Hey guys,

In Vietnam now.. got here yesterday from Cambodia.

Cambodia.. what a place. Neither of us have been anywhere like it and it's virtually impossible to describe it and our experience of it. The photos don't come close to showing the truth of Cambodia, they're of us at beautiful temples.. and the money - well we're millionaires in Cambodia, and Vietnam for that matter. It's what we couldn't photograph that was the real experience of Cambodia.

Firstly, the journey there was incredibly bad. Terrible infact, and at times terrifying. We travelled from the border to Siem Reap on a 150-200 km road on a pickup truck. It took 10 hours... it wasn't a road, it was a pothole, and in some places - a river. Water came in to the truck, we broke down numerous times, got stuck, got towed and all this time there were about 25 of us on the truck plus random locals hopping on and off. Ali had to sit on the roof! The whole way we were lied to and scammed for money. Forced to change dollars into Cambodian Riel at a ridiculous rate only to find out that it was dollars we needed most places. Everytime we asked how much longer the journey was, we were told 4/5 hrs. We gave up asking anyone anything and just hoped we'd make it. Fortunately the trip was a bonding experience for us travellers and we fought the scammers as a group and got ourselves to a nice hostel. We stuck together throughout Cambodia and have come to Vietnam with Olof and Anna, a lovely Swedish couple who we feel like we've known for years although it's only been a week! At some points I think we all would have given up and gone back to Bangkok if we hadn't stuck together!

The people in Cambodia were not friendly and we couldn't trust anyone. We were stared at and laughed at, made to feel guilty for not giving to everyone we saw, hassled constantly, and scammed by anyone we came into contact with. Of course there were a few exceptions, I can think of 3! But hey, that may have been stressful for us but if you saw the conditions in which these people live, and the poverty everywhere - u'd forgive them. It's expensive in Cambodia, seeing the temples for 1 day cost 20 US dollars and all that money goes to the oil company that owns them, not the temples. It's no surprise that Cambodia was declared the most corrupt country in the world in 2005.

Still, we're glad we went and relieved to have left. By the last day we had settled in and had fun. The temples were beautiful - Angkor Wat, and Ta Phrom where tomb raider was filmed. In between we stopped to see monkeys living wild on some grass by the side of the road. That was amazing as most monkeys we've seen (not all) have been in captivity. Fed them and watched them for a bit, saw a mother with a baby hanging on to her tummy as she walked, and 2 monekys making more monkeys! lol. So we did have a good time mostly. Just had to learn how to get about in such a place. We saw a couple arriving the night before we left and they looked terrified. Just as we must have when we got here. We tried to help them out but they has 'rabbit stuck in the headlights' syndrome so couldn't do much for them! To them, we must have looked like the most confident travellers in the world and they probably didnt think we understood how they felt. it's amazing how quickly you adjust to the place your in and before you know it you're enjoying it all!

Again, once we crossed the border intro Vietnam it was like being in yet another different world. It felt at least like being back to civilisation of some degree. This place is like a cross between Hong Kong and Thailand.. I can't believe how countries can be joined together by land and yet be so drastically different. I guess coming from an island explains why I have trouble with that!

Anyway, off to hit the beaches of Vietnam with Olof and Anna now (bottom pic.. the 2 in the middle - the girl on the left is Gina from melbourne, we're hoping to catch up with her in Oz) so hopefully will have an easier time of it. Then off to Laos, but we've had to cut this part of our trip short and will be heading back to Thailand earlier than expected cuz i'm running low on malaria tablets and it's not worth the risk (at 3 quid a tablet i'm not buying more!)

Hope everyone is well.

Tara and Ali xxx