"Good morning Vietnam!" (ive always wanted to utter robin williams renowned words in vietnam since i saw that film). Anyway, Good morning from Vietnam and very early good morning to the uk.

We have arrived safe and sound in Vietnam so I have taken the opportunity to catch up on my blog from the leg of siem reap, Cambodia.

We arrived in siem reap late in the evening, unfortunately we were booked to stay in a hostel called 'happy guest house' but we were told it was full but to go next-door where they had booked us in. Great start but to be honest with you the lady were so friendly that you found it difficult to complain and the next hostel was fine although it was like a sardine can for space. We did our usual thing of having a welcome beer and scout around the area. Straight away I felt the place had a good feel, the roads surrounding guest house felt more like a dirt track but everyone you met said hello and wanted to help you.

The following day we moved to our original guest house 'happy guest house', after yet another cold shower (no matter how many times Tina tells me these are nice when it's hot outside but I still can't get onboard with these) we were off and roaming around the area.

We walked around the markets, wat bo village, the royal residence and the local areas. We ended up having a nice meal with myself enjoying the local soup and some spring rolls. The soup very nice, the spring rolls not so much but it is an acquired taste. The difference with these they are 'fresh' spring rolls which instead of the crispy fried taste they are wrapped in what seems fresh pasta. Like I said it's a love hate thing. The evening was spent with a few drinks in the aptly named 'pub street' where again beer prices at a minimal cost and I even joined Tina in a jug of 'tomb raider' cocktail. Apparently angelina Jolie had come up with this when she had been out there filming tomb raider. If you believe that then I reckon you have either had to many of the cocktails in the first place or been at the happy herbs pizza (I'll come onto the pizza shortly). Anyway it was an enjoying evening and Tina even got a t-shirt for the pleasure of drinking a cocktail (Ed-you know how you and I used to like the free stuff when drinking so right up your alley that one).

Anyway the next day was an extremely early rise as we wanted to see Angkor wat temple at either sunrise or sunset. My choice was sunset due to the thought of a 4am start but surprisingly Tina won out on this occasion and therefore a 4am alarm awoke me blurry eyed. I felt sorry for the tuk tuk driver as he works at the hostel and was sleeping in a hammock in the hostel bar area but greeted me a smile that you couldnt help staring at all day. This was due to the fact he had like 2 front teeth only, I wondered how long it would take him to get through a giant pick an mix gobstopper but I didn't know the translation for that in Cambodia so I left the thought to myself.

The tuk tuk ride was fairly short but you have to go through a national park or how I saw it a Jurassic park like ticket entrance to enter into the area the majority of temples. We got there in the dark about 5am, unfortunately we didn't bring a torch so I must have stumped my toe about ten times before finally getting to Angkor wat.once there you could see the outline of Angkor wat and as the sun rose up behind it casting a mirror like shadow into the lake in front it was an amazing sight. It was definately worth it but as with many of these occasions you end up sharing them with many other travelers and the nemesis of many, the Japanese. I swear they have a secret army invading Angkor wat as they were everywhere and just trigger happy with the photographs, annoyingly they always seem to get in your photos or just congregate in large groups until you give up on your snap.

At the apex of Khmer political and military dominance in the region of suryavaman Constructed Angkor wat in the form of a temple mountain dedicated to the Hindu god, Vishnu (the one with lots of arms in visual terms). Constructed in mid 12th century it does look amazing and when you get close inside there are carvings on the wall the mythical battles 'kuru', scenes if heaven and he'll and the known churning of the ocean milk. We bought some rubbings of these which a local guy had done which I'm sure will end up in my parents attic later down the line.

After the sunrise and look around we found our tuk tuk driver fast asleep which is slightly concerning given the dangers of the road but we had to wake him to proceed onto all the other temples. To not bore you further the temples we saw were; Angkor thom, baphoun, bayoun, kleangs, phimeanakas, preah pithu group, ta nei, ta prohm, tep praam, terrace of the elephants and terrace of the leper king. You think it is exhausting reading that then imagine 8 hours walking it! Anyway ta prohm was amazing as forest and trees have grown and hugged the temple interior giving it a special feel. I would have taken more pictures of that if it wasn't for the Japanese tourists at every turn.

Anyway the main thing done in siem reap= temples, check. Anyway, now to the pizza. I had read about this as a food to try and given the name of the 3 pizza places it may give an idea- happy herbs pizza, ecstatic pizza and happy special herbs pizza. It's basically a normal pizza looking joint with plastic chairs outside and you can order standard pizzas which are very tasty but you can also ask them to make the pizza; happy, very happy or ecstatic. It felt odd ordering a pepperoni pizza and then asking a 12 year old girl serving you, "can I also make this happy?" the reply was positive and I duly tucked into my pizza which looked like it had peppercorns and basil onto which was marijuana. The pizza did make me happy but only because it tasted good, no real other effects except I fell asleep at the end of watching man city thrash Norwich (definately a happy feeling then!)

Anyway there leaves the end of seam reap. For the following 2 days Tina wanted a hotel with a pool to relax so I agreed reluctantly (no pizza on the menu in this place thoug) and we chilled out ready for Vietnam. The only funny thing of the last 2 days of siem
Reap was Tina going to a local
massage/pedicure place where I dropped her off for an hour. They didn't speak hardly any English but she wanted a foot pedicure. She came back an hour earlier and looked like one of those poodles that gets make up put on them. They didn't give her a foot massage but painted all her nails and bright pink colour, very amusing. Only other thing was that I seemed to find the only puddle of water in the whole of Cambodia and stepped in it which meant I had to walk around for a while with mud coated leg and foot, I felt sorry for the hotel cleaners that night with mud foot prints leading to our door but nothing was said the next morning.

Blogs will follow obviously as now a day and a half into Vietnam but Tina is feeling a little ropey so activity is at a minimum. Probably going to go for a trek to Vietnam tunnels solo before we move up north.

Robbie c out for now. Moss I heard Ipswich played better although still lost, any truth in this? Also what's the fans take on jewell, should he stay or should he go?