Happy New year everyone, its going to be a good one!

since we last update we have crossed a couple of borders and seen a number of temples and pagodas!!!!!!!!

We took a cookery class in Hoi An which was excellent and we didnt even get food poisoning!!!! some of you might even be lucky enough to sample it as we took down the recipes as we cooked! Hoi An was a beautiful small town probably our favourite in Vietnam, we also took a small boat up the river to a quiet restaurant for dinner one night, it was lovely! This town is the one to get clothes made, but we couldnt justify getting suits made when we are living in shorts, which we did get made and one pair were a disaster so we were glad we didnt bother with the suits!

Then a day train to Nha Trang, which was quite westernised, it was ok, we had a boat trip to a fishing village and a short journey on a basket boat which was a little hairy!

Night train to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) which was ok, but just another city. However, we did go to the cu chi tunnels which are where the vietnamese would hide when they were at war with the french, the tunnels are so small purposely made so the vietnamese could fit in them but westerners couldnt, cunning! it was very interesting and rods favourite part of travelling yet because there was a rifle range and he had a go of a m16 rifle!!!!!!!!!xmas present sorted!!!! we met with our new group then deserted them to have xmas dinner with the people we met in china, it was a lovely meal, we splashed out a little bit because it was xmas!

Then another bus to the cambodian border village called Chau Doc, we stayed on the river and had a motorbike ride up the near by mountain to watch the sunset it was very pretty! later that night we got bitten alive by mosquitos, its lethal there!

Next morning took a semi speed boat across the border to phnom penh the capital of cambodia. This place is beautiful, we took a city tour on a cyclo and visited the independance monument, and Wat Pnom which is where the city got its name from also this place is mad, so corrupt and very upsetting, we went to a place which was a school but had been turned into a torture site at the time of the khmer rouge now called the Tuol Sleng Genocide museum which is where they would torture the general public nearly to death and the ones which didnt die would be transported to the killing fields and killed there! We also went here and there were many skulls and large pits form mass graves! NOT NICE and even more scary that this only happened 30years ago!

The afternoon was lightened a little, with a trip to the royal palace which was stunning, as well as the silver pagoda and a hot slog around the russian market, although not sure what was russian about it!!!!!!!!

The next day was very amusing, we took a flight from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap it was a small aircraft with propellers Vicki was sweating, we were assured that this would be a very smooth journey, then we landed at the destination with 3 bounces and a side on skid half way down the runway!!!!AAAHHHHHHH!!

Siem Reep and its temples!! We spent the first day exploring the bayon temple, the terrace of elephants and Ta Prohm with our local guide, the Ta prohm was where they filmed Tomb Raider they are all quite stunning!!! The next morning, New Years Eve, we got up at 4am to watch the sunrise over the Angkor Wat, some more exploring and bouncy bus journeys to some other temples then back to town to have dinner in the restaurant where Angelina Jolie hung out when she was filming here, we counted down to 2008 here as well, then a swift tuk tuk back to the hotel for some sleep before our awful journey to Thailand at 7am.

We swear this is the road from hell it would probably take 1hr 30mins if the road was drivable but it generally takes 5hours as you have to sit at 20km/h the whole way! Anyway we survived and crossed the Thai border and took a smooth bus journey to Bangkok!

Bangkok another city same same crowded with people trying to sell you stuff and it can literally be anything they are trying to sell! its very time consuming which is a pest half of them just find it a good way to practice there english and they ask the most bizarre questions as strangers!!!

Now trying to find some trips to do in the north before we head to the south on the 8th, proving a little difficult as most modes of transport are fully booked with everyone trying to leave Bangkok after new year! Sure we will find something!

Hope everyone is well and recovering from all of the festivities

it will be back to work for most of you soon, have fun with that, we will be heading for the beaches!!Hehehehehe!!!!

Take care

xxxx