Cambodia - Bangkok (18 - 21 Jan)

Our pick up on Sunday morning is at 730 to take us into the centre of Siem Reap to pick up the bus to Thailand, once on board, we set off, and stop to pick up some more passengers opposite where we have been staying! It kinda sums up our experience of travelling in this part of the world, but hey, what can you do. The bus on the Cambodian side isnt that bad - not even half full (only Westerners) so plenty of space, but then the nice tarmac-ed road ends, and we're off road-ing, bouncing along dusty tracks reminiscing of the fun we had on busses in India. It does get better though, and we're back on smoother surfaces after an hour or so of bone-shaking. The border crossing is easy enough, and then we're shoe-horned into a mini-bus for the Thai part of the journey. Fortunately, Thailand has smart roads, and the driver doesnt hang around.

We're happy to be back in Bangkok, and a big city which feels familiar and comfortable - helped by the fact we've booked a better hotel which gets us a huge room, and enormous bed. A proper treat after the guest houses and hostels of Vietnam and Cambodia! There is also a great Thai restaurant nearby whose spicy beef salad blows our head off.

We've seen most of the sites, so enjoy pottering around Silom district where we are staying. Its baking hot, so any pottering is done slowly. In amongst all the tat for sale, we find a great hawker stall selling fishcakes for 30 baht, which makes a good lunch stop. We've now had all our favourite Thai foods, so can start again!

Each time we've been to Bangkok previously, we've gone to bed supperclub, so keep up that tradition. The food there is still fab, but its a Monday, so pretty quiet, and the bar is dead so it loses some of the atmosphere of a weekend. We dont hang around long after we finish, whereas previously we've stayed in the bar for hours. Or maybe we're just getting old!

Tuesday pans out similarly to Monday, we potter around, drop off some souvenirs to send home to avoid (hopefully) incurring excess baggage on AirAsia, catch a boat along the river and wander outside the Royal Palace and Wat Pho. We also meander through Khao San Road - which is awful! Backpacker hell full of Westerners wearing their luggage, drinking pints of beer, and generally making it feel like a Student Union bar. We're back at our local favourite restaurant for dinner (without head blowing spicy beef) and early to bed to watch Obama's inauguration on TV before getting up at dawn to fly down to Phuket and get back onto the beach.

Cambodia 14-18 Jan

We're up bright and early again to get the boat from Chau Doc in Vietnam all the way to Phnom Penh in Cambodia. We know we have to change boats on the border, but only one change, and we should be there by about 2:00pm.

We have a bit of a fight with our last Vietnamese hotel who try to charge us for an extra night, then two bottles of water, and then try and change the exchange rate in their favour. We take no shit these days and they are promptly put in their place. We have a bit of hanging around to do as the rest of the passengers on our boat have booked a trip around the area, but we're just eager to get going so didnt book that too. We speed up the Mekong to the border in an hour, then have a big wait while our little guide pops off to organise about 40 Cambodian visas (he has taken $2 from each of us for the priviledge) then we troop over the border into Cambodia, and onto a boat. We thought we'd booked the fast boat, as did most of the other people, apart from those who booked the slow boat and are quite happy that they did so as we are all on the same craft. 5 mins up the river we have to get out and get the arrival stamp in our passport - fortunately without luggage, and then we are off to Phnom Penh, or actually about 100km outside of Phnom Penh where we have to get off the boat and do the rest by boat. So we've been scammed out of $5 each in Vietnam. B*stards. At least we arent the only ones in the same boat - or bus.

Phnom Penh is a cute city which bears a great deal of French influence - its small enough to wander around on foot, which we do stopping at temples, markets, friendship monument and the Royal Palace which is a huge complex including the golden throne palace (no pictures allowed) and a silver pagoda - silver floor. We're a bit surprised at how expensive it is though - all the prices are quoted in US dollars, as well as in the local currency, Riels, but it does feel a lot more expensive than Vietnam. We watch the sunset from the banks of the Mekong and have enjoyed our time in Phnom Penh, but are ready to move onto Siem Reap where Angkor Wat waits.

We're back on the bus to Siem Reap early on the morning of the 16th. Its a five hour journey, and we are pleased to see our guesthouse's driver waiting for us when the bus pulls in to the bus station. The gates are closed to the rest of the tuk-tuk drivers who are calling through to all the recently arrived travellers (all Westerners, no locals on the bus...) as if they are our biggest fans in the world. Siem Reap reminds us of Luang Prabang - chilled out place whose sole purpose is to serve the hoardes of tourists who pass through en route to Angkor Wat. There are markets selling all of the usual tourist tat, streets of restaurants and bars (even one called Pub Street) and lots of street hawkers "hello laydeee, massage?" Cambodian food isnt a patch on Thai, but we find a decent Khmer curry.

Next morning, we're up early at the Bou Savy guesthouse, which is quite a good place to stay, and off in a tuk tuk to explore Angkor Wat. Its breathtaking - a mind blowing complex of temples, shrines, monuments making up a whole town dating from the 12th Century. It was left in the darkness during most of Cambodia's bloody history while Pol Pot was massacring thousands, and was only re-discovered in the 1850s. This allowed nature to run wild, and there is one temple in particular, Ta Promh where nature has completely taken over, and trees grow out of the temple walls, with their roots growing at will. Its got an other-worldly feel about it - we've never seen anything quite like it. We also really like the Bayon which has dozens of columns all with faces of the king carved on each side. While nature was allowed to roam free for centuries, now there are thousands of tourists roaming the site, which is a bit frustrating, but we're lucky in places to find ourselves alone. Its easy to compare to Petra in scale and wonder, even though it was built 1200 years later, it is still awesome, and has a unique style making it even more interesting.

We climb up to a temple on a hill to watch the sunset in the distance, and enjoy the changing colours of the temples. Its not as stunning as other sunsets we have seen, but still another amazing experience, and up near the top of sites encountered so far. Exhausted, we troop back down the hill to our waiting tuk tuk and back to the guest house. We're excited to be heading into Thailand the next day, even though that involves a 12 hour bus, and so far travel in this region hasnt quite been all that it promised.

Cambodia is an interesting country, with a very dark history, which makes it all the more fascinating. The Southern coast promises much, but we are pressed for time, so its just been a flying visit. We cant get away from the thought that its a bit of an expensive place, but we havent really stood still here long enough to properly get under its skin.

Phu Quoc - Chau Doc (10-13 jan)

Phu Quoc is a little gem of an island off the South Western coast of Vietnam, but its a real pain to get to and from. The flight in from Ho Chi Minh City is one of the worst landings ever, we're in a twin prop getting blown all over the place, so its even more of a disappointment to get off the plane in a beach paradise to find that its overcast. Fortunately the weather does pick up over the next 3 days and we find some stunning white sandy beaches, and crystal clear blue seas. Its not a hugely developed island - only one tarmac-ed road runs the length and the rest is dirt tracks, which are tricky to negotiate on a scooter! There arent any mega resorts - yet. We stay in a cute little thatched bungalow, but the thatch rattles like nothing else in the wind, so its just as well that we have earplugs. The mozzy net also gets its first run out. There are some cute places to eat and drink on the beach - including the Eden bar that has free wifi so we get to speak to Tom & Tally on a cold Sunday morning in London, while we enjoy a sunset beer.

Leaving Phu Quoc was an altogether less pleasant affair. We're heading to Cambodia via the border town of Cahu Doc, where you can pick up a boat across to Phnom Penh, so we're getting a boat off the island, rather than flying. We're up at dawn to go and get a bus to the ferry terminal - the bus we're told leaves at 630, but doesnt actually get going until 715. The sea looks a little choppy as we pull up at our ferry, and once we get going to the soundtrack of deafening Vietnamese pop, we find out just how choppy it is. The child in front of us is puking up, the child beside us is puking up and so is the woman behind us as well as quite a few other people on the boat. Dont think that we have ever felt so ill, but with focussing on the horizon we manage to keep breakfast down. Somehow, we also manage to nod off, until they change the DVD and we have some Vietnamese comedy stage show - the guys who arent chucking up into small plastic bags handed out by the crew (has to be one of the worst jobs in the world) find it hilarious. We want to die.

Once back on dry land, we strike it lucky with our onward travel, and instead of having to get a public bus, we find a chap who is willing to drive us for 3 hours for about £4. In no way though does this make up for the mornings boat trip.

We find a little hotel next to our drop off spot in Chau Doc, which is the starting point for boats crossing the border into Cambodia Despite the boat trip from Phu Quoc we are assured that travelling along the river will offer a calmer trip than crossing the South China Sea, and book our onward tickets. Elton & Angelina, some travelling buddies we met in Phu Quoc recommend a place for lunch, and we dine in style on grouper with tomatoes - possible the most delicious fish we've ever had, and it costs less than £3.

We're happy to go to bed after such a traumatic day, that started off so badly, but in the end turned out quite nicely!

Ho Chi Minh CIty (7-10 Jan)

Ho Chi Minh is a great city that we instantly like - I guess a combination of the sun shining and a great place to stay (Thang Ngoc guesthouse) in the centre of town helps. There are 1000s of scooters on the road, and initially seems like chaos, but adopting the walk slowly over the road and they will avoid you attitude works wonders. I guess it's like when Moses parted the Red Sea really... HCM is a modern city with a few high rise buildings, and plenty of modern 5* hotels, and its really easy to navigate - we manage some decent Thai food at a place opposite our guest house called Sawasdee, and then an early night after watching Memoirs of a Geisha on TV!

Its not too noisy next morning, which is a pleasant change for VietNam. After breakfast we head out among the Red Sea of scooters once more over to the Reunification Palace - built in the 1960s, and with the architechture to match (reminded me of Sunderland CIvic Centre,) the building is exactly the same as when the tanks barged through the main gates in 1975 symbolizing the re-unification of the country under Communism after French and American best efforts otherwise The first part of the tour involves the state rooms for dining, welcome foreign dignitaries and gambling (!) and is OK, but then the second part looks more at the history of the building and the American War in general and is much more interesting. It's similar in parts to the CHurchill War Rooms back in London, with the telephone exchanges and maps all still in situ in the basement. The tour finishes with a very Anti-American video of the war. Its interesting to see film from the opposite perspective, how the US were the cruel invaders running a dictatorship, and how the war effort was so vicious and murderous and ultimately so futile costing way too many lives, never mind the millions of dollars.

After a spot of lunch we back to the history of the American War at the War Remnants museum. This place cant help but move you in a way similar to the Holocaust museum Yad Vashem in Jerusalem showing just how brutal the Yanks were, and how resilient the Vietnamese were and ultimately deserving in their victory. The devastating effects of the US chemical attacks that were tested during the war are still felt today. The arrogance of some of the American soldiers is sickening. One reason that the war happened at all was that the US wanted to maintain their supply of cheap tin and tungsten, that was apparently under threat by the Communist North Vietnamese desire to reunify the whole country under their regime. Although obviously biased against the US, you cant help think that the similarities with what is happening in the Middle East today are astounding. Additional displays on the world's protests against the war, and a fascinating piece on how the war was covered by photo-journalists make this a truly memorable museum, and one that we cant help but think every school child in America should be made to visit to try and prevent any further similar atrocities.

OK, rant over, getting off the soap box now...

Our evening is spent at one of the best restaurants we have been to so far. Trish, who spent a couple of months in HCM has recommended this place as has the Lonely Planet and the Luxe guide. We'll add our recommendation too. Its called Quan An Ngon, and is basically all the street vendors brought together under one roof. So you could claim that its a sanitised version of the real street food, but once you have the BBQ squid with chilli and salt, and the rare beef salad, you wont care.

Next day, we're up with the lark, and the Vietnamese builders who are back and off to the Cu Chi tunnels. These are a huge network of tunnels built by the locals during the American war. Initailly 3 m under ground, as the war continued, they moved further underground to avoid and confuse the US soldiers. The ingenuity and capability of the Vietnamese is astounding. We get to see and crawl through one of their tunnels. Granted most Vietnamese are about half the size of your average Westerner, but the tunnels are still hugely claustrophobic (1.3m tall, 0.6m wide), and we can barely get 10m through one tunnel before we have to get out. During the war, there were 18km of tunnels and whole villages surviving underground. They deserved to whop the Yanks butts.

We're back to Quan An Ngon for another squidy beefy lunch, and would probably move in here for the next 6 months if we could, but we need to move on and head down to the beach at Phu Quoc - an island tantalisingly close to Cambodia, but frustratingly doesnt offer a direct route onto our next country.

HCM is a great city, one of our favourites, and the sort of place where we would happily come and spend some serious time. There is definitely a seedier side, which we see at the bars near our guest house. Older, overweight single Western men with tiny Asian women on their arms reek of sex tourists and catalogue brides, but they are definitely in the minority and easily avoided. We also seem to have dropped the Abba fixation, which is a great relief for all. Hopefully we will get to come back again - if only for some more BBQ squid with chilli salt...

Hanoi - Da Nang - Hoi An - Ho Chi Minh CIty (4-7 Jan)

As experts on trains around the world now, the Vietnamese train meets with our approval — we're in a 6 berth and have a bit of a chat with one local guy travelling in our cabin, whose girlfriend has even more luggage than we do! He is completely into English Premier League football, but still thinks that Roy Keane manages Sunderland, and is into his rock music, and thrilled that Bruce Dickinson hails from the same town as Luce. He hasn't heard of Jimmy Nail, nor Ant 'n' Dec, so didn't go for Donna Air. His experience of North Eastern culture will have to wait another day... His girl and the other guys in our cabin don't speak any English apart from Good Morning, and Good bye... Some of the scenery further south in VietNam is stunning — the rails clinging to the mountainside along the coast. Although the forecast has been rainy all week, we hit it lucky and its clear and bright on Monday morning and we get some great views. Can't help but feel a little smug as this is first Monday morning back to work after Christmas for most people...

The weather holds for an afternoon pottering around Da Nang. There isn't a great deal to see, a Cham museum, which is local limestone carving, and China beach, which is where the US soldiers first landed, and also where they used to hang out for a bit of R&R. The smug feeling soon dissipates though as the heavens open in the evening as we go out for supper accompanied by more plinky plonky music, and some very odd dancing at local favourite Apsara (which is pretty average if you ask us...)

Next morning, after some lengthy discussions on the best mode of transport we taxi to Hoi An, which is the highlight of the local area. It's a town that was untouched by the American war, so retains some of its older buildings and charm. It's a bit draw for tourists, and also the local tradespeople turning it into a huge market town. Not content with the tat that we already bought in Hanoi (an anagram of Hoi An!) and shipped back to the UK via Hong Kong, we return to Da Nang after a decent lunch laden with shopping bags, most of which will be posted back to the UK from Bangkok, as we have a very stingy limit of 15 kg on some of our later flights with Air Asia...

It's chucking it down again when we get back to Da Nang, so find some tonic to go with our gin and some snacks and have dinner at home in our odd, slightly damp room at the Vien Dong Hotel.

Next day is Wednesday, which means heading to Ho Chi Minh (or Saigon as it used to be, and still is for lots of people). The budget allows us to fly down on cheapo airline Jetstar, and the flight is full of Aussies - it dawns on us that its summer holidays down under. We're getting experts at wangling the luggage allowance — balance the bag off the end of the scales on your foot to take some of the weight. Then make a big fuss about repacking holding up the rest of the queue, and they usually let you through.

Hanoi (31 Dec 2008 - 4 Jan 2009)

Happy New Year!

Our flight into Hanoi arrives at about the same time as Ed's, so we conveniently meet up before we get the stamp in our passports. We get to the hotel about 500pm, and its NEw YEars Eve, so the first mission is to find some mixers to go with the drinks Ed's brought to get the night started. Fortunately, there is a great French deli around teh corner from the De Syloya Hotel and we're off to a great start. After a tasty dinner at the Emperor, we head for the Opera house, which is a bit subdued, apart from the lanterns being set off by the locals, so we head for the noisiest place around - the Press Club, which is full to the rafters, and has an Abba tribute band playing! Luce and I continue long into the night at Hanoi's very own Tuxedo Royale, called Solace, where we find some of the most amazing haircuts ever.

As with the rest of the world, New Years Day is a write off, but we do have to get along to the station to buy our tickets for the train to Da Nang, and organise our flights from Ho hi Minh to Phu Quoc. VietNam airlines have the frustrating honour of being probably the only airline in the world who cannot process online requests, so we have to go to the office to pay over the 1.6 million dong (which is about £20 - hard sums in VietNam) Sue has treated us to a night at the theatre - its VietNam's lucky night, a night of VietNamese variety, which starts with a group of young girls dressed in fairy costumes and lots of tinsel coming up through the stage singing O Chrismas ree ('t' seems to be difficult to pronounce!) It kinda sets the tone for an oddly enjoyable evening of hungover entertainment varying from Hanoi's Robbie Williams wannabee, to a bunch of kids breakdancing via a flautist and a group of bellydancers.

Next day we are all back on track and enjoy a stroll around Hanoi. Its a busy city where the mode of transport of choice is scooter - there are 1000s of them at every junction, most of them piled with people, balloons, flowers, bonsai trees, huge panes of glass, anything really. There is a definite Communist influence over the larger architechture, buildings like the Power company or Post Office would not look out of place in Krakow or other ex Eastern Bloc countries. The French influence is obvious throughout Hanoi - there are lots of brasserie-style cafes and restaurants, inviting us in for noodles, and we have a great dinner out in Green Tangerine where the maitre d is straight from Paris (but had a previous life being a DJ at the ministry of sound in London).

Next day, we're a bit under the weather once again after a few night caps in Angelina's bar - the bar in the Metropole Hotel (Hanoi's 5*) but are out for more sightseeing as Sue & Ed have hired a car for the day. First stop is the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, where the ex-President lies peacefully while thousands of tourists dutifully trot by two by two in silence under the watchful eyes of VietNamese soldiers who dont let you put your hands in your pockets. Its another austere building which was built against the wishes of Uncle Ho, who wanted to be cremated. Also on site is his old house, and a huge museum full of quirky exhibits, that are old enough to be fashionable once again. Next we head out into the mountains for a boat ride through some of the most startling surroundings. Mountains appear out of nowhere looking just like the lumps of rock they are dumped randomly around the view. Meanwhile the river banks are all paddy fields with little VietNamese working hard in their triangular bamboo hats. Its peaceful in stark comparison to the city.

After dinner at the Press Club reliving some of the last events of 2008, we're happy to get an early night. Sue and Ed are off back to Hong Kong next morning, and after we wave them off, we get another couple of hours rest in the hotel, before heading off to see Hanoi's finest water puppets, a unique show dating from the 12th Century, which is possible the most bizarre display ever. To the now traditional plinky plinky music, puppetteers use long poles with puppets poking up from the end so they appear to be floating on the water. Thats about the best explanation I can come up with, but believe me they're hilarious. We dine in another French style brasserie on VietNamese food, squid stuffed with minced pork matches the water puppets in the peculiarity stakes, and then its off to the station for the overnight train to Da Nang.

Luang Prabang, Laos (28-31 Dec)

There are no direct flights from Hong Kong to Luang Prabang, so we change in Hanoi, and get a little taste of Vietnam, but only from the airport, so like when we changed planes in Bahrain before Christmas, it doesnt really count just yet. LP has a tiny little airport, and there are very few lights as we come to land in the evening. Its a bit of a mission to get through security, first of all having to queue for a visa, and then another queue to get the passport stamped and permission to enter. We've eaten pretty well en route, getting into the lounge in Hanoi airport, and relieving them of any snacks that they had available, so after a bit of a wander on an unsuccessful mission to find some tonic to go with the gin, we have an early-ish night after a couple of gin and sprites...

Luang Prabang is a lovely place to wander around. The weather starts off cloudy, but is glorious by lunchtime. We pass temples and spas as we make our way into town, and past the food market where all sorts of unidentified meat objects are on the BBQ. As we reach the Mekong river, the temperature is glorious, and perfect for a casual stroll around Xao Thiang Temple, which is a great complex where the monks are happy for you to take photos. Nothing really happens very quickly in LP - its a thoroughly laid back place which is very welcome. We have a fantastic lunch at the Tum Tum restaurant and gently stroll back to our hotel for an afternoon siesta.

There are plenty of tourists around, and little by little we notice that the only locals that we see are those in shops, selling their wares at the night market or performing as part of the traditional Lao dance that we see that evening. Its all a bit slow and laid back, like the rest of the place, apart from the monkey dance, which we all enjoy.

Next day is a bit more of the same, pottering about climbing up the hill in the centre of town for some great views, stopping for a cup of tea, then a beer then going for a foot massage which costs about $2 each. The time just meanders by without a care in the world. We're already pretty chilled after being on holiday for four months, so Laos suits us down to the ground, and are almost a little disappointed to head back to the airport to fly back to Hanoi, and an entry stamp into VietNam...

Kochi - London - Hong Kong (19-28 Dec)

Our last day in Kerala is going to be a long one as we are up before dawn to go on a boat ride around the Kumarakom bird sanctuary. Philip drops us off at 0545 and our boat driver points out endless brrrrrrds of the brown, white and down from Siberia kind. Lots of kingfishers too, but no sign of the beer... We have to row ourselves back to the drop off point - despite our polite declining of using the man row and the lady row, he insists. We've still got the whole day to spend lounging by the pool with the Nolans, but it passes quickly, and we are soon off to the airport, for our last trip with Philip. Its sad to see his smiley face for the last time, as the Ambassador turns away from the departure building, but after his day off tomorrow, he will be meeting another couple to take them around beautiful Kerala.

We're very sad to be leaving India, it has been challenging to tour around, but so very rewarding, and we will leave it with fond memories of stunning views, amazing palaces, fascinating forts, and tremendous food. Favourite places are too numerous to list, and difficult too as the country is so contrasting, from the energetic chaos of modern cities Mumbai and Delhi, where anything is possible, to the altogether chilled out relaxed way of life in Kochi and Kerala. Beautiful sunsets over the Lake Palace in Udaipur and the beaches of Goa, the border closing ceremony with Pakistan and of course the Taj are all highlights. Even the trains weren't too bad, and little extra adventures like taking over the cycle rickshaw in Jaipur after beer in a teapot, the endless stares and requests to take our picture holding their children, and the flat tyre on the bus from Udaipur to Jaisalmer will be fondly remembered forever.

Not a lot goes on in Kochi airport, but we entertain ourselves weighing our luggage, and each other before the flight to Bahrain to change planes. We are the only Westerners in Kochi airport, so its a bit of a surprise to get to Bahrain, and see lots of white faces once again. They are also in full Christmas spirit with OTT decorations, and Mariah Carey sqawking about all that she wants for Christmas is You-oo-oo-ooo-ooooooooo.

The trip to the UK passes in a blur visiting friends and family, catching up on news and eating lots. All of a sudden we are back on a 13 hour flight to Hong Kong for more Christmas.

We land at 8am local time, and are met by Sue & Ed with a bottle of fizz. We stop by the Mariners Club to pick up the turkey and have another glass of fizz with Judi & Peter and then are off to Sheung Sze Wan and Sue & Ed's new house. Its a beautiful location out of the main city with sea views and lots of space - unlike the rest of the city...

We spend most of Hong Kong eating and drinking, well it is Christmas after all, sharing dinners with Tracy, Yuval, amazing beef from Ed's barbecue with Judi & Peter, and even put to use our recently developed Indian cooking to knock up a pretty decent turkey butter masala.

Next stop is Laos. Its been a lot of fun catching up with family and friends over a glass of wine or 20, but our Christmas gift from Sue & Ed is waiting - a trip to Luang Prabang in Laos, and then a few days in Hanoi, VietNam to celebrate New Year!