I am sitting in a very nice cafe in the middle of Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) city eating rye bread with honey and drinking as much mint tea as I can stomach! Yes, I may have had to desperately blag some extra Imodium but my tan is improving day by day and I am getting slowly accustomed to sweating through all my clothes and giving them a shake and putting them back on again a few days later. Yes and the mono-brow is slowly returning. So! Full on jungle living will ensue, particularly considering I have waved off my group of ('Gap Adventure') travelling buddies and am now flying solo...I imagine I will look like a cave woman by the time I return but absurdly this is kind of what I'm aiming for.

So I have spent a week in Cambodia and seen the 8th wonder of the world and the setting for one of the Tomb Raider films - Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples (Angelina began her child-stealing exploits in Cambodia - Maddox I think?!) The kids here are the main street-sellers (though not a good idea to condone this) they are very cute, big smiles, as long as you don't get mauled by a herd of them when walking home at night pissed, which is what happened to two of the girls on my tour in Siem Reap - one angelic child tried to pry a gold ring off her finger and actually chased her down the street!! I think she should have tackled her and thrown her down a ravine like in Tropic Thunder, anyway they got away unharmed, just a little shaken) We did some lounging on the beach in Sihanoukville and ate in a Cambodian family's home in the capital (Phnom Penh) the most awesome food I've had out here, but they gave us barbequed tarantulas for pudding which was certainly an experience!!! Kinda tastes like chicken.

The mass-slaughter in Cambodia is pretty fresh (Pol Pot regime wiped out about two-thirds of the population in the 70's) but they don't seem to mind talking about it, it was very sad seeing the torture prison and Killing Fields but despite the still corrupt government they are very open about it all and are the friendliest, welcoming people, I'm learning to smile more!

In the pecking order over here Cambodia are like the bullied pre-schooler to the tough as old boots domineering Vietnamese (Vietnam bailed out the Camodians in the 70's and basically nicked a mass of land in the process!) As soon as we crossed the border the smiles disappeared and the people seemed like they meant business, literally...the beggars have been replaced by workers, fiercely proud of their heritage having fought off countless greedy neighbours from the Chinese to the French (if you ask them about the war they ask "which one?") Seeing the Cu Chi tunnels today was amazing...we even got to crawl through 30 metres of tiny underground tunnels that the VietCong used to hide inside, they had markets, schools down there and practically a bloody shopping centre. Ok, I'm boring myself now and i'm pretty impressed if you're still reading!

Our first day in Vietnam was rather eventful, we took a boat ride down the Mekong river to check out some of the floating houses and even got handed some fresh watermelon, delicious but I managed to throw not one, but two pieces on the floor when trying to break them in half. Then we got on the back of a motorcycle and took a ride up the mountain to watch the sunset in a hammock with a cold beer in hand. This would have been the most relaxing thing ever except that my driver felt the need for speed, and insisted on us overtaking everything including an enormous tour coach descending the mountain also...he looked about 55 but god knows how he made it to middle-age!! (It's the way to travel around here though, Saigon has about 7 million motorbikes on the streets, it's like the tour de france everywhere you look and crossing the street requires the same 'just keep going and don't panic' attitude that you need approaching roundabouts in the UK...) What made it more absurd was that my Saga-member of a driver insisted that I wear a green helmet which had the words 'US Army' written on the front...in bold. Let's just say I got some very interesting looks from the locals, and it was probably a good thing we were belting it through the villages otherwise I would have probably been pelted with pineapples and other sharp fruit.

The tour i've been with have been really cool but mostly all gap year students and they seemed to look up to me like a savvy Aunt or something, until they realised how dappy and rather hopeless I am (see watermelon fiasco above, oh and I managed to lock myself out of my hotel room this morning!) Travelling with Gap was fun but we moved from place to place so much that it was really difficult to get a feel for the country (many of our days were spent on long hot buses) and so I'm really glad to be left behind to take it at my own pace.

Which brings us up to today, horrible of horrible days! I resisted the temptation to head up the coast with my tour buddies and have found myself a very basic but cheap (bout 5 quid) room for the night, but my tummy is not abiding very well at the mo (god bless you rehydration sachets!) and I got in a taxi with a dodgy meter - charged me 11 dollars for a 5 min trip!! Outrage and much sweaty fuming was had but I have certainly learnt my lesson! My plan is to hit the glorious beachside and sand duney heaven of Mui Ne (a lesser-trodden but widely recommended hit for travellers) and would you believe it I have already found myself some travelling buddies!! Whilst shaking my bootie in a club last night I got a bit overexcited and accidently poked some guy in the eye (not the first nor probably the last time...) and alas it turns out he's from Norwich and going to Mui Ne to Kite-surf this week! We swapped details and we are going temple-hopping with each other tomorrow, hoorah!

Anyway, so that is that! Better go coz this internet place is gonna kick me out pretty soon, just to say missing everyone masses and wish you were here!

Much love and sweaty hugs,

B xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx