Hoi-An and the My Son Temples

We arrived into Hoi-An at about 5:30 and were greeted by a throng of people wanting us to use their hotel. We had arranged with out Hué hotel (family connections) to stay at a specific hotel in Hoi An and there were two tiny Vietnamese girls dressed in pink waiting to collect us. When they saw our luggage they looked a bit worried and we realised that they intended to drive us to the hotel by moto. It was certainly a precarious ride with my big backpack on my back, holding onto my hand luggage with one hand and the moto with my other hand. Her hair kept blowing in my face and there wasn't anything I could do about it!!

The hotel was just what we needed: two beds, aircon and a bathroom. We showered, unpacked a bit then headed out for dinner and the England game. It took us about 15 minutes to walk to the centre past a million tailors, shoe stores and other various shops. We found a bar called 'Treats' that had a projector TV and were just settling down with the menu when someone said to us "England Sucks" (note: we were both wearing our England shirts). We looked up to see Fernando and Shana sat there!

It was good to see them and catch up. They had had a worse experience with the trains than we had: they caught the 7pm train but it took 18 hours instead of the advertised 12. I think I'm glad ours left at 11. Do the bus next time! Fernando wasn't happy and we learned the Brazilian word for 'Son of a Bitch'! They had only done the beach so far at Hoi An and a whole heap of shopping.

We were up early the next morning to visit the My (pronounced Me) Son temples just outside Hoi An. The minibus collected us and dropped off at the entrance. The group was particularly chatty which was a bonus. We met a Vietnamese American guy called Kevin who was particularly chatty.

When we got to the site we had a complicated arrangement of buses to get in where our first minibus dropped us off outside the site, we crossed a small bridge, then another bus took us 100 metres to the area we were going to start our walk from. Our guide sat us down in front of a big map of the site and pointed out the main temples we were going to visit. They were given the very original classifications by letter.

We walked up into the temple area. The first group was B, C and D. Our guide gave us a short introductory talk. The temples were from the Cham Kingdom which was what Central Vietnam was originally before they were conquered by the Vietnamese a few hundred years ago. The temples were not in good shape and also suffered during the war when American troops used some as target practice. We were then left to our own devices to wander around. It was a shame that we hardly knew anything about them though.

Group A was most interesting as it was the ones used for target practice. We could poke our heads into all the temples. Like the Cambodians, the Cham didn't get round to inventing the archway which gave all the temples a slight run down look, as if they were about to fall over.

We were then ferried back to our minibuses and then returned to Hoi An via the river and a nice boat trip down some river that I have no idea what it was called. We were served lunch on the boat and then we stopped at a village where they made crafts. It was very interesting to see it being made, and the finished products were really good and also suprisingly cheap! We both made a few purchases and then headed back to the boats and headed back to Hoi An.

We had a bit of our own shopping in the evening and had some shoes made specially for scary prices i.e. $10 US for a pair! Wait to see how good they are though!

The following day was another early start for a trip out to Cham Island about 10km off the coast. It was a very weird start as we were the only people on the minibus and then sat on the dock for about half an hour waiting for something to happen. Eventually we boarded the boat with four Vietnamese tourists and we set off.

It took us about an hour to get cross over to the Island but it was an enjoyable journey nonetheless. We arrived at the little fishing village on the island - the only inhabitation there. It was fun wandering around as we only spotted one other white face while we were there. We got to see the villagers preparing and selling their catches - mainly shellfish and octopus, and we even saw a minor fight between two vendors: one a pregnant lady and a guy. The lady won hands down!! We also got to see an ice factory where they produced ice to keep the fish fresh.

Our guide gave us their local delicacy which was a pastry ball wrapped in some kind of fruit. It was pretty disgusting to be honest.

We hopped back on the boat and headed to a small bay for some snorkelling, which was good fun although there weren't too many fish. I nearly got left behind as everyone had finished and was just waiting for me. We then continued round to a beach where we had (unfortunately for Dave) a seafood lunch which was fantastic. Nice and fresh. The rest of the afternoon was spent sunbathing, swimming and snorkelling. The snorkelling was much better here and I saw a conga eel hiding under a rock.

We headed back about half three and got back to our hotel about five. We spent the evening getting some clothes fitted. Kind of weird as they gave us a next catalogue and we just picked out styles. The girls in our guesthouse all seemed to be going crazy over the clothes and coming back with bags and bags every evening! Met a couple in the evening who had beentravelingg for 11 months so far!!

Got up early (seeing a trend here?) to do a bit of a walking tour round Hoi An. It is a fascinating place with lots of Vietnamese architecture. Definitely my favourite place in Vietnam so far.

I wandered down into the centre to the Japanese covered bridge which is very similar to the one in Hue. I crossed over and wandered along the street for about half a mile before heading back for breakfast at a little cafe overlooking the bridge. The architecture of Hoi An is very traditionally Vietnamese including the fact that they all have two eyes above the door which are the eyes of the house. Hoi An is also made more picturesque by the trees with pink and purple flowers.

I headed down to the docks and then wandered along the harbour front which was bustling with boats and stalls. Weirdly, I wasn't getting too much hassle either which was a pleasant change. At the end of the harbour the road turned inland and I came to a Vietnamese market. It was good to be out of the hot sun and the market itself was fascinating. I was completely ignored in here as this was a market for Vietnamese.

I continued to wander round the streets and slowly headed back to the guesthouse to collect Dave and we went for our fittings and to collect a pair of Dave's shoes that needed to be corrected. We finished off the day by playing pool before being collected by bus to head to Nha Trang.

Hué and the Citadel

The train journey down was long and pretty uneventful. The annoying %^*(%(%()% woke us up at 6 with a PM announcement and I still have no idea why. The stewardess then came in to get the Vietnamese family ready for their stop which was Doing Hoi. They got their tickets and a bit of breakfast. I rolled over and went back to sleep.

We arrived at Hué station at about 11 having dropped the Vietnamese family off and had an elderly Vietnamese lady as company for the last three hours. We got a taxi into the centre of Hué, which wasn't far and checked into our hotel which we had selected from Lonely Planet, and was called Phuon Hoang Hotel. It was a little place run by a Vietnamese couple down a little alley off the main road which ran alongside the river.

We checked into our room and then went for a wander to find food. A few guys asked us if we wanted a moto but then one offered to take us to a good place for lunch and take us round the sights for $5 each. I got a good vibe from him and so I hopped on the back of his moto and Dave on another that was nearby and he took us to a place called the Mandarin Cafe. It was a great little place and I had my usual chicken with noodles which is becoming a firm favourite.

After we finished we boarded the two motos, collected some stuff from the hotel and off we went. My moto driver's name was Tri and he spoke passable English. Dave's driver didn't speak any!

We headed south out of Hué towards the tomb of Tu Doc who was the emperor between 1848 and 1883 during the Nguyen dynasty. It was a majestic place set around a lake filled wililiesies. There are tombs there for his wives and concubines too. We wandered round for about half an hour (stupidly in the hottest part of the day) although there were other tourists there at the same time as us.

Next stop was an American bunker. It was situated on a hill overlooking the river and, according to Tri, the VC were literally the other side making it a vital location.

We visited a small pagoda next called Tu Hieu Pagoda. This was only a quick visit as it was a workimonasterytry still. The setting was quite nice - around a small lake and enclosed by forests. Tri even tried to set us up with some Vietnamese girls who were there.

We headed back into the city - across two bridges that had their own moto lane (very narrow though), which were actually railway bridges. We then headed west for a few kilometres to Thien Mu Pagoda, which is an iconic Vietnamese place. It was an octagonal shaped building, although fairly small, with seven sections and stood raised above the river on a bluff. It was easy to see why it was such an iconic building as it looked very impressive and was so different to all the other pagodas we'd seen. It also became central to various uprisings and demonstrations.

The weather appeared about to turn at this point as the wind picked up and there were some nasty looking clouds in the distance over the mountains. Dave was convinced it was going to rain but Tri was equally convinced it wasn't!

Our next stop was Hué's most distinguishing feature: the Citadel. Hué was the capital of Vietnam during the period of the Nguyen emperors and there was a beautiful palace within the Citadel walls - unfortunately destroyed by the Americans. The walls themselves remain and several buildings, and the old town has grown within the walls too.

We entered the citadel through the Quang Duc gate and passed by four of the nine cannons which represented the four seasons, and then across the moat into the main citadel area. It cost us 55,000 dong to get in (about $4US) and we passed through the main Ngo Mon gate.

Once through, we crossed another small bridge set over a pond liliesllies in and were greeted by the Thai Hoa palace which was used for official functions. The throne was pretty spectacular - all gold leaf and drapes. The hall was made from wood and was very impressive.

We walked out the back to the forbidden purple palace of which only two small buildings remained, both of which were effectively museums now although with a few interesting pots and pans in.

We met Tri back at the entrance and drove around the old city with a stop at a display of American tanks and artillery - all captured by the VC during the war - and then past the Tinh Tam Lake which was pretty stagnant. From there we headed out of the city towards the Thanh Toan Bridge. It's about 6km outside the city and it wfascinatingating drive through rice paddies and small villages to get there.

The bridge itself is a covered bridge and when we arrived we found plenty of villagers sitting there hiding from the hot afternoon sun. It was a nice setting on the river and we stayed here a while. There was a couple on the bridge and the girl was getting her palm read. Apparently if she spends $100 she'll make $100.

We headed back into the city and to the hotel and relaxed for a bit. Tri was keen to head out in the evening and take us to dinner. Dave wasn't keen but I was. He took me to a small place where I was probably the only white person for a few km. Beer was 9,000 dong for two litres (which I had to drink most of because Tri was driving). Unfortunately the menu was only in Vietnamese (unsuprisingly!) so it took a while to try and get translations from Tri and we came down to ordering something called Ech - which, from what Tri said, I thought was fish, but turned out to be frogs. Deep fried. Whole. Ate about half of them to be polite. Tasted like crisps to be honest.

The following day was another travel day so we had a lie-in and did some shopping for rice-paper pictures which Hué is famous for. We caught our bus at 2 and headed to Hoi An.

Halong Bay

A very early start but unfortunately no water so showers weren't available so killed time watching the end of Argentina v Ivory Coast. Two people from our hotel were going on the tour too: a Brazilian couple called Fernando and Shana who are, if memory serves me, the first Brazilians I've ever met. We were picked up by minibus and joined four Norwegians (Daniel, Tyler, Hanna and Jeanette), a German (Annika) and a South Korean (Maisy). It was about a three hour trip which was split by a shop with every other travel bus for breakfast and a craft shop.

I changed seats for the second half of the trip and sat next to Fernando and Shana and we talked football all the way there and I impressed them because I've heard of Garrincha (Did you know Garrincha wanted to buy a radio during the 1958 World Cup in Sweden but decided not to because he could only ones that spoke Swedish?).

We arrived at the harbour to find about 80 Junks all waiting. Our guide, Bac (pronounced Buck) sorted our tickets out and we climbed on board our Junk. It had three levels - the bottom was cabins and the middle deck was tables for chatting and eating. There was also a roof terrace with deckchairs for sunbathing.

We had a little dilemma when Bac wanted all our passports and I, and three of the four Norwegians had left them back in the hotel (no-one told us we needed them!!) and this delayed our departure for about half an hour but then Bac 'borrowed' some passports. I never found out my new identity!! We eventually got going and heading off into Halong Bay. Didn't bother us too much as we'd found the Esky full of beer.

It was very nice sitting on the top deck with a beer as we cruised through the islands (there are supposed to be about 3,000!) although I confess that a mixture of the beer, sun and lack of sleep the night before meant I fell asleep. Nice sleep though!

I woke up in time for our first stop which was the Hang Sung Sot Caves (or the 'Surprising Caves' as they are known). They were well lit up but we'd seen plenty of caves on the trip so it wasn't that amazing. Although it did have a rock shaped like a penis which was lit up.

We headed back out among the islands and stopped somewhere (all the islands kind of look like one another) for swimming and kayaking. I didn't have the courage to join in the others jumping from the top of the boat but I was the only one (with Maisy) to take the Kayaks out. I had to teach her to paddle properly but she got the hang of it by the end! We circled the small bay before heading back cos she thought we were going to get attacked by sharks.

We headed to where we were going to spend the night and joined all the other boats. On the way Dave, Fernando, Shanna, Annika, Maisy and I sat up top and chatted. In keeping with Dave's favourite subject content (Famous Canadians) we had to come up with famous Brazilians, Germans (remember Hitler was Austrian!!), Brits and South Koreans. We didn't do so well with South Koreans and my contribution was mostly footballers. OK entirely footballers.

We had dinner about 7 and it was another stretch or starve occasion. Vietnamese spring rolls have been a surprise - have to find somewhere to get them back in Bristol! Unbelievably we managed to get some TV reception to watch the Dutch play Serbia. Annika, who didn't watch the game, reported that there was cheering from all the other boats when the goal was scored!

The following day saw an early start to the morning as the sun was shining in through the window. I sat up on the top deck enjoying the morning sun before Fernando and Shanna convinced me to go swimming. Very refreshing!!

After breakfast (French bread and jam again!) we were dropped off at Cat Ba Island with the four Norwegians. Everyone else was only on the two day tour and was heading back. We said our goodbyes and got packed into a minibus and drove along the concrete causeway onto the island. The causeway snaked its way along an estuary before heading up into the mountains.

The island was like something out of Jurassic Park with jungle and mountainous peaks and it was a fascinating drive. There was the odd settlement here and there. We passed a funeral on the way through. It was a procession of musicians and about 50 people. Unfortunately one of the ladies dressed in black collapsed and we waited while she was put onto a motorbike and driven back to her home. It was a very moving scene.

Our morning activity was a trek in Cat Ba National Park and we were dropped off with another group in the park. We joined an Australian couple (in their 30s) and three 60-somethings (two Aussies and a Brit).

We headed up into the mountains at a fairly steady pace with plenty of stops and eventually reached a ridge with great views both out towards the Bay and also into the island (further reinforcing the Jurassic Park comparisons). This wasn't the peak though and we had to climb down a way and then cut across. This involved a lot of scrambling over rocks and was fairly hard going. Not surprisingly we started to leave the old folk behind and when we got to the fork where one route led up to the peak and the other down, they started to head on down while we aimed for the peak.

The scrambling became even harder at this point and we also discovered some HUGE spiders. I hate spiders. Especially big ones! We came to a false peak but we couldn't find the route further up but after climbing a bit of the way up we discovered it and headed upwards. Eventually we made it to the top. The view was brilliant - a 360 degree view of the island from the forested interior, Halong Bay, inlets in the island and a small fishing village below us.

We headed back down and caught up with the rest of the group about half way down. By this point there was not a single space of clothing on my body not soaked in sweat and it started to get hotter the more we descended. I was not alone by any means!! We reached the bottom and found ourselves in the small fishing village we had seen from the peak. We were herded into a small cafe by our guide for some very welcome cold drinks.

The bus came to collect us and we were worried that there was no sign of our guide or our bags but there wasn't much we could do so we got on and were driven into Cat Ba Town. People were dropped off at various hotels along the way (and then picked up again to be deposited at the right hotel) and eventually we were dropped off at a hotel on the sea front to be met by Bac with our bags.

Had a quick shower in our room, where we discovered that we had only been given one double bed then down for lunch which was an identical meal to every other one we'd been served so far on our trip.

We decided to hire motos and explore the island and managed to get five motos (Jeanette wasn't driving). All our moto drivers drove us to the outskirts of the town, allegedly for 'police' reasons, but we suspect so they could fill up with petrol and make us pay. It was only 25,000 dong though (about 75p).

I remembered how to drive one fairly quickly although my down shift pedal didn't seem to work so well.

Our first stop was the Hospital Cave, which was a cave that had been converted into hospital and living accommodation during the American War. We were given our tour by a Viet Cong war veteran ('Officer!' as he kept telling us).

We climbed a steep stairway to small concealed entrance with a steel door at the back of the cave. This opened up an elaborate network of brick tunnels and rooms including bedrooms, wards, operating theatre, a meeting/singing room (we got a five minute rendition of a song which had the words 'Vietnam' and 'Ho Chi Minh' repeated ad nauseam to the same tune and clapping lots. It was excruiating by the end!), a cinema, a swimming pool and a secret tunnel to where a Gatling gun was mounted. What is more amazing is that the Americans didn't know it was there!

Our guide then showed us lots of pictures of him with various tourists so we had one with him and he made us promise to send it to him.

We continued up the island towards where we were dropped off but forked off towards Phu Long - a tiny fishing village. It was great driving through the countryside and along the coastline.

We passed through Phu Long and went right to the end of another causeway where there is a small ferry that links to the mainland. On our way back we stopped at Phu Long at a cafe which was really just a wooden balcony overlooking the river with small plastic chairs, a cooler and a keg.

We soon attracted quite a crowd as its not a tourist spot and they probably hadn't seen too many white people! Hanna and Jeanette in particular attracted a bevy of admirers who demonstrated with hand gestures what they couldn't in English about how beautiful they were, which embarrassed the pair of them no end. To be fair, they weren't getting any help from the rest of us who thought it was hysterical.

Despite trying to get our beers for free by leaving the girls, they only cost 5,000 dong each. We headed back to Cat Ba Town but couldn't find where we started and went to where we originally got the motos and managed to hand them over to their rightful owners.

On our return to the hotel we managed to get a room change so we had two double beds and a lot nicer room too. It was also three floors lower down which helped considerably.

Dinner was slightly different in that it had a squid dish and a fish dish meaning that Dave ate rice and chips but he wouldn't ask for anything else.

We headed to a bar called the Green Mango to watch the Australia game (although I had no idea that it was on) where I met a guy from Liverpool who had lived in Japan so I was supporting Australia and he was supporting Japan. Thankfully a three goal last seven minutes saw the Aussies home after a joke of a Japanese goal. He wasn't too bothered though because Cahill scored twice and he's an Everton fan.

Yet another early start the following morning mainly due to being woken at 5:45 by a foghorn. The Vietnamese certainly like their horns and were making a lot of noise at that time.

We had to leave early anyway to meet up with the boat to get us back to the mainland and breakfast was bread and jam again. We were collected at 8:20 and driven back through the island to the causeway.

It's all very well organised as everyone was shuffled onto the right boat. WE were joined by the Japanese loving Englishman and his mate who promptly slept the entire way back.

The rest of us sat on top and sun-bathed as we cruised between the islands. There weren't too many 2-days we joined though. We stopped about half way for a swim and, after Tyler jumped off the top deck, I summoned up the courage and jumped. It was only about 5/6m but very exhilarating. I did it a few more times too and we ended up doing tandem jumps for the cameras. I think we did five at the end at the same time.

We then headed back to the mainland although we were sitting inside by this point as the temperature gauge was hitting 37.

We got back to the organised chaos of the port and headed off to grab lunch at a nearby hotel, and all the other groups did the same. The air conditioning inside was very welcome!! Lunch was another identikit meal but Tyler and I polished off the Vietnamese spring rolls between us. They really are fantastic!

The bus ride back to Hanoi was fairly uneventful although the bus driver was one of the worst drivers in Vietnam and that's some accomplishment.

We dropped off everyone throughout the Old Quarter and eventually reached our hotel. Unfortunately they'd bollocksed up our train booking and we were on the 11 train instead of the 7. Allegedly there wasn't a 7pm train. Believe that and you'll believe anything!

They gave us a free room to have a shower and change then we wandered to bar street for dinner and a beer then we headed to the polite pub to watch South Korea v Togo. We saw two of the English guys from the Paraguay match who looked like they hadn't moved!! Chatted to one guy who had been in Hanoi four days and had done bugger all. Takes all sorts I suppose!

The hotel owner/manager arranged for a taxi to the train station and helped us get our bags on board and find our berths. Each cabin had four bunks and Dave and I had an upper and a lower berth.

We were settling in when our cabin mates arrived: two Vietnamese women and a small boy: grandmother, mother and son. I gave up the lower berth for them. We had a duvet and pillow and the beds were pretty comfortable. The Vietnamese ladies chatted a lot but eventually shut up!!

Hanoi

The flight from Phnom Penh to Hanoi via Vientiane was fairly comfortable. I'm certainly getting a lot better at this flying lark, although we had the pleasure of a nice jet-engined Fokker 70 rather than the propeller job of the last one!!

We arrived in Hanoi about 6 and then had our (well my) worst experience with customs. Several flights had landed all at once and so there was several queues. Dave and I got in separate queues but about the same way back. We moved fairly steadily until, with about ten people in front of me, my queue ground to a halt as the customs agent spent about five minutes with one person. She proceeded to do this with every one, and all the other queues sailed forward and I even saw, with about five people in front of me, Dave collecting our bags from the carousel. Needless to say I wasn't in a good mood!!

We taxi-ed into Hanoi and made for the Old Quarter. Our hotel was nothing special but then we didn't plan to hang around too long! We checked in and then immediately headed out because it was World Cup time and Germany were playing Costa Rica. We were directed towards a promisingly named Bar Street and a bar called the Funky Monkey. It was pretty much empty but they did promise to show the football so we had a few beers and watched. The game was good but the bar wasn't so we had a quick look to see whether there were any better alternatives for the England game the following day.

The next day we had a bit of a lie-in before heading out to explore Hanoi. We wandered back down past the bar towards Hoan Kielm lake in the centre of the old quarter and the Ngoc Son (Jade Mountain) Temple. The temple itself wasn't anything special but its location was - set on a small island in the middle of the lake linked by small bridge. It was very picturesque and made even more so by the light rain which was almost ever present during our stay in Hanoi.

We then had an entertaining half hour trying to send a parcel which involved getting various too big boxes and then after having sealed everything in with tape, the lady told me she needed to see everything. Thankfully she then found a decent sized box and wrapped it all up in brown paper for me. Now we just have to see if it gets home!

We headed towards the Hoa Lo Prison (better known as the Hanoi Hilton where American Air Force POWs were kept) but that was closed for lunch so we got our own before heading back. On the way I bought a 'Good Morning Vietnam' t-shirt and also found their international football shirt. I bought them from a delightful old lady who spoke no English at all and we communicated by hand signals.

The prison was a strange contrast to all that we had seen earlier in Cambodia, as although it was obviously a place that seen a lot of suffering, it didn't compare to the Cambodian sites.

Most of the prison exhibits related to the Vietnamese political prisoners held there by the French during its time as a French colony.

This included a large model of the prison before part was demolished for a hotel; two guillotines; examples of a large cell where many prisoners were kept shackled up and a small cell for solitary confinement and, most impressive of all, a section of the sewer used by a large-scale escape (successful too).

The American section was a bit of propaganda overload:

From August 5,1964 to January 24, 1973, US Government carried out two destruction wars by air and navy against North Vietnam. The Northern Army and people brought down thousands of aircraft and hundreds of American pilots. Though having committed untold crimes on our people, but American pilots suffered no revenge once they were captured and detained. Instead they were well treated with adequate food, clothing and shelter.

They showed lots of photos of the American pilots being treated well and the captions were also more propaganda overload. Of course, given the Americans never declared war on Vietnam technically the Geneva Convention doesn't apply (Guantanamo Bay anyone?) but there you go.

The prison was very interesting but it is a shame they knocked so much down.

We wandered back through the Old Quarter and past the lake. Got chatting to two Vietnamese boys about English football. Amazing how much they knew but sadly nothing at all about Vietnamese football.

Packed up our stuff ready for our Halong Bay trip before heading out to watch the England game. We were planning to go to an outdoor cafe but met two guys in England shirts who told us they were going to a place down the road. We ate at the first place (Vietnamese style Lemon Chicken) and then headed over. There was a good 20 English people in the pub and it had a good atmosphere even if the game wasn't.

Second day of Angkor Wat

Another 8 AM start and we headed to the most northern temple about 30km north of Siem Reap called Banteay Srei, known colloquially as the pink temple.

Banteay Srei is an exquisite miniature; a fairy palace in the heart of an immense and mysterious forest; the very thing that Grimm decided to imagine, and that every child's heart has yearned after, but which maturer years has sadly proved too lovely to be true. And here it is, in the Cambodian forests at Banteay Srei, carved not out of the stuff that dreams are made of, but of solid sandstone [ H.W. Ponder]

The route to the temple was interesting in itself as we meandered through Cambodian villages passing by on either side and the Khmer going about their daily routines.

The temple itself was more of a red colour than pink. We headed down the causeway. There were partial ruins to the left and to the right. The actual temple itself is surrounded by a wall and then a (dry) moat. It's unlike any other temple at Angkor and is closer to Indian designs. The use of pink sandstone is also unique. The temple layout had two tiny libraries and a central sanctuary.

We wandered round the temples and the moat three or four times - avoiding the hordes of Korean tourists but also because it was so enjoyable.

We drove back the same way then took a little detour to Banteay Samre. It was a little out of the way and very deserted. The Lonely Planet even recommends caution in case you get robbed. We were set upon as we arrived, but again, it was by children. Remembering our experience from the previous day we kept saying 'No thanks' even when they tried to sucker us with a 'Maybe?'. We managed to pass them on to a group coming out of the temple.

Banteay Samre was completely deserted and so we had a free explore. Nothing particularly stood out but it was still a pleasant little temple. Samre refers to a group of mountain people but virtually nothing is know about them.

We headed out and met an American couple being pestered by the children and the lady was telling them in true American style that they should be in school. Ironic given they spoke better English than she did. The children in Cambodia only do half a day at school because they are needed to go and help earn money for their families but they do get their schooling free so they all go.

They did get us in the end - we bought a bottle of water each and made doubly sure it was from the right kid!! No tears this time.

Next up was the East Mebon which is a sister temple of Preah Kup. The temple is a square with three levels with the five towers of Mount Meru but the unique feature is the eight elephants - one on each corner of the first and second levels. Most are in really good condition too.

We walked out the back and found a sweet little baby asleep on the back steps. No sign of mum though (probably selling postcards round the front).

Preah Rup was very similar and didn't have anything particularly special to it.

Next stop was Ta Som, which was a small and fairly quite little temple but had a really cool feature: the eastern entrance has a ficus tree growing over it and the roots create an extended entrance. It seems like something out of a Disney theme park.

Neak Pean was next up and another unique little temple. It had a long entrance path lined with street vendors. The temple itself is a small (tiny!) sanctuary in a (dry) square pool with four smaller square pools. We sat in the shade by this place for a while because it was so picturesque. Yet another Jayavarman VII temple and was for pilgrims to take water spiritually and physically.

We stopped at one temple that wasn't even in the guide book so it must have been newly discovered. It was called Banteay Prei. Can't tell you anything about it, except that it was in fairly poor condition and had lots of props holding parts up, particularly in the doorways. Kind of felt like we had helped discover it!!

Our last stop in Angkor Wat was the Royal Palace, Phimeanakas and Bauphon. These are all behind the Terrace of the Elephants in Angkor Thom. The Phimeanakas is a small temple in the Royal Palace grounds where the king worshipped. It was a very steep climb up (probably the steepest and that's saying something) particularly the final set. We were very hot and sweaty when we got to the top but the view was well worth it.

We then headed to the Baphuon which was in the process of being renovated. We could walk round the sides but not into the temple. It was interesting to see them at work having to individual carve each stone and place it by hand into the correct place.

We headed back into Siem Reap for lunch then headed to the land mine museum. Its run by a Khmer called Aki Ra, who was trained by the Khmer Rouge to lay mines and fight, whilst aged only ten. He was captured by the Vietnamese and fought for them. Since peace was declared he has worked with the UN helping to defuse land mines and helping landmine victims.

The museum has an absolute ton of landmines of all shapes and sizes and lots of good information and newspaper cuttings from around the globe about the museum and landmines in general. There were several of Aki Ra's adopted orphans around and they seemed very happy. Several volunteers too. The whole museum was very interesting albeit tiny.

From there we went to see the models of Angkor Wat. The model maker was a delightful old Khmer man who spoke no English but did speak French so Dave did all the talking and translated for me. The models were fantastically detailed of Angkor Wat and Banteay Srei. We got several good pictures including one with the model maker in it.

We then picked up our bus tickets, exchanged some money and headed back after saying goodbye and thanks to Kwan who had been excellent. He told us a lot about Cambodia and the Khmer people. Interestingly Angkor Wat is actually owned by a Vietnamese company and very little of the money actually gets back to the Khmer people. The Koreans are also particularly bad at not spending their money in the right way as they stay at Korean owned hotels and employ Korean guides.

Overall the Angkor Wat experience was every bit as good as I hoped. It is a truly magnificent site.

Phnom Penh and the Killing Fields

Another early start as we were collected to get to our bus at 6:40. The bus stop was teeming with buses and people and it was a mad rush to get on the bus. Two German girls hadn't got tickets but thankfully for them there was spare seats.

It was six hours in total with a stop halfway at Kampong Cham. The bus trip down was really interesting as we skirted to the north of Tonle Sap lake and the scenery was fascinating and we passed all kinds of Khmer houses from brick and fancy to wood and basic. A lot had water catchers - a wooden frame with plastic sheeting over it to catch rain water. Most houses had a small hollow at the front which was used for a variety of purposes including growing rice or other crops, small ponds or rubbish dumps.

We arrived in Phnom Penh about 12:30ish across the Japanese friendship bridge and into the city. We passed by the American Embassy which looked like a fortress!

We got a tuk-tuk to our hotel which was down a small street near to the Independence Monument. The room was the usual but it did have free laundry (which was very welcome!!)

We had a small stroll around: we passed the Independent monument, headed up a back street then looped past the National Museum, the Royal Palace, the Silver Pagoda and then along the river (which is lined with flagpoles flying flags of lots of nations although they got the Union Jack wrong) and the back towards our hotel past the Cambodia-Vietnam friendship memorial.

The following day we had a lie-in then headed out via a tuk-tuk to the Silver Pagoda and Royal Palace. You can only view a small part of the Royal Palace - basically the throne room and a few buildings close by. We did get a little confused by the map and wandered round the throne room thinking it was the Silver Pagoda. Once we realised our mistake, the guide book started to make sense!!

The throne room was lavishly decorated as expected and the throne itself was magnificent. There was only a few areas you could walk though.

The Silver Pagoda was even more impressive. It gets its name from the 5,000 1kg silver tiles that cover its floor. Unlike the throne room, we were free to walk around as much as we liked (shoes off of course). They had many historic artefacts arranged around the place in glass cases including small statues of Buddha, traditional Khmer costumes and assorted pots and pottery. The central item was a Jade Buddha seated on a magnificent dais of gold. There were several other impressive Buddha statues at its base.

We wandered around a few of the other buildings which were essentially mini museums before heading out to the national museum. This was just around the corner from the Royal Palace and was a beautiful red traditional Khmer building. It mainly housed statues recovered from various temples around Cambodia, mainly to prevent them being stolen, including the Leper King from Angkor Thom. Most were Hindu statues - primarily Vishnu and Shiva although Ganesa (the Elephant-headed god) made the odd appearance.

We had lunch at a little cafe overlooking the river and were pestered mercilessly by street kids. The first kid went past selling books and after we said no to him, Dave remembered that he wanted to buy the same guide book of Angkor Wat that I had so we bought one from the next kid. The first one came back and sulked petulantly while standing right next to Dave for our lunch until Dave gave him a few dollars to go away.

Our next stop was Tol Slueng or S-21 as it is better known, the concentration camp for the Khmer Rouge. It was an eerie place with barbed wire running along the wall. There were several landmine victims at the entrance so I gave them a few thousand riels.

Of the amputees in Cambodia, not as many as you would think are landmine victims anymore but often victims of snake bites and traffic accidents where they can't afford the medication so amputation is the cheapest option. It seems just as sad though.

S-21 has four buildings (A through D). It used to be a school so they are all old classrooms. IN Building A we could only visit the first floor and they were set out as they were when the camp was in use and in each room there was a bed frame and assorted items found there. On the wall was a picture of how the room (and the inmate) was found. A dead body in all cases. Of the 22,000 inmates to pass through S-21, 7 survived.

Building B displayed the photos of some of the inmates. The Khmer Rouge were meticulous in keeping records including a photo, whatever confessions they extracted under torture and date of execution. This has allowed a fairly full record of what happened there to be discovered. Most of the inmates would have been intelligent: doctors, lawyers, teachers and their families. All to ensure no resistance against the Khmer Rouge.

The second and third floors of Building B housed art work of the atrocities painted by one of the survivors (which were graphic and very harrowing)). Some of the torture equipment used were also displayed along with stories of inmates told by surviving family members.

Building C was left in its original state so you could see how the inmates lived including barbed wire across the balconies to prevent prisoners from committing suicide. The cells were fairly primitive - they basically made up brick enclosures within the classrooms to act as cells, which were about 2m wide and 4m deep with wooden doors. Prisoners were always chained so there was no hope of escape anyway.

On the way round all these buildings we passed several climbing frames - relics of when the building was a school - that were turned into torture apparatus.

Building D showed many of the same exhibits as B and C but the third floor had a small cinema and we were just in time to see the afternoon showing.

The film explained some of the history of the Khmer Rouge from Lon Nol's overthrow of the monarchy in 1970 to the communists capture of Phnom Penh in 1975 when they forced all Cambodians to work in the fields leaving the capital a ghost town.

The film also tracked the stories of a married couple who were to eventually both die at S-21 and the letters they left each other combined with heart-breaking testimony from their grandmother (they were first cousins).

We were both fairly downbeat when we left the place and it was a fairly quiet tuk-tuk back to the hotel. Thankfully we had good plans for the evening.

My little sister's friend Sally was living in Phnom Penh working as a volunteer and we'd arranged by e-mail to catch up with her for dinner. The place she suggested was called Friends and was an NGO aimed at helping street kids and teaches them cooking and how to run a restaurant. Despite Sally's claim that any moto driver would know the place we had to guide ours (it was in the Lonely Planet!!). The place was fantastically decorated with bright colours. Each waiter was a student paired with a teacher.

Sally arrived with her friend Liz, another volunteer. The menu was tapas so we each selected a few dishes. It was very impressive and very tasty!! Definitely recommend it to anyone in Phnom Penh.

It was very interesting to hear all the stories of volunteering in Cambodia. Made Dave and I feel very selfish!! Sally is working as a physio (her trade) helping to teach Cambodian physios and Liz is teaching English in an orphanage. Both seemed to be really enjoying it.

The following day was to be another heart-wrenching day. Our morning was spent traveling out to the Killing Fields. This was where all the S-21 inmates were brought to be executed. We paid $5 for a guide to take us round and he was excellent. He was also very frank about everything and this really surprised us. As most of the Khmer Rouge killers were very young, a lot of them are still walking round right now in their mid 40s. Their isn't any bitterness towards them, more of a compassionate understanding.

The main landmark of the Killing Fields is a monument built to honour the dead and this is also where they keep all the skulls on display. It's very chilling to see them all there.

Surrounding the monument are small shallow pits where they discovered all the bodies found so far (just short of 9,000 of the 22,000) and each pit has a marking post telling how many bodies were found in each pit. It's also very disturbing to see on the pathways bits of cloth slowly being uncovered which are the clothing of the victim. Our guide told us that occasionally more bones are found this way too.

We headed back into Phnom Penh and met Sally for lunch at the Foreign Correspondents Club which had a little fence around it meaning we didn't suffer the same problems as the previous day!!

After lunch we headed out to Sally's project at Kien Kleang, which is a rehab centre and also produces prosthetics. We took a tuk-tuk out there and headed across the Japanese friendship bridge and the road to Siem Reap. The rehab centre is right on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.

Sally gave us a little tour round the prosthetics area and it was really interesting to see all the processes. It's really well organised and everything is done by Cambodians, and overseen by Cambodians. We saw a lot of braces being made - to correct leg deformities, as well as the prosthetic limbs. They are made of a mixture of plaster, plastic and metal. We got to see a false foot and it was interesting to see that they made it with a mixture of plastics (of varying weight) to accurately reflect the balance of a foot.

We also had a quick tour round the wheelchair area - very quick as there was a lot of soldering going on. Basically we wandered round the finished area. They seemed to be pretty well made too.

It was time for the afternoon clinic sessions and we headed to a small room at the end of the centre. It had one small table loaded with toys (most of which Sally had brought herself), a few mats on the floor, a small laptop and a fan. Not quite a physio room back in the UK.

The first patient was already there working with Houeng. She was a girl of about 2 with Cerebal Palsy. We had a further two patients - a girl of about 4 and a boy of about 3. The second girl also has Cerebal Palsy and the boy had learning difficulties. It was interesting to watch the physios at work and Dave and I have concluded that playing with toys and kids doesn't really qualify!! Sally's role seemed to be bossing people about, a role she seemed to really enjoy!!

Each child was accompanied by at least one parent and it was good to see that they really got involved. Given how little money they make there must be an awful temptation with kids who have disabilities as health care isn't free.

Her three physios: Houeng, Tokyo and Sarun, had a patient each and Sally moved between them. It was interesting to see how they varied: one physio in particular just sat their writing notes while the parent played with the child. They did lots of exercises to improve motor skills and there were a few tears here and there when exercises hurt.

We were there for about four hours in total and it was fascinating to get a view of Cambodian life that most travellers wouldn't get.

We headed back into the city via moto as there were no tuk-tuks out there. Sally and Dave got on one, leading the way and I got on another. Sally looked very comfortable on the back whereas Dave looked scared. I got by far the better of the deal as their moto driver was a little "crazy" whereas mine seemed fairly sane.

Our destination was a small cafe close to the Independence Memorial for a few drinks to chill out after the hot day. We then met up later with Sally, Liz and a few of the other friends at the Lazy Gecko (we managed to confuse our tuk-tuk driver by calling it the Lucky Gecko - so he kept trying to take us to the Lucky Guesthouse). We arrived there to find a dark alley and were worried we were about to get mugged before spotting the bar on the side of the road. The fact that they were digging up the road didn't help!!

We had dinner and then joined in the Pub Quiz. We did pretty well although Sally got the number of bones wrong in the backbone (sorry Sally!!) and Dave is still bitter about the question over John Candy's last film. All academic anyway as we finished third but a good few points behind the winner.

I have to say a big thank you to Sally for her hospitality and giving us a chance to see some really cool stuff. Also to her volunteer friends for making us welcome.

Our stay in Phnom Penh finished off with a little complication. We found some flight times to Hanoi and decided, the following morning, that in the style of the Amazing Race we would turn up to the airport and get our tickets that way. Mental note to add to the long list of stuff 'not to do next time'. Phnom Penh airport doesn't do that sort of thing!!

So, back into a taxi and back into Phnom Penh to the Vietnam Airlines HQ. Tickets no problem (last two seats on the flight). Power cut. No credit card facilities. Back into taxi to bank. My credit card maxed out. Dave cashes some travellers cheques. Back to Vietnam Airlines. Pick up tickets. Back to Airport. Wait an hour before they'll let us check in so watch the Wedding Crashers on Dave's Ipod and then it's off and away to Vietnam!!!

The Temples of Angkor Wat

Due to the fact that it is really hard to get to Siem Reap in Cambodia without being ripped off by land, we decided to fly and managed to get a fairly cheap ticket with Bangkok Airways for $80 US.

Anyone who has been with me anywhere near a plane can testify that this was a brave decision by me - made more so when we got there to find that the plane was a propeller driven plane. The journey ended up being fine and we got some great views over the jungles of Cambodia on our way in.

Siem Reap (Khmer (that refers to the Cambodian people and language) for Siam (Thailand) conquered - a somewhat ironic name given Thailand occupied Siem Reap for over 200 years) airport was tiny but as a result we got through fairly quickly (no evil customs people here).

We got a taxi into the town to the hotel we had arranged in Bangkok (always the best way as it avoids getting taken to some dingy little hole by a taxi driver on commission!!) but we did arrange with our driver, Kwan, for him to be our driver round Angkor Wat. He quoted us the rate recommended in the Lonely Planet too and spoke good English so we figured it was probably going to be good.

We arranged for him to pick us up at 8 the following day then spent the rest of the afternoon in the bar before watching England's warm-up thrashing of Jamaica.

We were greeted the next morning by a beautiful day in Siem Reap. Kwan was on time and we headed out of Siem Reap towards Angkor Wat It's only a short drive and Kwan pointed our various Siem Reap sights on the way.

We stopped at the ticket office and bought our tickets - 3 day passes costing $40 US each. The pass was laminated and will make a good souvenir!! Unfortunately the site of Angkor Wat is run by a Vietnamese company so a lot of the money goes out of the country unfortunately.

Kwan also told us that the biggest visitors were Koreans and they tended to stay in the Korean-owned, Korean-staffed hotel and used Korean guides. He wasn't a big fan of them!!

Our first view of Angkor Wat was the moat surrounding the actual temple of Angkor Wat (the name refers to both the site as a whole and a specific temple). It was fairly wide - at least 100m. We could see the Wat wall right against the moat and a few of the towers. We followed the moat around and passed by the entrance and the causeway across the moat, as well as a huge amount of food stalls.

We stopped outside the south gate of Angkor Thom - a great walled city just north of the temple of Angkor Wat - and Kwan told us to walk through the gate and we would meet him on the other side. Two things happened almost immediately as we exited the car. Firstly my glasses steamed up because of the difference in temperature - it was VERY hot! - and secondly we were greeted with lots of calls asking us if we wanted water, guidebooks, cameras etc. Unlike in Thailand, however, a nice "No Thank You" won't result in you being pursued for the next hundred metres.

The South Gate to Angkor Thom was a causeway over a partially flooded moat. The causeway was lined with 54 gods and 54 demons (gods one side, demons the other), which relates to the Hindu myth of the Churning of the Ocean of Milk (more on that later). The heads are mostly intact but at the other three gates they've been stolen for us as rocks or to sell. The actual gate itself is about 20m high and decorated with stone elephant trunks.

Angkor Thom (literally 'Great City') was built by King Jayavarman VII (you'll see his name a lot more!!) and is 8 miles by 12 miles - so very big all told. It's all jungle within the walls until the centre when it opens up to reveal the inner temple and palace area. First up was the Bayon which doesn't look much at first sight but once you're inside exploring it, it is a maze of tunnels and murals and was fascinating. I only just managed to get in as there are people checking your ticket outside all the main temples and outside the Bayon, the guard didn't believe it was me until I took my glasses off!

We entered through the east entrance and wandered round the cloisters where they had murals called Bas reliefs which depicts everyday Cambodian life in the 12th century. There is over 1.2km of Bas reliefs in the Bayon and no, I didn't look at them all. We then wandered up to the second level and then to the third level, which had some great views down over the rest of Angkor Thom. Its a great experience wandering around the temple. You can see where parts have been restored but it is still a ruin.

Next up was the terrace of Elephants. This is a 350 m long terrace decorated by elephants (surprise, surprise) which was used for viewing victory parades. It faces the Eastern Gate (also known as the Victory Gate) where victorious processions came through. If they lost they came through the Dead Gate (Western). The stairs to climb up onto the terraces are also lined with elephants with their trunks outstretched whilst picking lotus flowers.

The Terrace of the Leper King is much smaller. The Leper King is a small nude statue atop the terrace. It's a copy as the original is in the national museum in Phnom Penh. It's an Angkorian mystery as to who the Leper King is. Myth has it that at least two of the Angkorian kings were lepers but it could also represent Yama, the god of death. There was also a little passageway that worked it's way round the edge of the terrace and you could see more bas reliefs down there.

We got back into the car (thank god for airconditioning!) and Kwan took us through the Victory Gate and we headed east. Our next stop was a pair of temples called Thommanon and Chau Say Tevada which sit across the road from each other. We got out of the car and were immediately set upon by kids selling all kinds of stuff. We made the fatal mistake of buying something straight away - some little trinket for a dollar - and the kids who we didn't buy from then hounded us the rest of the way.

Thankfully, they left us alone to view the temple in peace. Thommanon is a tiny little temple with a small library (I don't think any of the buildings referred to as libraries were actually libraries rather than just a name for a particular type of building). The main temple was in four parts and was in excellent condition. It's sister temple - Chau Say Tevoda - is in much worse state but is in the process of being renovated by the Chinese.

After escaping the children (again), we headed further east and stopped at Ta Keo:

The majestic ziggurat of Ta Keo, most enigmatic of the minor fanes, stepping up toward the sun with a dignity and power suggestive of Angkor Wat [R.J. Casey]

Ta Keo is a unique temple in Angkor Wat for many reasons. First of all, it was never completed and they don't know why. A theory is that, as it is regularly struck by lightning, it might have frightened the builders and considered it bad luck. If it had been completed it could have been one of the finest temples in Angkor. The second unique feature is the absence of decorations giving it a complete simplicity. We picked up a shadow soon after entering the temple. He was a small boy of about 8 and he followed us around pointing things out and we gave him a dollar at the end. Ta Keo also offered great views out to Angkor Wat.

Next up was the main reason for my visit: the jungle temple of Ta Prohm.

Ta Prohm's state of ruin is a state of beauty which is investigated with delight and left with regret [H Churchill-Candee]

Wandering around Ta Prohm was like entering another world. The archaeologists have left the place untouched (the jungle holds it together) and the jungle has taken over with focus trees clambering over the walls. It gives the place an ethereal presence. We spent a good hour wandering through the complex exploring tunnels, finding some blocked by stones and trees, and others by hordes of tourists. I must have taken 20 pictures or more - every corner revealed another wonder of nature entwined with Khmer art. I confess to being a little sad to leave. I could have spent all day there amongst the trees and stone.

Next stop was Bantu KDE - the citadel of the cells. This is also in fairly dilapidated condition but hasn't been attacked by the jungle to the same extent. The one curious fact about this place is that it was inaccessible during the 1960's due to a herd of dangerous deer. I'm not kidding either...!

Just across from Bantu KDE is Srah Sang - the royal bath. This is a large lake which used to have a temple at the centre. We picked up some shadows at this point (again) - three or four children asking us if we wanted to buy water or postcards. We both made the mistake of saying 'Maybe' and were then followed all the time by two of them. We had run out of dollar bills by this point too so ended up buying a couple of cokes too but the little girl who had been following me around was part of a different stall so I ended up buying a t-shirt for $3 to stop her 'crying'.

We had our lunch break at this point and we ate at a tiny little restaurant just by Angkor Wat. It was a good meal - chicken with yellow noodles - and we then chatted to Kwan for a bit while waiting for the heat of the day to pass. Dave had the Lonely Planet out trying Cambodian phrases.

Next up was Angkor Wat itself:

Angkor Wat, in its beauty and state of preservation is unrivalled. It's mightiness and magnificence bespeak a pomp luxury surpassing that of a Pharoah or a Shah Jahan, an impressiveness greater than that of the Pyramids, an artistic dimension as fine as that of the Taj Mahal [D.H. Dickson]

The approach to Ankor Wat is across a causeway made more spectacular by the moat on either side. It was very hot by this point and there were few tourists around. The entry tower was very impressive with stairs leading up to the ornate gatehouse, but the view on the other side is most spectacular. The walls enclose an open grassy area with two fairly large libraries and two pools of water (one dry), and then the citadel of Angkor Wat with it's five towers representing Mt Meru - the mythical Hindu mountain.

A walkway takes you through to the main citadel and, despite the temperature, the walkway was teeming with people. There was a horse tethered to a tree keeping in the shade and a little boy got a homemade kite into the air - made from string and a plastic bag.

The main entrance to the citadel is through the Terrace of Honour and then, to the left and right, cloisters snake away with mural reliefs. These galleries were busy so we decided to do them on our way out. We entered the first of the three tiers. The galleries were in the shape of a cross with four small, dry pools - not sure if they were ever filled with water. To the right was the Gallery of 1,000 Bhuddas where, funnily enough, all the bhudda statues were kept. To the left was the Hall of Echoes and one of the guides demonstrated by smacking his chest with his hand and got a pretty decent echo.

We continued up to the second tier and wandered round the inner cloisters which were lavishly decorated with asparas (celestial dancers). We also couldn't help but notice the steepness of the stairs up to the third and final tier. Thankfully one set of stairs had a hand rail although it seemed so shaky that I relied on the stairs and my own balance - thankfully without mishap. The view from the top was spectacular though out over the whole of Angkor. Only the priest and the king were allowed at these levels.

At this point the rain promised by Kwan started to come down but thankfully we were under cover and the breeze that accompanies it was very welcome!! We descended down to the Bas reliefs at the start. The guide book gave us some detailed stories about the murals and we were also able to use it to identify key characters from the stories.

First was the battle of Kurukshetra, a historical battle in a province of India. There was a second mural in the corner tower but the light wasn't too good to make it all out. The third long mural was another historical battle of the army of King Suryavarman II. We couldn't find any of the figures mentioned in the guide book but had more success with the fourth: the Judgement by Yama.

On the left were three tiers showing people waiting to be judged. Yama was in the centre doing the judging and then on the right was heaven (at the top) and hell below.

The fifth was the most interesting as it showed the epic Hindu myth : the Churning of the Ocean of Milk. The middle tier shows the ocean complete with various real and mythical sea beasts; to the left are the demons pulling the serpent Vasuki and to the right are the gods. Together they are churning up the ocean to make the elixir of life. There are several key characters including Hanuman, the monkey god.

The next few all involved the Hindu deity Vishnu: fighting demons, fighting Bana the demon king and then fighting demons with other gods. The final scene was the Battle of Lanka showing the battle (mythical) between Rama and the demon King Rovana. It's curious why a lot of the Hindu gods and demons have multiple arms and heads (although not legs).

We wandered back across the main causeway with most of the tourists heading the other way having sat out the heat of the day between 1 and 3 although it was still very hot.

Our final temple of the day was Preah Kahn to the north of Angkor Thom. This is a bhuddist temple and yet another Jayavarman VII production. It has also been overrun by the jungle and was an enjoyable stroll - particularly as there were so few other tourists.

We headed back to the hotel at this point and headed out to the hotel pool just in time for it to start raining and boy did it rain. We headed out for dinner at a place called the Red Piano in the centre of Siem Reap and the streets were so flooded it looked like Venice. The tuk-tuk was sending up all kinds of spray and at one point it was coming through the tuk-tuk floor. Meal was good: chicken with ginger and the local beer: Angkor. The water had receded by the time we headed back although our tuk-tuk driver made up for that convenience by getting lost.

Escaping Thailand

Our final full day in puked was another beach day. Managed to get a really decent breakfast (and a cup of tea!!!).

We were out there for half an hour or so when dark clouds started to appear so we ducked for cover into an internet cafe and then the ASCII Bar until it passed then headed back onto the beach where the Thai guy had reserved our umbrellas. And it didn't appear that he got anything out of it.

Went for a swim a few times - highlight was the surfing dog. He seemed quite happy with it all and caught a few good waves too. One of the presenters wiped out a parasol on landing too but survived intact.

We headed back to Bangkok the next day having managed to find ourselves a direct bus rather than changing in surety than. Ran one final gauntlet of the women shouting "massage?" and trying to grab our arms and Thai men trying to get us to buy suits.

The bus ride back to Bangkok left at 3 and we got a VIVA bus for about 2 GAP more. The bus ride was as dull as the first but at least we got there quickly. We arrived into Bangkok at about half five in the morning and got a taxi to Kay sane Road where we'd pre-booked a room before we left.

Thankfully they had a room available so we were able to shower and have a few hours of sleep. We were, by that time, so fed up with Thailand that it literally was a case of killing time until we left.

Elephants, Monkeys and James Bond Island

Picked up at 8 again today for another busy day. Bit of a different group today - three couples all independently from Melbourne and an Israeli girl by herself.

It was a long drive first up and we travelled off the island and onto the peninsula to a region called Phang-Nga.

Our first adventure was Elephant trekking. We were dropped off at a small dusty place and were shepherded towards some elephants all feeling a bit bemused because no-one really seemed to know what was going on! We boarded our Elephants by climbing onto a platform and then onto the Elephant's back onto a chair tied on rather uncomfortably (for the Elephant). Ours was a small female we named Chuckles.

The rider sat on the Elephant's head and steered with his feet on her ears and with calls of something like 'Roi' or 'Hoi'. He also had a rather evil looking pointy metal stick but thankfully he didn't use it although the Israeli girl said her rider was using it frequently.

The Elephants moved very slowly and steadily and ours did pretty much what she felt like - there were several tracks that meandered along next to each other and you could see the impressions made by the Elephants previously that had filled with rain from the previous night and Chuckles, understandably, didn't want to get her feet wet and seemed more interested in creating her own tracks.

It was pretty scary when we went downhill, as the angle was fairly steep. We had a 'seatbelt' which consisted of a rope tied off across the chair (by me!).

Our Elephant again proved to be very smart when it came to the river crossing as she found the narrowest spot. The elderly (sorry Mum and Dad) Melbourne couple's big bull elephant took the longest possible route and they almost came off!

When we reached the other side the guide climbed off Chuckle's back and gestured us down to sit on her head for a photo. I had a go first. Her skin was all leathery and her hair was very stiff and coarse. Dave didn't fancy it and so the guide gestured me down again. Not knowing what was going on, I climbed back down with my legs behind her ears and the, before I knew it, the guide had shouted and we were off with him walking beside us and me in the rider's position.

It felt pretty precarious up there especially as I didn't want to grip with my legs too hard in case I gave out inadvertent instructions and we ended up heading in entirely the wrong direction or something like that. I was also having most of the skin on my legs removed by Chuckles' hair like sandpaper.

It was fantastic fun, and I was glad I'd done it. I was surprised to find when we got back that I was the only one though.

We clambered off at the end and the second part of our tour group took the tour. Dave and I bought some bananas for the baby elephant (corny I know but it was only about a dollar) although he polished them off in approximately ten seconds. He curled his trunk around them all and straight down.

Had a break whilst waiting for the other group and we sat around chatting and getting to know the rest of the group.

We then had a little elephant show starring the baby elephant where he did things such as basketball, putting a hat on people (all girls) and doing rolls. The finale was a tug of war contest between five of us (including Dave and me) and the elephant which the elephant won hands down although he did toy with us for a while. He does weigh one tonne in our defence.

The elephants did appear to be well treated and happy. They were being fed as we left and packing it away.

We then headed to Phang Nga bay where we boarded a longtail boat and headed into the bay. Longtails are long thin boats painted in range of garish colours. Ours was yellow and green. Must be Norwich fans. It has an engine that looks like it has been stolen from a car with a long pipe attached to it with a propeller on the end. This can lift out of the water and also acts as a rudder. The seats were three wide and there must have been about fifteen rows.

We were joined by another group at this point who were staying with us for the sea kayaking and James Bond Island.

We headed up through mangrove swamps in the river as we headed out to the bay. The journey took about 25 minutes until we reached our destination which was a boat moored in the bay from where we were going to do our kayaking safari.

We all piled onto the boat and got prepared for the trip: life jackets, shoes off, valuables into plastic bags and off we went.

The kayaks had two people plus a guide and were actually inflatable rather than the usual plastic. Ours was a little crazy to say the least and kept serenading us with scorpion songs and chatting up all the girls.

First we went through a little archway where the ceiling was about 3 or 4 metres high and maybe ten metres long. Coming out the other side we followed the cliffs round before squeezing through a tiny gap where we had to lie down flat in the kayak. This was well worth it because we came it into a spectacular open cave. It was also very impressive going under the cave walls because we were barely more than a few centimetres from the walls all the way round the boat.

We then went into some of the Mangrove Swamps and saw some bizarre fish/amphibian that sat on a tree branch and then skittered through the water to another branch to get away from us. Being Thailand of course, at this point we were greeted by what we now refer to as a floating 7-11 to sell us drinks and cigarettes. We then went through some more little cave networks before heading back to the boat with our guide singing all the way.

We were reunited with our shoes and bags and then it was off towards James Bond Island - the main attraction. It was about another fifteen minutes to our destination. It was a little surreal arriving - a concrete dock and small concrete huts nestling in between two towering rocks. We clambered off the boat here and had to run another gauntlet past people selling all kinds of rubbish although they did seem more interested in grabbing girls.

The actual island is quite small and sits about 20/30m off the coast of the island we were on. It was used in Dr No but I confess it's been ages since I've seen that film so I can't say when or where it was used. I thought it was in The Man with The Golden Gun anyway. I'll have to go and watch them both again!!

There was a small walk around the cliffs to a small beach and jetty which provided some good views back at the island.

We headed back the way we came on the longtail and stopped at a floating village for lunch although it wasn't really a floating village as it was firmly fixed on stilts. Lunch, again, was pretty good. We had fried chicken again and some battered fish disk. Was a good spot for lunch with nice views and some good company.

The longtail took us back to the dock and it started to rain on the way - our first rain for ages. We had a bit of a dash for the minibuses as a result as it was raining pretty heavily by this point and we didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to a few people.

Our next stop was a monkey temple. Usual Buddhist temple but this time in a cave populated by monkeys. We were a little worried that the monkeys would be hiding because of the rain but thankfully they were about in droves. We could see several hanging from the cliff face almost as soon as we got there.

The temple itself had about 30/40 monkeys running around and we could buy some bananas for about 20 pence to feed them. One of the Melbourne couples went first and almost every banana they handed out was stolen by the alpha male so when I got mine I went over to one side and managed to hand most of mine out to small, cute monkeys!! They were pretty smart as they grabbed the bananas and sprinted for some corner. They looked very cute looking up holding their hands out for a banana.

We had one more stop - at a cashew factory which was really nothing more than a shop with a small workstation to show what they really did at the factory which was probably miles away. We got to taste a few and bought a few packs as they were quite cheap.

Ko Phi Phi and 'The Beach

The following day we had organised to go to Ko Phi Phi island on a tour. We were picked up from the hotel about 8 and were taken by minibus to the Royal Phuket Marina. We were joined by a Dutch family of four (two older sons about our age), an old Dutch guy with his Thai boy and three Japanese girls in their 20s. At the marina we were joined by an elderly (OK in their 50s) couple from Las Vegas, an American lady with her five year old son and an Indian couple (hereafter referred to as the prince and princess for reasons you will discover later).

We had our photos taken ostensibly for insurance purposes but really so they could put it in a frame and charge you for it later. Although it would come in useful should you fall off the back of the boat.

The boat was a speedboat and got up to about 15 knots. It was about an hour to our first stop. The sea was a little choppy but the journey seemed to pass quickly.

Our first stop was Maya Bay made famous by the film 'The Beach'. It was immensely busy with at least ten boats anchored up and the (fairly small) beach was crowded. It was instantly recognisable though, particularly the entrance to the bay where Leo killed the shark.

Had a swim in the sea there - nice and warm although very salty. The water dropped off quickly too and the current was quite strong.

Also walked the length of the beach to both ends. On one end the cliffs overhung the beach just like round most of the island.

Our next stop was Loh Samah Bay where we went snorkelling. We dived off the back of the boat and snorkelled around for about half an hour. The fish all got pretty close especially when they fed them with bits of banana. All the usual suspects were there: parrotfish, angelfish, butterfly fish and some beautifully coloured rainbowfish as well as coral, anemones, sea cucumber and the odd sea urchin. Most impressive was a black and white sea snake. Bloody venomous of course!!

We then visited Pi Leh cove but didn't stop. The entrance to the cove is only 2m deep and then the bay itself is nearer 40m and so is commonly used by sharks to sleep at night as there isn't any current.

From there we went to the larger Phi Phi island called Phi Phi Don (the smaller is Phi Phi Leh) and visited Viking Cave. This has plenty of carvings in it but it is now used for harvesting birds nests for birds nest soup. Four men live there all year round and you could see there washing hanging up and their living quarters.

Monkey Beach was next although there wasn't a beach due to high tide. All the monkeys were in the trees. Brett (the little 5 year old) was chosen to throw the bananas to the monkeys and they were pretty adept at catching them'. Funniest of all was when the bananas fell in the water and they waded in with their arms above their heads to pick them up. Apparently they are good swimmers and often dive from the trees into the water.

Lunch was at Ton Sai Bay which is where the main accommodation on Phi Phi is. Lunch was on the beachfront and was pretty good - some fried chicken and sweet and sour fish with various accompaniments. We sat with all the Americans and chatted away over a few beers (apart from Brett).

We had half an hour or so for a wander round the little village. Nothing majorly special to report though. Plenty of hassle though just like Patong. Almost left the prince and princess behind as they were late getting back to the boat. Didn't seem bothered by keeping us all waiting though. A teary good-bye for our guide, Nancy, who has a little friend on the island - a five year old girl who has adopted Nancy as a friend. Apparently her parents are somewhat lacking and she hasn't any friends so spends every lunch time with Nancy and bawls her eyes out when Nancy leaves.

From there we went to Khai Island - about half way back to Phuket. It is just a beach island with lots of beach umbrellas and we spent the last few hours sunbathing on the beach. We were all supposed to sit down during the journey to keep boat steady except the prince and princess moved around as they liked. The driver even told the princess to sit down during one particularly bad bit of swell and she just turned to him and said "No" very bluntly and then continued to stand where she was.

Dave and I did go for a snorkel near some rocks with a banana to feed the fish. Dave spotted a jellyfish so headed back - I just kept a close eye out for them and managed to avoid getting stung. The fish were soon hovering around me like droves about 50cm away. All the same fish we saw earlier just a whole lot closer. I went back for a second banana and this time they were right around me and would even nibble at the banana pieces I was offering while I was holding them. A few bolder fish were even eating the banana before I was tearing pieces out of it. Thankfully none of them took a bite out of me.

Spend the rest of the time reading and trying to ignore one of the Dutch guys being sick.

We nearly left the prince and princess behind again as they were swimming over the other side of the island. We almost got away - Nancy had threatened to leave anyone behind (there would have been other boats so they wouldn't have been stranded) but just as we were pushing off they sauntered into view. Didn't rush either!!

We headed back to the mainland and only just beat the tide back and were soon back in Patong. Dave crashed at this point - worn out by all the sun. I went for a swim in the pool before doing some emailing/blogging, grabbed dinner and did some shopping for DVD's.

Phuket

The bus was a little scary with a tendency to roll from side to side even when going in straight lines. We were a little cramped in but the air-con worked well and I was able to get a few hours sleep before we stopped at midnight to change bus drivers and get a bite to eat. It was quite funny to see all the bus travelers struggling to stay awake sat in this little cafe (no idea where it was!). Suffice to say there was very little conversation.

We then had a six hour run down to Surat Thani - a small town on the east of the Thai/Malay peninsula where we were unloaded and divided into final destinations. Most of us were going to Phuket but a few were going to Ko Phi Phi, Ko Samui or Ko Pha Nga. We must have waited about an hour for our connecting bus and again there wasn't much conversation as we all sat there.

The bus trip to Phuket took about four hours, mainly because we must have stopped a thousand times to let people on and off. As is always the case, when we arrived in Phuket we were pounced on by various cab drivers and tuk-tuk drivers. We managed to find some other people heading to Patong Beach (who made Dave and I feel old as one - from Bristol bizarrely enough - looked barely 18).

Our accommodation was just off the main beach street in a quite little corner and had a small pool. It was about midday by this point and we'd been traveling for about 18 hours all told so we had a swim in the pool and a shower to freshen up and found clothes that weren't capable of walking around by themselves and then headed for a bit of an explore.

Patong is a bay with a long beach (filled with deckchairs and parasols - yours for the day for 100 baht), with a street running along the beach filled with bars, restaurants, hotels, McDonald's and a million and one street vendors selling suits, t-shirts, DVDs, and souvenirs. There are lots of little streets and alleys that connect the beach to the other main street which has lots of bars, hotels, restaurants... well you get the idea.

We grabbed a bit of lunch and had a wander (and got lost). The return to the hotel was a little hairy - what we called by the end 'running the gauntlet'. In this case it was lots of masseuses who would shout "wanna massage?" in annoyingly high-pitched voices and try to cut us off by standing in front of us or grabbing our arms.

We spent the next day out on the beach improving our tan and having a swim in the sea so not much to report there. We did find the Aussie bar showing Brisbane Lions v Fremantle so watched that over a beer.