Hoochie Cu-Chi tunnels

The Cu-Chi tunnels were used firstly by the Vietminh and then later by the Vietcong (VC) as a means of sneaking up on the American GI's and generally getting around... they were too small for Americans to fit into and were usually multi-layered with around three different levels of tunnels. I went through one and it felt pretty claustrophobic. The traps set were super gruesome too, with the whole village (men, women and children) making weapons and traps to eject the foreign body from their land! We all know the story so I won't go into it, but was really interesting to see the tunnels and museum in person, especially since I studied it in history. Although, the museum is mega one-sided but that's to be expected here in Nam.

Saigon

My first impressions of Saigon (or Ho Chi Minh City as its internationally known but no calls it that here), were less than favourable. I thought Bangkok was crazy but Saigon is literally teeming with people and traffic  like ants. It still has a bit of the 'French' about it so is quite trendy and chic, but one Australian girl was kidnapped and held for money in the taxi, another English boy had his money taken from the hotel room and the staff at the hotel just said they take no responsibility for any missing items, then said it was probably his girlfriend! Welcome to Vietnam. You have to be on your guard all the time, one girl handed over money for a drink then went to change the drink and when she came back the lady said she had never given her any money. Robberies/kidnappings are very common and the people here are very tough.

Apart from the that the place is beautiful, and I'm looking fiorward to seeing other parts of the country. We're making our way north, and will be visiting Nha Trang, which is a beach town full of Russians (there are direct flights from Vladivostok) and old people, Hoi An famous for its French architecture and tailoring, Halong Bay and finally Hanoi the capital of the north. Also, Facebook is super hard to access here as the government have strong censorship but there are ways and means!! :)

The Killing Fields and S21

Previously a Chinese graveyard regarded as a 'quiet' place to commit genocide, The Killing Fields was an area just outside of Phnom Penh where the despot Khmer Rouge and his henchman Pol. Pot slaughtered men, women and children no more than 40 years ago - people considered politically unsound or of a different viewpoint (sound familiar all good psychos think alike!). The place was disquieting as there were still bones in the earth we were treading and our tour leader had close family (father, brother and sister) murdered under the regime! His story was unbelievable and it was hard to think the atrocities had been committed so recently. Unfortunately, Cambodia's dark past is still widely unknown in the general world and I wonder why this is?

S21 was a high school coverted into a prison camp where the inmates were beaten and tortured to death. Many of the officers in charge were teenagers which had been brainwashed into thinking what they were doing was okay. They started by killing animals and then moved onto killing humans. Touring these places was very intense and it was a very dark day.

Angkor Wat

It's hard to get the sense of awe and wonder I felt from these photos but take my word for it, Angkor Wat was epic!!

Cambodiaaa

The Kingdom of Cambodia is a wonder to behold, the people are very poor but are possessed of a love and kindness I have yet to witness elsewhere. We arrived in Siem Reap around five-ish and our group were taken to a small village where we met with some of the local people, and with children who had either been abandoned, or had lost parents. We played volleyball together and then sat around for some authentic Cambodian dishes (delicious!), before celebrating the New Year. In Thailand people throw water at each other...buckets and water pistols lets get wet! In Cambodia they have their own variation whereby you throw powder at each other hence the white faces! LOL (wonder if this has any cultural significance in terms of the relentless drive towards westernisation?) I was enjoying a vegetable curry when I felt a hand slap my cheek - it was one of the kids with a handful of powder, that was the beginning and chaos ensued haha. This took place yesterday on the evening of the 12th April, and Cambodian New Year officially starts today on the 13th...going to make sure I hit up a 7-11 for a few bottles of powder! :)

Koh Phangan

Don't be deceived by the apparent tranquility of the photos, the boat-load of normal looking people in the top photo were being transported to an island of sin, excess and iniquity - Koh Phangan for the Full Moon party! I had the best and worst five days of my life there with lots of smiles, a few tears and very little sleep (it's amazing how resilient the body is!) It was an emotional rollercoaster and I barely made it off.

We took shrooms by day and mandy by night, existed in a world where class A substances could be purchased behind the bar with a codename and I managed to bear witness to five beautiful sunsets and sunrises... that's mushroom mountain you can see in the third photo, a very special place.

The nightclubs/bars were crazy too, Eden and Guy's Bar being stand-out playing amazing house and techno music which kept everyone and everything moving until the early hours and far beyond. Other highlights include a bartender from Outback Bar called Bolt (from Lewisham small world) who took us under his wing and showed us the best time, see you in the next life! A party in the middle of the jungle with lasers in the trees and the night of the Full Moon party of course... buckets of Vodka and Chang's were flying in the bars before we made our way down to the beach, daubed ourselves in UV paint, watched a fire show high, then took a taxi boat off to Guy's Bar for the best music ever!! Then it was back to the beach to watch the sunrise before heading to the Back Yard after party at 7 a.m. Finally called it a 'night' around one in the afternoon :) The night photos are either too crazy, too incriminating or both. Good times.