Crossing the Mekong: Cambodia to Vietnam

13th to 16th May: Phon Phen, capital of Cambodia. It rained and it rained! Last year it didn't rain like this until August. Trust our luck. The mornings were sunny and hot, but by 2 o'clock it was bucketing down. Not such a problem of we were early risers, but Phom Phen's night life put a stop to that.

On our first day in the city we took refuge in a river side restaurant as a storm blew in. We got chatting to two Danish travellers and did not leave the bar until 8 in the evening. We blamed the rain, but happy hour also had something to do with it. A very random night followed involving a hot pot of duck with noodles and some very suspect congealed blood thing that didn't taste too bad, but had a curious rubbery texture. There were also 10 games of pool, a tuk tuk ride where no one really knew where we were going and, for Olly and the Danish guy, Michael, a random night club being hassled by Cambodian 'moto girls'.

Phom Phen also had some interesting cultural sites, a massive art deco market selling brand new iPhones for $38 (totally fake), Buddhist temples and an impressive Royal Palace. The most memorable day in Phom Phen, and perhaps the most insightful but depressing of our trip, was when we visited the Killing Fields, where thousands of Khymers were killed by the Khymer Rouge between 1975 and 1978, and S21 where they held and tortured the prisoners before execution. Both hold very painful memories for Cambodia. During this atrocious time of slavery, execution and starvation one in four Khymer people died. This relatively recent genocide has had lasting impacts on the people and economy of Cambodia and I left with a great admiration for how the people are bouncing back with such a positive attitude. I'm glad we saw this near the end of our stay in Cambodia, otherwise it might have changed our view of the whole country.

We left Cambodia on the 16th and headed along the river to Chau Doc in Vietnam. The border town is a lively colourful place with floating villages, a massive market full of living, dead, dried, pickled seafood, fish and all sorts of other weird and wonderful food. We stayed for two nights acclimatising to Vietnam's slightly bolder and brighter culture and took a moto ride up a very steep winding road to Sam Mountain, a local tourist attraction with stunning views of Cambodia. We walked down the hill passing row upon row of hammocks waiting for weary climbers. At the bottom we visited a temple and enjoyed a traditional play - not that we understood a word. Then we had the fun of finding our moto drivers to take us back to town. They all look the same!

We took the local bus south to Ha Tien, a pretty coastal town with a very French feel. We were the only white tourists in town, very few people spoke English, although everyone was very friendly, and we enjoyed being away from the backpacker trail for two nights. Being the only white people around, we weren't hard to spot and soon had a moto driver offering us a trip to see the local sights. He and his mate took us on a trip around the local limestone kast landscape - tall towers of limestone standing out of the plain. At the grotto pergoda Olly became the tourist attraction for a group of Vietnamese teenagers. The girls took a bit of a shine to him and all had to have the photo taken with him. I think he enjoyed the attention!

We left Ha Tien on Sunday and took the Superdong express boat to Phu Quoc island. We're now chilling on a beautiful resort lined beach. It's not the unspoilt beauty of Koh Rong, but it's still pretty lovely. And it's not rained for two days!

Jo