The last bus leaving Saigon....

Well now I'm in Cambodia my Vietnam adventure is over. I'll relay the events of my last few days...



The advance party (saul and then lisa) did pretty well finding us a nice wee triple room with en suite for $21. Didn't stop us hunting down somewhere cheaper the next night though.



On the first full day we hit all the touristy sights heading for the reunification palace and the war remnants museum. While we were at the palace we ran into a group of monks that were on holiday from Laos. Now I know its against their religion, but I'm sure that one of them was VERY hungover...



The palace was alright - and like all true palaces should, it came with its own "gambling room" and cinema - but the most interesting part was the underground command station from where the south ran the war. As it has been preserved in the state it was on reunification in 1975, you can really get a feel for the place. And as I sat behind the "forbidden" desk, I could really feel my megalomania grow.



Before I reached Cambodia, I can say without a doubt that the war remnants museum was the most harrowing place I've ever been. I'd been warned in advance, but still I wasn't prepared for what hit me when I walked in. The images of the brutality of war didn't pull any punches... I had been planning to take some pictures of the museum, but after I'd seen the first few, the camera hung loose around my neck. The pictures of Agent Orange victims, as well as those of the landmine and bombing campaigns will be with me for a long time - photos or no.

In order to forget the traumatic images of the day, we headed out en masse that evening. Between the three of us, Bronwyn, Vera and Hayley, a group of four Canadian girls that Saul knew and some of their friends, we had the biggest drinking group since the Chicken Game in Luang Prabang.

After a few, we retired so that we would be up in time for our Mekong Delta tour the next day. The tour was pretty good, although the cycle part turned into a bit of a farce, as three bikes fell apart and the guide set off at a pace that would have made Lance Armstrong jealous. The Lance Armstrong to whom I refer is of course not the world famous cyclist, but rather the one legged butcher from Helensburgh. The villages and manufacturing places were cool to see, but once again I got the impression that they were very much laid on for us to see. I did enjoy posing for a pic with the python though.

At this point I have to introduce a new character to our story. Ek-Rat or as he affectionately became known, Ecky was a Thai man in his 60s travelling through Vietnam and then into China, having left behind his wife - who in fairness didn't like long distance travel - to look after his ten cats. Ecky joined us for dinner and drinks that evening as well as booking on to the Cu Chi tunnels tour with us the following day. He did seem to be surprised when he discovered that we didn't share his love of the Beatles, Cliff Richard and Celine Dion.

On the way to the Mekong I bought a ham and pate sandwich. On the way to Cu Chi I bought a meat and pate one that was not. I genuinely think it was dog... After that disappointment we arrived at the tunnels. Although the tone here was more partisan than anything else I have experienced in Vietnam, I really enjoyed it. I think I may have survived life as a tunnel rat, although trying to perch and fire a gun would have been a challenge. Poor Ecky may not have done as well as me, as he lost his glasses in the crawl. That night we had drinks with him and the hotel staff - whose I kind offer of duck embryo, I politely declined.

The next day was pretty quiet, I updated the diary, wrote some postcards (although they weren't sent til I reached Cambodia) and I sorted out onward transport. The six hour bus ride to Phnom Pehn went remarkably quickly, and as I chucked the drivers mate $5, I didn't even have to do much at border control. We were almost on time (for once).