Week eight - Hoi An - Nga Trang - Siem Reap

Week eight feels like the week dedicated to being on the buses. Vietnam being the long snake of a country that it is meant I spent a substantial amount of my time on buses. The week started at 8am with a four hour trip from Hue to Hoi An with the tall 6ft 3 Adam sat next to me. Adam managed to take up most of my seat but the scenery made up for the discomfort. The next night bus was a nightmare with the roads even bumpier than the first night trip. Luckily I got up early to reserve my seat and so when Adam came to book his place the bus was full: result. I had managed to get rid of the intolerant and rude Adam who had decided to latch himself onto me since the last night bus trip. Even better was the fact that the lads from Hull where getting the same bus as me and we soon discovered that seat 15 was next to them. Unfortunately beds 15, 16, 17 and 18 meant we were consigned to the row of bottom beds at the back. We were also joined by a very loud snoring elderly Vietnamese man and we spent a very cosy 12 hours to Nga Trang. I cheated on the last leg and flew to Saigon but nearly deliberately missed my flight after a big night out for Mark's birthday so that I could get the night bus with the rest of the crew.The Vietnamese on a whole are unfriendly and miserable. Compared to Thailand and Loas there is a je ne sais quoi missing which I cannot pin point. The food is stody: eggs, unhealthy white bread, rice and a severe lack of vegetables. I had to put myself on a salad only diet to feel marginally healthy. Every bus we caught was incredibly late and yet nobody communicates what is going on.Hoi An was a charming colonial style town renowned for its tailoring. It was great to bump into Katie (fun loving beer drinking American) who I met in Hue when she was out cycling with the completely mad Columbian old dear. It was great to have some fun company and for people not to think that Adam and I were an item! We had a good night out and arranged to meet in Nga Trang.Nga Trang is going to be the Benidorm of Vietnam and the environmental distruction with the eyesore called Vinpearl has already started. I also signed up for another Vietnamese trip to visit some island but it turned out to be equally as bad as the Halong Bay trip. We didn't visit any of the islands but had to listen to a mafiosa Vietnamese, who called himself funky monkey, who had failed the cruise ship interview crack terrible jokes and thinking he and the kitchen boys where the next big boy band. I thought that the trip would have been an opportunity to meet some fellow travellers but instead I was on a boat, along with two equally annoyed Israelis, full of hairly legged loud and annoying Chinese. And there was no need for them to laugh at me getting to grips with using chops sticks. I have never been a natural with two bits of stick but I was determined to eat my lunch and I managed it! Snorkelling made up for a bad day and I was at long last able to use my snorkel which I have been carrying with me all this time.That night was the first BIG night out this trip. I even put on some make up which is also a first! I had arranged to meet Katie and the lads from Hull as it was Mark's birthday. Adam had by now latched onto Katie so he was also present and we met Pablo and Lily from Essex (who knew about BQ). We all got rediciously drunk but had a very good night until Mike left the Sailing Club early, got pepper sprayed and had his wallet stolen.I was able to catch a flight from Saigon to Siem Reap on Friday and spent the first day relaxing and organising the next steps of my trip and trying to get to the Full Moon Party on Ko Pha Ngan. I also went to the market like a little piggy and bought: a top, a rice sack bag with a zip as I keep loosing my possessions out of Tina's lovely gift (now lost my USB device), a gorgeous bangle and matching necklace and a lovely silk scarf. Damn more to carry.Obviously when travelling you can't just round up your lovely friends for a really good night out. Meeting new people all the time can be a a great experience but with the good comes the bad. Here is a scenario to illustrate why sometimes I prefer to be on my own: enter Mr Mystery Mexico (he never introduced himself)! I was sat in Siem Reap just finishing my beer when Mr Mystery Mexican rocks up and asks if he can join me because "being on your own sucks right" so I decide to have one for the road as KV would say. We start off with good conversation as he had studied Biology in Bangor and his Phd at Imperial but his lack of listening skills, inuendos and an undercurrent of machismo put my antena on alert. We soon started to discuss fake good and big corporations and why he is justified in buying photocopies of the Lonely Planet. He called me a lady of principles which had by now wound me up. He was pleased that the waiter had undercharged him for his beers which annoyed me even more when they are so reasonable and so I got up "You're not leaving me are you" to which I said "yes" and walked off quickly. He had managed to ruin my evening! I suggest Mr Mystery Mexican goes to his shrink when back in NY to discuss being on his own and abandonment.For me Cambodia was about visiting Angkor Wat and I found myself a driver called Chin Chin to take me there. I was really excited about seeing the Wat but unfortunately I was not blown away by it's wow factor. I preferred instead Bayon with it's 216 faces starring out and Ta Keo which made my legs wobble as I climbed to the top. Ta Prohm was the highlight as it was both beautiful and felt like someone had gently blown over some dominoes. Trees had then taken root to knit together the remaining structures. The sky went CLAP and I didn't want any of the seeminly unstable temple to fall on my head so Chin Chin and I headed back. The heavens opened and I was sealed into my tuk tuk. I felt really bad for Chin Chin but knew he was a veteran of a monsoon or two and with that thought wished him a Happy New Year. He could go home early to his family insted of driving me around temples.