Good morning Vietnam!

We have reached the last leg of our Journey up the Vietnamese coast from Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) in the south to Hanoi in the North. Its by no means a small distance we have to cover 1600 km in 10 days. So we bused into HCMC and the first thing we noticed was the number of motorbikes/scooters. It was unbelievable at a typical intersection there would be like 20 across by 30 deep. You can imagine that crossing the road is no easy task, you almost have to close you eyes and start walking and the all encompassing swarm will just move around you. HCMC has around 6 million people. Not wanting to spend too long in another big city we took the first available bus 200 km North to Mu Nei. A smaller seaside/fishing town with a few resorts and hotels in the mix. It was really nice spending a day and half relaxing on an idyllic beach under the swaying palm trees. The water was really warm too. On the bus again (we purchased an open bus ticket so we could pretty much hop on and off whenever we liked) and 4 ½ hours up the road to Nha Trang. Nha Trang is about the same size as Wellington and right on a really nice beach. We booked a boat trip when we got there which explored some of Nha Trangs Islands. Snorkling was a highlight for me the coral and aquatic life in the crystal clear water was primo. Our boat was the party boat and we had a really great day, singing, eating and swimming.

Cambodia

CONTRAST is what I think of when I reflect on Cambodia. Rich and Poor, Brillant and Bloody, amazing and tragic, history and current, old and new… It’s really the biggest eye opener that hamish and I have ever had. The poverty in Cambodia broke my heart, children shamelessly begging, landmine victims without legs, woman with a child in her arms filthy and begging for money on the street. It was too shocking to believe, and gave hamish and I the biggest wakeup call as to how lucky we are to come from little old NZ. Our hearts raced at the sights of the famous Angkor temples in Siem Reap, unforgettable sandcastle like creations, but we were shocked at how black humankind can be, as we learnt about the Khmur Rouges genocidal rule ( 1975-1979) under Pol Pots direction whereby almost 2 millon innocent Cambodians were killed under the regieme. It was bloody and awful and seeing the killing fields, and S-21 (the prison where people where torturted and kept before being taken to be killed) was airy and made me feel sick. Despite their bloody history, the Cambodian people are very warm, and we found them to be the loveliest we had encounted so far.

We flew into Siem Reap and spent the first few days there marvelling at the temples, and absorbing all the Grandness of the Khmer Empire… truly heart stopping, and we got up super early and watched the sun rise over Angkor Wat. The temples, are all different and each has so many orate carvings and statues, and things to marvel at… Ones we think worth checking out are Angkor Wat – you wont believe you eyes!!
Angkor Thom(bayon is amazing!), - there are hundreds of faces carved into the stone, quite strange!
Ta Prohm – the place were Indian Jones and Tomb raider was filmed, has crumbling stone work, tombs and looks enchanted as the jungle is devouring the temple.

From Siem Reap we decided to go to Battambang a smallish town, a days boat trip from the city. It was well worth it. The boat trip was extreamly senic as we passed floating village, after floating village, and got to see the ‘real’ Cambodia. Once in Battambang we meet up with a couple of guys from the UK and hired motobikes to checkout the area. Hamish was a wee bit rubish to begin with on the motorbike, and its not that great when you stall going through a BUSY intersection!! But by the end of the day he had mastered it. We hired a guide to take us through the Killing Caves, where over 100000 people were slaughted, killed then pushed down a 20m cave, was awful, there were all their bones still there and had an Eeiry feeling…

From Battengbang we then went onto Cambodia’a Capital – Phnom Pehn. We hired a cab for the day and he took us round the sights. We spent our time going to the S-21 prision. The prison used to be a school but was turned into a place of torture and death. When prisoners where brought to S-21 they got their photo taken, and there are rooms and rooms fill of photos from all the men, woman and children who had been there. The most chilling thing is that, all those people where killed, out of the hundreds of thousands that went there taken there, only 6 survived. What I cannot fathom is that this happened less than 30years ago!! One awful regime, stuffing up the future of Cambodia, so much so they are still trying to make up for it today. There is a heaviness of Heart in Cambodia.
From the Prison we then went on to the killing fields. Very distirbing. There are still bones on the ground and lose bits of fabric from the victims. The whole day made me feel sick!
Phnom Pehn was a big busy city, and we found some great places to eat, and checked out loads of markets and the grandpalace, and little nooks and crannies to enjoy while we were there…
It was nice to move on though, I love and loathe Cambodia at the same time…

viang vieng / vienteine

Nong Khiaw – Vang Vieng (VV). A long days travelling left at 2 pm and didn’t get into VV until 3 in the morning. The roads were terrible! It was like the Waiwoeka gorge multiplied but 8 hours of it! When we arrived we all piled into this very small Tuk-Tuk and with its tires flat and bottom scraping along the ground we made it to some accomodation.
V.V was the adventure tourist meca of Laos, with a lot to offer the hoards of tourists. We went tubing, but it wasn’t like your normal tubing, it had multiple stops at riverside pubs. They kind of latched you in with big sticks. There was also rope swings into the river which was great fun. I perfected my backwards flip off the rope swing, but when I tried to do it again with half twist the result was disasterous, I slammed into the river from a fair height on my side, and ended up with some bruising (but I am fine now) It was quite funny apparently I got a real groan from the watching audience. The drinks flowed freely and you had to be careful about getting too carried away. But we made it back to the G.H in one piece. Went out to Dinner in V.V and sat on the ground to eat our meal, that was pretty crazy. Had a nicer bus trip to Viantiene the following day. Viantiene is the Capital city of Laos, another riverside city, which is on the border with Thailand. There are approximately 200,000 people in Laos made up of locals and a large Expat community. There is again a real french feel to this place (according to SK as I have never been to France) with the architecture, roading and restaurants. I do love the chocolate croissants! And Sarah has turned into a local with having Chicken noodle soup for brekkie every morning. Have been wandering around checking out a few wats, the Laos version of the Arc De Triumph and trying to dodge the down pours. But we a really enjoying this place. We are flying out to Siem Reap (Cambodia) tomorrow. We are really looking forward to that.

Mekong / Laung Prabang / Nong Khiaw

So we are now onto the second of our four country excursion, Laos. We stayed our last night in a place called Chiang Khong. The next morning we took a ferry over the river to Huay Xai (in Laos) and sorted out our Visa’s. What shambles! There were people everwhere, there was not much of a system, but finally we got it sorted. Next we jumped on the slow boat, a flat bottom wooden boat used to transport people up and down the Mekong river. The boat had these very hard wooden seats, which after 7 hours became very painful. This boat took us to Luang Prabang via an overnight stop in Pak Beng. In Pak Beng we changed boats. And they tried to fit all the people from the day before in a smaller boat. Eentually they gave in and we went in two boats. As we neared Luang Prabang (LPQ) the terrain was very rugged with massive limestone hills along side the river.
LPQ. Our first real stop in Laos. According to the guidebook you can breathe a sigh of relief here as the pace here was alot less frantic, the streets were clean and the people were really friendly and didn’t hassle you for money all the time. LPQ also has a distinct french feel. The food here is just as good as Thailand. Its probably a wee bit more expensive than Thailand in terms of accommodation and food. Went out in LPQ with some Irish mates I met Mountain biking in Chiangmai. Had a beaut of a night, curfew in LPQ meant we had to be back at the guesthouse by midnight. On the way home I accidently walked into a ditch much to SK’s amusement.
The second day in LPQ we organised our travel plans and went to this pretty amazing waterfall. It rained heavily again that day. We stopped at a touristified village on the way home. We also climbed the main hill in LPQ and got some amazing views. Had dinner at the street markets and spent about $2 NZD between us for our meal. Shopped at the night markets after tea and got some really cool stuff.
Next day in LPQ I had troubles with a cash machine, thought it had run out of money, and charged me anyway, turns out it hadn’t Phew! Got picked up from the Guest House (G.H) by a minivan for our trip north to Nong Khiaw. They drive on the left side of the road in Laos which we are struggling with. Scenic drive to Nong Khiaw (NK) saw wandering buffalo all over the road, scorpions, cars in ditches, hitch hiking tourists and spectular green scenery. One thing quite entertaining was our minivan driver who beeped at almost everything we passed on the road. NK was the Laos version of Queenstown, but way less touristy and no snow on the spectacular hills. We went to a cave were the locals hid during the war and I swam in the river with the local boys. Also tried to organise a fishing trip but the river was too high. We went to the pictures at NK as well, we watched a really bad movie which was pirated, oh well.

Chiang Mai

Hi there everyone, hope all is well wherever in the world you find yourself.
We are just about to say goodbye to Thailand after two weeks of tripping around and head to Laos.
We are much more used to travelling now and living out of each others pockets, and have mastered all the important thai customs. Such as; leaving a bit of rice on your plate. Using your fork like a knife, using your spoon like a fork, saying the basics of the thai language, and saying no thanks to the hundreds of offers a day for tuktuk's, massages, or ladyboys....
Chiang Mai has been amazing, we have really enjoyed everything that is on offer up here, and could easily spend another month, chilling and soaking up the city.
Hamish spent the first day trekking around the city and looking around the city, but I got quite sick from the lunch we had, (think it could of been the ice?) and spent the afternoon looking at the four walls of our guesthouse bathroom. Not fun. Was fine the next day though thank god, as we had our three day hill tribe treak. It was really incredable.
There were about ten of us in the group and we went far up into the chiang mai mountains and stayed with the Karen tribe. It was like an real life anthropology lesson, and learnt all about how the tribe functions, and the cutoms etc. We saw lots of crazy jungle incects and animals, and the spiders and snakes where MASSIVE. We also saw hundreds of rice fields and got to meet the villagers. Tres cool. We stayed in thatched bamboo shacks and was like stepping back in time by hundreds of years. We did lots of swimming, and was a bit of an experience on the last day to get to ride the elephants and go bamboo rafting. Our elephant was the granddaddy greedy one and stole the fruit from the other elephants. It was a real laugh, and man they are incrediable creatures. Bamboo rafting was a laugh as well, fell out a few times, and hamish thought it was amusing to contionusly wet me and everyone else in the group... hmmm... they are not exactly safe in Thailand, no waivers to sign or anything, they just throw you onto a raft and off you go down the rapids. classic.
Once back in Chiangmai, we meet up with our tour group for dinner and a night out, and was cool to find a few night spots out and about.
Hired bikes with another few travellers and crazily took off in the middle of the day (so hot like 40 degrees) to Bo sang. Its the 'umbrella' village were you get to check out where all the locals engage in almost any sort of thai handicraft, including making beautiful handmade umbrella's... we also checked out a silk factory, and couldn't believe that people still manually work the machines, not a computer or anything. we were thinking that the cost of labour is cheaper than running the power.. craziness.
Yesterday Hamish went EXTREAM and did a mountian biking mission up the hills above Chiang Mai. Not as good as the redwoods but still loads of Fun.
I spent the day learning how to cook thai food at a cooking school. was absolutly awesome, and have now mastered the art of cooking the thai classics. Was a hand's on course, and I was the only one with the instructor, which meant I got to chop and cook and eat everything myself. After I went and got a thai massage... Bliss!
It's cheap as chips over here, and Hamish is much bolder in trying new and exotic food from the side of the road. (my tummy heaves at the sight of some food). We are eating for about $1-2 a meal each (25-50baht) and trying lots of different flavours and loving it all.
Will post up again in a few weeks after Laos, lots of love guys, we are missing you all. xxxx

more photos

biking through the pretty park.

Wat poh, bangkok
hamish eating at the markets, massive weekend market, bangkok
normal river side living

Ayutthaya

Needed to escape the madness of BKK and had to kill so we caught the train up to Ayytthaya. AyuttHaya is about 70 k's north of BKK. We travelled 3rd class on the train, which was suprisingly very good. Only 20 Baht each (80 cents) AyuttHaya is an Island believe it or not. Its surrounded by rivers and has a population of 80,000. The mood is laid back here and the people are friendly. Checked into the UP Inn guest house when we arrived. Then hired bicycles and explored the city. Lots of Wats(temples/Monestry's) , decapitated budda's and parks. Thai people seemed to be obsessed with The King and Queen (you are expected to have a picture of them in every room), buddha and roosters (armys of them). Monuments Wat Raturana, Wat Chaiwattanaran and golden mountain chedi were memorable. Back to the guesthouse to cool off (sarah was badly sunburnt), then off on a boat tour around the Island. Landed at the night markets where we sampled some of the local delicacies. Hamish discovered an amazing pink fruit (looked like beetroot, tasted like kiwifruit). Met a few other travellers and had a few beers in the local jazz bar. Getting used to travelling and much more offay with the local customs.

Hope every one is well, let us know all the goss.

lots of love

Sarah and Hamish

Thailand

Touchdown Bangkok

An oversaturation for the senses, a big steamy open market, constantly being harrassed by the tuk tuk drivers... yes we knew we were in Bangkok.

Arrived about 9pm caught a cab into the city, hit by the heat, we found a place in Soi Rambutri. CLose to Koh San Road, but not in the loud hub. Jet lag got the better of us, as we woke at 4am the next and couldn't get back to sleep. So we went on a mission. Got an authentic breaky and started wandering around the city. Tried to find the entry to the grand palace and got approached by a 'wily friendly local' who said that Sarah couldn't get in with a singlet on, so he pointed on the map where would should go and visit, and hailed a tuk tuk driver and off we went. Little did we know at that point we were getting scammed. (Naive New Zealanders!) We went all over the city, booked tickets for chaingmai and treaking and ordered custom-made clothes, realised we had been scammed when the Tuk Tuk driver took us to the gem store, and we hadn't seen any sights of Bangkok. A big lesson learnt. Paid far too much for our goods.. and we are yet to see anything for them. Went back to guest house, cancelled credit cards, couldn't believe we had been so naive on the first day. Oh well.

We decieded to stick around and wait for our passports (they are with the embassy getting processed for Visas) until Wednesday so we had some time to Kill. Explored the city by foot, and had a couple of full on days sightseeing. We saw the Golden Mountain, Wat Poh - Reclining Budda, Grand Palace, (like nothing we have seen before, ornate temples, sparkling statues and monuments, carved stone statues) went on a long boat cruz to the city, caught the sky train to the central park of bangkok. This place is crazy. There are people everywhere. Street vendors selling everything for fruit to clothes, to lotto tickets, to buddha jewels, you name it they sold it... The smells are constantly smoothering you, and changing from food to dog shit, to pollution. Its really intense, and very different to New Zealand.

The food is sooooo good. Although first few days the humidity dulls the appetite... SO tasty and so much random stuff to try. Accomadation has been great, been good to get away from the tourist hotspots and explore other areas.

OUTWARD BOUND

Words can't even explain how amazing the Outward Bound Experience is. It really is a 'voyage of self discovery' and I got the chance to meet some great people!
It is 21 days on complete isolation from the outside world. The only contact is through handwritten letters, no phone, internet or modern day convinences... Just good ol' mother nature. They have each day chocca with crazy things to do. From tramping, to kayaking, to running, to the high ropes course, to sailing, to rockclimbing, to community service, to three nights of hanging out in the bush by myself, it was all an adventure. I loved every bit, constant challenges and lots of positivity has really put me in the best headspace to head overseas.
I think all Kiwis should do it! It is life-changing. Anakiwi is a slice of heaven. Although it was freezing, and we still had to go swimming everyday we were lucky because we only got one morning of light rain the whole time.
If you want to see more piccies check out my facebook link (under the last photo.) http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41761&l=d7f0a&id=572446562

Going away shindiggy's

La barca at the Mount, the Fig in Ohope and the Crac in Whakatane. Cheers for everyone making the effort to come! Cheers for your camera JB. swicked! x