Pnohm Penh to Laos Border

A quick visit to Pnohm Penh

We arrived in Saigon (Ho Chi Ming City) in the evening and the place was clearly buzzing, very vibrant, loads of shops, bars and I have never seen so many scooters (Apparently there are 6 million of them in Saigon).

There is a bicycle under this lot

Sarah getting friendly with the locals in Saigon

Notrs Dame a la Saigon

How do you cross the road in Saigon? You just close your eyes and walk slowly across and the scooters will miss you.

Scooter heaven

1^st day here we dragged the kids around the war museum and the Reunification Palace. The war museum was very interesting, thought provoking and mad me very sad and angry. Some bad shit happened in that war and mostly by the USA. The Reunification Palace is a step back in time to 1975 when South Vietnam finally surrendered to the Peoples Republic of Vietnam, the Palace has been left exactly as it was. We had an interesting tour around that.

Ho Chi Minh (+ Bob)

Reunification Palace in Saigon

A Chinese Tank used by the North Vietnamese

Kids enjoyed the old war relics but they endured the photographic exhibitions, it was a long day!

Some US military hardware at the War Museum

US 'Huey' at the War Museum

The following day we were on an organised tour to the Mekong Delta which included a boat trip to a few islands, seeing local village life and sampling some of the products they make – like snake wine and coconut candy, and seeing how they are made. Even the bus journey was entertaining, our Vietnamese guide sang songs and told corny jokes during the trip.

Steve with Python

Amber with Python

Nice hats

Bob gets a backy

Snake wine with real snake inside

Its called a Jack fruit

Our plan from here was to head north to some of the Central Vietnamese beaches but as we headed up the coast and arrived in Nah Trang the weather had turned to rain, wind and cold. We managed a bit of beach here but the sea was too rough to swim and felt a bit like Walberswick on an August bank holiday!

Kids at Nah Trang Beach

Kids brave the rough sea at Nah Trang

A bit chilly

Clearly we had not checked the weather and it was going to be like this for the next three months here, it wasn’t just freak weather, it’s the norm for this time of year. Continuing our journey north to Hoi An,  the weather got colder still, on the first day we strolled around the old town which was very picturesque although a little damp! The second , the weather brightened up a bit and we hired some bikes and headed for the beach, the sun even came out for a while.

Bob finds his favorite food just lying on the beach

Sand boots at Hoi An beach

Old french buildings getting a bit mouldy in Hoi An

The river just about to flood the banks at high tide



Some unusual sea going craft at Hoi An beach



Hoi An was nice

....but wet

Another bus journey took us to Hue, further up on the Eastern coast, where we were to catch our bus into Laos. We attempted a bit of sightseeing but after walking in the rain for an hour, we gave up and decided to hole up in a bar with beer, pool table and hot dogs. It’s all part of the kid’s education, learning to play pool and they enjoyed it much more than seeing some old buildings in the rain.

Just starting to rain in Hue

The locals are prepared

A Cyclo back to our hotel

The price is too much for Sarah

Another early morning bus ride across the border into Laos and to Savannahket took all day. This journey included a lunch stop at a the drivers choice of restaurant, where we were served a standard lunch comprising rice and some kind of intestines and some soup which tasted of dishwater with fish tasting potatoes.  A particular nice touch to see that the stray dogs were licking the dirty bowls and plates in the dishwashing area. 

We arrived at the bus station around 6pm and decided we would head straight off on a night bus to Vientiene as Savannahket looked a bit of a one horse town. The bus was due to arrive at 5am the following day.  We incurred about a 3 hour delay as the bus broke down a couple of times on the way, amazingly the bus driver and his mate just got out a few tools and did the repairs.  We arrived at 8.30am so we had been travelling for over 24 hours which seems crazy but was actually quite ok.  The journey was so bizarre, we were full as it was then about an hour into the journey the driver stopped to collect about 20 passengers from the roadside, we looked around, where were they going to sit?? Oh no problem, the driver pulled out a stack of plastic stools, lined them up along the central gang way of the coach and they all sat down – bearing in mind they would be sitting on those stools throughout the evening into the next morning, I was amazed they had no problem with that.  All completely the norm here.

So here we are in Vientiene, it is the 23^rd December and tonight we are taking another sleeper bus to Luang Prabang where we will spend  Christmas and the new year.