Ho Chi Minh City

We arrived in Saigon in the evening and spent the first night in the Saigon Spots Hotel which was alright, but the next two nights we splashed out and stayed in the Golden Central Hotel. We got a room on the top floor. The view was amazing, and an expensive but good way to look over the city. And the hotel had a rooftop pool.



We had breakfast at an amazing bakery and then walked to get rosies raincoat that had been posted from Phu Quoc. Along the way I got my bushy beard shaved off by an old guy with a blade. He left me with a few cuts and big sideburns! After that we had a good lunch, got the coat by communicating with my fantastic drawing, then went to the huge market. I spent ages there, dragging Rosie around, but managed to get a few things after making a Vietnamese woman angry from bartering too hard. Later on we got massages that made me happy and we watched black hawk down.

Next day we had good free hotel breakfast, and chilled out on the hotel roof by the pool. Nice. After lunch we went to American war museum. It was good and eye opening. We went to Le jardin for tea because Rosie wanted French cheeses, and the food was good but the kitchen closed before we ordered cheese. She wasn't happy.
Overall had a great time in Ho chi Minh. Really cool city!

Vinh Long

We got off the boat at Ha Tien and got on a public bus at about 11 to Vinh Long, a town in the heart of the Mekong Delta. We got there at about 4.30. Actually we were dropped at the side of the main road just outside the town where there were two guys with motorbikes. We paid $5 for a seriously scary and fast trip into the centre of the town. It was an expensive trip but it's hard to barter when they don't speak a word of English.

We got a room for $12 at the Van Tram guesthouse which was right on the river and next door to Mekong Travel. We booked a tour around the Mekong for the next day. We spent the rest of the evening having a wander around the town.

We got up at 6 the next day for the mekong delta trip. It was only me and Rosie on the tour and we got in a wooden long boat and went to the Cai Be floating market.

The market was made up of loads of boats all tied together in the middle of one of the canals, each boat selling a different fruit or veg. They have a big wooden stick in the air with an example of what they are selling hanging on the end of it.

We then stopped at a place where they make coconut toffee candy and pop rice, which is similar to rice crispies.



We got back on the boat and visited an orchard with a few ponds around it containing elephant ear fish. We then got on some cranky old bikes and went for a ride around the area. It was cool seeing all the canals and bridges. Some of the bridges looked proper dodgy and our guide was telling us that kids die every year when the bridges break, and drown in the river.



After the ride we ordered lunch back at the orchard - spring rolls and deep fried elephant ear fish; a delicacy in the Mekong. It was sooo good!



After lunch we went for a row down one of the canals in a sampan. It's hard to row, you stand up at the back, facing forward and row with crossed oars. Got no pictures on the phone so can't post any.

On the way back to Vinh Long we stopped at a brick factory which had loads of huge kilns, a brick making machine and a tomb of the original factory owner.



Late afternoon we got on a bus to Ho Chi Minh City.

Phu Quoc

We were picked up from our guesthouse in Kampot half an hour late, but I was invited to play chess with one of the locals. There were about 10 people around the chess board all helping by moving the pieces, I lost rather badly.

We got on the bus and it was about an hour and a half to the Vietnam border. It took 20mins to get our passports stamped and we had to pay a dollar for the privilege. Definitely dodgy.






The bus dropped us in Ha Tien and we had a quick lunch in the tourist office before getting a bus to the port so as to board the boat for the hour and a half trip to Phu Quoc island.

We asked to be taken to Long Beach which is the main stretch of beach. We decided to stay at the quieter end of the beach at the Viet Tranh bungalow resort. We got a wicked bungalow right on the front for only $10.

There were two hammocks in the porch and we spent the evening relaxing and watching the sunset. It was paradise!






The next morning we woke up and had an amazing banana shake for breakfast. We rented a moto for $5 and drove for 20mins to the Tranh Waterfalls. They were awesome and we swam in one of the pools.






We spent the early evening in the hammocks, Rosie fell out. We went for food in the night market, it was really cool! There were loads of stalls with fresh seafood ready to be put on the BBQ. We had 4 huge prawns, tuna steak and a lobster all for less than $8.






The next day we booked onto a snorkeling tour around the An Thoi islands - a group of 12 archipelago islands off the southern tip to Phu Quoc. On the way to the boat we stopped at a pearl farm which was interesting.

The boat trip was really good, the snorkeling however was rubbish. The visibility was poor.

After the boat trip we were taken to Sao Beach on the east side of Phu Quoc which again was paradise!






We had dinner at Le Bistrot, a French restaurant which was good. We both had carbonara.

We left the island the next day. We were meant to be picked up at 7.30 but the bus arrived at 7 so were really rushed. Rosie left her iPod but remembered just in time. We got the the boat and then Rosie remembered she had left her jacket. Useless! Back on the mainland we asked for it to be sent to Saigon. We were pretty sure we were never going to see that jacket again.

Kampot & Kep

We arrived in Kampot after a two hour bus ride from Sihanoukville. The bus was full of westerners and we asked the driver to stop by a group of guesthouses in the town. After looking around a few of them, we chose to stay at the Blissful guesthouse as it was the most lively and was only $5 for a room (plus two free beers).




For lunch we went to Ritikitaki and had beef and chicken skewers in Kampot pepper. The pepper in Kampot is meant to be the best pepper in the world.

It was still raining so Rosie did some washing in a plastic bag and then we went down for tea. We had a few drinks in the bar and met an english girl called Charly who worked behind the bar, she taught us a dice game and we kept on drinking. After her and her boyfriend Chris finished working we went to a bar the other side of town called Madi's. It was a wicked bar full of travelers and we just chatted and played pool.

We didn't feel great the next morning so had a slow start but the rain eased at about lunchtime so we got in a tuk-tuk and went to see the local hydroelectric dam with loads of rapids below it.

We came back to the guesthouse and across the road was a tour company called Sok Lim Tours. We booked a country side tour for the next day, and a bus/boat to Phu Quoc for the day after that, and these were $20 each.

That evening we went to a bar/restaurant called the Rusty Keyhole which is known locally for it's BBQ pork ribs. Rosie order the half rack and I was manly and got the full rack. They were AMAZING! by far the best ribs I have ever eaten. Didnt finish them though.



The rain stopped by the morning of the countryside tour! A guy from the tour company picked us up in his old panda along with this very chatty but nice girl from the USA. He first took us to some salt fields just outside Kampot. There was no salt in the fields due to the wet season, but the store huts were full of salt. I have never seen so much.



We then stopped at a fish sauce factory that stank, but it was interesting to see how they made it, it takes 2 years! On the way to the caves we stopped at a small fishing village.



We then went to a temple cave, I wasn't expecting much but they were probably the best caves that i have ever been to. Although they weren't as impressive as some I have seen, the fact the they weren't set up for tourists and just left in their natural state made them so much better. We walked into them for about 5mins and then we got to this tiny hole which our guide pointed to. The girls didn't want to go in, but because I'm so manly I went and had a look. I just managed to fit through the hole (too many ribs) and it was nearly pitch black on the other-side. I had to use my iPhone light to see anything. I got in a bit further and there were some gaps in the roof above so natural light was filling the cave. There were some huge stalactites and stalacmites. It was such a cool experience.


After the caves we went to a pepper plantation. It was interesting to find out how they grew pepper and how they made the different types.



We then stopped in Kep for lunch. It's quite a dead town but I can see it being more lively in the dry season. We went to Kimly's for lunch and had the green peppered crab. It was so delicious!



The tour included a trip to Rabbit island, but the sea was rough so we asked if we could do the Kampot sunset cruise instead. The boat left at 5 so that gave us a few hours to kill. We went to seeing hands massage 5 and got half an hour back and shoulders. It was so painful but I feel better now.

We then went to meet the boat and had a nice evening on the river.

Sihanoukville

The bus from Chi Phat took a couple of hours and we arrived in Sihanoukville in the monsoon rain. We decided to stay at Serendipity beach, which is one of the five beaches of Sihanoukville. The bus station is about 15 mins tuk-tuk ride from here. The drivers tried to rip us off and we got a ride for about $3 which is still quite high.

We checked into Coasters which was cool; it has a few bungalows on stilts and it is right on the beach.



We went to a dive shop and asked when the weather would improve, it didn't look good until Monday/Tuesday - 3 days away.

Although Sihanoukville looked like an awesome place, we decided that there was not much point in staying there with the weather the way it was.

We booked the bus to Kampot for the next day.

We went for tea at Happa restaurant, just up the road from the beach. The food was very good, nice prawns!


Rosie had the seafood platter, and I had a chicken dish. Definitely should have had the platter.

Chi Phat

We got up early this morning to catch the 7.45 bus from Phnom Penh to Anduong Tuek. There wasn't room in this bus so we got the 12.45 bus instead and booked it through the okay guesthouse as the guy said the public busses are unreliable and don't always stop at Anduong Tuek.

The bus took 4 hours to get to Andoung Tuek and from there we got a moto-taxi (50cc moped) for about 15km to a small ferry which took us across the river to Chi Phat.

Usually you get the cargo barge up the river which is alot cheaper but you have to get the early bus, which we missed.

Once notorious for it's loggers and poachers, the river village of Chi Phat has a population of about 500 people. It is now home to a community based ecotourism project (CBET), although it is still in it's very early stage of establishing itself .

We got to the village at about 5.30pm and walked through the village looking for the project office. It was shut when we arrived so walked to one of the guesthouses which was very basic. The room had a bed, mosquito net and a fan. What more do you need though?! There was a long drop toilet and a bucket for the shower. The house was very clean and perfectly adequate though.

We had dinner in the restaurant and the woman/cook pointed inside four pots and we chose what we wanted. We stayed safe and had the soup and rice. It was very nice, but I was a bit dubious about the meat in the soup. I think it went cluck, but may have gone woof. It was such a weird experience being in the middle of a forest, probably the most remote place I have ever been, but a few Angkors calmed the nerves.



We had an early night as electricity is only available between 6-11pm and it was good to get to sleep before the fan went off.

The next day it was raining hard, we went back to the restaurant and bought a bunch of bananas for breakfast. The CBET office was now open but they wernt as helpful as we expected. It was a pretty relaxing morning, we just stayed around the house and planned the next few days.

After a lunch of fish, vegetables and rice the rain stopped, and we got a two man kayak and paddled up the river, well I paddled up the river and Rosie took photos. It was amazing! The scenery was awesome and it was interesting to see the locals going about their everyday life. We also saw the ecolodges on the far river bank up stream. We were glad we didn't stay in them, although the looked nice, as they are bit far from everything and you need to get a boat there.



We got back to the guesthouse and had a shower (bucket and water), which was actually really nice and refreshing. That evening we went and had tea in the CBET restaurant.

We left Chi Phat at about 8am again on the moto-taxis and went to the river to get the ferry across. We could see it was docked on the other side and they were having engine problems. We finally got on and started out journey across when the engine cut out again, in the middle of the fast flowing river. We were pretty sure we were going to miss the bus to Sihanoukville but we carried on anyway. The drivers were gunning it back down the track to Andoung Teuk, but after 5km I was certain there was no way we would get the bus. A river had burst its banks and was flowing across the road. My driver didn't seem phased and drove straight in. The bike was half under water and Rosie's stopped in the middle but we made it through and surprisingly made the bus.

Chi Phat was one of the most amazing and eye opening places I have ever been in the world, iv never felt so isolated.

Phnom Penh

We arrived at 10pm at Phnom Penh airport. It was good we got our visas done before we came as the queue was huge. After the initial scare that Rosies bag might have got lost en route, we met our driver and he walked us to his tuk-tuk. It was about a 30min drive to the Okay guest house where we are now staying.

Today we walked to a big market an nearly died of the heat on the way. In the market we both bought a hat, pretty sure we got ripped off as I payed less in Primark.

After the market we got a tuk-tuk to the Wat Phnom, which is a smallish temple on a little hill in the middle of Phnom Penh.



After lunch we took a trip to Tuol Slenj, one of Pol Pots torture prisons. It was pretty grim, there were photos of the dead on the walls and blood still on the ceiling of the prisoners cells.

We had dinner at 54 Langeach Sros (or "Fresh Evening"), it is a cool Khmer beer garden. We had BBQ prawns which we were meant to cook ourselves but i think the waitress felt sorry for our us so she cooked them for us. We also had Morning Glory, which are fried vegetables and these were cooked in snail oil. For main we had grilled pork ribs which were out of this world. They were also a few intriguing tree-ant dishes and frog's legs. Jugs of Angkor, the local beer were only 9,000 riel. Food is much cheaper than chips out here.



We have just had breakfast and we planned to go to Chi Phat but missed the morning bus. We didnt mind as we didnt go to the killing fields yesterday so spent the morning there.


We about to get a bus to Chi Phat, a small village in the jungle. There is no electricity there so see you soon.

South Korea Stop Over

We have just arrived in Seoul, South Korea for a 3 hour stop over on the way to Phnom Penh. The flight was average, Rosie fell asleep the whole way and I stayed awake the whole way. I'm quite tired so we both bought a traditional Korean coffee. See below and Rosie popped out to visit the Korean country side. We went to get some food and a marriage procession walked through the airport. When ever I get free Internet Ill try to keep this blog as up-to-date as I can. Korean TV is hilarious.

Vietnamese Vaccinations

After putting it off long enough I finally had an apointment with the travel nurse to findout what jabs I had previously had and the recomended ones for Vietnam and Cambodia. The recomended ones are:

• Diphtheria, Tetanus and Polio
• Hepatitis A
• Typhoid

Optional vaccinations were:

• Rabbies
• Hepatitis B
• Japanese Encephalitis

I also had to decide what Malaria tablets I wanted to take. I decided on Malarone eventhough they are way more expensive, you dont get the side affects that are often assiciated with Doxycycline such as photosensitisation plus it is an antibiotic.

Ubud

Ubud is a cool little town in the middle of Bali, it sits onthe outskirts of the slopes leading up to the mountsains. there is a great market there and some wicked padi field walks. The lonely planet suggests a good one but the book I had was a little out of date and the start of the walk doesn’t exist so it is best to ask someone or have a little explore.

Nusa Lembongan

Getting burnt on the roof of a canoe

We caught the ferry from Padangbai, well, it wasn't really a ferry, more like a giant wooden canor with three 20hp outboards on the back. I think boats go to Nusa Lembongan twice a day, in the morning and evening. as well as Padangbai you can also get the boat from Sanur. It cost about 70,000- 100,000 for a one way ticket which wasnt too bad but I think we got ripped off on the way as we let the taxi man buy it and I think he he charged us. We had the option to pay for a porter to load out bags onto the boat, it was pretty rough so was probably a good idea but I had to show off to the girls so I did it myself and got very wet. The journey to Nusa Lembongan took about two hours but time passed pretty quick as we climbed onto the roof and sunbathed the whole way!

Mainski

The boat rocked up on Jungutbatu Beach of Nusa Lembongan and we were greeted by locals trying to take us to their hotels. They are not very pushy so it wasnt too stressful. We found a place to stay in the Mainski resort (its hardly a resort) and left our bags and headed to the bar for a Bintang. It suddenly hit us how amazing this little island was. It was what I had imagined an island paradise would be like.

Henry and Pheebs raggin' it

We hired mopeds for a few days, and after bartering for about 10mins we managed to get them for about 50,000 per day each. we later found out it was way cheaper to hire for a few days at a time... meh. We found a map of the island and went for an explore, it is fairly small so we pretty much went abound the whole thing in a day. Helmets wernt even ofered but there are no cars on the island so it is very safe to drive. We drove to some mangroves, had a look around some Hindu mans caves, went for a swim at Dream beach and went over the rickety bridge onto the smaller island next to Nusa Lembongan called Nusa Ceningan.

Nusa Lambongan is great for surfing. There are a few spots of the main beach (all next to each other) but the break called playgrounds was best suited for me being a beginner to the Indo waves. It took about 20mins to paddel out to the reef but it was cool to looking over the seaweed farms below. On Henry's 21st we decided to be lazy and get a boat out to the reef, im pretty sure we paid the guy to pick us up, but he never showed. It was hardly any money though. On a few of the days the tide was well strong (nothing I couldn't paddle against :p) and getting in took quite a while but I just follow the other people who seamed to know the best way in. There was a  small beach near playgrounds which I found out on the last day which meant the swim in could have been way quicker.

Rosie desided to do her beginner Padi course and whilst she was on the course Pheebs, Chris and I secided to go on a snorkelling trip to Toyapacka. It was amazing! just as good as the Red Sea! Later on in the week I decided to join Rosie on a few dives. The Scuba diving was amazing! I think we did a dive trip with Bali Diving Academy or World Dive (they both have offices at their own hotels on the main beach). We met a really cool dive instructor called Aurellie (think she was French) and we organised to do our PADI advanced course the next week in Tulumben back on the main land with her.

Money was a pretty big issue on the island as there were no cash machines, there was a money dealer who took a small cut. We definatly should have taken more out on the main land!

Balangan and the South

The south peninsular of Bali was amazing! We first set up camp in Balangan which was a great little spot on the north west side of the peninsular, there are warungs (surf shacks) on the beach but there are nice. We lived with the family but it is still like a hotel. On the beach there is a great hotel at the far end of the beach (farthest south) which cost about Rp 20,000 a night. The surf is good here and reef boots are a must!

We met some cool Americans staying in the warung at the same time as us. One of them played his Ukulele the whole time as the surf wasn't great. On one of the evenings we went to a local open mic night which was pretty fun. The highlight was some crazy guy called Captain Roscoe Darling singing and playing the guitar. Then the American had a go and was good. Got a free CD.

Uluwatu temple is defiantly worth a visit, the temple sits 70m above the roaring Indian ocean. The entrance fee is Rp 6,000 and they give you a sarong and sash which you have to wear.  There are loads of wild monkeys running about in the temple which you are free to walk around at your leisure.

I had my sunglasses on my head and I got attacked by two monkeys trying to steal them off me. We saw a Chinese man get his sunglasses nicked  by a monkey but one of the guides induced the monkey with some fruit to give it back.

There is a show in the evening; I think it is about 7.00pm and cost about Rp 20,000. The show was a Hindu story I think, well worth a watch.

Kuta

It is defiantly worth having a look around Kuta. It is pretty much a party city and is alive with Australians all night. There are some great bars and an awesome reggae bar called Apache. We paid about Rp 70,000 a night for a room for two.

We met an old man in one of the hotels in Poppies 2 who was a Kuta veteran and he told us how much Bali had changed over the last 10 years. The pretty much said that we were visiting at about the right time because in the near future it will look a very different place than it does now.

Kuta beach was quite nice,we hired surfboards and the girls learnt to surf. It a pretty good place to learn as the beach is so sandy which is quite hard to find in Bali as the majority of the shore is reef.

You can get anywhere in Bali from Kuta and this is a place where you have to barging hard for a taxi. Start by quartering the price they suggest, they will play around with you for a bit but you will get the hang of it after a while. It can be quite fun (if you’re not tired).

Kuta is the place to buy all the tourist tat, again barter hard so you dont get ripped off. Invest in a Bintang Beater.

Denpasar Airport

We landed at Densasar Airport in the evening and flew through immegration. Denpasar Airport is located in southern Bali, 13km south of Denpasar. The airport is actually called 'Ngurah Rai International Aiport', it is named after an Indonesian national hero who died in a fight to the death in 1946.

After leaving the airport we tried to barter for a taxi but I think there is a monopoly here so paid about Rp50,000 to Kuta.