Up really early again!! Get collected and head off to the coast to go to Ko Samet. don’t have time to go to the better islands further south, so this will have to do. Get to the dock and literally climb on the roof of a tiny wooden boat, and down on to the seating section. Meanwhile, the crew are loading up everything possible, from food and water to our luggage. We are all thinking, we are never going to get out to the island under the weight, but we do. And then climb into the back of a small truck thing, which doubles as a taxi!! Find somewhere to stay and go to sleep, am knackered after the last few days and the heat doesn’t help. Wander across to the beach and have a massage and pedicure - ah, this is the life!! The place is fab, nice golden beaches and not a lot of people around. Run into the two Norwegian girls and head down the beach with them. Go for dinner and then watch the fireshow on the beach. Its class - about 8 guys juggling fire batons and balls. Its incredible.

Wander back to the hostel and flop into bed.

31^st July 2007 - Ko Samet, Thailand.

Ah, life is good - spend the entire day wandering around the island and then relaxing on the beach. More massages and cocktails to be had!!

1^st August 2007 - Ko Samet, Thailand.

Another lazy day on the beach and an evening of doing absolutely nothing.

2^nd August 2007 - Ko Samet, Thailand.

Yet another easy day of good food, massages and the beach.

29^th July 2007 - Bangkok, Thailand.

Up early and head for the bus station. Get dropped off and rumour has it that the bus leaves for Bangkok at 7.45am. Well, at about 8.45 a small banger of a minibus appears and about 13 of us pile in. the heat is already unbearable and it doesn’t help having so many people in such small quarters! But anyway, the dilemma arises again - do I open the window and let some air and lots of dirt in or sweat like crazy with the window closer. So go for the air and dirt option!! But, the window keeps closing itself, cos the road is so rough and bumpy. So have to jam it open with a pen!! The road is the worst one I have seen yet. Rumour has it that an unnamed airline has been delivering brown envelopes to an unnamed political party to continuously delay tarring the road, so tourists will pay for a flight to Bangkok!! So we bounce and bump along for 6 solid hours, and we hit a massive pothole and the bus just dies. Everyone groans and hopes that we havent broken down, cos we are in the middle of nowhere. But the driver opens up the engine, hits it with a spanner and it starts up again!! So continue on bumping our way to the border. Get there and go through immigration to leave Cambodia. In between the two borders there is an enormous casino - clever, don’t pay tax in no mans land!! Anyway, get through Thai immigration, and don’t have to pay them for a visa, yippee. Find the connecting bus to Bangkok. God, I hadn’t realised how much I have missed civilisation - we cruise along nicely on massive motorways all the way to Bangkok. The only down side is that I manage to get stuck beside an incredibly dumb American, who talks non stop for th ewhole 4hr journey. He is about 45, divorced and thinks he knows it all. He was so loud and kept contradicting himself and showing himself up. I was dying to correct him when he said he was in Czechislovakia last year!! Finally, we arrive in Bangkok, and find a place to stay on the Ko San Road. Was too tired to do anything, so just went for dinner and headed to bed in a tiny room like a furnace!

Up early again. Head down to find our tuk tuk driver and today he wants more money. Convinced he is trying to do us, and don’t really want to go to where he is suggesting. So just decide to go to the balloon first. Its on a rip cord, so you don’t float about. Go up and get some great views over Angkor Wat and the surrounding countryside. It is amazing up here. Its really cool - now I know I want to go up in a proper one. Then head way out of town, over to the landmine museum. Pass through some fantastic countryside along the way. Again, the poverty is a bit more obvious. The landmine museum is run by a guy who has been dismantling landmines for years, and has also escaped the Khmer Rouge. They also have a home for children who have lost limbs and/or been injured by stepping on mines. Some of the mines are hugh - there are a collection of hundreds of mines and other bits of ammunition around the place. There are also lots of photos of victims on the walls, and ones showing them disposing of mines. The heat is unbearable, so decide to just go back to the hostel and stay in doors for a while. Relax for the afternoon and then head out for dinner. Wander around the market and try and avoid the monsoon rain!

Up early and get a tuk tuk to the airport. Pass a military school on the way & they are all out in their uniforms doing exercises. It looks hilarious – about 70 men all in navy outfits doing star jumps!! Get to the airport and check in. actually get dinner on the plane and its only 1hr 20 mins! Specifically requested Vietnam Airlines, as Laos air doesn’t publish their safety records and westerners are not advised to travel with them!! Arrive in Phnom Penh and the heat is unbelievable. Get to a guest house and then head off to the S-21 Genocide prison. It used to be a high school, so is spread out over 4 buildings, each 3 floors high. Three of them have photos of the victims and torture rooms. You can see where they were chained to beds and beaten. You can see the metal boxes they were given as toilets and also the steel bars they were secured and shackled with and you can see some of the other torture instruments as well. The rules of the prison are stuck on the wall. Basically you are not allowed to do anything without permission. You are not even allowed to move your fingers; otherwise you get beaten and whipped. You have to answer question as you are told to answer them.  So many people spent days in here writing out thousands of confessions to avoid worse punishments. The worst building is the final cell, before you were sent out to the killing fields to be executed. The cells are so tiny and you lie on the floor with your feet shackled with an iron bar. The outside of the building is covered in barbed wire, to prevent the inmates from committing suicide by jumping off. Its very strange to see and a bit difficult to digest. How pol pot did this to his own people is beyond me. The place is eerily quite. You know about the horrors and atrocities that happened in Cambodia, but when you see it in front of you with pictures of the victims, its very surreal. Don’t really feel like doing anything else afterwards, so just head back to the hostel and digest the day’s information.

24^th July 2007 – Phnom Penh. 

up early, tuk tuk collects us at 7.45 to bring us to th ebus station. have to go back to vientiene to get a flight. we have paid for the "VIP" bus, so slightly better than the normal bus. but when we check in, we are put on the "express" bus instead. it claims to only take 8 hrs, but since it took us 11hrs to do that journey a few days ago. i am doubtful that it will be any faster!! anyway, we are in the second last seat and when the guy opposite me puts his bag up on the rack, his very large automatice gun catches my eye!! he needs a longer coat to conceal it properly!! teh buses on this route all have an armed "passenger" on board to prevent buses carrying tourists from being held up!! Now I feel safe!! anyway, for some reason, we have both forgotten to buy supplies for the journey - a school girl error at this stage of the game!! so as the bus only stops when the driver feels like it, hunger sets in after a few hours. finally he stops for a toilet break - the side of teh road again!! so, get off the bus and face a dilema. in a coutry that is riddled with land mines, going too far behind bushes may not be a good idea. so i decice to risk my decency as opposed to my limbs and pick a very open spot quite close to the roadside. but, i have cleverly gone behind a goat for some privacy - stupid goat moved!! back on the bus and a few hours later we get a 20 min break for lunch. so a bread roll and some laughing cow spreadable cheese will have to do!! back on board and we finally get to vang viene and most of teh bus gets off. so i move up a few seats to spread out. to my delight, the gunman follows me and sits behind me again!! continue on and it starts lashing out of the heavens. my window leaks, so i stuff it with toilet paper to stop it raining in on me! so after about 11hrs, we arrive in vientiene, find somewhere to stay and flop into bed.

22nd July 2007

sleep in and spend most of the day on the internet. go for a wander around town. there isnt much to do in vientiene and as its sunday, absolutely everything is closed. so not much for today.  

up early (again!!) -  going elephant trekking today. get picked up  and meet the other two people that will be with us. head out of town and down a seriously bumpy side road to the elephant camp. just as we arrive, 4 elephants appear out of the trees and walk past us. they are just enormous!! they have passengers on their back in a kind of seat thing. so we follow the elephants up to a small area where its our turn to go for a ride. you climb onto a platform thing and the elephant comes up to you and you basically stand on his back to get on. the mahout (elephant handler) we get is a bit of a perve. he keeps feeling my legs and rubbing the burnt bits! he is also making strange noises!! so off we go into the jungle. its a strange sensation, being rocked about so far off the ground. its a bit scarey when the elephant goes down hill, as i keep thinking im going to tip over its head. Mr pervert sees every downhill as an opportunity to hold my legs to "protect me"!! its really cool. we are behind the other three elephants and let me tell you that elephants farts do not smell of roses!!! and their pooh is the size of a small football!! plod down to the river and the elephants go into the river, with us on board, in order to get back onto the jungle path. by the way, elephant pooh floats!!  head back to the camp and have lunch. the camp is very nice. we get a hut fo rth enight to sleep in. its reaised off the groud on stilts and has a fab balcony. after lunch we go tubing. flop into our tires and away down the river we go. its brilliant - much better than in Vang Viene, as the river is much faster and it has rapids. this is the same river wher the elephants and buffalo have been using as a toilet!!however, i do manage to run aground and hit a tree!!! when we get to the end, Emer has overshot the finish, so has to walk back to us. its priceless. she has to walk through some buffalo, so all we can see is a massive orange tire moving and buffalo scattering in all directions!!  back at camp, we learn some "mahout" lauguage, in order to control the elephants. we are given some very attractive denim tyoe clothes to put on - fabulous. i do love elasticated waistlines!!  so i manage to end up with the largest elephant and they get him to bend down so i can climb up. well, it gives everyone around a great laugh!! they are all in hysterics, including the elephant guys. so i put one foot on the elephants knee and the mahout starts to pull me up while the guy on the ground starts to push me up, using my ass as a gripping area!! best of all, the others have it all on camera!! finally, im up and have to grab onto teh elephants ears to pull myself up around its ears. they feel very weird!! its extremely hot up here, especially when he flaps his ears over your legs. it wanders around a little while the others get on theirs. but fear gets the better of me and i ask to get down. so they get the elephant to sit down and i have to climb down his leg to get off. its more like sliding and falling, but find groung at last!! its time to walk the elephants back into the jungle for the night. walk back to camp and its off for a shower immediately. well, actually the shower consists of a very large bucket of cold water and a smaller scoop bucket and you pretty much throw buckets of water at yourself in order to wash. who knew that chucking buckets of cold water over yourself could be so refreshing!!! still cant get all the elephant muck out from under my nails though!! head over for dinner, which is delicious. stay up chatting for a few hours before we all go to sleep.

20th July 2007

wake up at 6am and its lashing rain. i have been eaten alive by bugs during the night, so now my legs are lobster red from being burnt and now are all lumpy form being biten - fantastic!! on with the sexy elasticated denimesque outfits and off to get the elephants. because of the heavy rain, we are not allowed into th ejungle to find the elephants. they will bring them back to camp for us. after a while they arrive and they are given a good hosing down and fed. then the fun begins! everyone gets on bareback again, but I decide its not for me again. so we all head down to th eriver through the jungle and into the river so th eelephants can wash. its really cool. the big male one keeps splashing around and throwing water around with his trunk.  back to camp for food. then Emer and I go bamboo rafting and th eothers go kayaking. so  we get two tubes and get on to a bamboo raft with two guides and head off down the river. they paddle like a gondola. its fab, but feel a bit lazy as the two guys are doing all the work. its really cool and after running aground and releasing ourselves, we go for a tube in the river. again, mine is really slow and two small local boys pass me. this is a great opportunity for them to use their oars and splash the silly tourist!! anyway, after some very unladylike manouvering, i manage to flip myself over and paddle back ot the raft. float along for a bit as we have a picnic lunch on the raft. its begining to get a little grey and suddenly the heavens open. I mean monsoon style rain. at one point, i cant actually see in front of me cos the rain is that heavy! im begining to shiver as its gone really cold. so  get into teh river as its warmer and swim alongside the raft.  it takes about 25 mins before we can get out and we walk to a small village. we have to wait for the tuk tuk to collect us, so we just sit in a shop and wait. we are clearly becoming an attraction and word is spreading that some seriously white people are in town!! people, especially kids, are all coming over to the shop to buy random items!! head back to camp and get changed. they drop us back in town and just relax for th eevening.

relaxing day, just potter around town to see what is has to offer. the museum is incredible. one of the buildings is a temple and is covered in gold. the detail is spectacular. teh monastry is also pretty impressive. again, tons of gold everywhere and some of the smaller buildings are just full of character. the heat is unbearable and my legs are in bad shape after getting burnt, so they now look like i have some strange disease!! very attractive!! there are loads of monks wandering around. most of them seem to be really young boys. have to sort out how we are going to leave Loas (in a few days) and arrange transport to cross the border in southern Loas into Cambodia. not having much luck and anyone we spoke to seems to say avaoid crossing it if possible. so we end up having to shell out US$145 to book a flight to Phnom Penh.

18th July 2007

got for breakie and potter around town. the heat is insane. see a load of monks and decide to follow them to see where they are coming from. get to a temple and its covered in yellow and white flags and banners. one of the high monks died and there are preparations for his funeral. that explains why there are so many monks here! decide to have a snooze, to avoid being outside in the heat. later on, check out the night market. full of the usual stuff, silk scarves, t-shirts, jewellery etc. get a few bits and go to watch a dvd and then off to bed.

nice easy day today. just wander around town. nice place, pretty relaxed. have breakfast and play on the internet for a few hours. Loas is one of the few countries that doesnt accept Visa and you can only get money from teh one ATM in town with a mastercard (seriously who has mastercard these days!!!) and as its a saturday, im a bit buggered! thankfully, US dollars are accepted everywhere, so have to dig into my dollar stash and live that way. its lashing rain, so just spend the rest of the day watching a marathon of Friends and enjoying "beer Loas".

 15th July 2007

up early to go tubing today - cant wait. get our tubes and get into the back of a tuk tuk with the inner of a tractor tire!! we go about 10 mins out of town and the guy stops at a river bank and indicates that we are to just get in! so make a very ungraceful flop into the tube and away i go. its great fun. you pretty much float down the river and there are bars all along the riverside that they pull you into for a beer! excellent! pitstop along the way for a few drinks and wander into one of teh caves for a look. its absolutely boiling hot - I have factor 50 on and still manage to get very badly burnt. anyway, float on down to where you are supposed to get out. Emer is already out, as she was ahead of me. the current is quite fast and i am on the wrong side to get out. so i try to paddle over to the other side - no joy. i try to stand up, but i am being dragged along the rocks. I need help, as th eriver is getting the better of me. so two small local girls jump in to get me. They couldnt have been more than 8!! Emer has jumped in to try and get to me as well. its hilarious in a strange way!! the two kids get to me first and grab me and manage to drag me in to shore!! they have done this before. then, I have to pay them!! begin to notice a few local kids hanging around and realise that they are waiting to rescue tourists that arent used to being in rivers!! there are a few small huts serving food and drinks, so end up sepnding the rest of the day sipping G&T's in a hammock and chatting to some of the other tubers. Life is tough!!

 16th July 2007

up early, getting the bus to Luang Prabang today. its only 200km, but takes approx 7hrs cos the road is so windy. its all mountain and jungle, so cant exactly go anywhere fast. there are 8 of us in the minivan, so our stuff gets straped on to the roof! teh scenery along the way is really stunning. its all green and the landscape/rock is similiar to that in Halong Bay. again, manage to avoid random chickens and buffalos along the road!! stop at a "restaurant" and notice that there is a monkey, which is slightly nuts, tied to teh tree!! they have also nailed a few big beautiful butterflies to the tree out front. we contemplate releasing them, but decide to stay quiet. they are certainly into animal cruelty here - dont want to know what is in my food!!! get to Luang Prabang and find somewhere to stay. its a nice town. the whole place is a UNESCO world heritage town - very relaxed and very pretty. potter around for a bit and have dinner.  

Must have got some sleep , as dont remember arriving at the border. it finally opens at 7am and we all shuffle inside to go through immigration & get our visas. talk about disorganisation - you have to go to various different counters to get it all stamped and paid for. not to mention, that we a re all aware that the "additional fees" amounts to the beer money for the corrupt officials behind the counter!! then one guy says to Emer that she will have to go back to Vietnam, as her passport doent have a full blank page for a Loas visa stamp. so after some pleading and an "extra" charge of US$10, he magically inserts an extra page and all is sorted!!anyway off we go and you can instantly see the difference from Vietnam. there is no insane traffic and all you have to avoid on the roads are random buffalo and chickens which raom freely on the streets!! continue on and again after a few hours the driver needs to pee - so all off and into another bush!! two of the girls on the bus have only started travelling and are going "we cant just squat on the side of the road". well, if I learned nothing else from being on the road, its that if the bus stops, you pee. you dont know when you will be able to again!! all off again and he finally stops for food. stop at a random house thing in the middle of nowhere and thankfully, some guys helps us order, as there is no menu. but its pretty much rice with chicken/pork/beef/veg. back on the bus for a few more hours - no one knows when we are due to arrive!! the scenery is amazing, all lush mountains and paddy fields. there are some small communities along the way - all living in tiny bamboo houses. get to Vientiene about 2pm - a lot earlier than expected. 6 of us decide to keep moving and continue on to vang viene. so get a tuk tuk across town to the other bus station. buy our tickets and ask which bus it is. well, they point at a complete banger, which is already overloaded with everything imaginable on the roof!! so the question is, where do the rucksacks go?? it doesnt take long before we find out - they open a window and throw the rucksacks in!! so thankfully the bus is empty enough that we can spread out and get a window - shockingly, no air con!!! but its back to the dilema of either open the window and dela with the dirt or close the window and sweat like crazy!! the dirt option wins, im already pretty filthy, so a bit more wont make much difference!! get to Vang Viene about 8pm. just check in and go for dinner. watch some episodes of friends - all the restaurants have big teles with friends dvds. flop into bed with no intention of getting up early tom.

sleep in and just wander around the old quarter of Hanoi. its full of tiny streets and alleyways, with people and motorbikes everywhere. they are poor, but i have become slightly immune to it all now. wander around looking for a tour agancy that will allow us to book a bus to Luang Prabang in Laos.  they all say no to the border we want to cross. so in hte end we have to book a ticket to vientiane and go across a border much further south than we wanted.  then just wander around the shoe market - yipee!! quite a few nice ones, but as a big footed westerenr, none of them come in my size!! they are made for asian feet!  take a wander around the lake - its quite nice and has a beautiful red wooden bridge across to a small temple. the heat is unbearable and am just sweating like mad. head down to the municipal water puppet theatre to see a show. its really cool. the stage is quite big and very decorative. the puppeteers are behind a screen, in the water and teh puppets are all on poles under the water. its really cool and very different. well worth teh E1.50 to get in!! after teh show, just head back to the hotel. although, its so hot, our air con isnt powerful enough so need to get a fan as well in order to control the sweating!!

11th July 2007

sleep in and mostly spend the day indoors - its 39C and the humidity is extreme. spend the day on the internet and relaxing in the least sweaty environment as possible. walk through the food market in the old quarter - its quite impressive. the food looks great and the colours and smells are amazing. 

12th july 2007

get a taxi across town to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum - its where Ho is on show!! so we have to go all over the place to get there - stupid taxi driver tries to rip me off saying that he doesnt have any change - well, i sit in the car until he goes and gets some, cos he owes me about 30,000 dong. I dont care if its only a pound, he is not getting it! to go and see Ho, we are not allowed to have our knees or shoulders on show, so in 39C of heat, we duely put on a long sleeved top and wrap a sarong around our legs and after handing over our phones and cameras we join a very long queue. finally get in to see himself, passing security with their enormous bayonettes, w go into a very cold room and walk in total silence (we are told to ssshh by one guard!!) and follow the crowd around his body. he looks like a waxwork to me!! but must behave with reverence and respect - -shuffle outside, where my glasses immediately fog up from the heat. peel off the additional layers and begin sweating immediately!!  get a taxi back to the hotel and get ripped off. his metre goes from 6,000 to 20,000 in 2 seconds flat!! stay indoors until its time to go for the bus to Laos. so the guy arrives to collect us and says that he can only take one at a time - which means its a motorbike!! so Emer goes first and he come sback for me. so, with my 16kg rucksack in between his legs, in between him and the steering, I climb on behind him with my daypack on my back and cling on for dear life!  dear god, I see teh back end of a mercedes  in a rather alarmingly fast and close up way!!  get the office after a very hair rainsing 5 minute bike ride!! now, we have been told that the bus is at 6pm and will take 16hrs - ok. then others start arriving saying that they were told the bus is at 7pm and will take 22hrs. welcome to asia - we are guestimating it will take about 24hrs to get to vientiane!! so then we all have to get into a taxi - so only 6 of us fit in with our luggage and 2 others have to go on a motorbike and a tuk tuk. get to the bus station and are shown to a relatively ok bus (now this is by vietnamese standards) and the guy says that the bus is at 8pm!! so we all hand around and no one else has turned up for the bus, so we are thinking we will all have enoungh room to spread out and potentially get some sleep. Suddenly, at 7.30pm a guy somes over and says "oh, we change buses - over here". Oh sweet jesus, an old banger appears and its already full of locals and boxes. the roof is piled high with all sorts of stuff and the back rows are piled to the ceiling with boxes. we are all standing there going you have got to be joking - no!! they suggest putting all the rucksacks on the roof, but we all object. so after some commotion and moving people and boxes (as there were only 4 seats and 8 of us!!) they pile our luggage up to the ceiling along the back. the bus is tiny and we are all squished in together. the bus takes off and due to the insane driving, the luggage falls on the people behind, so we have to move it all onto the floor!! its certainly a cost fit!! drive like a crazed lunatic for a few hours and hope the driver stops for the toilet. toilet stops are not scheduled - if the driver needs to go he will stop, otherwise dont drink anything!! so after 4.5hrs, he stops at the side of the road and in pitch dark go to the loo in a ditch!! back on ht ebus and take a sleeping tablet and hopefully will wake up at the laos border in a few hours!