How random is my life???!!!

Hey all,

Now for those who have done a RTW trip before of course my life at the mo is nothing out of the ordinary than any other back packer. However, I thought I would write a blog just detailing my last week.

30th December 2006 - Arrive in Saigon:
Totally mad city. Arrive and straight away we spot other backpakers we keep meeting and stayed in the same resort as us in Muine. After checking out at least 20 guesthouses, Lucy and I are tired of trapsing the streets being told everywhere is full. Finally we find a guesthouse that owns several others in the city and they offer to take us to one that has a room. Lucy and I jump on the back of a bike (oh yes thats both of us with our 15 year old driver!)Finally we get settled in and we go straight out. In typical fashion, even though it is the night before the day of the year you traditionally stay up till the small hours, we decide to stay out till 4am!

31st December 2006 - A stroll around Ho chi Minh City:

I ventured out earlier than the others and took in the sights of the city. First stop the market where i see a bunch of frogs on a silver platter which have been skinned and had their heads chopped off. Thats not the worst of it...their reflex muscles must still be working as all 4 legs are thrashing backwards and forwards! The lady owner sees my reaction to this, finds it hilarious and so decides to pick one up to give me a closer look. Just to try and make out i wasn't such a wimp i touched one of the eels she also shoved in my face! After muchos wandering around, seeing the the contrast of the wealthy grand hotel area by the riverside and the haunting reality of people begging on the street who have been effected by the agent orange and napalm in the war, i head back for NY eve celebrations to begin.

I can't tell you how fantastic it was to be somewhere that you don't have to pay to get in anywhere and that the city provides a free street party. At the strike of midnight silver glitter is thrown everywhere. I was close to the main stage so i was gestured on up to which i then proceeded to jump around like a mad man wishing all a happy new year and being picked up lots as far as i recall! I had been carrying a plastic cup like kids had full of vodka and coke so it is hardly surprising my recollections are vague! On that note somehow it is light outside I am in another bar, i look at my watch and it is 11am! Not quite sure how that happened! Breakfast is from a street vendor, sitting on little plastic chairs (which one of the guys we were with couldn't sit on due to being both one, too big and two, too drunk and kept falling backwards into another cart!

02nd January 2007 - Sightseeing tourist tastic:
Go to the Cu Chi tunnels and the war museum...all pretty chilling stuff. Oh yeah and watch Borat in a cinema above a coffee shop, the power going off midway through...check out downstairs and watch as one of the pylons in the street is sparking and on fire! A guy on a balcony sprays it with foam but that just created more fireworks!

03rd January 2007 - Cambodia here we come:
Bus to Cambodia at 7.30am. No photo no forms required just $25...sweet. Children banging on the window as we make the ferry crossing, pointing at their mouths. On the ferry crossing, look out of the window to see a minibus crammed full of Cambodians (we're talking 3 to a seat crammed, 6 or 7 in the front seat) and then 20 people on top. Get touted as soon as we arrive and the lovely Ken (yes ken...they all seem to adopt western names in Phnom Penh)takes us to Green Lake. Chill out on the lake terrace and watch the sun set.

04 January 2007 - A day of horror:
The killing fields and S21 museum. The latter is where people were interrogated and tortured if believed to be against the Khemer Rouge and the first shows where the victims were then taken to be killed. This site holds a building with all the skulls they found in cabinets and is the location of the mass graves.

05 January 2007 - The Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda:
Not very exciting, general touristy stuff. I failed to wear the right attire so buy a fetching blue t-shirt and borrow a claret pair of fisherman pants! Look like a total backpacker!!

An evening of chilling out on our guesthouse terrace and a few drinks in some of the bars and guesthouses along the street we were staying in. After a few games of pool, the need for Jack Daniels kicked in. We headed to our guesthouse and woke up the staff who were sleeping under mosquito net tents on the lake terrace (a lost battle near still water for us as we have all been bitten to death!). We finally got a drink and headed to bed at 3.30am.

06 January 2007 - Tour of the city by Bike & nightclubbing Cambodian style:
Lucy wanted to shoot another gun now she has got the taste for it in Vietnam so i offered to join her as long as we could stop off at the central and Russian markets on the way back.It was about 20km away and our drivers are a guy in his 30's and a 15 year old (can i just emphasis that he looked about 12!!). Lucy took one for the team and went with the kid. This was probably one of the best $3 i have spent on my trip to date. I got to see so much. We weaved amoungst the traffic and soon we got out to the more rural areas where there were markets along the street. I saw up to 5 people on one bike and truck loads of people standing up in the back. Many minibuses were crammed full of people and again with 20+ on top! At a cross roads traffic slowed down as people were rubber necking at a van that had crashed into the side of a building. So many sights to describe but an amazing experience none the less. Never made it to the market as

The heart of Darkness was its name and it once was a brothel. I was sceptical but we walked in and they were playing Justin...can't be bad. A whole other bunch of tunes played out till 4am. A very small club filled to the rafters with locals and Cambodians...who deffo like to party. Dancing up on the stage was done by all of us and i think some piggy back dancing was also thrown in the mix!

07 January 2007 - Cambodian bus fun!
30 minutes into the bus journey to Siem Riep and the bus stops. We think maybe a toilet stop for the driver, no such luck...we sit and are not told anything. After working out that the bus is kaput we wait around for nearly and hour for another bus. This bad boy is like a 70's caravan complete with flower lino on the walls and celeing and green, red and orange lighting along the celing! As soon as we arrive a piece of paper with 'TINA, 4 PAX' is thrust against the window...our last guesthouse have made some contacts and told their buddies of our arrival. Makes our life simple as we are driven to a guesthouse in a tuk tuk!

08 January 2007 - Angkor Wat
First day at the famous temples. Undescribable, something to be seen. Stay for sunset.

As you can see, not a bad life eh!!!!

xxx