Saigon and Out

As our week in Saigon drew to an end, we came to agree on one simple conclusion: The place is amazing! Vietnam saved the best 'til last for us and we would like to one day spend an extended amount of time there. It has everything - from traditional Vietnamese restaurants and bars to the modern comforts of home one craves when away for so long. During the last week, we experienced everything we love about Vietnam, from crouching on tiny chairs in the street beer and food joints, with scooters whizzing behind our backs, to browsing crazy markets or simply wandering the streets where the splendour of 19th century French architecture stands side by side with crumbling 1970's tenement buildings and patchwork fields of rusting corrugated roofs. When the going got too tough (and too hot) Saigon also offers many options for rest and relaxation.  One blazing afternoon found us tucked up on a sofa in the darkened air-conditioned cinema room of a funky little cafe, watching movies and enjoying home-made cherry cokes and a basket of fries. It really is an awesome city.  Everyone is so nice and friendly - you don't get the ice cold city souls that places like London seem to produce. If you're in a cafe, bar, restaurant or shop, and, as I often do, you start flapping your sweat soaked shirt, or simply appear to be suffering in the heat, a staff member will normally do their best to turn on some more fans or even drag an extra fan out of a cupboard for you.  Everyone smiles, everyone says hello, how are you, and we haven't seen a single person shouting or getting angry - in the whole of the Vietnam leg...in this mind numbing heat! This is even more surprising when you look upon the crush of scooters that whirls around the place, crossing huge junctions without traffic lights or any sense of a right of way - they just honk their horn to say 'I'm here' and carry on through.

But, our time in this enchanting country has ended and on Saturday we had to say goodbye. Goodbye to super-cheap beer, goodbye to amazing meals and goodbye to a country that we have loved from day one.

During a six hour bus trip, we made our first land border crossing which saw a giant crowd of people, ourselves included, eagerly waiting for their names to be called by a gruff voiced official stood on a box as and when their visas were approved and passports ready to collect.  After many long hot miles of rice fields, coconut groves, water buffalo and more rice fields, while sat at the back of a limping antique coach (well out of reach of the onboard air-conditioning), we finally reached Phnom Penh in the Kingdom of Cambodia. Sat in the middle of wide flood plains, surrounded by rickety wooden houses on even more rickety stilts and stood at the edge of the Mekong river's final run into the ocean, this city is already proving to be a pivotal point in our long ambling tour of South East Asia.  From here, we will move across country, taking in the ancient temples of Angkor before crossing over the border to Thailand and then northwards into the jungles of Laos - the real adventure begins!

Sunset from the roof of the Foreign Correspondents Club, Phnom Penh (with a jug of fresh pineapple daiquiri)

Country Synopsis - VIETNAM

Likes: THE FOOD! I'd heard good things about Vietnamese food, but nothing could have prepared me for the reality; piles of aromatic leaves and herbs, saucers of fresh chili, pickled garlic and zingy miniature limes, served with plates of beansprouts, baby papaya and other local vegetables, all to accompany delightfully simple but beautifully prepared meat dishes such as barbecued pork, roasted beef or chicken, and perfectly cooked seafood - all eaten with cool rice noodles or rich stocks and marinades. I'm not a "foodie" person, but Vietnamese cuisine is now a firm favourite and something I could not recommend enough.  I even ate, and thoroughly enjoyed, crab claws - yes, the spiders of the sea were devoured by my mighty hand!

Dislikes: To be honest, I have no dislikes. Really, nothing. I'll have another think, hold on.........No, nothing. Amazing weather, cheap and delicious food and drink and the people are lovely. How could it get better?

Favourite Beer: Bia Hoi. Cheap and refreshing and served at the side of the street directly from the barrel. Order a pint, watch the world go by and make friends with the people around you - just what beer was invented for!

Favourite Meal:  Nha Ngan Ngon Restaurant, Saigon, on our last night. Oil lanterns hung from the mesh work of tree branches above this beautiful French Colonial courtyard throw down a soft romantic glow on the dining area.  Around the edge sit every kind of street food vendor the country has to offer, all preparing their dishes by hand from fresh, basic materials and cooking sizzling meat and seafood on tiny charcoal grills and barbecues. Order something from the giant compendium of a menu and the waiters will fetch whatever your taste buds fancy from whoever you fancy it from - plus a beer or two. A perfect blend of Vietnamese tradition with a few French twists adopted from the colonial era, all fresh and bursting with flavour.

Favourite Day: Cycling through the jungle! Click here to see the post on Ha Long Bay.