That 22 hour bus ride turned out to be 27 hours. It was entertaining though as the drivers started piling enormous packages in the back of the bus, so much that you literally had to climb over the bags to get in your seat. If you left the bus for too long, your seat would be taken with a big burlap sack that then you had to move on top of the other bags.When I finally arrived in Hanoi, I immediately met a few people who invited me out with them for dinner... Not the normal kind of dinner. Let's just say "ruff, ruff". It was one of the nastiest things I have ever had. The next day I set out for Halong Bay (where the dragon meets the sea). The bay is absolutely breath-taking. There are thousands of limestone islands dotting this amazing, turquoise water. We visited a couple caves and a lagoon where Tomorrow Never Dies was filmed. I spent the night on our 'junk' boat and had my own room for a change! What a luxury. The next day, I went kayaking with an Aussie guy that wasn't quite right in the head. Throughout the bay, there are floating houses where the fishermen and their families live. the guy in the kayak, Thomas, wanted to get a better look at how they lived so he paddled us so close that three big dogs nearly jumped on us. It was really frightening because they we slightly above us and they were really angry. I pushed away as quick as possible and got the heck out of the kayak with Thomas. When I left Halong Bay, I headed back to Hanoi and then south to Hoi An on the coast, midway down the country. Hoi An was a cute, small town that is famous for cheap, tailor-made clothes. There is a heavy french influence throughout the architecture of Vietnam which adds a definite charm.
Speaking of charm, I should say that before heading to Vietnam (esp the north), people warned me that I would certainly have something stolen and that the Vietnamese people were not friendly. In reality though, I found the people to be the nicest people I have ever met while travelling. I made it through Vietnam without having anything stolen and loved the locals. If you smiled or said hello (sin chow) you got friendly responses all the time. I loved it there and spent nearly a month in Vietnam. There is most definitely a heavy communistic feel to it, especially in the north with the billboards. I should also mention that the whole time I have been travelling, I run into people I met a month ago or a week ago. There is a clockwise or counter clockwise route most backpackers are on, so it isn't too surprising that you see someone you met in Laos over a month ago, here in Siem Reap, Cambodia, like I just did.
After Hoi An, I went further south to Nha Trang, a big beach town, which was great for a few reasons: The beach, the beach and the beach. There was also plenty of nightlife and I became friends with a few people at one particular bar called "Why Not".
The only unfortunate aspect of Nha Trang were the prostitutes. In Bangkok and other big cities, they typically wait until a guy is really drunk, takes them home and then robs them. Whereas in Nha Trang they were much more aggressive. If you walked home alone at night, all of a sudden you'd be surrounded by 3 scooters (5 hookers and a pimp) and the women would get off and surround you and grab you wallet, camera, anything they could get their greedy little hands on. This happened to a lot of guys. After spending a few days there, I went to a town called Dalat. I literally spent one night and left. It was not very nice at all. So instead, I went to a small fishing village called Mui Ne and met up with friend there. The beach was really nice and I spent an entire afternoon playing with 2 Vietnamese children. Later that afternoon, I biked with an Italian guy 15kms to the red sand dunes. I stopped briefly at a harbor and the 2 kids I had been with earlier were there. They grabbed me by the hand and took me to their small home in the nearby village. The whole village came over to see us and we had a fantastic time. The little girl got on the back of my bike (Asian style!) and the little boy got on the front of Federico's bike and we headed to the dunes. The dunes were beautiful at sunset and having the kids with us made it all the better. We returned them to their Auntie and headed back to town. I did have a couple strange incidents in Mui Ne unfortunately, but if I write about them, I would be worrying my family unnecessarily so I will save those stories for another time!From Mui Ne, I headed down to Ho Chi Mihn City (HCMC/Siagon). I wasn't crazy about the place- it was massive with tons of traffic (10 million scooters call HCMC home), a lot of dodgy old white men with young Vietnamese girls. I did however visit the Chu Chi Tunnels that the Viet Cong used during the "American" War, as they call it. It was really difficult to see the traps used on our soldiers and after awhile, I just wandered off and did my own thing. It was interesting to see their perspective, although, something made me feel sick to my stomach. Fro instance, we had to watch a film about a young Viet Cong girl who received many awards, including 'Brave American Killer Hero' and things like that, with happy music playing in the background as you watch them smiling as they gun down our troops. Not very pleasant...
While in HCMC, I also visited a bizarre 'church/temple/pagoda/I don't know what' where they combine 5 main religions of the world to make their own religion. It was really strange to say the least. 
I left HCMC for Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Cambodia is incredibly poverty stricken and resembles India in many ways. There are many street children, shanty housing and a very poor sewage system, if there is one at all. I arrived in Phnom Penh which was surprisingly big and very very, dirty/dusty. I think it would be fair to say that Cambodia is a large dust-bowl. Everything is covered by layers of dust from the dirt roads. It isn't the most aesthetically beautiful country I have ever seen, although the Khmer people make up for it's appearance. I finished the book "The Killing Fields" before I arrived and it gave me a great perspective on what these people have endured in the past 25/30 years with the genocide that wiped out millions of them. They are kind people that love a good joke. I visited the killing fields (where the executions of men, woman and children/infants occurred) where there are mass graves. There was one memorial there with 8,000 skulls. Because the Khmer Rouge wanted to save ammunition, you can see the evidence on the skull of the use of pick axes, machetes, etc. I won't even get into how they killed the babies because it is just too awful. Before these people were executed, typically they were held in S-21, a former high school in Phnom Penh and tortured before they were taken to the killing fields. I could go on and on about what was inside S-21 and the pictures there of what happened, but once again, I don't want to. I left for Siem Reap a few days later and visited Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples. It was truly amazing that these temples have survived almost 1000 years- you can still see the details in the carved stone and 80% of the structures still are standing and in really good shape (pictures in the next batch!). I rode my bike with a Scottish guy named Chris that I had met in Laos and randomly met again in Vietnam. Riding around in the heat to the temples during the day was almost unbearable and we had to stop several times to recover. We caught the sunset though and it was really nice. While I was in Siem Reap, I found a shelter where the street children come to learn and relax. It was run by Friends International and I spent as much time there as I could- it reminded me so much of the kids I worked with in India, I loved it.
I left Cambodia the other day on what was supposed to be a 10 hour bus ride. This trip was honestly the worst bus ride I have ever been on- even worse than the 27 hour one from Laos to Vietnam. It took us 16 hours and this included the following: 1. Dirt and rock road- no pavement. It was so violently bumpy that I had one of the worst headaches I've ever had.
2. No AC and having all the windows in the bus open did not cool you down at all and only succeeded in covering you in a thick layer of dust from all the dirt in the air (I had to shower twice to try to get all the dirt off and still wasn't totally rid of the filth).
3. The two back right tires blew out (right under me). They "fixed" only one of the 2 needed tires with the only spare they had. We applauded until the driver went to start the engine and the engine was dead. Finally, it was jumped somehow and I just prayed the tires would somehow ground any electrical current should they mess something up.
Total time spent playing hacky-sack on the side of the road, dying of heat during all this= aprox. 2 hours.
4. Then, just when you think we are on own way to Bangkok, we had to stop at the side-of-the-road mechanic for another 3 hours to have the bus fixed properly...
5. Arriving at the border crossing in Poipet, Cambodia (a.k.a. the cesspool of the world). Chris and I had to walk about 2kms with our packs to the border through this filthy, filthy, stinking, most disgusting city I have ever been through to get to the Thai border.
6. I barely made the bus and was the last one on one of these huge tour buses. The only seat left was front and center next to the driver. I was so exhausted that after awhile, I finally just laid down in the middle of the isle and fell asleep!
So if you are ever feeling slightly envious that I'm over here travelling and seeing all these great things (blah, blah, blah) it's true, BUT, just remember, I see and experience all the bad parts about it too.
Since I leave for the islands in southern Thailand in a couple days, I feel like I am leaving the heart of Southeast Asia. so I feel the need to review some of my experiences in Southeast Asia-
Let's start with language:
Here are a couple phonetically correct phrases in case you go to a Vietnamese or Thai or whatever restaurant, you can impress the staff!
Thai:
Hello= So wah dee kah
Thank you= Kah poon kah
Lao:
Hello= Saw wah dee
Thank you very much= Cop chai lie-lie
Vietnamese:
Hello= Sin chow
Good bye= Tam beert
Thank you= Come un
You're crazy/insane= Coom coom, ding ding (use with caution)
Khmer/Cambodian:
Hello= Su se day
Thank you= Ah coon
Strangest things I have eaten in Southeast Asia:
Crickets
Silkworms
Dog
Frog
Log (just kidding- it rhymed)
And strangely enough, a bizarre type of coffee called Weasel Coffee... Just Google it if you really want to know...
Anyways, that's all I've got left in me to write.
xxoo
Chrissy!
