So... having left Ho Chi Minh at 7.30 I arrived in Mui Ne at 1pm. Usual searching around for the right place to stay, didn't take too long. I soon discovered there isn't a whole lot to do in Mui Ne and it's really quiet; I was the only person staying in the bungalow resort I was at. Everywhere does the same day tour which I decided to do ASAP then leave. After some lunch and by 2.30pm I was on the back of my guides motorbike! There are 5 places you visit... despite the fact there isn't much there, I did really enjoy what there was and in parts it was a really beautiful place.

There's white sand dunes and red sand dunes, most people go to the red ones as they're near the town and don't bother with the white ones, but that's where I was headed first. I asked my driver how far they were and he told me 300km. This worried me a little, so I looked at the mileage and decided to give him 10km before asking again. 10km later he told me is was 200km away so he obviously had his decimals in the wrong places, phew! When you approach the sand dunes there is a lake in front which you have to ride a few km around, such nice scenery. When you first walk on the dunes you can see lots of footprints but as you walk further there becomes less and less. Luckily my guide was up for going far and we went all the way to the highest dune, where I could see nothing but blue sky, golden sand and 2 sets of trailing footprints.

Next on the agenda was the red canyon, nice but not as spectacular as it looks in the pictures. Everyone writes their name on one rock so I made sure I wouldn't be missed! Then onto the red sand dunes. Whereas on the white sand dunes I didn't see a single person here was tourist packed. At the bottom are little kids with sheets of plastic that you rent off them for sliding/boarding down the dunes. My kid was really intelligent, only 10 years old and had taught himself good English through tourist interaction. He took me to the steepest slope and we had a good laugh, he took a good photo for me too! It was soon getting dark, so we went down to the beach as the sun set to see the fishing village, just lots of fishing boats. There was no time for no.5 so we went back and I said I still wanted to go the next morning which wasn't a problem. That evening I had a great curry before borrowing a bike to cycle to a bar. I went to the 'happening' bar which had 2 people playing pool, then went the opposite direction to the only nightclub which was closed. Brilliant! I ended up cycling about 12-14km and enjoyed the people-watching as I passed by. I spoke to my brother (your famous now Mat) on MSN that night and he told me he's probably going to visit me in Oz for his birthday (18th) so that should be fun, get him DRUNK! Yes thats right mum and dad.

So in the morning I went to no.5, the 'fairy stream.' You walk in the stream, it's only 0-3 inches deep and take in the surrounding land formations. Enjoyed it again, had fun climbing some rocks, posing in archways, sinking in sinking mud and chasing crabs. When back at the bungalow I lay in the hammock for a while before having another curry as it was so good the previous night. Nice scenery on the bus journey of ride fields, mountains, kids playing in fields and other things. Here they play a 'keepy-up' game with a shuttlecock type thing. I haven't seen any people do more than about 5 though, whereas in Thailand they have a similar thing and are all amazing at it. There they use a little woven ball which is actually rock hard. They have so much accuracy and kick from behind their heads and things all the time and I watched one group do at least 100 keepy-ups. They've also invented a volleyball type game, exactly the same but lower net and kicking the ball. That's amazing to watch too, they're always doing flying kicks!

Anyway I arrived and found a hotel for $4 a night. Was offered one for the same price with 5 beds but decided against it! Walked around and had dinner. Took 50 minutes for a pizza which was a joke, especially out here where the average waiting time for a meal is under 5 minutes. It was nice though, and the chocolate mousse dessert I had was possibly the best thing I've had since I left England so I forgave them. I watched a sports update on my TV that evening, saw Cheltenham got promoted into the 1st league which is good!

Had croissants and banana cake for breakfast the next morning in a restaurant I promised I would go back to the night before. Then I rented a bike for the days activities, had a lot planned. First to the 'Po Nagar Cham Towers.' Not that impressive to be honest, but then they've got things like the Tak Mahal to beat so a bit unfair on them! Met some American-Vietnamese there and had ice cream with them. They were going to stay there for the next 3 hours because it was shaded and they didn't want to go in the sun; I said the Vietnamese don't like the sun! And they weren't even that much Vietamese. Then onto the 'Hon Chong' rocks. Someone was clever to think to make an entrance and charge people to enter as it's just a natural feature and you can easily walk onto them from the beach! I liked climbing and jumping on the rocks and did the self-timer thing (see pics below).

It was quite a ride to the 'Thap Ba Hot Springs' where I went next for some serious relaxation. Started off with my first ever mud bath! Then sunbathed still muddy as it's supposedly good for your skin and body. Washed it off with a hot shower before having a power jet massage. Then lay in a hot steam bath for a while, before a waterfall massage and swimming in a normal swimming pool. And all this for less than 2 pounds! After I went to a pagoda and trekked up the steps to the white buddha which was surrounded by lots of grave plates with kids climbing and playing chase on and around them. Then to the gallery of a local photographer called 'Long Thanh.' All his work is in black and white and is really good, http://www.elephantguide.com/longthanh/ is his website if you're interested, though it doesn't have my 2 favourite pictures of his. Finally I went to the Dam Market but it was more for locals not tourists and the smell of cigarette smoke and fish (my two most hated smells) soon turned me away! I drove along the beach front and saw a pretty bad crash, went out and had some dinner before bed.

Today I went on a boat trip. I was meant to be picked up at 9 but at 8.45 there was a banging on my door because the people were early - first ever! Picked up some more people and boarded our boat, quite big with about 30 people on. About 5 other boats of exactly the same format too, it's a popular trip. We visited 4 islands throughout the day, each suprising you with some sort of fee you're not told about beforehand!

No.1 was for swimming and snorkelling. I saw 2 cool creatures but don't know what they are. One I have seen before when diving and it was half buried in sand and it dangerous to touch. The other was shaped like a baracuda and had a long pointy nose. Will investigate them. A group of us were doing dives and flips from the top of the boat, hadn't done flips for ages. No.2 is where we had lunch. Big meal with noodles, beef, rice, bread, bananas and soup, helping yourself from the table. Filled up nicely. Then we had some entertainment - the guides singing songs from different countries of the world which was interesting. For England they sang "Yellow Submarine." Then we had the floating bar where everyone jumps in the water in an inflatable ring and helps themselves to the free wine from the guides little floating device! No.3 was name 5000 Dong Island as you have to pay this much for everything. It's only 17p though and all I had to pay for was entry onto the island. Walked along the beach, played some volleyball working up a sweat before jumping in the sea to call off. Had an ice cream on my way back to the boat. I heard some people shout "DAN," turned around confused and it was some Vietnamese people who had been on the same bus journey as me before and were infactuated with me... "Oh your so handsome. I want to die." Haha. No.4 all there was to do was visit the aquarium. It was 20000 Dong and I had no more money (I was told I wouldn't need any) so I didn't go. Wasn't bothered though, it was only for half an hour and I'd much rather see the fish in their natural habitat when scuba diving! Listened to some music whilst waiting and watched this guy hammering off the things that cling to rocks, cutting them open with a knife then eating them - gross. Got back about 5, had dinner same place as last night then came on internet!

Big white buddha
Little old lady
Climbed the highest rock! Taken on self timer; 30 seconds to get to the top.
Inside a temple
Snoozing cyclo rider
Men at sea
The river I walked along...
...And one of it's features!
Fishing boat at sunset
Sand-boarding!!
Family outing
Chinese bar
View of the white sand dunes
Nobody else but me
Looking back all I could see was blue sky, golden sand and the footprints of myself and my guide...
Shop named "DAN"

Not much happened the rest of the day I last posted. In the evening I had some nice, cheap "Pho" (meaning "noodles") which is a Vietnamese speciality and you find everywhere. Whilst there I met some Vietnamese girls and we went to a bar, but only for 2 drinks as I knew I had to be up early for my day trip to the Mekong Delta, so I went to bed quite early.

Woke up at 6.45 the next morning in time for a 7.30 bus and was there by 7.25 to be safe. The bus on the other hand didn't turn up until 7.50. I'm used to late transport by now though and 20 minutes isn't that bad compared to previous experiences so let it pass. What I'm not yet used to however is what happened next... This bus only drove for about 30 seconds, before stopping and dropping me off just 50m down the road where I was told to wait for my bus. So I waited, and was picked up by another bus at 8.10. I'm ready to go now, but where am I going? Back to where I started! And here I had to wait until 8.30 when I was finally picked up by the right bus.

We drove for about an hour, caught a half hour ferry and then boarded our boat for the day. We visited 3 islands during the day. On the first they were making coconut candy, the samples we were given on arrival were quite nice even though I don't like coconut. They were freshly made and still hot and sticky. We left here and went through a little canal which I really liked and our boat driver stopped and climbed in the trees just above the water to get some water coconuts. On the next island we had our lunch. Pork and rice followed by a fruit plate each with loads of different fruits on. Whilst we ate we had the 'pleasure' of some of the locals playing/singing traditional Vietnamese music to us. Then it was through another canal where there were people rowing their little boats to get to the final island. Here is where they make honey tea which we sampled, nice and sweet. There was a snake there too which most people were afraid to go near, some touched, and I was the only person to hold on my own! There was a littl river where I fed lychee to some catfish.

We stopped off at a bonzai garden on the way back, a few monkeys in cages which was really sad, the cages were so small. I gave one monkey a banana and it swung at me! But another monkey was so sweet, it would put its hand out and when you held it it would hold you back, just looking really sad and trapped. Once back in the main city I went for a walk. There were some massive traffic jams of motorbikes which I watched for a while and then escaped with a walk in the park. The Vietnamese are really into their badminton and when I was in the park at about 9pm there were still 10's of people playing, just couples hitting back and forth. I was approached by a girl wanting to improve her English so we talked for a while. She was really friendly and introduced me to her sister as well and gave me her number saying she could ride me round the city the next day if I wanted to go anywhere, I just had to call. I told her where I was staying too so she could pick me up if necessary. I left there and went to a bar where I met 4 Ozzies. They were older, in their 30's, but really nice people. I ended up staying in the bar talking with the Ozzies and one of the barmaids until 2am. The walk home was only about 100m, but even in that short space someone tried to rob me (again, certain mothers/grandmothers will worry now) by jumping off their bike and going for my pocket. I held them off though and they soon left me alone.

I was awoken the next morning by the phone in my room ringing. It was Luong (the girl from the night before) in reception! Had a quick shower before hopping on her bike for some sight-seeing. We visited the Fine Arts Museum first, followed by the Notre Dame Cathedral, a really old building with really new ones in the background. The Vietnamese really don't like the midday sun, to the extent that if they see a traffic light is red, they will wait in the shade 20/30m back from the lights. It really confused me the first time, I thought maybe there was a strange law or imaginary lights! Then we went to a cafe where I had bangers and mash! We tried to go bowling but it was full so we played some arcade games in stead and on the game where you have to punch a punch bag I got the top score! They dropped me back at my hotel at 4 as I had arranged to meet the 4 Ozzies and 2 of the barmaids from the night before.

We went to Ben Thanh market where I was tempted into 2 more DVD's (very cheap here) and got a couple of bathroom essentials. They bought some bits too and got some presents for the 2 bar girls as they earn so little. When they first said to one girl to choose something she said "I don't want anything, I only want to be with you and I'm happy." So sweet! We sat down for dinner and Mark ordered crab soup and when it came it had something in which we weren't sure what it was. One of the bar girls had a pocket translater so she typed in the Vietnamese while we all waited in suspense before the word appeared... "BLOOD!" I tried some sugar cane juice which the Vietnamese seem to love. We had a couple of beers before heading to a bar for a couple more! It was good fun there, laughing and joking and we decided on spur of the moment to go to a Karaoke Bar! It was really funny, we were in a room of our own and the music was really loud. An even mix of Vietnamese and English songs to choose between, though none after about 1995! I got a 98% for one of my performances but then again Andy got 2x 100% for his Vietnamese singing so maybe the marking was random! When I got back to my room I had to face the same dilemma as I did every night. When using the bathroom, I have a choice... I can do it in the dark, which isn't so easy. Or, I can do it with the light on... but suffer the electric shock I get every time I press the light switch! I think that time I took the shock.

I filled myself the next lunchtime with a pasta and spaghetti buffet which was good, I watched some football too and stayed the buffet's length ensuring my moneys worth! There was a job advertisement which I enquired about and was offered the job there and then! But at 2 pounds a day I had to decline. I spent the rest of the day wandering and having the occasional fruit shake/beer. Andy and Mark were in the bar all day and when I went past at about 4pm they were luring customers in (and actually doing a better job than the people who work there!) I called Luong in the evening and she picked me up to go bowling. I didn't do too badly after a long bowling absence, getting 107 and 130.

I was picked up from my hotel again the next day by Luong and her sister and we went to a waterpark for the day. It was really cool; there were some ropeswings that I fell from awkwardly a few times resulting in a bright red back, but also pulled some backflips from, a 19m vertical slide, some dark tubes that you go down on an inflatable ring really fast, some slides you go down head first on a mat and skim really far across the water at the bottom, a wave pool and a lazy river, among others. We had a really fun day! We had dinner afterwards and then dropped her sister off. I found a shop called "DAN" but couldn't get a decent photo whilst riding around the different areas of the city. There's some really nicely lit up buildings, parks and water fountains about. We sat on a wall on the roadside and talked for a bit before saying our last goodbye! She had been really good to take me around everywhere. I went to the same bar afterwards, had a beer and a pancake which was massive and really nice! Talked to the same barmaid again, she was really really nice and such a sweet girl.

This morning I got the bus at 7.30 to where I am now, Mui Ne. I will write about my day today next time though as I'm tired! Goodnight.

A Vietnamese washing powder advert - aren't they friendly?
People playing a Vietnamese board game on the roadside
A canal of the Mekong Delta
A typical rush hour scene at a red traffic light
Old v. New building contrast
"Fanny Ice Cream"
The walkway leading to the island where I had lunch
Lightening bolt fire gets put out
Me and my new friend
My new camera has some cool functions!

We ate in a food hall after I last wrote, really cheap. We soon found out why, on the discovery of many dead ants in the rice. We complained and she brought us a bigger bowl of rice with even more ants, so we figured it was just a delecasy and made the most of it! Decided against the "Grilled kind of with egg."

The floating market was really good, if not a little expensive (for Cambodian standards), but definately worth it. Interestingly bumpy ride through the really, really poor slums along the riverside. Saw all the peoples houses, the floating densist and church. Everyone living there always smiling and waving, despite the fact they must get lots of visitors so that was nice. Stopped on a tourist shop, which also had a viewing point and crocodile pit. Had a slow boat but friendly guide. The water at the time was only 1/2m deep as you could tell from the children standing in it, but in the high raining season it's 8-10m deep, such a difference! The houses really are floating, not on stilts, so move up and down with the water.

Bus journey wasn't very good, they played (rubbish) Cambodian music the whole way about 100dB too loud, no joke. Another Westerner eventually complained so they turned it down to about 80dB. The 2 ladies either side of me were being sick a lot of the way too which was just fantastic. Lots of beggars at the stop offs, and people selling weird food like cockroaches, frogs, whole birds and fried spiders (see pics). Arrived in Phnom Phen to find too many tuk-tuks and too little business. Found decent sized room for US$5 per night for 3 people, another bargain. We had dinner then walked to 'Sisowath Quay' where there were lots of couples sat on their motorbike together and an interesting boat nightclub with no customers but really loud music!

We slept in a bit the next day, waking up at 10. Had cheap breakfast (lemon ice tea, garlic bread baguette and chicken sandwich for 50p) at 'Capitol' at the end of the road, good place for backpackers and booking tours/travel. Found a tuk-tuk who agreed on $10 for the day. On the way to our first stop it was pouring with rain, we were on the worst roads too. Saw lots of people skidding and getting so dirty, including our driver! Arrived at 'Choeng Ek' aka 'The Killing Fields.' This is where many people were buried during the Khmer Rouge period not so long ago. Not so much there, lots of pits where the bodies have been dug up from, a glass memorial with all the skulls in and some bones dotted around, arms, legs, teeth. Very eery feeling there.

Next it was to the shooting range! Amazing!!! Upon arrival you're given the menu...

Coke - $1
Sprite - $1
Fanta - $1
Colt 45 - $13
M16 - $25
AK47 - $30
Grenade - $30
Rocket launcher - $200

Best menu ever! Not allowed to take photos of it though. I went for the AK47, it had to be done. Had 25 bullets and loved every single one. Was shooting a target 50m away, did some single shots first then moved onto automatic, firing 3-5 shots in 4 bursts. Hit the target 20/25 bullets which is actually really good (people I've talked to haven't hit the target!) and the shots were grouped well. Think I'm going to save up and go back for the rocket launcher, they take you into the mountains for it and you blow up a massive tank of oil!

Back onto the slippery roads and our tuk-tuk did a 180! Saw a crash too. Went to the 'Toul Sleng Museum' which is linked to the Choeng Ek killing fields. Also used by the Khmer Rouge during their time of crazy ruling, it used to be a school, they turned it into a prison and it's now the museum. They would take their prisoners there for torture; they would either die there as a result or be transported to the fields where they were killed and buried. Really brutal and inhumane, disturbing. Lots of photos around, one room with thousands of some of the innocents killed. At their peak they were killing 100 people a day. Also pictures of dead people after the torture and during torture etc, that's the disturbing part. The torturers were really cruel people, and are still alive out in the real world somewhere.

We next went to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda which was OK but not so great, you can only see so many buildings/temples before they start to look the same! We went to the Russian Market too which was just closing up, before dinner, home and bed.

We took a 6.45am bus which was quite empty so we took 2 seats each, best journey recently. At the Vietnam border there were a couple of scams going on. First one was these guys filling out your arrival card for a fee, we just about managed to avoid that one. But the next one they wouldn't let us through without it, though it obviously wasn't real. It was a health quaranteen but they didn't make any kind of check or ask any questions, just gave us a 'receipt' and made us pay! Never mind.

Met an American who joined us making 4 and we found a room on arrival in Ho Chi Minh City (where I am now) for $14 a night for all of us, bit more expensive but luxury, has air con and a fridge! Was able to freeze my chocolate for the first time in weeks so have been eating that! We walked to the 'Ben Thanh Market' which is the most airy and easy to navigate market I've been to in a long time. Got hassled quite a lot though but all in good nature! We walked to the Municipal Theatre just for a look from the outside and then went up to the balcony of an expensive hotel next to it for a good look out over the bust streets. At the entrance to every guesthouse here is a small travel agency, so I talked to the girl in the one at our guesthouse for quite a while, she gave me some useful tips for where to go and how long to say and what to see and was really nice. When the others came back (we split up for a while) we went out for a quick beer. Then me and Hawk (one of the Singaporians) went on a mission looking for milk for him and walked for about an hour before we found some! Was fun though, watching the she-males riding around looking for business and the children waiting outside the closing nightclubs with buckets of roses.

Had a tour booked for yesterday so woke at 7.30 for our 8.15 bus, squeezed in some donuts and chocolate croissants from a street vendor whilst waiting, very tasty! We were off to the Cu Chi Tunnels; a 250km tunnel system ranging from 2m to about 10m deep underground, built entirely by hand using only shovels. They were used by the Vietnamese during the war, it's basically where they lived. Really really clever. Examples: the kitchen smoke was sent through passages and came out of the ground un-noticably 2km away from its origin and the air holes going underground were disguised within mounds surrounded by garlic to hide any scent traces. The tunnels are unbelievably tiny, about 2 feet wide and high and the Vietnemese had to crawl through them in single file carrying their AK47's for km's at a time. I don't know how they did it; we went through one over double the size for about 50m and that was difficult!

We also looked at the different traps they used, quite sickly. Basically theres different types of trap doors with different arrangements of steel bars that either hack up your legs or kill you, depending on whether they needed you alive or not for interrogation. Very clever again though. there was a tank too and I managed to weightlift the turret! On the way back we visited a place where war victims work, producing all kinds of souvenirs, very skilled work. Theres tens of them there, all with at least one limb missing. Then we got dropped off at the war museum, some fighter planes, helicopters and tanks outside. Theres 2 rooms with stories and photos in. The first room is pictures from combat, loads of the photos there are amazing. The next room is quite disturbing in a similar way to the Toul Sleng Museum. Pictures of victims, dead children etc and some of them with captions that just leave you stood there thinking for minutes. Things like "These people were about to be shot. I told the gunmen to wait so I could photograph them. I turned around and heard fire open up, I didn't look back." Then you look at the picture and see the fear in these people eyes, mothers holding their babies. It's really quite scary.

Afterwards we went back to the market as it had the best exchange rate we've found. I ended up buying one more Ralph Lauren polo too, I told myself I wasn't going to buy anymore but I couldn't resist. on the way home we stopped for dinner which was really crappy. I tried to find somewhere with MSN but nowhere here has it, they all use yahoo messenger. Even the internet wasn't working most places so I gave up and went to bed.

Today I slept in till 11 which was great. It's been pouring with rain so difficult to do anything. Had a pizza for lunch in a place where you make it yourself! One of the best pizzas I've ever had! more expensive than other places here but I treated myself at 3 pounds. Then I stopped off at 'Fanny' for some ice-cream, yum. Was taking cover from the rain on the way here and the lightening was at full power. A blot struck the building opposite where I was taking cover, it was so loud and frightening. It hit a mass of wires which caught on fire and started to spread, setting fire to this building opposite. Everyone evacuated and the fire brigade took ages to get here but managed to put it out before it spread beyond the one room. Now I'm off!

Bad things have stopped happening to me now (touch wood) and besides what I wrote about things have been good. So I had the camera and money stolen and that night I ended up being on the phone to my bank and then in a Hong Kong police station till 5am. I told the officer about the camera and she wrote up the incident and when I told her there was something else too she said "Oh for f*** sake" - great service! I had to leave early the next morning, took a boat to Macau, then a bus to the airport. The following flight was the one which had to make the emergency landing. Then I was told I couldn't get my connecting flight.

So I got an airport bus to the main place people go in Bangkok, Khao San Road, as featured in 'The Beach.' On the bus I met a Japanese man who had been to Bangkok many times and took me to a guesthouse who knew called Kik Kik Kik (Cheap Cheap Cheap in Thai) where I ended up staying. He actually has an apartment in Chiang Mai in the North of Thailand which he invited me to but I don't think I'll be going. Walked up and down Khao San that evening taking everything in, looking at the market stalls and eating cheap candy floss!

The next day I took a bus to the MBK, a shopping arcade. It's MASSIVE, has 6 floors and a floor with food, games arcade, bowling, cinema etc. Shopped around for a new camera. Also found a Marks and Spencers where I topped up on Percy Pigs, my favourite! On the bus on the way back I couldn't work out where to get off so was looking at a map. After a while someone asked where I was going and I said Khao San Road and they told me to follow them, which I did. We got off the bus and started chatting and it turned out she was just going to Khao San on her own so we went together and had dinner then some drinks.

Can't remember the order of things for my few days in Bangkok so I'll just write what we did. I saw Pad (girl from bus) every day as she was on holiday from her job for a week. We went to Chatuchak Market, the largest weekend market in the world with over 9000 individual stalls. Needless to say, it's massive! Also went to Lumphini Park. It's really nice there; a big lake with turtles swimming in it! Fountains and boat for hire. And at 6pm every day tens, hundreds of people gather to dance. They put on 10 year old English songs remixed by Thai people at full volume and do the funniest dances, it's hilarious! We went back to the MBK on my last day and I bought a new camera, the Canon IXUS 60. I love it, it takes really good pictures :-) Though I've only just got a case for it and in the one day I used it without a case I got a few little scratches on it which is majorly annoying.

We went out every evening, either to a place called Silk Bar or the Gullivers Travellers Bar. This was the place to be! About 50/50 mix of Asian/Western people but everyone just had a good time and talked to whoever! They did play music repetitively night by night though. And one night we only went for half an hour in which time they played one song twice, and 3/4 Black Eyed Peas songs. At 1am it's illegal to serve alcohol so most bars shut then. A few bars just serve illegally on the sly, otherwise theres a street where people put out mats on the pavements, then 2 vans sell alcohol and at the cheapest prices in town! I don't know why I'm about to tell this story as I know certain family members will have heart attacks...

One night we were there talking to 2 English people and a German. A Thai guy came over and was talking to the German, I wasn't paying attention to the conversation but they were joking around until the Thai guy took something the wrong way and started kicking and hitting the German. The people selling the alcohol came over and got rid of him as they don't want their customers scared away. 20 minutes later the Thai came back on a moped, with a baseball bat. He started hitting the German who tried to run away, but the Thai caught up with him and hit him more. The van people had to stop him again, but it was really bad. A lot of people ran away/left; I stayed out of the way until the Thai left then went over to help the German guy. His head was cracked open, his nose was broken, both his arms and his wrist and ribs were broken, he'd really been beaten. I helped him into a hotel lobby and helped get ice, tissue, clean up the wounds, crack bone into place etc. While we were doing this the police arrived. They didn't help the German though, just talked to the van people. Then the Thai came back again, this time with a knife and slashed one of the van people in the face. The police didn't do anything as they knew the Thai guy, so he just rode away. The law is messed up.

After 4/5 days I left Bangkok to Cambodia. Got my visa at the border, the journey took 14 hours by bus and was crap. The bumpiest roads I've ever come accross throughout the whole of Cambodia. The bus was really really sticky, completely full to the extent the bags were in the aisle, you couldn't move an inch. Met two Singaporeans on the way though, when we arrived the bus took us to their own guesthouse in the middle of nowhere. This way they expect a lot of people to stay there but hardly anyone from the bus did. We got a tuk-tuk to the main town area and found a decent enough guesthouse straight away for US$6 for all 3 of us per night (1 pound each). At the border we were told it was the best exchange rate, but Ihad heard stories about money changing scams at the border so just changed a few pounds for food. One girl changed about 200 pounds; she's going to be gutted as it was a bad rate at the border.

Although the currency here is Riel, everything pretty much works in US Dollars. They just give Riel as small change in stead on Cents as coins aren't used here, it's a bit odd! Today I went to Angkor Wat, the largest temple site in the world. It was pretty amazing. We woke at 4.30am to go and see the sunset, definately worth it especially as there was a double rainbow! We had a tuk-tuk driver for $8 for the whole day who drove us between the temples as each is several km apart. We walked so many km anyway though within the temples, and had to climb a lot of steep steps but it was fun! I'm off to Phnom Phen with the Singaporeans tomorrow afternoon after a visit to the floating market in the morning so I'll write next from there!

I have had the worst day ever having been robbed twice. First I had my camera with its spare battery and 3 memory cards (including 600 photos) stolen. Then when buying a new camera this evening I was scammed out of another 150 pounds. I'm alone again now after having been with my parents for 10 days which is pretty difficult. For the first time today I physically wanted to go home. Hard times...

Next day: While on the way to my ferry I fell on an escalator bending back and bruising my toes. Then I had a flight transfer going through Bangkok. It was quite bumpy all the way, then when we went to land the landing gear wouldn't deploy so we had to make an emergency ascent. We were circling for ages, and kept going up really steeply then dropping really quickly which messes with your head. Then the pilot came out (I thought to say to everyone hold on and pray) but he went and talked to 2 passengers. One went with the pilot along the walkway to the middle of the plane and opened up a door in the floor. They were playing with things there for a while whilst the other passenger helped to fly the plane. It was all a bit surreal and everyone was panicking, it was really rough the whole time too; I later found out this was because there was a massive dent and whole in the side of the plane just below the wing. We eventually landed safely and you'd think things couldn't get any worse... right? Wrong! I collected my luggage, got through immigration and went to check in for my follow up flight to Vietnam. It was at this point that I nearly broke down on the spot when I was told I wasn't allowed on my flight as I needed and didn't have a Vietnamese Visa. Hence I am now stranded in Bangkok. Things can only get better...

Here's a load more photo's :-) Most of them are recent, from Hong Kong and China in the last few days but there's a couple from Phuket that I missed out and also the ones of Songkran from a month ago in Thailand. Some great views and hilarious shop names; enjoy!