Bangkok

Hi, quick update....we are just waiting for our bus so thought we could do a quick blog on Bangkok!

We arrived by plane into Bangkok which was luxury as we have been used to hot old buses for the past couple of months. At the airport we were quoted a stupid amount for a taxi from the airport (18 pound), it may not sound like a lot, but that's two nights accommodation for both of us in some places we have visited! We ended up taking the train from the airport to the centre for 10 pence each which was even cheap by Thai standards. It was delayed by half hour and was so hot and humid and was hard to even justify paying 10p for the journey. Before we got to Bangkok central station, we was held at a red signal so we literally jumped off the train with our bags and caught a cab to Khao San Road!

The last time we were in Bangkok, we ended up avoiding the ping pong show but after speaking to people on our travels, we felt it would be silly if we would miss out on the experience....and it was an experience! We read so many bad reviews online about people getting scammed so we was wary, but still managed to get dragged into a place up a dark set of stairs to find out we were the first people in so it was a bit awkward as this girl was performing just for us! Thankfully other people turned up and we ended up watching acts involving blowing out candles, smoking cigarettes, popping balloons and playing pin pong with balls flying everywhere....inbox me for more details! I went to the toilet and come out to find Georgia violently and competitively smashing ping pong balls back at the women which was a shock to the system, think she didn't quite realize what she was doing! When we tried to leave they was trying to charge us 45 pound instead of 5 pound with about 4 people shouting us standing by the door, I ended up arguing and they just let us go, probably scared we was scaring the other customers! It put a bit of a dampener on the night but was worth visiting the show but I wouldn't think twice about going back! We couldn't take pictures in there otherwise they would have been on Facebook by now....

The last time we was in Bangkok, we arrived from India with a bit of a Delhi belly so we avoided alcohol and street food and stayed in a nice hotel until we got better. This time we done it the backpacker's way by staying in cheap but nice accommodation and trying the local food including noodles, fried rice, spring rolls and a nice chicken kebab which works out a lot cheaper than eating in restaurants all the time! Bangkok is so much hotter compared to a few weeks ago, the humidity is unbearable and the temperature reaches 40C everyday during March/April. We would often end up going out in the morning, hibernating in our air conditioned room in the afternoon and then going back out during the evening!

That's it for now because we need to jump on our 12 hour bus and 3 hour ferry which will probably somehow mean 20 hours in total in Thailand. We are looking forward to spending a few days on the island including the full moon party where we will meet up with a few people on our travels plus a handsome boy from Benfleet (ego boost).

James and Georgia xx

Cambodia

I've been fortunate enough to skive out of writing too many blogs, therefore its well over due that it is my turn to write a new blog for you all!

We arrived in Cambodia after day journey from Vietnam. The first part of the journey was comfortable , a excellent bus with air -con and all modern features. We were not so lucky during the second bus, it broke down and we was waiting for over an hour for it too fix. In the middle of the day, in the middle of the heat this is not something we was too happy about! Nevertheless we made it to our first destination in Cambodia Siam Reap.
We arrived in the evening, checked into our hotel, got some food and went to bed early so we could visit Angkor Wat the next morning :)
The next morning we rented a tuk-tuk to take us around to the 'best'four temples. The size of them was absolutely hugeeeee. James particularly enjoyed visiting the temple where 'Tomb Raider' starring Angelina Jolie was filmed. I on the other hand am 'Team Aniston' - therefore it was not that impressive ;) . It was fascinating to see one of the wonders of the world. It was a bit of a shame that due to the Cambodian civil war, some of the remains were left vandalised, however very impressive nonetheless!

After a long day we decided to head back to the hotel, catch some sleep and head to 'pub street' in the night. Pub street is basically what it says on the tin! Streets with pubs... a place where alcohol is cheaper than water, like a lot of South-East Asia it is far too tempting to give the alcohol a miss haha! We enjoyed a night looking around the night market and enjoying a few beverages or two!
There is not much else to do/see in Siem Reap other than the impressive temples, therefore we booked a bus to the next Town in Cambodia: Sihanoukville. We got the bus booked for 11.30pm , to save time by travelling through the night. As we had such a long wait, we decided to go the the war Museum for a few hours. We had a tour guide who had been a child soldier in the Cambodian civil war , forced to kill, and forced to watch all his family die. He was a very sad man, with a very interesting story. Although he seemed stern at the time, me and James felt like we was back at school when he was asking us questions that we did not know! He educated us to some extent on the war ,he was visibly moved by telling us his story. We felt very fortunate to be able to meet and hear his voice.
That night we bought a book for the journey to understand the war a little more. Our night bus came and we had a group of the most rudest people, I have ever come across, sitting just behind us. Loud, obnoxious and well just plain rude. I was glad when they knocked themselves out to sleep by taking Valium!
The journey was split into two buses, we had to get off at 6am and wait two hours for our next bus to arrive,which wasn't ideal, but standard for SE Asia! You can't complain too much, everyone is in the same boat!

We got to Sihanoukville during the after noon, found a reasonably cheap hotel to stay for the night. When arriving in the town, we did not expect it to be a ''party town'. Bars were everywhere and it soon became clear that this was not going to be an early night for either of us :) We went out to a bar, and in the bar stood a couple who we had met early on our travels in India! We all went out for the night and booked to go on the 'booze cruise'the following afternoon!
We went on the 'booze cruise'with the couple we had met in India and the friends that had met. All were very lovely and we all had a fun time on the boat! The weather was just right, not too hot! All in all it was a good day and we even got dinner at the end of it. Perfect after drinking for some several hours! :)
The next day was our anniversary! March 13th 2009- the day James came into my life and ruined it haha. Only joking. We decided to treat ourselves to a hotel with a pool and for dinner a bbq for 3 dollars! Very cheap and cheerful lol. We ended up renting a cinema room for a couple of hours and watching a film for only 4 dollars each! We watched 'life at 40' , a half decent film that made me laugh! We bought some pringles, cola bottles and spent the night at the cinema!
The next day, we stayed at the hotel and met a few people around the pool. We all went out for dinner & a few drinks in the evening. I feel like we have been so fortunate to meet the people we have whilst travelling. All have been welcoming and nice to us! Our final day was spent at the beach, we got a tuk tuk to it,It was a secluded beach and was very nice! There isn't much to see/do in Sihanoukville , we stayed for 5 nights, just eating and having fun! However it was time to leave and head to our final stop in Cambodia Phnom Penh!

We only had enough time to stay in Phnom Penh for just two nights, as we have a flight booked for Bangkok in the morning! (Can;t wait to head to all the beautiful Thai Islands)

Everyone comes to Phnom Penh to visit the killing fields and the war prison s-21. We have just come back from a all day visit to see both attractions '. S-21 was a old high school converted into a prison where they kept humans in such poor conditions and often beating and starving them to death. Out of some few thousands only 7 survived the harsh conditions. As the war only ended in the late 70s, you can still see blood stains from victims. You can walk around their cells and see the torture instruments they use to use on them to kill them. Human remains are still present at the site. It was a very moving place to visit. How anyone can inflict such misery on other humans is beyond me. Such a sad place to visit, yet a poignant memory to those who tragically lost their lives. The next stop was visiting the killing fields, this is the place the Cambodians use to take 'traitors'' too, to ultimately die. Anyone who was educated, a lawyer, teacher, soft hands, wore glasses and the disabled were instantly killed without a second thought. Those who had degrees, who had studied medicine were seen as a threat to the ÁNGKOR and were tortured to death. Many lied and said they were poor to avoid death, however almost a third of the entire population was murdered by their own government. Cambodians killing Cambodians, makes no sense at all too me! You take an audio tour around the killing fields , you see mass graves'; where the victims were killed then all hurdled together in a pit to rot to death. One thing that stood out to me was the 'killing tree' - a tree where they would hold a baby by his/her feet and whack them against it until they died. Absolutely horrific. No words can explain nor do these two places justice. It is something that you have to visit to comprehend yourself. Because the war is so recent, you can see bones lying on the ground with teeth coming out the mass graves. So sad to see, yet so interesting! Anyone wishing to visit Cambodia , should and must see this to understand the history, struggle and pain of the Cambodian people!

We are heading to back Bangkok tomorrow morning and have a flight booked for 8.45am. We are both looking forward to heading to the Thai islands for the 'full moon party' .
Cambodia has been a very special place to visit/see , however we are both looking forward to our next adventure!


Georgia and James
xxxx

Vietnam so far....

Sorry we haven't wrote a blog in a while, we have seemed to be getting a dodgy wi-fi connection everywhere we have been. We have spent over 2 weeks in Vietnam and our time here is come to an end where we are now off to Cambodia

Bus journey from Laos to Vietnam
We wasn't too optimistic about getting on a bus for 18 hours on what they claimed was a sleeping bus, the definition of a sleeping bus in Vietnam seems to be a reclining seat for people who are under 5 foot. My legs were squashed and I had the top bunk so it seemed as if I could fall out at any moment! The journey was terrible, had to endure the Vietnamese equivalent of X factor on repeat 3-4 times, we had locals sleeping in the aisles and the bus stopped every hour to unload cargo from the bus roof! We couldn't complain too much seeing as we paid ten pound for the whole journey. Was either that or paying 170 each for a flight! As we were being proper backpackers and avoiding flights, we had to cross the land border between Laos and Vietnam, the bus stops a mile from the border, and effectively have to exit Laos and walk another half mile to enter through the Vietnamese border whilst bribing officials to check and stamp your passports. I am not ever moaning about waiting at passport control at Gatwick airport for 20 minutes ever again! Once we crossed the border we headed to our first stop, Hue in Vietnam.

Vietnamese border after a 2km walk

Hue
We arrived at 12 after getting chucked off the bus(literally) and checked-in to our hotel and was starving after a diet of crisps and Oreo's for the past 24 hours. There was a family owned cafe next door and a meal cost around a pound, so we got 2 meals each! Got to take advantage, was almost like being in Tesco thinking its on offer, so might aswell.
The next day when we went on a city tour which wasn't a city tour, it was going down a river for about 4 hours stopping at various sites such as tombs and temples. To be fair it was pretty impressive, was just a long day. One of the stops was the Emperor's tomb, the area must have been the size of Alton Towers with lakes and forests with various smaller tombs and old buildings. Its quite hard to describe to be honest, saying "old buildings" doesn't do it justice. The next day we actually did do a city tour which was a preserved city, where the Mandarin family lived, although a lot of the buildings were destroyed in the American-Vietnam war but was still a good day out.
One of the best things about this place that we enjoyed was the weather! It was cloudy and cool, was almost like a rubbish summer day in England, it was nice not to be sweating all the time after over a month in severe humidity.
There were a few bars we took advantage of during our last night and met a nice couple who hopefully we bump into later on in our travels!
Our next stop was Hoi An, a $3, 4 hour train journey through the mountains and along the coast.

Hoi An

Arrived in Hoi An and checked-in to our hotel/hostel which included a swimming pool which instantly meant luxury by our standards lol. After a long day and a week without Indian food, we went on a mission to find an Indian restaurant. We must have been hungry when the waitress even suggested we might be ordering too much food! Never had that before.

Train journey through the rainy hills

There was a nice beach in Hoi An, and we are not big beach lovers but it was nice to be by a beach sunbathing feeling like we was on holiday rather than travelling. At this point we counted that we stayed in 20 hotels in 36 days! Too much packing and unpacking for my liking.
That night we met up with the couple we met in Hue and went for dinner and went for a couple of drinks, including a new bar which looked like someones living room with a pool table inside called "good and cheap" bar, Georgia had the habit of calling it "cheap and easy bar", maybe she may of been thinking of someone particular? The bars in Laos and Vietnam had to be closed by midnight but as this bar was fairly new and looked like someones house it stayed open until everyone left, we got back to our room at 4.15 am and suffered the next day. It was a good night out but I broke the camera playing pool so it put a bit of a dampener on the night. We ended up renting a bicycle out, which was an extreme sport for Georgia has she hasn't been on a bike since she was ten lol.
We booked a overnight train up to Nha Trang for the next day but they had only hard sleeper bunks left and no bottom bunks left but we didn't have much of a choice really. It was a triple bunk bed and I had the top bunk which was more like a coffin. The train pulled up at 8am the next day.


Nha Trang

On the way back from Vinpearl looking extremely happy 

We arrived at the station nice and early and didn't have a room booked but found a room for $10 and was one of the nicest rooms we have had. We decided to head to a theme/water park on an island just off the coast. The only way to get there was by boat or taking the world's longest cable car. To get there and for entrance was only about 14 pound but was well worth it as it had one of the best water parks I have been to and included an aquarium and a theme park! Was a good day out. Although I smashed my big toe up on some rocks and am now scarred for life.

Georgia getting fishy

Nha Trang was a lot different to the other places we had visited, it was more like a holiday resort, most of the tourists were Russians. From our holidays in Turkey and Egypt we have not got on well with Russians and their rude culture so we tried to avoid them as best we could. There was benefits of being in a big resort, mainly the fact they played football everywhere and even had Sunday Roast dinner which I was overly excited about. After having rice for 2 months it was nice to have a roast although it was never going to taste like an English roast and it didn't have Yorkshire puddings, but for 1.60 I couldn't complain too much! We stayed in Nha Trang for 4 nights in 3 different hotels which was a big regret and a lot of hassle! Nha trang was good but felt more like a holiday resort rather than a backpacking destination.

Mui Ne


We decided at the last minute to not head directly to Ho Chi Minh and split up the journey and head to Mui Ne, where we was told there was good excursions

Georgia doing her best not to get her dress wet

Crocodile on a skewer

on the sand dunes. We found accommodation  for only 20 dollars a night we stayed in a small resort with a nice swimming pool. We headed out for dinner but there was just seafood restaurants selling everything from salmon to crocodile. As we had only 24 hours in Mui Ne, we decided to take a jeep to the sand dunes for sunrise. When we arrived in darkness at 5.15am they asked if we wanted a quad bike to go on the dunes. That was a mistake. After 15 minutes our quad bike burst into flames. It was meant to be a nice relaxing view of the sunrise on the sand dunes, there was even weddings and photo shoots taking place right next to us and our banger of a quad bike goes up in flames, so we run away and left the quad bike to burn. We demanded to get out money back but we wasn't getting nowhere and got only a bit of money back. It was far from relaxing! We then tried to get conned by some 10 year old kid and then started swearing at us when we gave him a tip when he wanted a much a larger tip. All this before 8am, it was a morning to forget! Luckily we headed back to our hotel and relaxed around the swimming pool to recover from our ordeal and jumped on the bus to Ho Chi Minh at lunchtime.




Ho Chi Minh City

We stayed in Ho Chi Minh City, also known as Saigon for 3 nights and enjoyed every minute of it as we ended Vietnam on a high. On the way to the city me and Georgia decided that we would have a week off drinking after constantly having beer almost everyday for the past 2 months but that went "tits up" as soon as we got off the bus and noticed that water was the same price as beer. We booked up an excursion with our hotel to go to see the tunnels that were built by the Vietnamese during the war with America in the 1970's. The exhibition was a few hours away from the city and although the tunnels were not the original tunnels used during the war, it was a good insight into how small and hot the tunnels would have been. There was a part where you it was only possible to pass through the tunnel by crawling! That bit we wasn't a fan of so we kept to the parts you could stand up in. We learnt about landmines and the different traps created by soldiers  women and children to capture American soldiers  I also had the opportunity to have a few shots on a machine gun at the shooting range for a pound a bullet, lets just say the gun almost knocked me off my feet. We also visited a religious ceremony which was attended by members of the 4 main religions in Vietnam which was a good experience. It was an educational experience compared to previous days where we had been by the beach or having a drink.

Religous ceremony

The following day we done our standard "Best things to do in....." on Google and found out about a viewing deck on the 50th floor of the world trade centre for 10 pound. This is where research pays off; we found out that there was a bar on the 52nd floor with free entry and happy hours during the evening. We guessed this wouldn't be your typical backpackers bar and could turn up in a vest top and flip-flops so I wore my only smart shirt and headed to the World Trade Centre. The view from the bar was amazing with the sun setting as we saw the city in the day and at night and had a couple of beers to enjoy the view! We had 2 beers each and overall it come to 14 pound which was a bargain considering it was 10 pound each and 2 floors BELOW to go to the viewing observation deck.....we got paid to drink beer.

52nd Floor of the Vietnamese World Trade Centre

The next couple of days we explored the city, nearly got killed by one of the 5 millions motorbikes in the city and had a nice dinner in a street market restaurant. Our next stop is Cambodia where we look forward to exploring a country we know little about!