyfriend Ross were also in Hoi An at the time, and we arranged to meet up with them. We found their hotel around the corner from ours, had a couple of drinks together, and then they had a second fitting at their tailor. Instead of wandering off, we went with them to check it out and I immediately found myself being "measured" by a very friendly woman. The "measuring" seemed to consist of fondling, squeezing, and pinching of unmentionables to the tune of "big banana", "ooh, big strong man" and other phrases that I would not have expected my girlfriend to laugh at (I'm sure she wouldn't if it were a barmaid or something, but as it was a tailor it was ok apparently). I had a look at the stuff Ross had had made and was really impressed. You obviously have to choose the higher quality fabrics to make it worth getting made which pushes the price up, but even shopping on the most expensive rail and with silk lining, and two double-cuff shirts of REALLY nice material, my lot came to $190 (just under £120). Jo saw Izzy in her suit, and couldn't resist getting a very nice evening jacket made up too, though as she was only getting a jacket made she didn't get flossed with the tape measure like I did! Izzy and Ross were happy with their stuff and we all headed out for drinks again by the river. Hoi An is stunning, and the Old Town is even better viewed from the outside, so we sat drinking the local fresh beer which is about 400-450ml and 10-15p. To my surprise and great happiness Jo liked it too and began to develop a taste for beer! Her argument for it is that it's just as refreshing as water and about 1/5th the price! That night we all met up again together, this time all 9 of us. We had a couple of drinks, found a little place still doing food, then back to the bar for more drinks and watch Murray lose the Wimbledon Mens Final. Next day we mooched around looking at all of the French colonial architecture, brightly coloured boats and various temples. Before long we were back on the Fresh Beer by the river again. On the walk back Jo and I ended up in another tailors somehow. With the help of dozens of clothes catalogues and a laptop, we both had ourselves measured up for a winter coat each. Izzy and Ross had now moved on North to Hanoi, so it was 'just' the 7 of us for dinner that night. We eventually found somewhere which everyone was happy on, then wandered off in search of a late-opening bar. It was dead when we got there, so we took over the pool table and Jo took over as DJ. We got back to the room pretty late, but there seemed to be a party going on in the room next to us. Only 5 mins after we got in an angry little Vietnamese man was banging on their door, and about 20 people piled out. Our last morning was not to be a lie-in. We decided to go on the My Son trip which is a group of temple ruins about 50km out of the city. The ruins date back to 7th Century, but a lot were destroyed by the US in the 70's as they had no clue where the Viet Cong were, so they just bombed, burned and gassed EVERYTHING. We saw some lovely ruins and quite a few bomb craters but sadly our "English speaking guide" spoke some dialect of English that I'd definitely never heard of, so we wandered off by ourselves. That afternoon we did some final sightseeing in the Old Town, had our final fittings and picked up our new suits/jackets/shirts/coats, and a bit of a swim before boarding the bus to Nha Trang, this time with all 7 of us on board!

Halong Bay, Vietnam, 5 - 7 July 2012

After attempts at bargaining and trying to wait out a deal to get on Jos boat, I missed the boat (bu-dum-tsh) and Jen and I had to get another one. We went for one called Dugong which had a similar itinerary as Jos and the hotels on Cat Ba island were close to each other. Jo got picked up first in a transit minibus, and we got picked up later in a standard big minibus by a bloke who smelt like he'd had a big night before. The bus was full of various nationalities but it was early, so not much chatting and a lot of dozing for 4 hours to Ha Long. We left the rain in Hanoi and arrived at the dock in blistering sunshine, a good omen for the trip. A little boat ferried us to our big boat, which looked quite good, although unlike all of the brochures and pictures of the trips in Hanoi, the boats didn't have their little oriental sails up, and they weren't dark coloured with lots of wood on show, but completely painted white. Inside was 3 levels. The bottom was the rooms and kitchen, above the bar, and above that the sun-deck. The rooms were nice, lots of teak effect on show with en suite, twin beds and air-con. Lunch was served shortly after we boarded, and the unusual mix of chips, rice, chicken with veg, fried bread and omelette was brought out. Strange mix, but very good. After some grub and a bit of chatting, we went to the Surprising Cave which is 3 interconnected caves formed in limestone with lots of stalamites and stalagtites. Our guide insisted on pointing out ubiquitous looking formations and making us guess what they looked like, us always getting them wrong, especially the big lucky turtle that looked like an unlucky looking pile of cow poo. We left and got back on the little boat that took us to a few floating houses (not quite big enough to justify as village) where we got in double kayaks and went for a paddle. I confess I got a little frustrated as Jen was behind me and swore she was in time with me, but no matter, we seemed to keep changing course suddenly and often. We had a good explore though and saw some cool little caves, one of which the floating houses decided would be a prime spot to plant their satellite dish! We made it back and got back on the boat and went across to a little man-made beach on a small island. The beach was packed with Chinese/Vietnamese tourists when we arrived, all in their far-too-tight-budgie-smugglers throwing sand at each other (bloody odd). The crowds soon departed and we had a lot of the beach to ourselves, so the lanky aussie in our group tried to hire a ball so we could play volleyball, but they wanted something like USD5 to hire it for 20 mins! We all got back on the big boat and I decided to go find out about the price of the beer while Jen showered. It was USD2 per can (which is a LOT over here), so we hailed a woman in a little paddle boat over. They all sell all sorts of bits and pieces including beer! We got her down to USD1.20 each and a load of bought a shedload from her. Jen and I with Adam the Surrey plumber, Joe the lanky aussie, Mike the jock and one of the girls sat on top deck relaxing as darkness descended drinking our smuggled beers (which were perfectly cold to boot). Dinner was similar fare to lunch, but with more dishes including squid, another chicken dish and fish. After dinner and chatting around the table I still hadn't showered, so Jen and I went to our room, she read for a bit while I cleaned myself up. The fatigue got to us though as we both passed out on our beds and woke the next morning. Breakfast was taken early then we were told to pack up and get ready to go to the island. The bloke was only expecting 6 people to go to Cat Ba though, so was surprised and useless dealing with the extra 10 people telling him they were supposed to be going too. In the end those who booked to go just jumped into the boat before he could argue. We got into a minibus and were taken to Cat Ba National Park for a hike up to a summit. This wasn't really presented as optional or difficult. Quite a few barely made it up the hour climb and everyone was saturated in sweat. Nice view from the top though, then on the very narrow descent I stopped as some people going up passed, and the two French girls from tubing in Vang Vieng recognised me from when I bandaged up one of their legs and helped them to shore! Small world! We got back down, back on the bus and to Cat Ba town. More crappy organisation meant that our hotel was already booked up, so we were put in the hotel across the road. The rooms were ok but it was nowhere near as nice of a hotel as where we were supposed to stay, but it was only one night. We were to be fed in the original hotel anyway, so was ok. We ate then had an hour til a bus took us to Monkey Island. Jen is petrified of monkeys, so she decided to go in search of the beach and meet up again in a couple of hours. We had to take another boat out through a huge floating village to Monkey Island, then you had the choice of relaxing in the sea and on the beach or walking up to the top of the island to try and see the monkeys. Mike and a couple of others went walking whilst the majority of us stayed messing around in the water. After 10 mins we saw a monkey come right up to the edge of the beach. A further 20 mins later the others got back from their walk to report they'd seen sweet F.A. They weren't disappointed though as two more came down towards the beach before we left. Got back to land and the hotel and I found Jen in the room. She hadn't found the beach, but had got a bit lost and made herself a bit ill from being out in the sun so long without drinking. She stayed in the cool with a big bottle of water while I went in search of Jos hotel. I found it; the poshest on the strip, and spoke to 2 people in their rooms but couldn't reach her, so I left her a note. Later transpired that they were at that moment having their own troubles with getting a room sorted so had no set room. I went back to the waterside and sat looking out at the harbour and the sunset drinking Tiger beer. After dinner Jen was feeling faint and off still so I went to meet Jo and the others at their hotel. We all went out and they had dinner, and we all swapped stories, then found a bar with some life and happy hour! After a couple of hours a load of the guys from my boat turned up too out of the suddenly pouring rain. At around 12.30 Jo and the others decided to call it a night as they had to be up very early the next day. I walked them all back, then walked back to the bar again for a couple more drinks with my boat! Next day the rain from the previous night was only an introduction to the full blown storm now raging, and only 5 of our boat made breakfast. We then left for the boat half an hour late because our guide was absolutely useless, huffing and puffing, standing around in the wrong hotel. We told him the missing people were in the other hotel (that HE had arranged), and he eventually went over there but did nothing again, blaming "our friends". We told him we had only met them the day previously and that we didn't know what room they were in and it was HIS job to rally the group! Vietnamese organisation; love it. No logic. No common sense. Just blame. We got dropped off at the ridiculously tiny wharf (big enough for only 3 boats yet the jetty was over 100m long so could have built loads of landing bays) and clambered over 2 boats to get onto a boat (but not ours) to take us to land. Our amazing guide then got in a huff AGAIN because a English girl who was on our Perfume Pagoda trip was told by one of his colleagues to follow him, but he had no idea of how to deal with this despite it not really making any difference to him. We chatted and ate lunch on the boat, then got in another bus to whisk us back to Hanoi. We arrived in Hanoi at 5ish, and sat down for some grub before the nightbus in one of our favourite places, Gecko, where we met up with Jo and Liv. Next stop Hoi An via Hue!

Vang Vieng, Laos, 12-17 June 2012

We arrived in Vang Vieng after a very twisting and nausea inducing minibus from Luang Prabang. As luck would have it, we were in the same bus as Verena and the 4 Israelis as well as a Spaniard and Portuguese guy and a paddy couple. The latter 4 opted to stay at the guesthouse we were dropped outside whereas us others decided to look for something more central and cheaper. After far too much wandering around, we got a double room with a killer fan for £2 per night and right in the centre. We spent the remainder of the afternoon/evening watching How I Met Your Mother in the bar and drinking. Next day we decided to go tubing, but the Israelis didn't, so we left them to it, and after brekkie (and more HIMYM) we wandered down to ask about tubes and tuk-tuks to the start. We asked the right people as a Canadian couple said they were going too and their group were in a bar round the corner and for us to join in. We wandered round and found a bar going nuts full of people doing buckets and absinthe. We were handed a few buckets, I had a couple of absinthe, and we all had a dentist chair of Tiger Whisky before we even made it to the start of the tubing. These guys were further confirming that the some of the friendliest people to meet travelling are Canadians. From here in it gets a bit hazy. I remember 3 bars, jumping off some bloody high platforms, Jo flashing her boob as she tried to get out of the water, lots of bracelets, rope swings, loads of buckets, spray-painting each other, beer pong, floating about in a tube, whisky shots, running into the Spaniard who had a massive scratch across his face claiming a wolf did it, and the beautiful scenery as we floated down the river from the last bar to the end. I do vividly remember 2 French girls getting out of the water as we did, and one smashing her beer bottle and slashing her own knee in one movement. It started pissing blood so badly her whole lower leg was red, so I bandaged her up with my t-shirt and chatted French with them, but then when they asked where I was from and how I spoke French I suddenly couldn't remember anything in French anymore and couldn't utter another word! We got our tubes back with a minute to spare before we lost our deposit, wandered back to the bar where I can't remember what we ate or drank, and went to bed for a kip (it was only about 7.30). Jo woke me at 10pm, though I thought it was 10am, so when she said we were meeting Verena for a drink I bottled it and stayed in bed! The next day we were obviously awake pretty early, so we got some brekkie, hired some bikes and made for the blue lagoon some 6km away. Was a cool little place with lots of branches to jump off and rope swings and things, and a group of 50-something Aussies who we had apparently met tubing the previous day, though we couldn't remember that! After half an hour the Canadians turned up too. They were as battered and bruised as we were with similar unexplainable injuries. We chilled out there for a while, then as we cycled home 2 little local girls jumped a lift on the back of Verena and Jos bikes, cheeky sods! We spent the rest of the day doing not much, though we were grateful for the tv in our room with HBO showing movies. That night we went out to Bucket bar, where Jo returned from the bar with 5 buckets for free. We then tried another 2 bars but they were dead, so we returned to Bucket bar, had another drink, before Jo and Verena headed off to check another bar while I watched to footy for a bit before heading back to the room feeling crap from all the Tiger Whisky. Next morning we all felt crap. We did work out that Jo and I spent about £2 between us the night before though and ended up spanked! We did nothing at all really, I went and sat in another bar and watched Family Guy while Jo shopped for vests, then we watched about 5 hours of HIMYM! Following morning the weather had turned, so we were happy to leave, getting the short busride to the capital Vientiane.