Hello everyone!! This is Laura reporting from Cambodia to fill you in on the gaps since our trip took its unexpected and very unfortunate turn!

So...When Jess last updated, she had left Char and was headed to Melbourne (eventually). In the meantime, I had beenin Vietnam for a week with Charlie, our new travelling companion who decided to tag along after realising how much fun we are in Fiji. Vietnam hits you when you first step out of the airport. When I say hits you, I mean a great big massive slap in the newly-sweat coated face! For once, there's the heat (I think I covered this in the last sentence), then there's the noise and the hundreds of men trying to grab your attention (not to mention your bags) and lure you into their taxi. Luckily, I found Charlie quickly and we headed off in one of the taxis (the one who took our bags first).

Driving from the airport to our hostel (which was pre-booked and apparently in the centre of the main district of Ho Chi Minh/Saigon) was all very overwhelming. All I could see out of the window were motorbikes, motorbikes, lights, street sellers and motorbikes. They actually call Saigon motorbike city because there's some 8 million buzzing around. We were dropped at the side of an extremely main road and pointed in the vague direction of our hostel. Crossing roads in Vietnam is no mean feat, let me warn you. there's no such thing as traffic lights and the flow of vehicles is constant, so the only way to do it (we had the knack down after the firat dy) is to edge out confidently and hope that the traffic moves around you...interesting!

After being told that our hostel had been closed down by the police (a cunning ploy used by some travel agents to try and get you to stay at their establishment) we were led to the (very open and safe, don't worry mums) Yellow house hotel where we were to stay. That night, too afraid to venture outside, we didn't eat dinner. Beacuse my flight didn't provide mels either, I was pretty ready for breakfast the next morning.

We plucked up the courage to exit the hostel and eventually found a cafe called pho 2000 which had been recommended by the lonely planet guide (a godsend). Pho is a traditional Vietnamese breakfast food and is basically noodle soup with meat or veg and is served with beansprouts and fish sauce, ngoc nam (which looks suspiciously like maple syrup but most definitely doen't taste like it, I was...revolted...to find out). It's pretty tasty and really fills you up, whcih was perfect for our day of sightseeing ahead.

The day of sightseeing turned into a couple of hours trooping around an art museum catching the drips of sweat travelling down various limbs, as after this it became too hot for our poor Western souls to handle and we had to duck back into the hostel for ir conditioning. Later we made it to the Ben Tham (I think that's the name of it) market for our first experience of bartering...it did not go well as we both chickened out and handed out the asking price for the few things we bought...pathetic! The market itself was incredible though. Literally hundreds of tiny stalls selling everything under the sun. The food section was particularly abrasive to the nostrils, so we skipped this bit for the most part. Dinner that night was accompanied by tiger beer. Tiger beer is 90p in Saigon...need I say more?

The next day, we ventured a little further afield to the war remnants museum. Very moving and informative, with insight into both sides of the Vietnam war, which is something which would probably be lacking in a Western version of events. The museum visit was followd by an attempt to find the Jade's Emperor Pagoda. An attempt which went out the window on the third waddle (leg sweat=waddle) down the same road. One of the journeys included a young girl asking us where we were from. when we replied "england", she smiled knowingly and shouted "AH, GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!!" oh, how we laughed.. Food ensued and a hasty decision was reached on the lunch front after being hovered over and stared at by the waiter who insisted on flicking through the, menu pointing at every item and reading it out...odd sales technique... Next stop was Reunification Palace, which was all very grand and stuff, but Charlie and I to this day do not know what it is...really...possibly the presidents residence?? We got a guide and everything, guys, this is not a drill! We just have no clue...

The next day we got out of Ho Chi Minh and took a long bus ride into Mui Ne, a seaside town North of the city. En route, we had the pleasure of sitting behind an extremely carsick Vietnamese woman, who didn't seem to stop the entire 4 hours we were on the road. We decided over lunch (more noodles..I swear I will come home noodle shaped) to stay at the full moon hotel, mainly because it was just over the road and my backpack was the size of a small elephant. This was a good choice, the hotel was beautiful; right on the beach and complete with pool and china tea set outside the room. The Next four days were spent here, after discovering from our daily phone calls to Jess in the hospital bed (or Char in the hospital chair) that they wouldn't be flying out as soon as hoped. The only activity we managed to partake in was a jeep tour of some of Mui Ne's highlights. This included a walk down the Fairy Stream (lovely, if a little stale with the pungent stench of goldfish food), a stop at a fishing village (great! Got the most authentic "vietnamese" photos of the whole trip, complete with woman in lampshade hat thingy) a glance at the red canyon (great views from the top, the photos of whcih bettered by the appearance of the Irish guy in a vest top accompanying us on the trip), a slide down the white sand dunes (sliding aside, the dunes were fantastic. If you looked the right way, it felt as if you were in the Sahara, this was no Cornwall. Unfortunately, the sliding down on sheet things resulted in every inch of sweaty, sun-creamy skin becoming completely coated ina layer of sand) and a visit to the golden sand dunes, which were a busier, less impressive version of the white ones and included a gaggle of young Vietnamese kids running up beside us, poking at Charlie's belt buckle as if it really were a radio and telling me I was very young (this coming from a tiny-looking 13 year old boy...)

The trip back to Saigon took a little longer than the one there and instead of vomit woman, we had annoying couple. They sat in front of us and thought it was a splendid idea to push their seats back so far they were lying in our laps (literally, we could see their scalps). This was particularly pleasant in the mid afternoon heat as I'm sure you can imagine! Ah well, we made it back to Sai gon eventually, just in time to hop in a taxi and grab Char from the same seething mass of taxi drivers that awaited us at the airport.

And so the next chapter begins. Another time.... : ) Speak soon!