16th June 2002: Saigon, Vietnam

Hey folks, we have finally managed to escape from Thailand and we are in Vietnam.

Whilst waiting for our (exorbitantly expensive) Vietnam visas in Bangkok, we went to see the bridge on the river kwai, and had a ride on an elephant(very bumpy). We've found it quite difficult to cross the roads in Bangkok. They tend to have about 12 lanes of honking traffic (much of it mopeds) and the pedestrian crossings seem to serve more as pedestrian target areas. The Thais like to have competitions as to who can squeeze the most number of people (typically one large extended family) onto a moped. The most we've seen is 6.

Been to floating markets, ate a scorpion (don't worry it was dead - but not very tasty) and witnessed various bizarre accidents.

Everyone is football crazy over here - apparently there's some sort of competition going on in Japan or something...

Temples at Angkor were amazing. Had a bizarre day on bikes riding around the jungle. First came across a family of fairly tame monkeys crossing the road, who enjoyed climbing my bike. Then we saw a man riding a moped with a live pig the size of a fridge strapped to the back of his bike. Some small girls we met told us that Dean was very handsome but that I looked like a monkey! Dean enjoyed this very much.

Cambodia makes Bolivia look advanced and developed. It has about 2 roads in the whole country! Visited the killing fields outside of Pnomh Penh - pretty heavy stuff. Then they took us to a shooting range where we were shown a menu of different guns we could fire - everything from AK-47s to bazookas! We weren't really in the mood but that soon changed. So we emptied 30 rounds from a Kalashnikov into a target. What a buzz!

Got out of Pnomh Penh (it was a dump) and we are now in Saigon, which is great. Just been to the "War Remnants museum", which used to be called the "Museum of American War Crimes". Having visited it, I think they probably should have kept the old name! Honestly, what were the Yanks thinking!? Well I'm glad to report we've bought 3 books on the subject so we can find out. French influence here is very welcome. First bread since Australia, and it's quality French baguettes with Normandy butter. Mmmmm..... So we're hanging around here until our respective colons stabilize, then we're going somewhere else.

Wandering around a small border town in Vietnam yesterday was crazy. Practically everyone we saw shouted hello at us - especially the little kids! Felt like Paul McCartney.