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Archive for February, 2006

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Ho Chi Minh City: The City Formerly Known As Saigon

Friday, February 24th, 2006

7.30am, and Bec and I were waiting outside our guesthouse in Can Tho for the scheduled pick-up to take us to the bus – we were off to Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City, as it’s now known, but no-one seems to call it that.

7.45am, and our pick-up hadn’t arrived, our bus was leaving shortly, and the last thing we wanted was another day in Can Tho, given that we’d seen the floating markets – about the only thing worth seeing round these parts. We flagged down a couple of passing motos, and hitched a ride to the bus station for a dollar or two.

[read on]

Can Tho: You Eeediot

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2006

Round 1 was taken by Vietnam in a TKO, and despite our hopes that things in Vietnam would pick-up, our second day got off to a less than inspiring beginning.

At 7am, as we were each half way through eating a crappy bowl of noodle soup for breakfast (in Laos, the noodle soup was brilliant, with big fat rice noodles and fresh flavours, but this was simply cabbage and raman noodles, or 2-minute noodles as we call them in Australia, in an oily liquid. Uggghhhh), our pickup arrived to take us to the bus we had booked through the rat-infested guesthouse. We pushed our soup aside – despite it’s average taste we needed plenty of food for breakfast before our bus trip to the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho – grabebd our bags, but then waited for 5 minutes whilst our unsmiling driver watched the end of a Vietnamese soap on the tv.

[read on]

Vietnam: The Wrong Foot

Sunday, February 19th, 2006
February 8th, and Bec and I were back in Phnom Penh - our third stay in the Cambodian capital in little over a week. From Sihanoukville, we wanted to head directly to southern Vietnam, but could only do so via ... [Continue reading this entry]

Photos: Cambodia, First Go (sort of)

Saturday, February 11th, 2006
You've seen how we got to Phnom Penh, and you've herad about the majesty of Angkor. Now, see it with your own eyes (through the eyes of Bec and me, and through the lens of our dodgy camera) Royal Palace. The number ... [Continue reading this entry]

Sihanoukville: Little Britain

Saturday, February 11th, 2006
From Siem Reap, in the north of Cambodia, Bec and I wanted to travel south, almost as far south as we could go in fact, to the coastal town of Sihanoukville. But with the deplorable state of Cambodia's roads, this ... [Continue reading this entry]

Siem Reap: The Temples of Angkor

Tuesday, February 7th, 2006
We left Phnom Penh on Monday January 30th, and took an easily tolerable 5 hour bus north to Siem Reap. What was not quite so tolerable were the tuk-tuk drivers attacking us as we got off the bus. We collected ... [Continue reading this entry]

Phnom Penh: The Streets

Tuesday, February 7th, 2006
Phnom Penh is a crazy city. I came to this conclusion after Bec and I began walking randomly through the streets on our first morning there, and after turning down a side street found ourselves in the midst of a chaotic ... [Continue reading this entry]

Photos: From Laos to Cambodia

Saturday, February 4th, 2006
These are a couple of pics taken during our epic journey from Don Det to Phnom Penh. We didn't take as many as we'd have liked, but when your arms are pinned to your sides, you've got some weedy little ... [Continue reading this entry]

Photos: Laos, Last Go

Saturday, February 4th, 2006
Roight then, here's a few pics to keep you interested, starting in Vientiane, and working our way down south to Champasak, and onto Don Det. Go on, eat that. A pic I took during our walk through the huge market where ... [Continue reading this entry]

Cambodia: Devil at your Heels

Thursday, February 2nd, 2006
At 8am on January 27th, Bec and I were in another wooden long-boat heading back across the Mekong river with our guesthouse owner, Mr. Noi, doing the navigating. It was a cold morning, droplets of cool water splashing up on ... [Continue reading this entry]