First of all, sorry for the long delay. We weren't just being lazy, the internet has been pretty scarce and unreliable so finding somewhere to upload pictures has been tricky. This first photo is a cute mum and baby monkey we saw on a rather bizarre island tour which included a monkey and bear show, ostrich rides and performing elephants. It all left a rather bad taste in the mouth but the monkeys roaming wild around the island cheered us up. And I was strangely impressed by a handstand from a bear!
Next stop, a little beach resort called Mui Ne. Not the most exciting place but we did get to try lobster for the first time for the princely sum of $20! They even cut it open for us to save any embarassment on our part from having to disect it. Very tasty indeed!
Then off to the capital of Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City - which we enjoyed a lot more than expected. Anywhere would have seemed great, though, after the vilest bus journey yet. Back seat, no aircon and five seats in permanently reclined positions. Enough said! There was a very informative war remnants museum with some pretty grim photos but we certainly feel more informed about the Vietnam war now. We met some more super enthusiastic students wanting to practice their English and a scarily well-informed teenager who could discuss everything from David Cameron's politics to Cheryl Cole's X factor exploits!
Here is the Can Tho floating market, which takes place in the mekong delta in Southern Vietnam. Boats float past offering you everything from coffee to mangos for 10,000 dong, about 20p. Each boat seems to only sell one thing so you see them piled high with pineapples, posting them through little windows to potential customers. Our Mekong Delta tour finished with us finding our own way onto Phu Quoc Island, still largely tourist-free and undeveloped. All would have been well had we not stumbled into a huge festival crowd blocking our way to the port and left us in serious danger of being crushed or missing the ferry! The Vietnamese proved to be slightly less polite in a queue than we might have hoped, pushing past us and laughing at the silly sweaty westerners. Made it in the end and it was well worth it. Yet more beautiful beaches and wonderful food from the night market.
We are now big fans of red snapper and seafood hotpot! Having food caught fresh that day is something we would love to get used to. We were sorry to leave the island, though we wont miss the horrendous roads (workers have been too busy building the new international airport to repair, or maybe even finish, the roads!)
A memorable crossing into Cambodia, with a ''corruption charge"' to pay by our guide and a dollar for not having a vaccination card,or even if you did! Not the best welcome but Kampot was a lovely place to continue or travels. A visit to Bokor National park gave us some wonderful view but we were saddened to see a luxury casino has been built at the top and plans for a 5 star hotel as well. Luckily, most of the national park is protected but apparently not all.
We've now moved on to Sihanoukville which is slightly like the Costa Brava but nice to have reliable internet, laundry service and postbox for a change! Here's Steve relaxing this afternoon by the beach with a local beer. Next stop, Koh Rong or one of the other surrounding islands...
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