Dalat Dec 11th - 13th 2007 We arrived at Dalat after another 8 hour coach journey but unlike the coaches of Laos and Thailand, the Vietnam coaches appeared to be newer, faster, air conditioned and didn't leak when it rained. So, apart from the odd dodgy bathroom at the rest stops it was a pretty comfortable journey. In the Lonely Planet, Dalat is described as "quite different from anywhere else you will visit in Vietnam".At first view, as the coach ...

Saigon - Saturday 1st December Good morning Vietnam! We arrived in Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City as not that many of the locals call it after another bottom-numbing 7 hour bus ride. Our crossing over the border went smoothly, and we checked into a small family guesthouse up a winding alley within about half an hour of arriving. Our first impressions of the city are good - it's buzzing with hundreds of motorbikes and mopeds, is far more developed and cosmopolitan ...

Phnom Penh - Tuesday 27th NovemberOur 6 hour bus to Phnom Penh was made interesting by a mid-journey disembarkation so that we could walk across a broken bridge, while the bus squeezed over on the footpath and remaining bit of road, scraping a nice gash in its paintwork in the process, to avoid the big hole in the middle where the concrete had broken through. We were also pleased to share the ride with someone's pet monkey - noone batted an eyelid at either event...

Kampot - Sunday 25th November... well, we survived the full moon party (which mostly involved banana milkshake for us, after the previous night's cocktail shenanigans), and got up bright and early for our shared taxi to Kampot, two hours away. Six of us, plus bags, were sitting on a bench waiting for a lovely air-conditioned minivan to arrive... when an Orion-like battered saloon arrived on the guesthouse drive. We all looked at the car, each other, at our bags, ...

Thursday 15th November - Saturday 24th November - SihanoukvilleWe arrived off the bus in Sihanoukville in yet more rain (it's just at the end of the rainy season here), and looked around for the transport that we'd arranged to get us to our hotel, the Mealy Chenda, another in the Smiley family. A grinning chap greeted us, holding up a sign saying 'Mister Dave Elioo' which we decided couldn't be for anyone but us, and we followed him happily to his transport...and...