Over and out of Cambodia and on to Viet Nam

From Sihanoukville we moved on to Phnom Penh. The bus trips are gruelling even if they are short term - I HATE BUSES!! Usually we get stuck on the sunny side of the bus and cook all the way to the destination. Not to mention being cramped and the seats are not all that comfortable. Phnom Penh was a happy surprise though. It's a cool city, it even felt more laid back than expected and all the buildings are French Colonial with curly-cue ballistrades and a bit as I would imagine New Orleans looked. The big thing we did in PP was go to the killing fields where nearly 9000 bodies were uncovered after the Khmer Rouge were finished their brutal regime. It was sobering and tragic. We also went to the prison in the city where many of the prisoners were held before their trip to the fields. It's an ominous and gruesome site that gives you horrors just imaging the torture the Cambodians experienced in just 4 years of despotic rule by Pol Pot.

From PP, we took a bus to transfer to another slow boat to cross into Viet Nam. Did I mention that I HATE BUSES? We got on a boat that transferred us to the border where we got stamped and processed and then transferred to another slow boat that took us to stay overnight at a place called Chau Doc. On the way we got to see how people live on the Mekong Delta - it's a thriving, living thing, the Mekong River. We then had to take another bus to Ho Chi Minh city, about 6 hours in a minibus where I, of course, got the hot seat. Although 6 hours doesn't seem like much, it can be an eternity when every moment is filled with weaving and bobbing and the bus driver seems determined to blast your eardrums out with his assorted cassette collection.

We got to Miss Loi's guesthouse in Saigon on the eve of the 30th December and scoped out the area a bit. The next day we wandered about and found the tourist area called Pham Ngu Lao where all the travel agents, cheap guest houses and bars etc. are located. We met up with some guys playing the New Year's Eve gig at the Go-Go bar and Ivan jammed with them a bit and they said to come back later ....and so we did. As the evening turned out, Ivan played with the band at one bar and then we moved over after midnight to another bar where there were about 500 people inside and out and the band played on. It was a lot of fun - a very memorable New Year's eve.

We have shopped and grazed the food - VN food is very good but again, it's always difficult to translate but we do manage, and visited the VietNam war museum which is very, very moving and sobering. Throughout Laos, Cambodia and VN, we have encountered many, many people who are missing limbs from land mines left after the war as well as seeing a lot of people who are blind or disfigured from the agent orange sprayed across the country. Hearing and reading about it cannot describe the impact of seeing how it affects the daily life of the people here still, after 30 years!

Now for the damn, some times I wish I had just stayed home stuff...First day in the market, there's people pulling on you and distracting you and I feel something brush by my arm - my purse is open and I realize that a girl I can only see as a blur has pick-pocketed me - AGAIN! I ran after her and caught her by her shoulder and dug my fingernails into her and told her to GIVE ME MY MONEY - a crowd has gathered by now - and she, not really believing she has been caught, reaches into her pants and gives me back my $10 US bill. A bit of adrenaline on that one but it really felt good to come out on the upside of it. Then....New Year's eve - 3am - We are walking home arm in arm, I have my bag - tiny bag - around my shoulder, under my arm and a scooter comes whizzing up and they grab the bag right off my arm!!! I hung on tho and it fell in the road and they didn't get it. This is the very worst city in the country for theft and boy, do I know it now. I keep my bag snapped on my waist and away from traffic. Whew. Oh well, life on the road.

Tomorrow we head to Mui Nea which is a beach area and then head up to Hanoi via Danang, Hoi An, Hue and points in between. We have only this month left in Asia and on the 26th will head onwards to Australia where at least we can read the menus! I am still in mourning for my hair of which a good deal was lopped off by a well meaning Spaniard, a lovely guy really, in Cambodia but it will grow back and Safari Girl will triumph once again. Ciao for now.