Vietnam

We arrived in Saigon from our luxurious bus that continued intermittently leaking on us from first thing in the morning onwards. We made our way to a recommended hotel and booked up 2 nights. We walked around a little before getting hungry. 3 minutes and 2 blocks later we were in a restaurant. My first authentic Vietnamese meal was a disaster, the rice tasted like cardboard that a hobo has been living on and to make matters worse the rice was the only thing i recognised as a food and the other items were a workout for my gag reflex. Still hungｒｙ i settled for a mango smoothie from another establishment to last me until dinner time. The smoothie tasted distinctly of Asda ham and i enjoyed it as much as any 80 year old who gets their meals liquidised. We did a little shopping and bargaining at a nearby market, checked out some sights and headed back to grab dinner and a couple of drinks.

The next day we went to the war remnants museum to check out some old American artillery and some good old fashioned war propaganda. The museum is known for being very biased but rightfully so with all things considered. Everything depicted or written about has photographic evidence and U.S. Army officials from the time have been since tried and proven guilty for war crimes. We also went around the presidential palace and walked through some more of the city.

After dinner before watching some football i decided to sit in the park next to our hotel for 15 minutes or so. Within the first minute of me being there i had myself 8 English students sat all around me. All were students in various professions and used their free time to learn English the best way, by talking to a Glaswegian. I helped them for about 3 hours and would recommend this to anyone. It is less common in Saigon to come across the 'English student' scam than in Hanoi and it is perfectly easy to see if they are genuine in their interest.

The next morning we jumped on another luxurious bus for the 10 hour journey to Nha Trang, a popular beach town. I was excited for a couple of days relaxing on 6km of sand and sea. Our first day we got ourselves a couple of loungers and began the relaxation. This lasted around 45 seconds when our first saleswoman approached and ruined it. From this point onwards until we left early evening roughly 1 person every 1 minute bothered us with something. The worst was a young girl who kept coming back and saying 'i no lucky today, buy something'. If that wasn't bad enough after the 7th knockback she tried the interesting sales technique of telling us she would cut off our 'bananas' if we didn't buy something. I asked her if she sold bananas because i really wanted one. She left us alone.

After not doing much on our last day and glad to see the end of Nha Trang we headed to the train station to catch a sleeper train to Hue. Delayed as usual we waited at the station and i helped some more students with their English. The sleeper train at night was nothing special but when i woke in the morning i noticed out the window we were above the ocean. The train tracks run directly at the top of very steep drops straight to the ocean so this made the journey not only enjoyable but the most scenic i have ever been on. In the spirit of sunny Asia however, it became overcast and began to rain.

Eventually after 3 hours of cruising at a smooth walking pace we arrived in Hue. I really enjoyed Hue as it is small but filled with lots to see and do and plenty to keep yourself occupied with bars and restaurants and shops. The people were also much less annoying as they accept 1 'no thank you' and stop asking you for various services. After asking in a few places and finding them all sold out we eventually bought tickets for a night bus to Hanoi. This was the worst sleeper bus so far. Regardless of the road condition, bumps, rail crossings, corners whatever the journey could throw at the driver he managed to keep his speed sky high. The other thing sky high (and not in a psychedelic sense) was me because the bumps were so extreme i was literally flying out of my bed and had to hold on all night, Driver 1 Adam 0.

Hanoi is manic. Motorbike mania, street tout haven and no room to walk on the pavement which is completely useless as all the motorbike and scooter drivers go on the pavement and ride up and down when they want. We had to wait in our hotel lobby for a few hours before we could check in so i had an authentic street breakfast when a guy in the street recommended it and asked me to join him. I later found out he was the hotel owner and was a pretty cool guy. He wore the shiniest shoes i have ever seen.

After getting checked in we started with the Temple of Literature, this was nice but by this point i was getting a little used to the wonders that are Asian Temples. For lunch we went to a restaurant called Koto. It is a non-profit restaurant that concentrates its money and efforts into street kids. All the cooks, waiters and waitresses were at some point troubled youth but by the way we were served Koto is definitely doing its job-well worth the money. Nothing says Vietnam like a burger and chips.

The next day we bought a tour to Halong Bay. 3 hours there, then onto a boat and into the bay. The limestone caves and rocks were awe inspiring but there are tourist boats everywhere on the water so it takes away from the experience but i can't complain as i was on such a boat. On the boat we shared a proper seafood feast with a Filipino couple from Dubai. After lunch we were taken inside one of the caves which again has been partially ruined by the multi-coloured light effects that shine all over the rocks making it look like a themed disco, the theme being rocks. After 4 hours of gliding around the water it was time to head back.

We started off our last day in Hanoi by queing for about half an hour to get in to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum to see the preserved body in a sarcophagus. I felt a little stupid doing this as there is a massive queue from outside that all moves at a slow pace and doesn't stop just to get inside and catch a quick glimpse of a dead mans preserved corpse. Especially seeing as how it was his dying wishes to be cremated so that he would not be treated as a martyr, respect is not common in Asia. After this we went round the Ho Chi Minh museum then went back to the hotel. After lunch and a walk around the biggest lake right in the center of Hanoi we cooled down with a few beers and checked out a few stalls and shops including a couple of genuine old war propaganda poster shops.

Our night train from Hanoi to Nanning, China was the most luxurious yet. Time for our biggest country, home to a history that includes repelling countless Mongol invasions and eventual Genghis and Kublai Khan rule and dynasties like the Ming and Qing. It is also over populated and highly polluted, our time here should be interesting...

Cambodia

Apparently the only way to cross this border is with difficulty and confusion. We got a bus to the nearest Thai town Aranyaprathet. From there we could either walk the 7km to the border or get a Tuk Tuk. After 15 minutes of the wind and bugs in my face we arrived at the border crossing into Cambodia. This was a little stress inducing as i was quite positive a bribe was going to take place at some point. This small strip of border was the biggest eye opener yet as we were looking third world poverty in the face. Kids almost instantaneously surround you and try to get some sympathy money from you with one hand out while their other hand wanders into your wallet. There were several casinos where many Thai's go to gamble large amounts and outside naked children and emancipated people. The officials are all corrupt and you can read it on their faces when they look at you. The trick i found is to pull some sort of face of your own whether it be a tough guy face or a 'i'm a mental' face to show you know whats what.

After we successfully made it through the border check we got a 4 hour bus journey to our first port of call Siem Reap. Siem has one small main road and the rest are barely paved and the people everywhere want money and they want it from you. From our hotel we hired a Tuk Tuk driver for the next day and planned our itinerary, after a few lagers it was time for bed.

As planned we met our driver at 5am to get to Angkor Wat for sunrise. Angkor was amazing, it was so peaceful among the glorious ruins of an ancient civilisation. We spent all morning there and at a nearby jungle temple where they apparently filmed Tomb Raider.

After lunch we were taken to get a boat trip to see a floating village in the largest section of Cambodia's main river that runs through the whole country. Do not ever take this boat trip. It was hands down the worst thing in the world, a river where there is nothing to see but very brown water and dirt on either side while during the trip kids come up right beside you on a smaller boat and stick a live snake in your face and say '2 dorra'. When you get to the floating village the boat guide takes you to a little shop and everyone there tries to guilt trip you into buying a few jotters for the floating village school kids, i've never known jotters to cost $25. The floating village looks fairly small and on further research we found that over 2 million people stay there making it a very large slum on water, bring on the tourists. The only cool thing was that i ate a grasshopper.

The next morning we had another early rise to catch a bus to Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital. This has even more people that all want your money for one thing or another. We spent one day and night here and during our time we went to the Genocide Museum and the killing fields. I don't want to write too much about these but it is now a struggle to think whether i should have gone or not. It is by no means an experience that you must see while in Cambodia and you leave saddened by a country that had a great past that can be visually seen through stunning ruins then destroyed by a maniacal leader and government which has only left the country with extreme poverty and horrible 'anything for a dollar' people.

The next morning we hopped on a bus to Saigon, now named after Uncle Ho, Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam which lasted about 6 hours. I'm excited for what the city and communist Vietnam has in store for me.