Photos I haven't been able to upload until now!

With our backpacks in Chang Rai Thailand

Tim in a Tuk Tuk in Chang Mai (after a few Changs- don't worry he didn't move!)Thailand

With the 'lads' in Luang Prapang on the way to the waterfall

Tubing in Vang Vieng

Kayaking from Vang Vieng to Vietianne Laos

Ryder Cup night! Tim's best night yet :0)  he was rough the next day!Vietianne Laos

Floods in Siam Reap- it didn't stop the motorbikes though!

A very tall temple at Angkor Wat Cambodia

Playing dress up at the National museum in Phnom Penh

One for you Jen - What is this???? I thought Lion and Tim went for Great Dane :0)

  All guesses welcome - It was Vietnam so could be anything!

A monkey at Angkor Wat - everybody loves a monkey!

Mui Ne to Nha Trang

 From Saigon we caught the bus to Mui Ne – Just!  We almost missed it as we were a bit late back from  the tunnels trip, the girl from the travel agents went after the bus with us on the back of her moped! Complete with bags- it’s amazing what goes on the back of a moped- we’ve seen 4 dead pigs, baskets of chickens, and the highest count is a whole family of 5 people: dad driving 3 kids in the middle and mum at the back!

The first night we stayed in a grotty place which we immediately left in the morning after finding mouse poo on the bathroom floor- eeuuurgh!

Best meal yet.

The beach at Mui Ne after the stormy weather

We found a nice place after that and I spent the first afternoon on the beach (Tim watched the Grand Prix)  but the next day the weather was colder and overcast and the beach was a mess.  There was debris everywhere probably the after effects of the hurricane just off the coast at the moment.  As we were walking along the beach we saw a dead rat that had been washed up- it didn't have any hair left! Then 10M down there was a dead piglet! You can see the logs in the sea in the picture, they were whole tree trunks.  We decided not to go in the sea that day!

We had our best meal yet at a little place by the seafront, the pot is a barbeque and we cooked our own meat and seafood, delicious!I am also sporting my new maxi dress bought in Saigon :0)  The market is Saigon was scary- the women on the stalls grab your arms and pull you into their stalls then barricade you in.  Tim did some really good haggling which the girls get really grumpy with! Because he is so stubborn he's a great haggler, those Saigon women didn't know what had hit them!

Beach at Nha Trang - Not sunbathing weather!

We caught the night bus up to Nha Trang which is where we are now.  The weather is awful though it has rained lots and it's really windy.  It is beautiful though.  

Vietnam

We went from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh- formally Saigon- and spent a few days there.  It was cool, a really buzzing city, full of interesting buildings and motorbikes! So many motobikes! 

He nearly couldn't get his shoulders in!

We took a day trip from there to the Cu Chi tunnels which were used by the Vietnamese to sneak up on the Americans during the war.  Some people lived in the tunnels for months at a time and lots of people were born underground as the tunnels were used for 26 years.  The had been widened for tourists but were still tiny.  There were loads of booby traps made from sharpened bamboo that were horrible as well.  We went in the tunnels for about 25 mins which was quite an experience! It was really hot, you had to crouch right down and at tiomes it was pitch black.  Not nice, there’s no chance Tim would have been able to live in the tunnels with his long limbs :0)

Getting in the tunnel - so small!

 We had a go at firing guns, the gunshots were ridiculously loud. 

Firing guns at Cu Chi Tunnels, Tim and an AK47

 This is us just coming out of the tunnels- a big relief!

Cu Chi Tunnels: The fear in my eyes is real- I don't like small spaces!

Angkor Wat and Phnom Penh

Ta Prohm temple at Angkor wat

We spent 3 days looking around the different temples at Angkor wat, which sounds a lot but the temples are all so different you don't get bored.  It was pretty hard work though some of the temples are about 50m high and have only about 30 steps - very high and steep steps to the top.  Similar to walsworth road!  Out favourite was Ta Prohm which had trees growing in amongst the walls, they looked like the roots had been poured on.  It was used as part of the set for tomb raider.  Unhappily (for Tim) Lara Croft wasn't still there!  We watched the sunset from one of the temples on Tuesday night and were going to get up to see sunrise at Angkor Wat, the main temple, on Weds but I set the alarm for 5pm instead of am so we missed it!  When we got there later, ot was covered in scaffolding anyway so I don't think we missed much! Hopefully. 

We visited Green Gecko a charity for street children and had a great tour.  The work they do is amazing, they are working with 60 kids and their families to help them get educated and out of poverty so they don't have to beg or worse on the streets.  The kids were so happy and came over to talk to us - there was a great vibe in the whole place because everyone was so happy.  Very humbling.

The sleeping bus from Siam Reap to Sihanouk Ville not as classy as the last one but still straight out of Harry Potter!

After Siam Reap we decided to go to Sihanouk Ville on the coast for a bit of time on the beach.  It was beautiful but unfortunately because of the hurricane in the Philippines it rained the whole time so we left after one night. 

Sihanouk Ville Beach - in between downpours!

Then we came to Phnom Penh the capital of Cambodia.  It is completely different to anywhere else we've been.  Massively busy with loads of traffic to dodge and lots of very sad history.  We went to the national museum which was cool and had an interactive area where you could play instruments and try on traditional clothes- lots of fun!  In complete contrast we went to S21 the high school used as a prison during the Pol Pots Khmer Rouge regime which was interesting but so sad.  It has pictures of all the people that were executed there - about 10,000 over 4 years, men, women and children. The people responsible have only just been prosecuted 30 years later.  Cambodia is still recovering from the Khmer rouge regime but the people here are so friendly and welcoming which has set it apart from the other places we've been so far.

We met up with a couple from NZ thet we met on Don Khon who sponsor 2 cambodian girls who are orphans and they put us in touch with the orphanage so we're going to visit later today after going to the killing fields.  Tomorrow we're heading off to Vietnam but hopefully not near the floods!   

View from our house on stilts on Don Khon

With Nicola and Sam and Tia in Vang Vieng

Don Khon

We stayed in Vietianne the Capital of Laos for a few days but there wasn't much to do.  It's a strange place, all currently being developed so it's a bit of a building site really.  From there we said good bye to Sam and Nicola and caught the sleeping bus to Pakse with the intention of staying 1 night then going to Cambodia.  The sleeping bus was amazing! It has actual little double beds to sleep on  (don't worry Mum they gave us clean pillows and blankets in plastic wrappers) it was like the Knight bus from Harry potter and we actually got some sleep.  When we arrived in Pakse it was a ghost town and having just come from Vietianne which was the same we decided then and there to get a bus to the 4000 islands on the Laos side of the Cambodian border.  Best snap decision we have ever made! The 4000 islands are islands in the Mekong river, we stayed on Don Khon which was really chilled out and beautiful.  We could see the Cambodian mountains from our balcony.  We stayed in a room on stilts on the river.  We got bikes the next day and went to see the waterfall which is the biggest by volume in Asia and over the bridge to Don Det the next island.  We chilled out for a couple of days and then caught a bus from there to Siam Reap.  It was the most horrendous journey ever, we were forgotten because the guys we booked the tickets with was stoned! Then we had to get a boat and a minibus to catch our coach which waited at the border for an hour and a half for us- as you can imagine we were very popular when we did finally get through the border crossing on to the bus!  The bus journey then took another 12 hours including a stop at a grotty service station where Tim ate nondescript meat and a bus change.  When we did finally get to Siam Reap we were taken to a guest house with 1 room and 3 beds for 4 people.  We were then taken to a hovel on the other side of town where we slept for about 4 hours then left! we are now staying in a lovely guesthouse.  Tim was really ill for 2 days after the offal incident and is just pulling through now thanks to the air con and cable TV here!  We're going to Angkor Wat for the next few days and then have decided to go to the beach at Sihanouk Ville for a couple of days before heading to Phnom Penh. 

Laos

We went from Chang Mai to Change Rai then across the border into Laos.  We met up with some of the people from our trek again and took a slow boat down the Mekong river to Luang Prabang.  It boat was amazing - Laos is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.  It took two days but was the most relaxing journey we have done yet. 

When we arrived in Luang Prapang we met up with more people from Chang Mai.  Luang Pragang is really chilled out and slow paced and beautiful.  We spent a few days just looking around and visiting the night market.  One afternoon we went to the small waterfall which was amazing and another day we got bikes and explored the town.  On the last evening we walked up 250 steps to the top of Phu Si to watch the sun setting over the river.  It was breathtaking.
 

With Sam on our Bikes

We caught the bus down to Vang Vieng, where everybody goes tubing down the river.  It was completely different to Luang Prabang as it is more like a party town.  We went tubing which involves sitting in a rubber ring and floating down the river.  You then get off at the different bars along the river and drink.  It was full of drunk english/australians swinging off ropes into the river and massive slides.  Surprisingly, it was more embarrassing than fun as the place is so spectacular but has been ruined.  Tim went off one of the swings and because of his height he touched the bottom when he jumped - There are a lot of horror stories about broken legs and death and it's easy to see how it could all go wrong very quickly.    

 We then Kayaked some of the way from Vang Vieng to Vietianne on a tour.  Tim haggled the tour guide to such a low price he felt bad and took him for a beer!  It was really interesting listening to him talk about his tribe and all their customs - as many wives as you can afford to keep, sleep on the left of your wife if you want a boy and the right for a girl and he has never left his village in 21 years!  All he wanted to know about was the snow in England!  Him and Tim looked ridiculous together as he was only 5 foot tall :0)

 We are heading south to Cambodia next and have to say goodbye to Sam and Nicola who we have been traveling with for a few weeks.  Sad times! We had to leave the rest of the trekkers in Luang Prabang, so it will be just me and Tim again for a while.