Bird’s Nest Bevarage – 25% bird’s nest

“What is the only good tiger?” asked the tour guide while the rest of the bus rolled their eyes in a ‘Oh god, not another crappy joke!’ way. “A tiger beer”. Groan. At the risk of generalising, why are ALL tour guides more annoying than unscheduled stops at tourist workshops?

A few moments later the bus stopped for half an hour at a tourist workshop.

I had finally made it onto the tour to see the Cao Dai temple and Chu Chi tunnels. Religion and War on the same trip. The two sites have little to connect each other, but the broader issues certainly do. I doubt the organisers had the intention of teasing out the links and even though i would like to, i think such a discussion is slightly beyond the scope of this post.

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Was it the cheap Vietnamese vodka we drank on the street, the expensive B52’s cocktails in Apocalypse Now, or the rum and coke in the bar/whorehouse we briefly frequented? Most likely it was all three combined with one hours sleep. There was little chance i would crawl out of bed and make it on the trip to the Chu Chi Tunnels we booked the day before. Though everyone else managed to go, i decided to stay in bed.

Gallons of water, and a salty breakfast later i decided to take a look (with bloodshot eyes) around the War Remanants Museum.

The aim of the institution according to the leaflet is to “systematically study, preserve and display exhibits on war crimes and aftermaths of foreign aggressive forces caused for Vietnamese people.”

A balanced exhibition of the atrocities committed by all sides in the Indochinese Wars this was not going to be.

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Saigon's roads are notoriously bad. I have never seen so many mopeds and motorbikes. They clog every inch of the roads. One evening I overheard a poor guy telling a friend on the phone that on his first day in ... [Continue reading this entry]

Every asian country has a variation on the rickshaw theme. In Vietnam it's the cyclo. Imagine sitting in a slightly upturned wheelbarrow with a bike attached to the back and an old skinny man powering the contraption with legs of ... [Continue reading this entry]

Ho Chi Minh is Vietnam's biggest city. Another bustling asian metropolis, it's streets team with activity at all hours; buying, selling, eating, washing, gambling and occassionally sleeping. Saigon (which it is still affectionately called by its inhabitants) was once described as ... [Continue reading this entry]

Another country meant another border crossing. The differences in architecture between the two border points were striking. The Cambodian side represented classic Southeast-Asian styles, with peaked roofs and long, dragon-neck appendages. A few hundred metres away, across no mans land, ... [Continue reading this entry]

Destination number six on my journey. Vietnam is a country mistaken for a war. Googling 'Vietnam' returns eight results (out of the first 20) directly related to the conflict. That is a significant number reflecting the dominance of the war ... [Continue reading this entry]

Up early to start the journey back to Phnom Penh. Unfortunately it was not possible to get a coach all the way through to our next destination so an overnight stop at the Lakeside guesthouse (where we stayed before) was ... [Continue reading this entry]

Sihanoukville has some of the best beaches in Cambodia. I've obviously been spoiled by Malaysian and Thai beaches because i was unimpressed. The beach was a thin strip of white sand, so narrow in places that the legs of the ... [Continue reading this entry]

A beach retreat is not the first thing that springs to mind with the mention of Cambodia; a country famous for its temples and infamous for its terror. Most tourists beat a well worn path between Phnom Penh and Siam ... [Continue reading this entry]