Its been a while again since I have updated anything on here. Again have been busy busy, mainly doing a tour from Bangkok through Cambodia and into Vietnam.

The tour was good. Tiring, as much time was spent on buses travelling to places, up to 8 hours at one time. We travelled for the whole day of day one to cross the border into Cambodia from Thailand. The border crossing itself took an hour and a half and you have to cross by foot. The first part was going through the border of Thailand, where we had to tell the security immigration officer to stamp our visas because he was paying so much attention to what was going on! once through here we were in no mans land between Cambodia and Thailand. Walked about 500meters passed a very glamorous casino, in the heavy heavy rain! As the roads are all so dirty that the backs of our legs from walking 500 meters were black! the border at Cambodia was significantly smaller and less organised. Def difference once accross the border between Thailand and Cambodia, namely Cambodians are poorer and drive on the right. Continued on a very little bus with the 15 of us from the tour group onto our first stop to Siem Reap. It rained +++ all the way there. Coudlnt see any countryside for all the rain beating down the windows. Arrived in the afternoon at the hotel in siem Reap. The evening we met with the rest of the group and went out for a meal in a traditional Cambodian resturant with a culture show. The ladies dresses and head gear were all very glamorours and they are very elegant movers (unlike me with my v unco-ordinated limbs!). the meal was nice. Had a traditional chicken curry like dish. then went off to wonder round the night market where we also came accross Dr Fish! This was an experience!! Basically Dr Fish is a foot massage using fish. You put your feet into a tank of sucker fish who suck off the dead skin off your feet. At first its really hard to bear as its sooo ticklish but after 5-10mins you get used to it and it becomes sort of normal! By the end of 20 mins in the tank the fish had had a feast and my skin was soft as a baby's bum!

the following day we spent looking around with the group, at temples of Siem Reap. First we went to Angkor Wat the big famous temple of Siem Reap, then to Angkor thom and then Bayon (Tomb Raider), where the Angelina Jolie equivalents of the group starting bustin some moves! Actually by the time we got to the Tomb Raider it was pissing it down with rain. Fortunately for us the bus driver had about 10 umbrellas stashed away, so we went around the turns and bends of Tomb Raider with some style at least. This was my favourite temple, as it had alsorts of kwirky parts to it! The colour of my feet were once again black by the end of the day! Our tour guide of the day was brilliant. He was a local Cambodian who judging by the english sayings he had picked up, had spent quite a bit of time hanging around american and Austrlian tourists! He started of the day saying G'day mates, along the way kept saying take and chill pill and cool man! He was a very happy man though and kept everyone interested. He was telling us about what the local foods are and localhabbits etc. Locals will eat cats and dogs and all the usual meats we eat.

The policing system is just a little corrupt. On crossing the border we had to pay one US dollar each to the immigration officers, which has nothing to do with paying for the visa. It was for their beer money. If you argue with it or dont pay it they wil refuse you entry to the country! Also similar for the locals as well though. apparently a lot of the locals dont drive wiht lisences. the police will pull them over and then fine them any amount they wish (usually about 4 US dollars), which is also for the policemans night out, before letting the caught local then drive on with no license!lol.

The same night after the temples, we had a small group of us who headed back to the night market and had a foot massage (from a human being!) whilst watching a show done by the local disable people. Most of the disabled here are either disabled from Aids which is quite rife here, or from blown up landmines. everywhere you go in Cambodia you will see people with missing limbs or deformities. The country is a lot safer now as the governement did a mass operation to remove most of the landmines in the countrysides.

The following day we had another long journey into Phnom Penh. Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia. The evening we had a meal in a local resturant that supported an orphanage run by the owner of the resturant. The following day in the afternoon we went to the orphanage to see the children and they showed us where they live (3/4 children on 2 mattresses on the floor, their school work, photos of the holidays they had been on. They were all well looked after and seemed to be happy children.

the morning of that day was some what depressed as we visited the S21 and the killing fields. This is where the Cambodian revolution in the 70s turned nasty and the government tortured and killed around 2 million of their own people.

The next day was another coach ride (including a crazy cambodian DVD on the bus) to Sihanoukville, a coast town of Cambodia. Had a totally awesome time here. The beach was 5 mins from where we were staying and was totally sandy and the sea lovely and warm. spent a day with some of the group on a local boat going around the islands that are just off the Cambodian coast, swimming and having a bbq o the beach. Got sunburnt of course, despite my mighty efforts on applying suncream and everyone laughing at me. But the next day they were more sunburnt than me :P

Having spent a couple of days on the beach we travelled to the border of Vietnam, another walking accross only point, again requiring some payoff for beer funds! We stayed one night in Vietnam in the town close to the border, called Chau Doc. I got ill here with coldy flu thing so didnt go out in the eve with the others, but chilled out in bed with a movie!

Well that is all I have got time to update you with so far, but I will be sure to carry on soon with my adventures of Vietnam in full!