Wednesday 14^th June Ho Chi Minh City

2½ weeks after returning from our tour of Arnhem Land, we are away on our next tour. I had wondered, when booking these things so close together, that we were maybe overdoing it; but in practice it all seems fine. We have also finally arrived at a stage where we don't feel we have things to do all the time; helped, of course, by it being the middle of winter so the grass doesn't grow and need mowing; and things are slow in the rest of the garden as well. But we did manage to get the plum trees and quince trees pruned, and the prunings mulched; and I've had a greater opportunity to read than I have (felt) I had for a long time; even finishing my bookclub book in a week, so I could just leave it at home. Much tidier.

There have been the usual weekly visits to Elsy; she is much as usual, but recently has begun thanking us for what we do for her. While the comments are small, this is a big change. We had Alice and Sidharth over for dinner (Alice disappointed about not being pregnant) and took dinner over to Louise and Netty (both feeling very “snowed under” by the demands of their children. Well, the demands of Jack, really; Frankie is at the moment really easy to get on with.

So – we opted to come down to Melbourne on Monday night, after Alison's book club; so we had all of Tuesday to get ready. Just as well, as I hadn't really started packing. A visit to Elsy in the morning, a Bread Club baguette for lunch; and then I started to pack. Alison started making the Eggplant Dumplings we were taking over to the girls' for dinner; the recipe took longer than expected, so there was a little bit of rushing. But it all worked out, and we went over and helped a little with the grandchild, before having an adult dinner after they had been put to bed. We felt a bit worn out by the experience, but Louise and Netty get it every day! We were surprised when Netty brought out their (very old and nearly empty) bottle of port (“tawny”) after dinner, and everyone had some! Next time we do this, we take a bottle of wine as well.

We went home about 9pm, and had a cup of tea, a Cointreau and Bailey's, and wathed episode 6 of “Wellington Paranormal”. So funny! How do they do it? And went to bed, with the alarm set for 5.40am.

This was so we could leave the house at 6.15, to catch the 6.23 train from North Melbourne. From our side, everything went smoothly; not so from the train side. Thanks to a “police operation” at Southern Cross there was disruption of trains in both directions; we eventually got on our train, ~ 10 minutes late. Then, at Broadmeadows, the (next) 901 bus was late too. But we'd left some leeway and all ended up fine. Checked in, waited, waited.... Alison did find a copy of “The Age” and “The Sun”; they're not as easy to pick up as they used to be. We had to show our Vietnam visas; I asked the check-in lady about it. The answer was – if you don't have a visa, you can get an “emergency” one for $550. Once, they hadn't checked and a passenger arrived in Vietnam with no visa; he was sent straight back to Australia again and the company was fined $5,500!

Next, going through security. I must be showing my age because the lady at the screening asked “Have you had any surgery? Metal ?” I wasn't even limping or anything!

The plane was on time, and we took off at 10.35am for the 8 hour 10 minute flight to Ho Chi Minh City. A nearly full plane, and we're sitting down the back. But it's OK for a flight like this. We'll be landing at 4pm local time, which for us will be 7pm.

8 hours is a long time. And while it is a “full service” airline, the service was on the skimpy side. On the up side it made me feel that the flight back home, an overnight one, may not be too bad; at least some of the 8 hours may be spent asleep.

Arrival in Ho Chi Minh City was straightforward. Through immigration and customs, and out to where we were met by an “Inspiring Vacations” representative – who collected 8 of us and put us in a minibus. And then a slow drive, for over ½ hour, through very crowded streets, to the Rex Hotel.

Here, we were sat down and given a welcome drink. The nice hotel man decided that I was the head of the group. Why? No idea. But we were given the key to our (very swish) room (it is a very swish hotel), went up and dumped our stuff. Then it was off to buy some money; the hotel man suggested an ATM down the street, rather than the one in the hotel which would eat our card. So there we went, and for only $A94.07 we bought 1,500,000 Vietnamese Dong.

By now, it was 7pm; 10pm Melbourne time. We found a good basic Vietnamese (of course!) cafe and had a good meal. Then back home to a bit of exploring the hotel more and sorting our stuff out. Tomorrow we have a free day, which will, I think, be very enjoyable.

Thursday 15^th June Ho Chi Minh City

Last night, we managed to stay up till after 10pm – which, I calculated, meant it was about 20 hours since we'd got up that morning. So we slept soundly and woke refreshed. Good.

Breakfast in this swish hotel was swish. Lots of choices, and all served in a very lovely dining room – though, we realised afterwards, we could have sat out on the terrace instead. We didn't hurry. There were a lot of others having breakfast, but we only came across one other couple we'd met on the transfer to the hotel.

Then, it was out for a walk. I discovered that, despite this being a swish hotel with some nearby swish shopping centres, there is also a large area of basic little shops and cafes, and, not too far away, a large market. We walked down to the river (which sadly had a very busy and very noisy road along it) and then back in to the bus station and the market; looking in some of the shops which appeared interesting. I was also keeping an eye out for a bottle of cognac to have on the boat; I'd planned to buy some duty-free, but couldn't come at the prices either in Melbourne or the airport here. I found a much more reasonable source in a little side street here. We stopped at last night's cafe for a Vietnamese iced coffee – very nice!

We returned to the hotel, and went up and had a swim. The water was nice, and very warm. We both did Brain Drain (to finish off the week) but then were getting hungry – because it was 2pm. We went out in search of a banh mi (pork roll).

Alison had been doing some research on these (she's good at this sort of thing) and found out that, here, they're not really a lunchtime thing. A morning or late afternoon thing. But we went looking anyway, and found her information was correct; but eventually found some anyway. So our hunger was kept at bay. We continued on to our “main street” (Nguyen Hue), had an icecream in an icecream shop, then visited No. 42 – a 9-storey apartment block which has been converted into shops and restaurants.

It was getting more humid and some rain began; we returned back to our room. For a little; then we decided on a walk to the Opera House (very close), then on via the cathedral and Central Post Office through the Municipal Cultural Park, and back home. But that's not what happened; at the Opera House we found the “Bamboo Circus” was doing a show at 6pm. Not only that, but there were 2 quite good seats available. Due to a cancellation? So we bought the seats. We had just enough time for a quick walk up to the cathedral (all covered for renovation, as is so often the case); back to the Opera House for a tour, a pre-show drink of a delicious peach and lemon-grass cold tea, and then the show.

The circus ran for an hour; an ensemble of 20 people, and they were very good. We were very happy to have “run into” it. We walked out into the night; there were people everywhere, and lots of traffic; it was time for dinner so we returned (again!) to Ben Coffee & Eatery, and had another very nice dinner.

Now it's 8.30pm, we're home in our room, and feeling a bit tired. Still on Melbourne time, to a degree.

Friday 16^th June Ho Chi Minh City

Being tired didn't help – we both slept quite poorly. The only saving grace was the huge bed, so we didn't disturb each other.

The alarm was set for before 6am, so we could have a non-rushed breakfast before being down in the lobby at 7.30 to begin the day's tour. Here, we met the rest of the group (except for a couple staying in a different hotel). We wore our “Outback Spirit” name badges so people knew who we were – but no-one else had a badge so we're not at all sure of who everyone else is (except the guide, Bui.) There are 20 of us, and unfortunately we seem to be the youngest in the group. Seem to be.

Then, it was off in the bus – a very big, modern bus, with intriguing colour-changing lights on along the parcel racks and in the ceiling. Quite comfortable. We went first to pick up the other couple from the other hotel (not nearly as good in location or in facilities as the Rex), then continued on to the Cu Chi Tunnels, Saigon's biggest tourist attraction, ~ 2 hours drive away. Bui gave us a talk about the history of Vietnam; I learnt that it was the French colonisers who divided it into North and South, and that Bui (and I suspect many others here) are not very happy with the communist North having won the war, and think there's a lot of corruption in the government. They are probably right.

We were not surprised when the bus stopped, en route, at a workshop where disabled victims of Agent Orange worked making egg shell pictures. They made some very nice stuff, but not really to our taste; but some of the others bought something.

Then, on to the tunnels. I had imagined that a lot of the time we would be underground, so I left my hat on the bus; it turned out that very little time was spent underground, but we were mostly in shade from the quite dense forest. We saw some of the tunnels, and some of the many sorts of booby traps made; all quite horrible. The things that happen in a war.

As we continued, we heard loud gunshots; and then arrived at a shooting range. You could buy some bullets and have a go at shooting. This had zero appeal to me, but a couple of others went and did it. We waited around, and listening to gunshots and smelling gunpowder made it quite unpleasant. I was happy when we moved on.

Soon after this we got to some “tourist tunnels” you could walk through. Maybe ¼ of the group did; Alison and I both did; while you had to crouch, it was easy enough and not scary at all. This was because the tourist tunnels were made ~ 3 times bigger than the originals used by the Viet Cong in the war.

Then it was off to a pleasant restaurant set between two rivers for lunch; The group seated in 3 little pergolas overlooking a river. Not a bad lunch, but not as much vegies and fruit as we'd like – as usual.

Back into town, to the market. We were here yesterday, so we went down a side street and had an iced coffee instead. Then to the War Remnants Museum – a museum about the war. Not a happy or pleasant pace, especially with all the information about the use of Agent Orange and its effects, both short- and long-term; and the appalling treatment of the population at times.

From here, the bus was continuing to the Cathedral and Post Office; we said goodbye and walked from there. We went via the Municipal Cultural Park, which was a park but had a lot of buildings in it – including the Reunification Palace, which we weren't allowed into. We had to walk around it looking at its nice gardens through the fence.

We then ran into the group outside the Cathedral anyway. Bought some cards in the Post Office, walked back home, and went straight up to the rooftop bar to have our complimentary welcome drink (at last.)

Then business. We'd worked out how much more money to buy, walked down and got it at the ATM; then went to the shop in the minor street where we'd sussed out the cognac and Campari, and bought some. The lady there even remembered that we wanted Campari, and she gave us a couple of bottles of cold water gratis after we'd paid.

This was just as well, because we'd decided to have Banh Mi for dinner – and Alison's research pointed to a place down the other side of the market. We went straight there, but didn't find what we were looking for. But we did drink all the water. We walked home a different way and found a very good alternative just north of the market; we walked to the “Cashless City 2023” exhibition in the middle of the street near the hotel, and sat and ate it there. The exhibition was full of eateries, and banks, and other stalls; but what it's all about we have no idea. It's all a bit obscure to us.

So we got back home before 7pm. Much earlier than last night, and we don't have to get going so early tomorrow morning.

Saturday 17^th June Mekong Day 1

What a place we have found ourselves in!

We slept very well last night, after having a bath and then reading for a while. And this morning, there was no rush; so we woke up slowly, had a playtime which wore me out; went down for breakfast, but this time ate it outside, on the terrace, out of the air conditioning. It was very nice.

Then, as we needed to have some small change for tips (something I don't like, but there has been no obvious wanting of them this trip) we walked down and bought another can of soda water, enabling us to break a VND 500,000 note. Then check out and wait in the lobby.

We were loaded onto a different bus, and driven all the way to the Renaissance Hotel, 5 minutes away – which was the Saigon base for the Jahan cruise. Our Saigon guide, Bui, said goodbye, and our next guide, Yee, said hullo. We handed over our passports and had a coffee and biscuit in their restaurant – and were joined by others, not in our group, who were also on the cruise. A very good thing as many of them seem better value than some in our group. Over coffee we chatted to Brad & Deidre, from Canada.

Just when we were starting to wonder when something would happen, we were loaded onto another bus for the 2 hour drove to Cai Be, where the Jahan was docked. We sat in the elevated back seat with Gary and Dianne; it was quite a pleasant trip. Yee told us, among other things, that the trip we are going on is the first of the season, and that it is, in fact, a very good time to go – being the “off” season, and much less busy.

We got to the marina and walked aboard. And we were “blown away”. We have a lovely cabin, with a little balcony, and big windows; ensuite bathroom; fridge; a little desk and stool. And the whole boat looks really nice. Cabins, dining room, and lounge on the two lower decks; bar. Swimming pool, and forward facing observation lounge on the top deck. The only thing I can complain about is that we may not use much of the cognac or the Campari we bought yesterday, as alcoholic drinks are included with meals, and soft drinks are all gratis.

This trip was advertised as a “Luxury Mekong Cruise” but we are getting a lot more luxury than I'd anticipated!

After a quick unpack (we are living here for a whole seven days!) we went to lunch. A buffet, with a huge range of very nice food; and beer and wine included! Our group was sitting at 3 other tables, so we had to sit with Ortrud and Carsten, from Germany, and Andrew and Nikki from New Zealand. A good table to sit at, except the noise level was quite high.

After a safety briefing, we had the afternoon to ourselves as the boat started its motors and began sailing up the Mekong. It was really nice just to see the riverbanks, and the other boats, pass on by. We spent a relaxing afternoon, doing some reading, before going up to the bar at 6pm for pre-dinner snacks. Here we found ourselves talking with Briony and Phil, from Camberwell. At 6.30 we went to a briefing about what's on tomorrow, then went to dinner. This time, we sat with Briony and Phil, and Lorraine and Richard, from Auckland. A very nice a la carte dinner, with good small serving sizes; noisy, but if talking to someone next to you it was OK. Though tonight my voice is a bit hoarse!

Dinner went till after 9pm, so we skipped the film – a 45-minute documentary about Ho Chi Minh.

Sunday 18^th June Mekong Day 2

We slept well. Although the boat is quite quiet when under way, they always just lie at anchor at night, so it is peaceful. We were woken by daybreak just before 6am, so we went up to the bar for a cup of tea, and then joined in the Tai Chi session on the deck next to the pool at 6.30. There were about twelve people doing it. And then to breakfast (with Ortrud and Carsten, and John and Sharon) and to restraining myself from eating too much of the yummy food.

At 8.30 it was time for the first excursion. We got into two “”sampans” - each of which seated ~16 people, and went up a narrow channel on one side of a big (5 x 15km) island in the river; past lots of water hyacinth farms, and fish farms, and then a huge fish factory. (The fish is basa, which is a kind of catfish.)

Then ashore onto Binh Thanh island, and a walk around the village there; visiting a Taoist temple (where the manager had blinded himself in his left eye to avoid having to fight in the war) and seeing a lot of the local people about their daily life, before returning to the Jahan for lunch (with Stephen and Christian, and Andrew and Nikki) – and restraining my eating a bit more.

After lunch, the next excursion! This time, a short trip in the sampan across to the riverbank – at a monument to those who went and fought in the war – before a drive in minibuses to the city of Cao Lanh – the capital of this province. Alison and I managed to snaffle front seats, next to the driver, which was nice. We were able to see the remarkably empty roads (after Ho Chi Minh City), and I saw some interesting motorcyclists. One, a lady texting on her phone while riding; a motorcycle with both panniers full of live ducks; and another motorcycle with a full-size fridge strapped on the back – the freezer door swinging open above the rider's head as he rode!

We stopped at a lotus products workshop, where Alison made a hat with coloured lotus leaves stuck on it. Nice. Then to the tomb of Ho Chi Minh's father (looking a bit overgrown, but it is a tropical area) and then to a mango farm where we were able to eat some delicious “perfume mangoes”.

Back on board; a talk about life and history of the Mekong Delta; and dinner. We were both a bit tired, so we opted to sit at a table by ourselves so we didn't have to try to chat above the noise. Another very good meal, followed by a cup of tea at the bar – where it was both warmer and quieter. Then, to bed.

Monday 19^th June Mekong Day 3

Tea, up at the bar, followed by Tai Chi – with more takers than yesterday; breakfast with Mark and Carol, from Brisbane, and Brad and Deidre. A pleasant morning chat.

And out again in the sampan – a different one from yesterday's, though it looked exactly the same. We went across to the border town of Tan Chau, where we began with Yee exchanging US dollar notes for smaller denominations. Why? Tips, I presume, but this was never said. We did without. Then it was a (very slow) walk through the market, with Yee describing all the fruits, etc. Really, too basic a commentary for my liking. From here we got into “xelois” - a cart attached to the back of a bicycle; we travelled through town, and ended up getting off at a large colourful temple.

This was a Cao Dai temple – a form of religion which began in Tianjin, in China, and is practised throughout Vietnam. As with many religions, males and females are separated and have to sit apart in the temple. Above the altar – along with dragons, representing the heavens, and the all-seeing eye – is Buddha; and Confucius; and Jesus; and some others as well. While I think it's laudable that they're trying to unify all these religions, it is still – a religion, and I don't understand them at all.

We walked along to the ferry terminal and re-boarded the sampan. Along to one of the hundreds of fish farms which line the banks of the Mekong here, seeing some of the fish being fed; a cruise along past lots of the other fish farms and back to the Jahan, where we said goodbye to Yee (and gave him his tip) as the next item is crossing the border into Cambodia. (Yee was much more like a tour guide today, and less friendly / relaxed than he has been previously.)

We had a coffee up at the bar. And there's a bit less happening today than previously, which is a good thing – we could do with more “down time”. So that's what we had – time to read and just wander about, interrupted by a (very disappointing) “High Tea” at 3pm, and a somewhat basic cooking demonstration at 4pm.

We continued going up-river into magnificent storm clouds,though, so far, today has been dry. Considering it's the rainy season here we've had very little rain so far. The banks of the river seems to have bigger, greener trees, and more buddhist temples, than we had in Vietnam.

Then a talk by the director about what will happen tomorrow, when we are in Phnom Penh (I will have to wear my lungi to cover my knees when we visit the Royal Palace); dinner (sitting a a table by ourselves again, because we were the last to arrive); and then, at 9pm, watching a film - “The Killing Fields” in the lounge. I was quite tired, and nearly fell asleep; but didn't. It was a relevant film to show. I didn't finish till 11.15pm, and, despite it not being a soporific, went to bed and slept soundly all night.

Tuesday 20^th June Mekong Day 4 – Phnom Penh

We woke to find ourselves anchored in the middle of Phnom Penh, with lots of high-rise buildings around us and some bridges across the river. We went up to tea at the bar, and then Tai Chi, while the boat started moving and salied up to a dock, where it tied up.

Breakfast, meet our new Cambodian guide Wayte (who speaks better English than his Vietnamese counterparts did) and we went out for the day. We had to disembark via the roof of the observation room, and we got onto cyclos for the trip to the Royal Palace. (I was intrigued by their braking system, which involved pulling a handle underneath the driver's saddle.)

We spent over an hour at the Royal Palace, a most impressive structure in typical Cambodian fashion; the gardens, the throne room, and the silver pagoda – whose floor is made out of >1,500 tiles made of silver. Quite unusual, but they are very hard to attach to the floor! They crackled underfoot.

From here, we got into a bus. A quite luxurious bus. This took us to to Toul Sieng “S21” prison, a converted school used by the Khmer Rouge as a torture / confession centre. No. 21 of 197 such centres throughout the country. It was quite unsettling, to put it mildly; there were three classes of people put in: Intellectuals, innocents (relatives or friends of the intellectuals) and traitors. They were all tortured and virtually all ended up dead within a few weeks.

We went to lunch at a quite posh restaurant. Alison and I went for a walk to a bank around the corner to find an ATM, but failed. Quite a lot of people would like an ATM as we've just entered Cambodia and have no rials. Back in the bus to the Sosoro Museum of Money and Economy. This was weird – a museum built with no collection to house and no story to tell – they had to find both. And I suppose they did, but not very well. I, and most of the others, found it quite disappointing and a waste of time.

While we were there, the afternoon downpour began. We drove around to the Post Office, which has a line of ATM's, and walked over to them in bucketing rain. I think it was the fifth one I tried which finally gave me some Cambodian rials, at last. Our next stop was the (artificial) hill of Wat Phnom, the centre point of the city. Only five of our group wanted to go out in the rain and walk up; we, of course, did. It was very worthwhile with a large impressive buddhist temple at the top, and a large stupa.

Back to the Jahal. At 5.30 we went to a talk by Dr. Him Sophy, a composer who spent his early teenage years as a slave under the Khmer Rouge, then ended up with a scholarship to study in Moscow, where he lived for 14 years. He played us some recordings of some of his works – a piano trio, a requiem, and a rock opera! Some of these using traditional Cambodian instruments and needing a lot of work to integrate with standard western musical nomenclature. This was very interesting.

The dinner, a barbecue on the pool deck, had to be moved inside because of the rain – though it died out again during the evening, as it does. I started with a Tom Yum soup, flamed with Grand Marnier! Delicious. We had a good table with Richard & Lorraine, and Phil & Briony. And then it was time to go down to the lounge for a performance of dance by the Apsara Dance Ensemble, who were remarkable for their extreme dorsiflexion of their fingers. It was quite good dance (though it's not something I really appreciate) but we are both tired. Getting up before 6am is getting to us. And though we have the opportunity to walk down into Phnom Penh till 11 pm tonight, we're going to bed instead.

Wednesday 21^st June Mekong Day 5

We woke to the sun rising over Phnom Penh, and soon after the Jahan started moving off. We had the usual Tai Chi, followed by breakfast; and not long after watched as the Jahan docked itself by the side of the river, and the crew assembled a gangplank with sides attached, so we could go ashore. It was fascinating to watch – and we saw some people cutting away the overgrowth over the concrete steps we needed to ascend from the water's edge. It made it very clear that we are the first cruise for the season!

We walked ashore, into Koh Chen – a metalworking village, whose products often go to the Royal Palace. It was a short walk along a concrete road with buildings on both sides; though the ones on the river side were all illegal. Despite being illegal, there we two new buildings we saw under construction – and they we quite substantial buildings! We saw various people at work making metalware (mostly bronze or silver), and some people bought some.

This was followed by “time off” till lunchtime. We needed this! It has all been a bit intense recently. (There was a “fashion show” we could have watched, but it's not our thing.)

Lunch. Then onto another sampan and across to the Kampong Laeang district. After looking at the fried crickets in the market we loaded into what were called tuk-tuks – but were trailers with three rows of seats and a roof, mounted behind small motorcycles. Ventilation was good, but we were seated in the front and they were quite noisy. At our first stop we saw something leaking from the engine; oil? Petrol? - no, it was water. Because the engines are being worked much harder than they were designed for, they had a system which dripped water onto the (air-cooled) motor!

Here I saw one of our group handing out lollies to the children who were round about; with the result that then the children started pestering others of our group for things! A silly thing to do.

We went in, and saw a lady who made round pottery pots without the use of a wheel. She was amazingly adept at doing it and turned out a very good product which you would swear was done on a wheel. She was very impressive – but not so the next stop, where there were ladies making rattan baskets. Rather more ordinary. We did walk down into the “back yard” to see rice paddies, sugar palms, and some Khmer cattle.

It was quite a distance to the last stop, and we saw lots more cattle along the way, meandering beside and on the road. But we got to the old Hindu temple of Prasat Pros and Prasat Srey, dating from the 7^th century and now with a buddha inside.

It was a ½ hour trip back to the sampan. We got in and headed back to the Jahar; but not for long, because the boat broke down, It was not made clear what the problem was, but perhaps it was with the tiller. We were able to pull into the bank and tie up to some grass while phone calls were made. There were lots of inane comments from some of the other passengers. Eventually the skipper got us going again, and another sampan came and took us back to the Jahan, having us returning home just before 7pm and dinner time. Very late!

Dinner with Peter and Jen, and a night off wine for us; and that's it for today. Reading and sleep.

Thursday 22^nd June Mekong Day 6

Good sleep again; tea; Tai Chi; breakfast. Today's morning excursion was via ox carts to a school, and back via a different sort of tuk tuk. We decided not to go, and it was the right decision – as the boat tied up to the riverbank, so we were able to go ashore by ourselves and walk, on our own.

So – after I'd lost Alison as everyone else was leaving, only to find, when everyone had left in their carts that she'd gone ashore to watch them – we were able to go for a walk for 1½ hours, along the bank into a little village, into a (deserted) buddhist temple; further down and being surrounded by a school by perhaps sixty noisy children and one of their teachers; then out inland a little through fields of rice and of lotus. We got back at 10.30, just at the right time.

It was really nice being able to do this.

We had a shower to freshen up – it was already quite hot. I'd tried to download emails, but the internet where we've been is very poor.

After lunch, we went up to the front deck to see our return into Phnom Penh, past our dock, into the confluence of the four rivers and up into the upper Mekong. But not very far up, just to the area of Prek Bangkong (where a lot of members of the Royal Family live) before it pulled up at a grassy bank, tied up, and re-assembled the gangplank. This was quite a procedure, even involving cutting steps in the mud riverbank.

We had two destinations here – first, the “eunuch's house”, 1.2km to the right, and then a silkworm nursery and silk factory 300m to the left. We opted to walk, while the others went in a flotilla of tuk-tuks. It took all of 11 minutes down to the first stop, seeing a lot of quite swish houses on the way,but with rice paddies and green fields out behind them. We were wondering how we would identify our destination, but it was easy because we found some of the crew from the Jahan there.

Then, a walk back 1.5km to the silk weavers; where we saw the silkworms wriggling around eating leaves, silk being spun, and being woven. There was silk for sale, at a good price; but we really don't need any.

Back on board. Cocktail hour at 5pm, with a sort of sangria and an attempt at dancing with the crew – not our thing! Before dinner with Tash and Greg, and Phil and Briony – all mixed up. We drank beer, but the others had a bottle of French red per couple – they didn't like the De Bertoli house wine! It's not something I would have considered.

Friday 23^rd June Mekong Day 7

After breakfast, we tied up to the bank at the village of Angkor Ban. There was another river cruise ship tied up at the bank – the first other one we have seen! I think because we are so early in the season. We went ashore for a walk around their temple, and then the relatively untouched village. It was slow, but was quite interesting; one good thing was that there was no way to spend any money there.

Back on the boat, after the monks and their chanting had left (we skipped this part) we continued on up the Mekong. I settled our bill – which was only for the Cambodian visas. I think others will have much higher ones! We went up to the observation room to do our photos. It's a pity Alison's phone photos are so hard to work out. She spent a lot of time on it, but I think I've managed to make it a little easier.

Lunchtime. Phi & Briony, Richard and Lorraine. Lorraine was boring. Then we retired to our cabin, read for a while, had a nice playtime... and felt thankful that we'd been allotted a cabin on the starboard side of the ship. Whenever we dock, we always just look out onto the river, not the shore. Much nicer!

Afternoon excursion came after we'd pulled into the riverside at Kampong Cham – a large town with a bridge and some high-rise buildings. We got onto a bus and drove to a village with rice paddies around it, Cheung Kok, where they made some things out of bamboo and coconut shells. In many ways it was very similar to this morning's village. On the way back we visited the remains of the “bamboo bridge”, constructed each year to connect a nearby island; unfortunately, it was mostly washed away five days ago when a dam was opened.

We drove back to the boat, thinking it would have been much better to have skipped the bus trip and been able to walk down the river to the bamboo bridge. Oh well....

We “booked” Gary and Dianne, whom we'd met the first day, for dinner. So after the boat's staff demonstration and “dancing with the guests” (something we had no interest in) we had dinner together. And found out that Dianne is Gordon Wallace's sister! Amazing!

It was a very pleasant last dinner. We have similar views about some of the others on the trip – not so complimentary. I talked to Gary, Alison to Dianne; and no-one ran out of things to talk about.

And then a “slide show” of photos the Jahan's photographer has taken over the last week. It was quite good.

Tomorrow morning, it it time to leave.

Saturday 24^th June Siem Reap

We woke even earlier than usual. 5.30 am or so. So leaving our packed bags out and going up to breakfast, and spending a long time over it with Phil & Briony, was no trouble. The boat sailed a bit further upriver and pulled up, as usual, by the bank. We all disembarked and got onto two buses. As we drove off, Wayte said ”Do you have everything? Phones? USB's?”

When we stopped after an hour, I asked about USB's. We were meant to have been given one, with all last night's photos on it: but we never saw a sign of it. He rang the Jahan, and – maybe – it will be delivered to the hotel in Siem Reap before we leave. Maybe not.

At the second stop, after 2 hours, Wayte left us, swapping onto a bus going the back to the Jahan with its next guests. We got a new guide, who said almost nothing. On getting into Siem Reap after another two hours, he told us that he was usually a taxi driver but he accompanied the bus on Saturdays!

The bus stopped – somewhere. One couple got out; the rest of us, all going to the Angkor Paradise Hotel, stayed on the bus. No-one knew what was going on. After a while one of the staff from the Jahan got on, and we drove to the hotel. It was close by, and – fortunately – right in the middle of town. We'd passed some big hotels way out on the outskirts, away from everything; it would have been sad to have been put up there.

In the hotel lobby, we met Sojet, our guide – who had been at the spot where the bus had stopped!

All was well in the end, and we are in a fine room on the 4^th floor, overlooking the pool.

We ate our packed lunch the Jahan had given us, then walked out into town; along to the river, down to the market, and a meander home. It was quite hot, and quite touristy – heaps of tuk tuk drivers offered their services. We looked in some shops – things for the grandchildren, new crocs for Alison, and liqueurs – we found they are far cheaper in the shops here than in any of the airport duty-free shops.

We got home with only one wrong turn. Now it's nearly 6pm and we're both feeling quite tired. While the cruise was good, it was a bit intense; and the dinners were slow, not finishing usually till 9pm. We hope to be in bed by then, tonight.

At 7pm we went out to find something for dinner. We found a cheap little cafe almost next door to the hotel, full of locals and without a real menu in English (though there were pictures), where we ate a meal each, with ice tea, for less than $A 6.50. And needed no more.

We went to bed at 9.10pm. Not bad!

Sunday 25^th June Siem Reap

We had to turn off the air conditioner before we went to bed – too noisy. And we slept well, despite being totally uncovered most of the night. We slept in, had playtime, and didn't get to breakfast till 7am. The breakfast was not as good as what we've been used to, but we can't complain – especially as there was no problem in filling our thermoses with iced coffee.

At 8.30 we were picked up in a minibus, and went off to Angkor Wat. The first stop was the actual Angkor Wat; we got off at the East Gate, and walked through to the West Gate. It was already quite hot, and a number of our group found the going a bit tough. We were here before in 2005, and it is both busier (not surprisingly) than last time, but also more tidied up. There is a fine new off-road bike path built, but far, far fewer bicycles than there were before.

But it was still as impressive as ever. Maybe moreso.

After we'd walked through to the West Gate, it was 11-ish. Our guide decided, though it was early, to go to lunch then, and we were driven to a restaurant close by. We decided we'd prefer to go for a walk instead; Sojet suggested that we could walk up to another temple, Bre Rup. While it was along a busy road, very soon we got to an off-road bike path, and we walked on this. Easy, as there were no bikes, and it was a pleasant walk; moreso as we approached Bre Rup and it appeared out of the jungle, rather than from a car park.

Bre Rup was well worth seeing. The others missed out.

We walked back and got back on the bus; last ones on, despite getting back 10 minutes before the arranged time. Six of the others had called it a day and gone back to the hotel via tuk tuk; we went on the Ta Prohm, the iconic overgrown temple. While it was also a bit more tidied up / restored, there were more banyan trees growing through it than I remember.

And on the Angkor Thom, and the Bayon. We drove past the Elephant Terrace, but no-one wanted to get out for a closer look; and at the Bayon, some stayed in the bus. But we went for another walk around it; and then, after a final stop at the South Gate of Angkor Thom, our visit was over. I have no regrets about seeing it again – it's quite an amazing area, even though we've seen only a small fraction of the temples around here.

We stopped at a shop on the way back to town. Sojet, to his credit, was quite apologetic about it; it was part of the deal with his company. But it was a very minor part of the day. Back to the hotel, with the bus developing some sort of mechanical trouble just before we got there; but it did get us there.

By now, it was 3pm or so. We hadn't had lunch; we walked down to the Angkor Market, buying Cointreau, potato chips, and a salad. We came home and ate it – it was very nice. We've had a swim in the large pool, with warm water, here as well.

Out to dinner. We walked around looking for somewhere to eat, and came across Gary & Dianne in a nearby restaurant. We chatted to them for a while, but then went and ate at the place they'd been to the night before. It was a good dinner; slightly better than last night, and slightly more expensive as well – which would not have been hard! And we wandered home again for our last sleep before our overnight flight home – after I'd tried hard, and failed, to do an on-line check-in with Vietnam Airlines. Tomorrow.

Monday 26^th June Home

We tried to sleep in, and were sort of successful. We had a cup of tea, and fiddled around with packed (to let the tea go down), before going down to breakfast, spent chatting to Gary and Dianne again. Then, after succeeding with Vietnam Airlines, we went out for a walk – looking to find and buy the few items we'd come across in the past two days. It was the usual warm and humid weather, but again, no rain. We'd heard this is the (low) rainy season, and while it's been humid, there has been little rain.

We succeeded in finding everything we wanted, and walked back home. Coffee, read, finish at last a very difficult Sudoku; go out to lunch (a sort of Banh Mi) at the restaurant next door we ate at the first night. And the time came around to 2pm, when we had to check out of our room.

We sat in the lobby for the next 1½ hours; played cards and read. The rest of our group were sitting together and talking quite loudly (probably aided by beer) but neither of us felt any desire to join them. I changed into long pants, and Sojet arrived with the bus. Off to the airport, where there was no queue at check-in because we were fairly early. We found a table and chairs to use in the departure lounge, which was very useful.

And to finish – despite quite full planes, we managed to score three seats to ourselves on both the Siem Reap – Ho Chi Minh City, and the more important overnight Ho Chi Minh City – Melbourne leg. It makes it so much more comfortable!