Tim and Emmas Honeymoon!

Tue 14 Jun - Thu 14 Jul
Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand



Mon 27 - Cambodia And It's Past!


When we chose Cambodia as part of our honeymoon I never expected that I would have a day like today! I expected fun and laughter, what we got today was history and sadness.

There is so much history that I don't know enough about and that includes the Genocides in Cambodia during the 70's.

We were first taken to Tuol Sleng or S-21 as it is more well know here. This was the High School that was turned into a prison camp when the Khmer Rouge took over power in 1975 and split into 4 blocks. These blocks were used for holding, interrogation, torture and as a waiting room for prisoners to be taken away!

We got taken through the various rooms and cells and saw the condition upon which this people were kept. It was horrific seeing the photos of all the people that had been killed on the walls, hundreds of people whose only crime was being intelligent or holding a job such as a teacher or doctor! Others were just killed on the streets. The 4th block was the waiting room where people were taken before they were transported to the killing fields.

The killing fields of Choeung Ek was our next stop and on first inspection it looked a lovely place. Green grass, beautiful trees and a peaceful silence. What we were told over the next hour was nothing short of horrific. These particular fields housed 126 mass graves with the largest one holding around 450 bodies! Everywhere you looked there was another hole where bodies had been exhumed from. From people with important jobs to women, children and babies they were all killed here by the Khmer Rouge! It was impossible to understand what had happened right where we were standing less than 40 years ago!

Over the years the rain continues to wash away soil and bring more bones and clothes to the surface helping the locals to find more graves and even more horrible discoveries.

I have put some photos on below. I contemplated if it was right to take them but after walking round these areas it was clear that Cambodia wanted to show the world what had happened in hope that it will never happen again! If like me you didn't know much about this part of history then I hope this gives you an insight into the pain Cambodians have had to live and recover from!

We spent the rest of today walking round the expansive grounds of the Kings Palace. It was truly a great sight with superb architecture but somehow it wasn't the same after the mornings tour.

It's impossible to say that I enjoyed today but the experience and learning was something I'm glad we did.

Photo Details
- 17:28: A cell for more important prisoners - 1.jpg [Map]

- 17:28: Block A at Tuol Sleng - 2.jpg [Map]

- 17:28: The prison, you can see the old high school in it. - 3.jpg [Map]

- 17:28: One of the smaller cells where prisoners were kept - 4.jpg [Map]

- 17:28: S-21 - 5.jpg [Map]

- 17:28: Skulls that have been exhumed and placed for people to pray to! - 6.jpg [Map]

- 17:29: Information telling how the trucks arrived! - 7.jpg [Map]

- 17:29: The Killing Tree - 8.jpg [Map]

- 17:29: Graves everywhere... - 9.jpg [Map]

- 17:29: Clothes that have been recovered from the graves. - 10.jpg [Map]

- 17:29: A newly closed area where new bones are coming through the surface because of rain erosion! - 11.jpg [Map]

- 17:29: Stunning building within the Kings ground where his throne is. - 12.jpg [Map]

- 17:29: A view from the throne room. - 13.jpg [Map]

- 17:29: Impressive statue! - 14.jpg [Map]

- 17:29: Talk about attention tho detail... - 15.jpg [Map]

- 17:29: A model of the Temples of Angkor, we're heading to the real one tomorrow! - 16.jpg [Map]

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Tim and Emmas Honeymoon!

Tue 14 Jun - Thu 14 Jul
Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand



Sun 26 - Gooooooodbye Vietnam


Urgh....when your alarm goes off at 06:15 you know it's not a good thing! At least we had an early night!

Today is a 6 hour journey from Vietnam into Cambodia on a public bus! Now you can imagine when I heard that it didn't exactly appeal but as I sit here writing this it's basically a posh 'National Express' bus, not the old rickety thing I had imagined full of locals and farm animals! Excuse me sir....what's the in-drive meal?

Victories no matter how small should always count! As we crossed the border there were countless women asking to swap Dong for Dollars and as my previous experience has taught me, give them chance and they will rip you off! Katie had just been given $30 for 1.4m Dong, about half what she should have! I went into "F**k that" mode and argued for her that she'd been ripped off. Walking away with $65 made me feel like justice was served and it was Tim 1 - 1 Vietnam in the Rip Off challenge cup!

We made great time to Phnom Penh mainly due to the suicidal tendencies of our coach driver. At least half the journey was spent on the wrong side of the road...even if we weren't overtaking! Admittedly he did brake for the row of cows crossing the road!

The Cyclo tour of the city was lovely and relaxing taking in the sights while some poor bloke cycled me round the city, some of the sights are on the photos below.

We pushed the boat out for tea with a nice meal on a roof top terrace overlooking the Mekong Delta which had stretched all the way to Cambodia. Happy hour and steak went down a treat!

Photo Details
- 19:43: Better than what we thought for a public bus! - 1.jpg [Map]

- 19:43: Ready to be cycloed! - 2.jpg [Map]

- 19:43: These boys have no fear! - 3.jpg [Map]

- 19:43: Wat Phnom - 4.jpg [Map]

- 19:43: Independence monument. - 5.jpg [Map]

- 19:43: Part of the Kings Palace at Sunset - 6.jpg [Map]

- 19:43: Just chilling.... - 7.jpg [Map]

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Tim and Emmas Honeymoon!

Tue 14 Jun - Thu 14 Jul
Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand



Sat 25 - Row, Row, Row Your Boat!


4 hours sleep is never the best way to line up a full days trip to the Mekong Delta but what the hell, up and out!

The Mekong Delta is Vietnams largest river covering over 400k and today we had a great trip out on a river boat to see the surrounding area of part of it! The river itself was a horrible brown colour yet locals were washing in it and kids playing in it, their body's must be made of iron to withstand the bugs in the water! It was a great trip seeing Rice shops making rice paper and rice wine to heading out on rowing boats and eating fish at a locals cafe.

The pics below will tell the story better than I can on this one!

I'm thankful for the last part of the day where I'm writing this from now, a night off where we can al chill out and recharge! Much needed sleep...

Photo Details
- 21:16: The view from our River Boat - 1.jpg [Map]

- 21:16: Em sampling some of the local fruit - 2.jpg [Map]

- 21:16: JD doing what he loves, snapping away! - 3.jpg [Map]

- 21:16: Hats not just for show but protecting us from some bloody hot sun! - 4.jpg [Map]

- 21:16: Chauffeur driven rowing boat, why not! - 5.jpg [Map]

- 21:17: JD on the other end of the lens for a change! - 6.jpg [Map]

- 21:17: Lunch, I named him Fred, he tasted great! - 7.jpg [Map]

- 21:17: Coconut milk for Em on the way home! - 8.jpg [Map]

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Tim and Emmas Honeymoon!

Tue 14 Jun - Thu 14 Jul
Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand



Fri 24 - Going Deep Underground


If ever there has been a case for hearing two sides to a story then today was it. Today was the day we set off to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels that were used by the Viet Cong (local people in the south fighting for the north) during the Vietnam War. 120k of underground tunnels and rooms were made to keep the hidden from the US Forces and soldiers from South Vietnam.

Our source of all this was our guide for two days who was a veteran of the war. He fought for the South and also worked as a translator for the US forces for 9 years. The tunnels themselves were beyond belief. 100's of metres of them were left for us to see but only via crawling and squeezing through them. You can imagine my dodgy knees weren't too keen on that. Between that and the vicious booby traps they had, I certainly wouldn't like to have run into them! The Viet Cong and the North Vietnam soldiers were painted as pretty nasty guys doing wrong against everyone!

Breaking away from the story for just a few seconds, after exploring the tunnels it was gun shooting time! 5 rounds each on a M60 and an AK47! With cans for targets about 100 metres away you can imagine how chuffed I was to nail not 1 but 2 of the cans! All those years of sniper practice on computer games finally paid off!

Anyway, back to my dilemma and the other side of the story! Our next drop off was to the HCMC War museum. We had a great look round all the old planes, tanks and choppers in the grounds but inside they told their side of the story! To say the slaughter the US Forces would be an understatement. Everywhere we looked there were pictures and stories of tortures, executions and destruction! The slant on this side was very much that the Americas killed everything in front of them including women and children whilst burning down entire villages. There were whole sections dedicated to "Agent Orange". Before today I knew nothing of it but it seems the US Forces coated Vietnam in this chemical to destroy crops but in the process also destroyed entire communities!

We left the museum with two completely different sides to contemplate and definatley left me wanting to read more when I got home!

Enough of the serious stuff, we stumbled into a nice place for lunch that turned out to be silver service fish restaurant for $12 a head! Cha-Ching! Again the Scottish lads feature and laughs continued as we tried to work out what was what and get told off by the staff for doing the wrong thing! The food was great!

Tonight was the last night for the Scottish lads and Morgan and Rebecca. It was only fitting to have a night out to celebrate and see them off in style! Bouncing between 2 bars and a roof top terrace it was great to have met them all and hopefully paths will cross again one day!

To end the night on a sour point we then got fleeced by a slight of hand taxi driver! He saw the big note we had and swapped it faster than Usain Bolt out of the blocks! I was fuming with myself for letting it happen but at no point in the next 15 min stand off did we get the money back! My trust in taxi drivers was shot and we ended the night on our first bad point....an interesting day!

Photo Details
- 0:00: The last night out with some of the group! - 1.jpg [Map]

- 0:00: Can't wipe the smiles if our face on this holiday! - 2.jpg [Map]

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Tim and Emmas Honeymoon!

Tue 14 Jun - Thu 14 Jul
Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand



Thu 23 - Ho Chi Minh City Here We Come


Started the day with a busy morning of laundry, picking up more new suits and dresses and last but not least, packing to hit the road again...or in this case, the sky!

Once again I was very impressed with my new 3 piece suit and Em has 3 cracking new dresses! as if we needed a better excuse to wear them and get out more!

Our flight was delayed by a few hours and it was great go enjoy Hoi An for a bit longer. It's certainly one of the best places we've been to on the trip, not to busy and has plenty of character, great food and cheap beer! :-)

From the quiet and characteristic to the built up and busy Ho Chi Minh City. This place is a lot bigger and busier than Hanoi and is wall to wall traffic, mostly bikes. There's not much to love about HCMC but we'll give it time.

Another nice hotel, worth saying that GAP have picked some great places for us. All clean, spacious, safe and good location we're happy when we can tick all those off!

Due to the delayed flight it meant it was early evening when we got in so it was a quick change then all off out for a meal in the Market. We've done this kind of thing before and it can be a bit hit and miss. Unfortunately for Em she got the miss part as she picked something dodgy looking and then decided to follow that up by trying some snails! Rather her than me but she's still standing do they couldn't have been too bad!

We ended the night in a roof top restaurant bar with the Scottish lads, taking in the views and sinking a couple of Singapore Slings. All very civilised and great to have a good chat and put the world to rights.

Photo Details
- 0:00: The river in Hoi An - 1.jpg [Map]

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Tim and Emmas Honeymoon!

Tue 14 Jun - Thu 14 Jul
Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand



Wed 22 - Easy Rider....


Before this holiday I had never been on a scooter/moped. A few days ago I rectified that and bounced around the streets holding onto someone. This morning the decision was do we take this to the next level....well, we had to get to the beach somehow!

I spent the next 3.5 minutes learning how to ride the bike and handle the roads before picking Emma up and we were good to go! 7 bikes and 9 people tearing thought the streets, dodging pedestrians and beeping at every bike in site! After being dubious it was actually superb fun but you seriously need 3 more sets of eyes!

The beach was beautiful! Golden fine sand, clear sea and massive wooden umbrellas for me to hide from the sun under! Couldn't ask for more!

After a blast back down the sidestreets it was straight to the suit shop. My suit was perfect, fit like a glove and looked very smart! Em's dress was equally as good and she looked great in it! This however turned out to be a bad thing as we ordered another suit, 2 shirts and 2 dresses! How would we fit that into our bags....worry about it later!

Most amazing thing was, they said 1st fitting for it all would be in 4 hours time! How do they do that, em just picked her designs off a few pictures she had!

We skipped the cooking class and kept the scooter for a bit longer! Decided a trip to the beach before the fitting and tea would be much more fun!

Tonight was Steak night for me in the restaurant where the rest of the group had done their cooking class. I had craved this for a while and it didn't disappoint! Unfortunately, a few beers and Jäger bombs later for Jerry's birthday and we were done again for the night! The heat is definitely taking it's toll!

Photo Details
- 0:00: Gorgeous beach in Hoi An! - 1.jpg [Map]

- 0:00: What a bike! - 2.jpg [Map]

- 0:00: Do this mans talents never end! - 3.jpg [Map]

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Tim and Emmas Honeymoon!

Tue 14 Jun - Thu 14 Jul
Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand



Tue 21 - Suit You Sir....


Today can easily be summed up as being very lazy! Lying by the pool, getting fitted for suits and a sunset cruise down the river for tea!

We'd heard about the tailoring in Hoi An and how good it was to get a suit done or a a dress made! Now, here we had a dilemma, of they are THAT good, do we buy some and somehow get them into our bags? We thought we'd find out! I went for a nice suit and Em picked out some fabric for a dress that she could wear to the Frost's Wedding at the end of July. We chose all this at about 16:00, they said 1st fitting would be at 14:00 the next day! How they make things that fast I'll never know! So we waited with anticipation to see how they'd turn out!

We decided as a group to hire a boat for a sunset cruise down the river but somehow managed to upgrade and book one with a 5 course meal! Great choice, floating down the river, eating, drinking and chilling. It seems to be reoccurring that I say every day ends perfectly!

Photo Details
- 0:00: Our sunset cruise boat! - 1.jpg [Map]

- 0:00: View down the river for sunset! - 2.jpg [Map]

- 0:00: All the Gang! - 3.jpg [Map]

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Tim and Emmas Honeymoon!

Tue 14 Jun - Thu 14 Jul
Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand



Mon 20 - Hit The Road Jack!


This morning was one of those days when you come close to saying "Sod It". Everywhere you looked there were rough heads and grump faces as a result of too much beer last night! Surprisingly, everyone except the two South African girls - Leigh and Bronwyn made it on the trip to the Imperial Citidel. It was certainly an impressive place covering s large area and once again somewhere you could see the Kings hanging out. It was also a maze of Walls, builidings and high view points so it was no surprise to hear that the Viet Cong made it one of their bases during the war! You could well imagine where the fighting occurred with bomb blasts and bullet holes still very evident! If it wasn't for the sun cooking my skull I think we'd have enjoyed it more. It seems in the morning there I'd never any cloud cover and therefore no where to hide!

A quick 3.5 hour trip down the road and we arrived at Hoi An, a place that would be our home for a very welcome 3 nights! A beer by the pool, food by the river and an early night have never been better received!

Photo Details
- 0:00: Great time to catch up on some music and Podcasts! - 1.jpg [Map]

- 0:00: A little bit wet on this hillside roads! - 2.jpg [Map]

- 0:00: You get comfy however you can!! - 3.jpg [Map]

- 0:00: Beach at the fishing village - 4.jpg [Map]

- 0:00: Our new home for 3 nights! - 5.jpg [Map]

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Tim and Emmas Honeymoon!

Tue 14 Jun - Thu 14 Jul
Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand



Sun 19 - The Longest Day


Apologies first off that the photos aren't working. I'll try and fix them when we hit Hoi An in the next few days.

A horrendous wake up call at 06:15 this morning after a rough nights sleep on the bed of death in the sleeper train! From there only a quick journey to the hotel and a very welcome shower that made up for the rooms not being ready!

Now, despite everything I've said about the roads here and lack of rules we all decided to take part in a Motorcycle tour of the city! Let's face it, if we're going to meet our maker it's an exciting way to do it! So we all got assigned a driver and got told how to hang on for dear life! My guy looked cool, calm and completely unaware of braking distances! Within 5 mins he late braked so hard Em's guy crashed straight into us! Only a small bump but so inspiring...not!

What followed though was 3 hours of sun, speed and sights! From the lady with one hand making hats to the views of Hamburger Hill from an old bunker outpost it was a great great trip! This is without mentioning how fun is was when it came to crossroads!

The afternoon we went to Minh Mang Tombs and the Thien Mu Pagoda which where both really classy places showing off the Vietnamese history! The King said the tombs were his perfect place to be buried, hard to disagree!

The night time though was my favourite part of the day. I've noticed on previous tours it takes till about the 3rd or 4th night for the group to properly bond as this was no different. The card schools on the train were great but now we added in music and Jägerbombs and the party began! Lots of laughs, photos and dancing sum up why I love these tours so much and meeting new people!

Photo Details
- 0:00: Talented lady that despite only having one hand can make these great quality hats! - 1.jpg [Map]

- 0:00: Does it suit me? - 2.jpg [Map]

- 0:00: Crazy Lady! - 3.jpg [Map]

- 0:00: A view of Hamburger Hill - 4.jpg [Map]

- 0:00: Kings Tomb - 5.jpg [Map]

- 0:00: The Pagoda - 6.jpg [Map]

- 0:00: Start of the Drunken Night! - 7.jpg [Map]

- 0:00: Jägerbombs good to go... - 8.jpg [Map]

- 0:00: The Happy Couple - 9.jpg [Map]

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