Turn left at the crab

Pick of the Day: Dorm bathroom, 88 Hostel, Phnom Penh

Style: Western Sit w/ bum gun

Atmosphere: Two tone

Extras: Being the bathroom for the dorm room this obviously also came with a shower and sink, but as i assume you are all familiar with these i'll focus on the one addition that i am surprised we haven't seen elsewhere: Reading material! Some kind (forgetful) soul left (forgot) the book they had been reading here. The joy of reading on the loo is perhaps something only we in the west with our thrones of porcelain truly understand. It made me a tad homesick.

24/05/13 to 02/06/13: Phnom Penh, Kampot and Kep

Having successfully negotiated our way into the country we had a cross-country trip on some of the worst roads we had yet seen with the noisiest, most annoying 3 year old child sat directly behind us. We arrived in Phnom Penh with the knowledge that brats are brats the world over and a child can’t be cute enough to stop you wanting to strangle it.

Our first impression of Cambodia was that (apart from Russia) it felt like one of the more dangerous countries we had been to. There was a latent something in the air that gave you the feeling that you shouldn’t be too surprised if someone robbed you using a gun in broad daylight. That said it was also easily one of the poorest countries we had been to so it might have just been a hint of desperation in the air. There was also a definite seediness to Phnom Penh. An evening stroll around the capital showed up quite a lot of middle aged western men complete with badly disguised bald patch and paunch either already in the company of a lithe (maybe) 20year old Cambodian or clearly on the hunt for one.

However, our hotel was a nice chilled place with a pool and its fair share of chirpy deluded hippies for whom the most important pieces of luggage they carried were their guitar and possibly a locally purchased bongo. We could hide from the scary world in here and frequently did!

Cruising the city streets, tourist style

On our first day we decided to go for a walk along the waterfront and have a look at the royal palace and the adjoining silver pagoda. The palace was very beautiful with ornately built tiered roofs covered in brightly coloured tiles set around some pretty gardens. The silver pagoda is so named because the floor is covered in 5000 solid silver tiles weighing over a kilo each. You can only see a small section of it as they have to cover most of the floor to stop the wear and tear of thousands of tourists destroying it but what you can see is magnificent. The silver pagoda also has loads of examples of really intricate Khmer gold work and a golden Buddha decorated with hundreds of diamonds. Whilst at the palace complex it started to rain and as we hid in one of the doorways we got chatting to a Cambodian who had emigrated (or escaped I suppose) to Texas in ’79 just at the end of the Khmer Rouge regime. This was his first time back to his home country since leaving and he was clearly quite emotional about coming back. He said that an awful lot had changed in the intervening time and we certainly believe him.

At the royal palace, heavens about to open

The patio/garden in front of the silver pagoda

We decided to pay a trip to the ‘Russian market’ that afternoon to hunt out some cheap deals in silk and Ben managed to get himself a lovely Bell&Ross watch for a bargain $12. We did later wonder if it was quite such a good deal since later a man at a petrol station offered him $4 for it but never mind.

"I think i remember this bit" Lost in the rabbit warren which is the russian market

The next day we took a tuk tuk tour to go and see some of the less savoury but nevertheless important sights around phnom penh- the school 21 prison and the killing fields.

School 21 was a high school not far from the Russian market in the centre of Phnom Penh which was converted into a prison during the Khmer Rouge regime. It is estimated that around 20,000 people passed through its doors, many of whom were women and children. Once in the prison they were tortured until they confessed to their crimes (being a teacher or growing your own food were considered crimes against the state) and made to name others before being transported to the killing fields for execution. Of all the people held at the prison only 7 survived- a further 14 were killed as the Khmer Rouge fled the prison and are buried in the prison grounds. It’s a chilling place to visit as the tiny brick cells surrounded by barbed wire are still exactly as they were at the time. The Khmer Rouge were also very meticulous in their documentation and photographed every person that passed through their doors, and many after they had died from torture. Those thousands of photos are now on display and there is a whole section of a room devoted to the photographs of the children who were killed in the prison or nearby killing fields. It’s quite haunting. The sense of respect for the dead is slightly diminished by the oddball tourists who decided to have their photographs taken in front of the gallows, of all places.

It says a lot about a people when you need signs to say no laughing. Inside were photos of dead people.

The cells. The Khmer Rouge were so busy killing they didn't even bother with the aesthetics.

We then carried on, creepily enough by the very same road that the transport trucks originally took, to the aptly named killing fields.  This was one of the many places where Khmer Rouge dissidents, intellectuals and ‘enemies of the state’ where taken for execution. Here were pits filled with hundreds of bodies, most of which have not been identified. Some of the bodies have been recovered, catalogued and stored but most still lie beneath the earth and each rainy season the rains wash away the soil from a few more bones which are collected and preserved by the curators. Most of the victims were killed by being hit over the head with farming tools and then had their throats cut. Babies were killed by being hit against one of the big trees. Poison was then thrown over the bodies in the pit to kill any survivors. Creepily enough the killings always happened at night under the cover of loud patriotic music to make it sound like a political gathering. It was an awful place but an interesting tour with many first hand stories of those who had been sent to forced labour camps or had seen family members killed. In all around 2 million people died in the 3 years that the Khmer Rouge were in power which was ¹/₄ of the country’s population.

You have been warned

After a pretty harrowing day we headed down to the foreign correspondent’s club for a cocktail to settle the nerves.

Sunset cocktails at the Foreign Correspondents Club

The following day we took a bus to Kampot in the south. What was supposed to be a 3 hour bus journey somehow turned into 5 hours and when we finally made it off all of our belongings were covered in a thick layer of red dust. This was supposed to be one of the better buses!

One of the "feature" rooms and the river resort

River side bungalows

We had booked into somewhere that sounded a bit posh for us given that it called itself a riverside eco-resort but was cheap enough so got a tuk tuk to take us. We were sure he must be taking us the wrong way then we turned off the tarmacked road onto a dirt road and then onto a dirt track no wider than the tuk tuk itself and then through somebody’s farm but finally we reached the end of the track by the river. The resort was a beautiful little collection of bamboo huts set by the river in gardens full of mangoes, papaya and lemongrass. It was run by a French hippie couple (think yoga teachers and copious amounts of weed smoked daily) and we were duly greeted by Bert, the Labrador whose job it was to keep rats at bay and escort guests to their rooms at night since there was no outdoor lighting.

Cool clouds over Kampots new bridge, or maybe its old bridge. They both need a little love.

Graffiti?

Hat shopping post melting

We had a chilled day the next day where we cycled into Kampot which is a quiet, easy going town. I managed to buy a straw hat in the market for a dollar to try to reduce the effects of the fierce sun and then we headed back and decided to take the boat out. The resort had its own little dugout canoe which we decided to paddle round a loop of the river. It was very heart of darkness with dense jungle pushing in on all sides. We had a little problem on the return journey when it started getting dark and I discovered that ben’s instructions for finding our way back through the myriad of mangrove swamp was ‘turn left at the trees’. Given that we were in a jungle this was less than helpful and we came extraordinarily close to being lost in a watery jungle at night.

Going off in search of Marlon Brando

The following day we hired a scooter and went for a little ride around (essentially dirt biking as there is no road surface- wear a mask and expect to be a dusty orange colour by the end of the day).We went to visit a pepper plantation (Kampot is famous for its awesome pepper) and learnt that green pepper is the fresh, unripe seed (which we never see as it’s only fresh for a few days), black pepper is dried green pepper, red pepper is the green pepper that has been allowed to ripen before being dried and white pepper is red pepper that has been stripped of its outer skin.

Born to be wild

Don't eat pepper right off the bush

We then carried on to the seaside town of Kep where we found a little beachside restaurant and ate tons of fresh crab and enormous prawns for next to nothing. People in Kep like their crab so much you can get is as a take-out dish for a picnic and they have an enormous statue of a blue swimmer crab on the beach. In fairness they do have a lot of statues all over the place- this is apparently because in a country with a relatively low literacy rate people need to find an alternative to road signs to find their way around and ‘turn left at the crab’ seems to work well.

Crab feast (with fresh green pepper), f****** awesome

On our way home it started to rain. Really rain. Hard. We had just pulled in under a tree when a man appeared from his house to wave us in to shelter from the rain. It turned out he was a tuk tuk driver and could therefor speak some English and he invited us into his tiny one room house made of corrugated iron with no expectation of payment or anything in return. He was really friendly and we stayed for an hour but we couldn’t really hide forever as it was getting dark so we bought a couple of ponchos from his sister, thanked him and got very wet on the way home.

Siberia in winter, South East Asia in monsoon. Holidaying. We're doing it right

That night we splashed out on some melon and green pepper margaritas- one of the best cocktails either of us has ever tasted.

Next on the agenda was a scooter ride up to Bogkor Hill Station. This was an old French colonial hill station that had been left to slowly decay, or so we thought. The top of the hill was actually high enough to be quite cold (for Cambodia) and very misty. Most of the ruined villas and the church were still there lending a spooky feel to the place but we also discovered that they had built a concrete monstrosity that was a casino on the top of the hill and were in the process of building another one that was the size of an aircraft hangar.  We are all for the development of tourism in Cambodia to benefit the people but at some point the authorities should probably realise that if people want to go to casinos they will go to Vegas, if they want to see beautiful unspoilt countryside, they come to Cambodia and mixing the two will not work.

Some builders are tidying this Bokor hill station icon up to make it a........ casino.

Only gate posts remain of this pad

That evening was our last in Kampot and we went on a very romantic sunset boat ride up the river and came back in time to see an amazing lightning storm across the coast at Kep.

Didn't find Brando.

The next morning was a rather sad bus ride back to Phnom Penh followed by another long bus journey to Siem Reap.

Not as scary when its a long way away!

Holidaying within a holiday

Pick of the day: Lunch spot on the Mekong

Style: Western w/ bum gun

Atmosphere: tiled

Extras: Ah the western sit. The only style that one can happily read upon. Fortunately we have been knocking about a bit now and know that just because its a western sit doesn't mean it will have paper. Always carry a roll! 

18/05/13 to 24/05/13: Ho Chi Minh City, the Mekong Delta and border hopping to Phnom Penh

Arriving in the early afternoon at Saigon’s (the centre of HCMC is still referred to as Saigon) central station, which is a misnomer as there is only the one, we found ourselves in an as yet unprecedented situation. Despite the huge number of Taxis we struggled to solicit the attention and service of a single one for a while, normally having to fight them off.

We eventually managed to make our way to our abode, the classiest place yet, the Liberty Central hotel. We knew something was different as this place had a ‘concierge’ AS WELL as a receptionist!

After settling in to our plush room we relaxed by the roof top pool with a few cocktails before heading out for a nice meal.

Sunset off the roof terrace looking south west over the market and city

The next morning brought two things, another year of age for myself and my parents to boot, the latter arriving at 7am. This was made less traumatic as it was lovely to see them after the last few months and they had even brought cards and presents. The highlight having to be the t-shirt Vi had ordered pictured below (I don’t get to wear it every day….).

Take every day as it comes

Being a proper (non-budget) hotel the breakfast buffet was brilliant, with classics from China, Europe, America, Vietnam and Japan. Needless to say I sliced myself some seeded loaf and made a bacon sandwich. Perfect. Breakfast was interrupted by a strange tune and the staff gathering round our table, before they burst into a rendition of “happy birthday to you” and produced a fantastic looking cake. It seems they had noticed from my passport it was my birthday and organised it of their own accord. That’s service!

We spent the day with a jet lagged mum and dad walking around the old town, which doesn’t look very old at all. The highlight being mum and day falling asleep at various points around the city.

Ma and Pa's first lesson. Road crossing.

New and old architecture in Saigon

The next day we headed to the War Remnants Museum which had among the obligatory Huey helicopter a large number of photo exhibits showing the horrors of the war on both sides including a really interesting exhibition on war photographers. Strangely the museum closed for lunch so we headed over to the Jade Emperor Pagoda, which is apparently a must see. We must have seen too many pagodas though as it was a bit crap. We arrived just in time for the skies to open and it absolutely bucketed it down so we ended up cowering in the pagoda for much longer than anticipated.

Flame-throwing tanks. Scary.

Back to finish off the Museum (via a taxi ride that was most amusing due to ben’s dad (John) having not quite got used to the currency get and offering about 10 times too little then around 100 times too much money) followed by pool time. That evening we ate at the classy “Japanese fusion” restaurant, Siri, on the roof of a 23 storey building giving great views and our first red wine in far too long!

The next day we went on a half day tour to the (relatively) nearby Cu Chi Tunnels which were tunnels used by the Vietcong during the war to transport supplies and sneak their way around the Americans. The tour guide was excellent and showed us all the ways in which the Vietcong managed to avoid detection including making the air/smoke holes to and from the tunnels which look like termite mounds and the tiny paths through the trees. We were also showed the various booby traps which mostly involved trap doors on revolving hinges which revealed nasty looking bamboo spikes that were sometimes tipped in snake venom. We were also shown the various different underground rooms that were used as headquarters, meeting rooms, kitchens, first aid posts and just about everything else you need to fight a war from underground. Then went into the actual tunnels which are tiny! Apparently they have been enlarged to fit our big western bums but nevertheless it was still a crouching/bent double affair and some sections weren’t lit so there was a bit of a fear of actually getting lost in there. We emerged very sweaty and glad to get back into our swish air conditioned bus and head home for more material comforts (ie the pool).

Good thing I was at holiday weight.

Chilling by the pool with a couple of cocktails

The following day was an early start to go for a boat ride on the Mekong delta. We got on our own little boat and were taken to a little river side village where we were shown how the local sweets were made and fed a lot of tea. The coconut sweets (made by essentially cooking shredded coconut until it makes a sort of toffee) were delicious, as were the coconut and brown sugar crackers, rice paper pancakes and puffed rice and caramel cakes. All in all we were pretty well fed! We then carried on to a fruit farm where we had a lovely wander through the orchards and saw how various fruits were grown. We also got to taste a fair few such as jackfruit (like a chewy banana), rambutan (like lychee), green guava with chilli salt, watermelon and other tasty treats. While we ate we were entertained by a troupe of musicians and dancers who played traditionally music throughout except for the last song which bizarrely was Auld Lang Syne (although not with the usual words) which everyone stood up and clapped to.  After a lunch involving a scary looking elephant fish we  had a fair few hours in the boat coasting through the various waterways of the delta, watching people go about their business from their stilt houses and on their dugout canoes. The sun was warm and all of us fell asleep at some point and we were given a coconut each to sip on. We were also offered durian fruit for the first time. For those that don’t know it’s a fruit that smells like rotting flesh (so badly that it’s banned from public places) and considered a delicacy in this part of the world. Ben and I both tried it. It tastes like it smells and the taste doesn’t go away for a long, long time.

Cock fighting. Not illegal. Nether is dog fighting and bear baiting, but i guess they rarely get the bears now

Fried Elephant fish, DIY spring rolls. Bloody awesome

The mekong is quiet in the day with dawn and dusk when all the activity occurs

As the sun set we arrived in the town of Can Tho where we went out for a decent dinner and got a short sleep before being up at sunrise the next day for the floating markets. In this part of the delta people come from a long way upriver to sell their farm produce wholesale so there are big barges everywhere, each with one of their fruits or vegetables, a watermelon or sweet potato say, displayed on the end of a long pole to show their wares. In between the big boats are smaller dugouts that sell food to the people living on the larger boats. All in all it looks like organised chaos. On our return we went to the morning town market which had just about every fruit, vegetable, meat or fish you could think of as well as some that we hadn’t- pig’s penis anyone?

Floating markets, bleary eyed for this one

The pineapple express

Eggs. Many ways.

We then started on the long journey back to home sweet home (got a little too used to posh hotels).

We spent the rest of that day sorting out onward transport and posting 8kg of warm weather clothes home by sea mail. The box should arrive home sometime after we do.

Thanks to mum and dad for a great birthday and providing a holiday within a holiday!

Enjoying a farewell drink, colonial club style.

Then the next day was time for the tearful goodbyes and the bus to Cambodia. This time we had left a whole 12 hours on our visas! We did have a slight issue at the border crossing where the immigration officer asked us for $2 more than the sign above his office said it was supposed to be in order to ‘fast track’ it. Being a bit slow it took me a little while to realise that we were being asked for a bribe and although I had actually expected to be asked for a bribe at a border crossing at some point I nevertheless got a little irrationally angry. We had a little bit of a standoff where the guy told us we would have to wait an hour for our visas (and so miss our bus) and I told him we weren’t going anywhere and repeatedly demanded his name and set the timer on my watch to show I meant it. In the end we paid nothing extra and got our visas after 4 minutes of waiting which was the approximate time it took him to process the things anyway. Nil points for corruption today. However we were soon to discover that Cambodia is the most corrupt country either of us has ever been to.

Charlie don't surf, but he puts on a hell of a sunset

Pick of the day:Boat to Cat ba, taken mid Halong Bay...... yes its from the last post.

Style: Western sit

Atmosphere: Sloshing

Extras: The time to use this loo was as soon as we boarded. As time passed and various people missed due to the rolling nature of boats and sea sickness setting in for a few, things could only get worse. This is a before shot!

07/05/13 to 17/05/13: Hue, the DMZ, Phong Nha farmstay and Hoi an

After an uneventful overnight train from Hanoi we arrived in Hue to be greeted by the most welcoming hotel yet. Despite it being a cheap place (we always stay in cheap places) they carried our bags in, gave us cold towels to refresh and then a glass of ice cold watermelon juice and a plate of cold sliced mango- bliss!

Hue has the old imperial city at its heart and it set along what is known as the perfume river so it’s all very romantic sounding. On our first day, once suitably revived we wandered out into the scorchingly hot streets for a general wander around and a visit of the imperial city. Sadly the purple city (sort of equivalent to beijing’s  forbidden city) was occupied by north Vietnamese troops during the Vietnam war and consequently was utterly flattened by American bombs. An American general at the time said that in order to save the city they had to destroy it. There is still just about enough left to get a feel of what the place would once have been like and they have started rebuilding parts of it but most of it is eerie ruins that are slowly being reclaimed by jungle.

Its ram-shackled, and flattened and the impending cloud burst wouldn't help

We carried on mooching around the old canals and waterways until a few scary looking black clouds and distant thunder sent us scurrying back to the hotel. Dinner was a bit of a revelation with pork kebabs cooked using lemongrass as skewers and then rolled into rice paper rolls with loads of salad and herbs- very tasty.

The next day we embarked on a tour (though we hate tours sometimes you really can’t avoid them) of the DMZ. This is the old demilitarized zone which was a 20km wide strip of land that divided north and south Vietnam and was the scene of many a battle and some particularly fierce fighting during the war.

We were taken by minibus to go to Khe Sanh combat base which was used by US marines during the war and was supposed to be only accessible by air but for 70 odd days just prior to the Tet offensive was constantly attacked by north Vietnamese troops. The base itself is more or less a simple airstrip but some bunkers and trenches still exist and a fair few captured/abandoned US tanks and aircraft are on display including the obligatory Huey, a Chinook and a Hercules. Ben got terribly excited.

Huey's. Every Vietnamese sight has one. If its really good it has two...

We then stopped off at a bridge that marked a crossing point over a river for north Vietnamese soldiers travelling down the famous Ho Chi Minh Trail to fight in the south and supply the Vietcong. Historical note: The Vietcong were the guerrilla soldiers of South Vietnam who fought in favour of the North- distinct from the North Vietnamese soldiers in that they dressed as peasants and were less well trained/equipped (learn something new every day!). You can actually now motorbike down most of the old Ho Chi Minh Trail which would have been a really cool trip had we known about it before actually reaching south Vietnam.

 We then visited the Vinh Moc tunnels which were tunnels built by the local farmers and villagers to hide in during the bombing raids. The tunnels were really extensive and consisted of many levels including a specially deep bunker for when the B52s were coming round (which apparently they could recognise from sound alone). The locals lived in these tunnels intermittently for 6 years and they were even set up with nurseries, delivery rooms (fair few kids born in the tunnels) and meeting rooms. They were theoretically civilian only tunnels although that’s a little suspicious considering that there were a few ammo and gun stores and an island nearby that was north-vietnamese occupied and needed supplying. Basically in the war who was/wasn’t involved was a bit of a grey area.

Learning history from the other side of the coin

Lastly we visited the local cemetery which had an overwhelming number of graves that had no names on them because many of the north Vietnamese soldiers who came to fight had no ID on them and also with the extent of the bombing sometimes there weren’t whole people to be found.

Having buffed up on our history knowledge we then headed inland to a place called Phong Na Farmstay which is a beautiful guesthouse in the middle of a load of rice paddies and nothing else. The setting is amazing with a lovely pool, hammocks everywhere, great food and cocktails and a collection of puppies of varying ages for entertainment.

View from the Farm.

We decided to splash out on a tour to a local cave system called paradise cave. One of the largest caves in the world and part of a cave system over 100km long and involving hundreds of caves, Paradise cave is truly spectacular. Normally visitors are allowed into the first kilometre of the cave on wooden walkways and can marvel at the nicely lit and amazing stalagtites/mites and geological structures (Ben basically wet his pants). We managed to get onto a tour where a group of 6 of us were given torches and guided 7km underground through the cave system and across and underwater lake to a sky hole into which a small waterfall was flowing creating the most beautiful light. It was awesome. Also awesome was the fact that we were all given Vietnamese army-issue camouflage fatigues to wear (due to the mud down there) which only actually fit the two women in the group due to the short stature of most Vietnamese. We felt like rip-off rambos.

This cavern is huge and the acoustics are fantastic. They even hold concerts in here.

Chock full of this shiz

The end of the road and a hell of a picnic spot

Trying (failing) to capture the light

That night there was an amazing lightning storm over our hotel with massive forks of lightning which were very impressive but annoyingly also caused the puppies  to take cover outside our bedroom door and cry like the end of the world was nigh all night.

The next day we had to leave but decided to take a little walk in the sunshine across the paddy fields to get a little feel for the countryside. We got a little closer to nature than intended as the mud left from the previous nights rain threatened to suck out flip flops off our feet and we ended up rambling around barefoot like peasants. Also, the hotel’s mummy dog had decided to accompany us despite the sign on the door saying not to take the dogs outside as they get kidnapped and eaten by the locals (sad but true). We tried to keep her close by to avoid having to explain any dog-napping episodes to the owners since she wouldn’t go home but to our horror as we came across a farm, she hunted down and destroyed a live chicken before our eyes. The farmers didn’t seem that bothered but nevertheless we hurried home in fear of retribution and explained to the manager that somebody might come along later in the day demanding payment for said chicken.

*Or they kill livestock making you flee for your lives

We went back to Hue for another night which was only really notable in that the staff of the restaurant we ate in spent a considerable amount of time chasing a rat around the inside seating area with a shoe and having battered it to death happily displayed it on a spade for all to see.

Hue's got Vegas lights. The bridge changes colour through the evening

Next we took a weird sleeper bus to Hoi An which had seats so that you could lie flat and nap but no toilet so made for both a comfortable and very uncomfortable trip. Having been dropped off in the middle of nowhere we were pretty glad for our hotel pick up although a little frustrated that we ended up at a different hotel as our original booking had apparently lost all power.

Looks comfy. Really isn't.

Hoi An is a really pretty little town on the coast that is making a concerted effort to attract the ‘right’ kind of tourist and as a result has a fairly relaxed laid back atmosphere and a lot of middle aged white people.

It’s famous for its tailors who pride themselves on being able to make just about any item of clothing you wish to buy in a short space of time tailored to fit you. In fact you can bring in a picture of a dress/coat/suit by a famous designer and they will copy it exactly for a fraction of the price. We duly succumbed and I made a blue silk dress tailored while Ben had a copy of a Burberry wool coat made. Which he regretted as soon as he was made to put it on for the fitting when it was about 40C.

Hoi'an Riverfront from the bridge

We then spent our days mostly cycling round the countryside (and consequently getting sweatier than we had ever been in our lives) and cycling to the beach.  The beach was a beautiful palm fringed white sand affair dotted with little restaurants that had palm shacks and converted basket boats to sit in the shade and enjoy a cold lemon juice or fresh coconut (they have about 1L of juice in them here). The sun and sand was white hot during the day but come 5pm was suddenly inundated with locals who came for a barbie on the beach. There were also a few beggars who we felt really badly for as so many people in Vietnam were left disabled by the war, both by the bombings and the effects of the defoliants and napalm on subsequent generations, and with no form of welfare are more or less left to make a life for themselves selling peanuts and newspapers. Thankfully there are a few charities in Vietnam now working to try and give these people skills that they can use to make a better living.

A slightly worse bridge

Tanning. I stayed in the shade. Too bloody hot.

Watching the local nightly beach party

In the evenings having sufficiently cooked ourselves we repeatedly went back time and time again to the same restaurant which made easily the best food of the trip so far and quite honestly some of the best food either of us have ever had in the world. If you are ever in Hoi An go to Morning Glory (it’s a type of vegetable here for those with dirty minds)- every single thing we ate was out of this world. Just across the street is a French style bakery where Ben managed to get a chocolate brownie cheesecake as a pre-birthday treat.

Best food in vietnam (possibly the whole trip...)

And so, sufficiently fed, clothed and sunned we moved on to Ho Chi Minh city for meeting THE LEA PARENTS….

                                                                          

Where are the hueys when you need them!?