Feb 2007

We are both still having a lovely time in Vietnam. We have done a bit of travelling since the last email so we have a bit to catch up on . .

Well, New Year finished off quite huge in Ho Chi Minh City. We decided to head out into the throngs for the fireworks and so forth. There were so many not drunk people getting around that it felt very strange and not quite like New Year at all!! We found ourselves in a particularly crowded area to watch a laser show (that was from Pissweak World!!) It was very funny, everyone was clapping and cheering. Then the countdown came up and the whole show stalled - hilarious. The MC made some very funny jokes - we think - and then finally it got going again. After the countdown, there was fireworks - again clapping and cheering - and then the street started to empty rapidly. The traffic was hell and we were so tired, I am surprised that we didn't become casualties!! It was so crowded that we could just walk through the bikes on the road because they weren't moving anywhere. We got some good photos and even better video footage. . . .

We finally escaped Ho Chi Minh City on the 19th of Feb and headed to Mui Ni which is a beach town about 200 - 300km away. It was our opportunity to relax and lie around on the beach before heading north to the cooler climates. We found a room right on the beach and in a guesthouse where all of the locals stay. We soon found ourselves adopted by a group of friends from Ho Chi Minh City who were there on holidays. They were all very funny and couldn't really speak any English. So again, we were drinking shots (at 2pm no less) and celebrating New Year. . .again. (New Year for the Vietnamese is kind of like Peta's birthday month . . .) They were also cooking up fresh (ie. alive) prawns on their charcoal BBQ and giving us all of the good ones. . . . .and then they took us out to dinner and paid for the lot. . . .bless them. They wouldn't let us give them a cent. We finally dragged our not as drunk as they should have been bodies to bed only to be woken up by them knocking on our door at 7.30am yelling "Adam . . Meaghan . ." They wanted to feed us breakfast!! Anyway, we managed to avoid drinking until at least 12pm when they started cooking up fresh crabs on the BBQ and drinking beer and shots all over again. They weren't too bothered that one of them had to drive back to Ho Chi Minh City that afternoon. We gave them a bottle of Scotch and some Australia badges when they left - we thought they might actually cry!! It was a beautiful exchange and another example of fine Vietnamese hospitality.

After Mui Ni we headed up to Dalat which is a beautiful city in the mountains. It was much cooler up there and we had to step out in jeans and jumpers that night - a taste of things to come. . . . .bring on Siberia!! Our room was huge with three windows, a balcony and awesome views all around. We spent a whole day exploring the city and then renting a motorbike to explore the countryside. I had a go at riding the bike - all on video, quite hilarious. Adam only encouraged me to have a go for his own amusement although he swears that it isn't true. For the record, you cannot stop a motorbike by dragging your feet along the ground. Anyway, I improved a bit and am keen for some more riding action!!

After Dalat we heading to Nha Trang which is where we are at the momet, waiting for our overnight bus to Hoi An. We were meant to go yesterday, but I had a touch of dehydration and didn't feel great (may have been all the brandy shots from Mui Ni catching up with me!) so we decided to stay another day. Nha Trang is kind of cool. The beach is nice apart for the rubbish and there are plenty of cafes and restaurants.

We went to a mud bath / hot spring yesterday. It was so funny, we had no idea what we were meant to do because you HAVE to do everything in order . . . . . apparently.

We first rinsed off under hot spring water, then we had a mud bath (which was super cool), then you rinse off again, then you soak in a hot spring bath. We felt so clean after all of that. Hot showers have been hard to come by over here so it was quite nice. Speaking of clean - man we have collected some dirty washing!! It is so hard to get washing done if you are only in places for a couple of days. Bring on Hoi An for some much needed laundry (apparently the sightseeing is good too - but bring on the laundry!!). Can't wait for the overnight bus trip - it is going to be ace . . .NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another update, just to remind us what country we are in. Vietnam this week, it has been hilarious already. Love the food, the people, the madness. We both highly recommend it as a travel destination.

We had to go back to Phnom Penh in order to get to Vietnam. That was a relatively uneventful trip. We met another Australian couple who we thought might be good fun. . .this however went horribly wrong. They were the most annoying people I think I have ever met. They were both very young and you could not hold a conversation with them - could not get a word in, bless them. Adam and I showed immense amounts of patience (yes, I was patient - true story). Classic comment from Matt (I still remember their names which annoys me even more):

Annoying dude: "I wonder what Egypt is like?"
Me: "I lived there for six months last year - really interesting trip."
Annoying dude: "Really? I met a girl from Darwin last week who went to Egypt, she said it was blah. . .blah. . . .blah . . "

Then he proceeded to tell me all about Egypt and what is was like. I didn't say a word. All our conversations were exactly like that one. Anyway, enough of them, you take the good with the bad I guess. Adam faked an illness so he could leave dinner early, then I faked caring about him and left early as well. I love it when a plan comes together!!! (Actually, Adam really didn't feel well . . .)

We decided to catch a boat down the Mekong River to get to Vietnam. The border crossing was relatively easy and uneventful and the boat trip was fantastic. We ended up in a town called Chau Doc. It was a charming place and very scenic. We went to the markets and had dinner - people were staring at us like we were aliens but they were all so keen to look after us. We decided to join a tour group for two days to travel to Saigon. It was such good value - we couldn't have done it on our own any cheaper. It was good but incredibly annoying being told to get on and off buses etc etc. Anyway, the next overnight stop was Cantho - it has fantastic floating markets and is the capitol of the Mekong Delta area.

We arrived quite early and had the rest of the day to hang out and enjoy the town. Adam and I and an Irish girl we met along the way thought we would head into the markets for some food and to have a look around. We ended up stumbling upon a huge party (Chinese New Year), everyone was wasted and there was live music (bad live music) and crates of beer everywhere. Next thing we know, we have been invited and the locals are plying us with beer - it would have been rude to refuse. Everyone loved us, don't know why, but we were hits.

One of the male singers came up to Adam and said
"You are a very handsome man."
Adam said
"Um . . . thanks. . . .so are you . . . "

Hilarious and he wasn't even wearing his man bag (Adam bought a man bag, it is very pretty).
(It is not pretty, it is cool and very macho)

Needless to say there was much disappointment all round when they worked out we were married. So twenty beers later we were still there and we were invited by our host (we think his name was Phil - not very Vietnamese but that is what we called him) introduced Adam and Meaghan because it was our turn to have a sing. By this stage, a massive crowd had gathered and we were both a bit plastered. We sang a very heartfelt, stirring rendition of Waltzing Matilda to at least 200 people. They loved it. . . . .we are now artists with international acclaim. . . .bloody hell it was difficult extracting ourselves from the party. Got heaps of hilarious photos especially of Adam's boyfriend who was wearing an awesome outfit. Turns out he was actually a well known TV dude. Explains his outfit and the make up he had on I guess.

Anyway, we are now safe and sober in Ho Chi Minh City. What a great place - it is mad with Tet celebrations and we are stuck here until the 19th but that is ok. Cheap beer and food and we get a second New Year, awesome. Chuc Mung Na Moi (which is Happy New Year in Vietnamese).

We say it all the time, just rolls off the tongue and is a great way to distract dudes trying to sell us stuff. Not much else to report, Chuc Mung Na Moi celebrations hit fever pitch tonight with fireworks and complete madness everywhere. We are planning to drink beer and do fake countdowns in Vietnamese. Have met a few people that we will hook up with tonight. We are still traveling with our Irish friend - Catriona - who is lovely.

Just a quick update - I am pretty sure we only send emails to keep track of where we are up to and where we are headed. Useless. . .both of us. . .we have completely forgotten how to make use of our brains. Adam tried to spell Gorge today and it came out as George and couldn't work out how to fix his error - casing point my friends. . . .and a little scary.

We arrived in Phnom Penh without incident. Actually there was one, the last email we said that we were both well. . .well, about 5 minutes after pressing send Adam said that he was feeling funny. I asked if it was funny haha or funny weird or funny sick. Started as funny weird then turned into throwing up for a solid five minutes at the very not sanitory bus station toilet (I use the term toilet very loosely here. . .). Bless him, he soldiered on, made the bus trip and was actually ok that night. Normally I am the one that gets sick first. . .but I normally save that for Christmas Day when we are travelling. Cool, I have plenty of time to prepare.

We arrived in Phnom Penh and it was complete madness getting off the bus. Dudes everywhere, all good though . . .We ended up lakeside (cheapo backpacker haunt) in a guesthouse with ok rooms, a nice deck and really weird staff. All fine - we stayed there for about three days and met some new friends who made us drink beer until 2.30am. That is late for nannas like us!!

We went out to S21 which was an old prison during the Khmer Rouge Regime - it has been converted into a museum of sorts. It was a haunting but strangely serene place with original cells and torture machines still in tact. There was some graffitti (spelling - told you our brains were on the blink) on the wall saying "Never Forget" then underneath someone had scrawled "But somehow we forgive". I guess that explains the feel of the place. These people and this culture experienced genocide on a massive scale. . .the wiping out of generations of intellectuals, thinkers, ordinary people yet they all seem incredibly positive and upbeat. How is that possible? And they continue to be devastated by the Vietnam War era due to the extensive use of landmines and still they continue to farm and live. Amazing. We really don't want to leave.

We went out to Angkor Wat and other temples yesterday. What a brilliant place. . .full of tourists though. We spent the whole day out there just wandering around. We met a monk who bailed us up for a chat (we know you are really jealous Stephen!) and he poured his heart out to us for about 45 minutes. He told us much about Budhism and his life and we had little to offer in return. It was a great experience and he was a charming man. That was a highlight for us. Angkor Wat was truly beautiful and very different from anything we have seen before.

The Aussie couple we met in Phnom Penh are heading home via everywhere after working London. They did the Transiberian, China etc. Great to chat and find out the inside story. Fantastic people - we caught up with them in Siem Reap as well. We got some good travel tips for China and Russia, always handy . . .

We are going to head to Vietnam tomorrow. We may only get as far as Phnom Penh so we will be in Vietnam no later than the 12th. Riding looks to be out of the question - logistics with back packs etc may have beaten us. We will keep you posted. Glad to hear from everyone and I am not going to write that we are both feeling well because we all know what happened last time. . .

I know it has been a while but we have had some technical difficulties in getting this long awaited, much anticipated email out (ie. Adam, in a cut and paste frenzy deleted the email - if this one is a little lack lustre be aware that the original one was hilarious).

We left Bangkok some time ago - it feels like ages but in reality it was only about a week ago. The plan was to head to Ko Chang for some beach time and then go to Cambodia via the southern land border crossing. Sound easy?

We jumped on a bus at the Bangkok Eastern Bus Station. According to the Lonely Planet the local buses are very reliable and generally better than the private companies. Mostly, we agree with that assessment. The bus trip was meant to take 5 hours but we took six and a half. We were late partly due to a late departure and partly due to the bus catching on fire. No, it actually caught on fire and we all piled off in a bit of a hurry especially when flames were spotted underneath the bus near the engine. All on video of course . . . .

Naturally in the face of near disaster, Adam found a friend who proved to be very helpful. She was a local woman who owned a bar on Ko Chang. We basically followed her to the island and then her and her Dutch boyfriend gave us a lift to the town and then put us up in their hotel at a discounted rate (which was still a bit beyond our budget!!). It was a welcome bit of luxury with hot water, TV, fridge etc. After that adventure we were pretty tired, so we went to bed and watched Air Force One. Awesome. . . love a bit of Harrison Ford as the American President. . .

The next morning we checked out and found some less expensive digs - which turned out to be amazing. A little bungalow right on the water with a great view and our own bathroom. We decided to stay three more nights at the expense of our budget and travel plans. We're on holidays!!!

We went out to another island and did some snorkelling - beautiful place but the snorkelling wasn't fabulous. The next day we hired a kayak and cruised around for about four hours enjoying the scenery and getting very sunburnt (yes Mum, we had sunscreen on. . .). It was a very relaxing four days and a great way to recharge the batteries before the Cambodian border onslaught.

And so here we are in Cambodia. We have heaps of time to kill because we missed all of the morning buses to Phnom Penh and now we have to wait for three hours for the next one. Good work Team!! The border crossing went very smoothly. We caught a truck to the ferry at Ko Chang, then the ferry to Trat, then a truck to the bus station, then a mini bus to Hat Lek (border), walked accross the border, then caught a taxi to a dodgy guest house on Koh Kong. Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy describes Koh Kong as Crap. I want to elaborate but I guess that pretty much explains it. Good baguettes though - only saving grace. The guesthouse was a haven for a drug dealing Australian who has been there for months. We were sure that it may have also been a brothel in its former life. Charming place. . . .

The next morning (and not soon enough I might add) we walked to the Ferry Pier (via baguettes of course) and boarded a dodgy looking boat for the four hour trip to Sihanoukville. We sat next to the exit window of course and were fairly certain that our packs would float better than the life jackets. Uneventful trip (lucky - because we haven't got much luck when it comes to boats) except for the terrible music TV / Karaoke channel on ten minute repeat at ear drum bursting volume. We arrived at Sihanoukville, caught motobikes to a guesthouse that the drivers work for of course, and met up with all our other ferry mates who had also been sucked in. The guesthouse was cheap and alright and close to the beach. The beach was fantastic with restaurants and bars everywhere as well as tourists.

Cambodia has been discovered! We enjoyed a lovely afternoon and night there and then got up early (not early enough obviously) to catch the bus to Phnom Penh.

Our plan is to spend one or two nights in Phnom Penh then up to Siem Reap for a couple of nights, then back to PP and then on to Vietnam. Not much else to report - we are both well, no real health incidents apart from bus on fire and previously mentioned sunburn.