I feel like I’m in prison. I’m in a tiny cubbyhole with my toes pressed up against the underneath of someone else’s bed. I can barely move, but at least I’m laying down. We’re on our way to Hoi An, which is about 300km north of Nha Trang (We made a 6 hour stop here on our way from Dalat). It’s a 13 hour journey overland by bus, hence the sleeper. It’s comfortable, but I feel like complaining because… Well, I just guess because I can. I’m a moany old bastard sometimes. The brakes died on the Dalat -> Nha Trang bus today too. Which was fun. There was an almighty loud bang, and a smell of burning. We got dumped at a food station for 30 minutes while the bus drove off (I’m assuming) to get some repairs (which was odd, because being on a mountain, you kind of assume that you’re isolated and there’s nothing around… ). Got some nice pictures here though. They’ll be up on FB when I either get a decent connection or I get out of Vietnam. X

Dalat is a headfuck. It feels and looks like a skiing resort in France, without the snow. And while it’s still cold here (I think it’s about 1500m above sea level) I’m still wearing shorts and sandals. Everyone else though, is wearing gloves. I wanna go snowboarding.

On our way to The highland town of Dalat today. Looking forward to lower temperatures and not having to use AC at night; I have a cold. Which, is not necessarily a bad thing at the moment. Susie just informed me that someone let one go on the bus that we’re on. If someone continues to have bad bowels for the duration of this 8 hour bus journey, then hopefully I’ll be none the wiser. Unfortunately for Susie, she has no choice in the matter.

The last 2 days have been spent in the Mekong delta’s capital city of Can Tho. Here, one of the offshoots of the river Mekong provides the town with a prosperous riverside community and economy based primarily on the sale of fruit and vegetables. You can see this by taking a day trip on a tiny longboat 20k down stream to visit the Floating Markets. I had visions of the markets being small, wooden huts (much like conventional land markets) on Jettys, floating on the river, separated by small canals wide enough to allow a longtail boat through. I was wrong; they were literally boats filled with an assortment of fruits and vegetables - piloted by women in Vietnamese “dome” hats, that lay stationary by the river banks - distinguishable by long bamboo sticks pointing upward into the sky, that hang the various produce being sold. Our driver - the legendary Huc - navigated these markets like a pro, picking pineapples and sour Vietnamese lychees, and offering them to us for our breakfast (we left the hotel at 5:30 am and got to the markets within an hour). The second we arrived at a Market, a middle-aged man accompanied by a kid holding soft drinks, sped over to us in an attempting to peddle his wares. You’re not safe, even on the river. Sigh. ...

I would recommend heartily doing every trip by yourself when in Vietnam. It takes a bit more planning and is obviously a bit more intimidating with the language barrier and all, but you’ll save about 50% on all travel costs. For example; we’re going to Can Tho today, and we organised a bus with our guesthouse, who quoted 160,000 dong each (about $8) We took a walk down Pham Ngu Lao street, and all of the operators were about the same. We booked with our guesthouse. Upon arrival at the bus station however, the going rate was 80,000 dong ($4). If we’d got a cab here instead of booking with the guesthouse, we’d have saved $8 between us. Sucks hey, but you learn from your mistakes. ...

Furious. Money is always an issue for us out here. We’re trying to be deliberately careful with our budget (with the exception of Susie buying a £200 silk bed sheet) and banks keep on making this bloody hard. First of all, we’re getting charged about 5% every time we withdraw cash from a cash point. This 5% is roughly calculated at about 2.75% (the standard Visa charge for currency exchange) and 2% from Natwest - which happens to be the highest bank charge out of all the banks in England. In Thailand and Cambodia this wasn’t too much of an issue, because their ATM’s either wouldn’t charge a fee or you could get out large sums over the counter. In Vietnam, you can only get out a maximum of about 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 VND (£90 - £120) in one transaction via ATM, which each time incurs a fee of between 20,000 and 40,000 VND (60p - £1.20). So money in Vietnam has become a ball-ache. On Sunday, we withdrew 2 sets of 3,000,000 each for preparation to get money changed for our Laos Visas. Susie got one load of 3,000,000 from an Agrabank ATM, and I followed her up with another 3,000,000. We could hear the ATM counting money, but after 5 minutes it didn’t spit any out; the terminal just sat there on a “Please Wait” screen. Eventually, an error message popped up saying the transaction had been canceled. Annoying, but fair enough. I thought i’d just search around for another ATM with decent enough rates. HOWEVER. This morning after checking my balance, I’ve noticed that I’ve been charged the FULL AMOUNT as if the fucking ATM had dispensed my money! £90! If I had a bit more faith in my bank to resolve this, i might not be so stressed out today. But I don’t. And it’s going to mean another lengthy, expensive, crap quality call to Natwest today to sort it out. ...

I want a shave. Man I think this is the longest it’s ever been.

After a restless night in a jungle, a wakeup call from a rooster at 5 am, a walk in downtown Sihanoukville (which is officially a dump) I find myself on Serendipity beach, drunk on 3 glasses of cheap beer. At 4 pm. Everything’s funny when you’re drunk. And you find yourself fighting over 50 cents–with a kid peddler–over a bunch of bracelets that don’t fit you and/or look ugly. Here’s a picture of a boy to keep you entertained:

I can cook like a Khmer. I’m pretty awesome… … although Susie has issues cutting limes…

Fishy cheap labour? Tickles like pins and needles. Khmer seafood; cheesy…