Cambodia to Vietnam!

Hello Helloooo!!!

Sorry for not updating for so long, we've been on the go-go-go every second day if not daily and it's been hard to find either a computer or the time in the midst of it all.

SO, I'll try to summarize what we've been up to the last 6 odd days of so :)

PHNOM PENH
- Went to the orphanage; it was amazing!!! The group bought them a 50kilo bag of rice, as well as bananas, tamarinds (delicious surprisingly!!) and a whole load of candy ( we were told we'd have to pay for the dentist bills LOL). Played with the kids for about 2 hours or so, theres 29 in total, a few young ones, majority were teenagers. Did some "kumbaya" styles guitaring/singing with them (the LOVE Justin Bieber so hardcore over here!) and then played some standard Cambodian kids games (one which is kind of duck-duck-goose styles except you whip whoever's "it" with a rolled up string of scarves) and the other was a blind-folded "banana-eating" game where Jesse was fed 3 massive bananas in the span of 20 seconds (he hasn't eaten them since that day) hahahah. good times, good times :)

SIHANOUKVILLE

- Crazy party, beach town, like a surfer-dudes paradise. Stayed in a cool beach bungalow and were terrified when we woke up at night to hear an animal making a VERY loud noise in our room (tunrs out it was just a gecko no bigger than my thumb!)

- Lay on the beaches for 2 days, tanned our butts off and partied hardy at one of the local bars with the other group peeps.

- Got a BUCKET, yes a BUCKET, of whiskey with red bull and coke for only $2!!! CRAZAY! Needless to say, it was a pretty fun night.

CHAU DOC, VIETNAM (along the Mekong Delta)

- It's insane how the landscape changes completely (no joke) as soon as you cross the border. Entered Vietnam on foot, tons of rice paddies everywhere, very very green.

- Chau Doc is pretty sleepy, the people were fantastic, very friendly and always waving to us (minus the "you buy" in Cambodia)

- Took a boat cruise down the Mekong Delta (it's totally brown cause it's a mud bottom river). Visited the biggest fish farm (basa) on the Mekong and cuddled the bejeesus out of 4 little puppies that couldn't have been more than a few weeks old.

- Visited a minority Muslim village along the Delta, got some amazing handcrafted silk scarves (we actually saw the lady who weaves them on the loom!!!)

- Had our first authentic Vietnamese Pho.... YUM! I am going to live off that stuff while we're here.

SAIGON (HO CHI MINH CITY)

- Insanely built up city, like NYC on steroids. 7.1 million people riding around on motorbikes... need I say more?

- Visited Cu Chi Tunnels, where the Vietcong hid 20-30m underground during the Vietnam War. Had an excellent, EXCELLENT, guide named Hai who actually fought as a commander with the Southern Vietnamese forces (trying to battle communism... didn't work so well). He later transfered to work with US forces as a Vietnamese-English translator, he was only in his early 20's. He told many, many stories of his experiences which were both gut-wrenching and comedic. He definitely had a good sense of humour considering all he's been through. He spent 9 years with the forces and was placed in a "re-education" camp (a.k.a. concentration camp) for 3 YEARS after his side lost the war on Communism. Felt very lucky to meet him and hear everything he's been through.

- PS tunnels were SOOOO small, I almost got claustrophobic, but sucked it up and went down underground; you're crouched down and literally have to crawl on your knees and hands in some areas.

- Communist symbols everywhere... and facebook is blocked *pwow pwow*

NHA TRANG

- Took a 10 hour overnight train to the beachy & mountainous Nha Trang (train was a crazy, but cool experience, had bunk beds and felt like we were back in slumber party days with two Aussie girls in our group) TRES FUN!

- Rented bikes and navigated through the mayhem streets to a Cham temple overlooking the South China Sea and mountains, beautiful.

- Woke up this morning feeling ilke crap... turns out I got sun stroke biking around yesterday, but Jesse nursed me back to health (what a great guy) <3 and we headed out to the Thap Ba Hot Springs & Mud Baths center a few km out of the city. Spent allllll day there, soaking in mineral mud baths, hot HOT mineral baths, got foot massages, full body massages (Vietnamese masseuses are crazay! they have poles on the ceiling and walk all over your back, soooo good), and finished it off with waterfalls and hot-tub'esque swimming pools.

Taking another sleeper train tonight (except it's 10-12 hours) to Hoi An, heading further and further north. Still pretty hot but once we get to Hanoi (on the China- VIet border) temps are spose to drop to 15'ish... I'm not complaing :p

Miss you and Love you all!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Peace from the East! (I stole Jesse's saying, hehehe)

Misty & Jesse