Getting "wat" in Cambodia

I was quite determined to get to Cambodia in time for Khmer new year in mid April. Although Thailand is the best place to experience Buddhist new year, know as Songkran, where the streets become a huge city wide water fight especially in Chiang Mai, my route was taking me to Cambodia via Vietnam and the idea of a local festival deeply intrigued me.

Sadly, Cambodia has a more subdued version of the festival with most people heading to their home villages for the national holiday making services more intermittent. Phnom Penh was actually quieter than usual with a more limited menu and fewer services available, rather than more raucous - though the city's temples were seeing plenty of action with worship and song ringing through the city streets.

However, given the week long celebrations, our detour to the colonial city of Battambang proved more lively. We headed out to the local temples encountering hordes of children and teenagers armed with buckets and balloons of water aimed at each other and passers by. It was a delight to watch the revelry and get soaked by a well aimed balloon as we scootered past in a tuk tuk - a welcome relief from the blistering 38'C heat.

By the time we arrived in Siem Reap most of the week long celebrations seemed to be finished. We'd missed the ceremonies and processions in the ancient temples of Angkor Wat, but nothing could detract from their awe inspiring nature.

Wandering the ruins and the restoration, I wondered whether people would take longer or be quicker in their visits as a result of digital cameras - there is the opportunity for almost endless pictures without the limitations of carrying film; but there's also the possibility of a click and go mentality without needing to form and hold the memories for the shots you might miss. I took nearly 100 pictures in the temples myself, but I did try to put my camera down and see it through my eyes as well as the lens. The beautiful pink, red and blue hues of sunset over pyramid ruins, and the soft golden light of dusk highlighting carved stone and bas reliefs had a beautiful awe inspiring quality. With a little imagination, you could picture the peace found for locals, monks and kings alike, even with us numerous tourists clambering over the ruins like ants.

Coffee and noodles

It's 555am. I've just arrived on the sleeper train from Nha Trang to Saigon, and walked the length of the street to find my hostel. Unfortunately, despite my email indicating an arrival time of 5am, the place isn't open and rapping at the door has proven futile. I am quite sleep deprived. Despite being a more comfortable way to take overnight transport, I have failed to get more then 3 stilted hours of sleep. The strange cocoon like setup of the sleeper bus and its more cramped conditions actually led to a better night's sleep and it was a third of the price. The continual jerking motion of the train, the inclination of my carriage companions to turn on all the lights at 3am and continue their conversation, and the wake up call of Vietnamese opera at 445am, culminated in less sleep than hoped. Oh well. I have made it as far as Saigon and am settled on a larger than usual plastic chair enjoying an iced coffee and observing the bustle of the city at dawn's early light.

I am continually impressed by the level of activity at dawn in Vietnam. On arriving into Nha Trang at 6am, the roads were already hectic and the beach scene was full of people frolicking in the sea. From my vantage point near the local market in Saigon, I can see women buying their groceries and streetside butchers preparing cuts of meat for their day's customers. The flower seller has already made her first sale of white lillies, and the morning joggers are weaving through streetstalls and scooters to secure their exercise for the day.

The coffee is damn good, as is most of the food in this comma shaped country. I've grown rather accustomed to the sickly sweetness of condensed milk to offset the rich, dark coffee and I'm not sure my subtle beloved English tea will be able to live up to its fullsome competitor on my return. My risk of diabetes has also increased in line with my sugar rich Vietnamese diet of juices and sauces with the obligatory extra spoon of sweetness.

The food has equally been incredible. Apart from the bland, repetitive dinners on the boat in Halong Bay, I've not had a bad meal. From the do it yourself nature of Bun Cha (roasted pork patties, with rice noodles and salad in broth), to the 8 course fine dining of the Ly Club in Hanoi (for <£20 per head), I've sampled claypots where the meat melts in your mouth, all forms of noodles in their varying guises, rice pancakes, wontons, summer rolls, Banh Mi in fresh crusty French baguettes and plenty of Pho (noodle soup). Amazing! Kingsland Road in east London is going to have a new regular. And maybe I've got just enough space for a coffee filter and some local beans in my bag too. Yum! 2 more days in Vietnam and plenty more food and drink to be consumed yet. Just as well I'be started the day at 6am then!

Sleep by any other name

This has to be the bizarrest bus I've taken to date. It certainly is designed for sleeping. 36 seats reclined at a 45 degree angle, arranged in 3 rows and 2 levels. If you were claustrophobic, there's definitely potential for cabin fever, as you're forced to lie flat, witg your feet enclosed in the space in front of you, which is also where i'be wedged my small bag as there's no other storage. It's how I imagine the Japanese pod hotels might be, though with better views and more backpackers.

Anyway, I'm intrigued to see how I sleep on this for my $13, 12 hour journey from Hoi An to Nha Trang. I've already booked my onward sleeper train to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), so this may be my first and last Vietnamese sleeper bus. Good to mix it up a little!

And we're off, 15 mins early. The driver has switched on the blue and red strip disco lights and the attendant has handed out the blankets. I'm just waiting for the karaoke and badly dubbed / subtitled films now. Woop!

Sweating it out on Highway 1

We're crawling up hills and through tunnels continuing our journey along the coast in Vietnam. This leg takes us from historic Hue down to world heritage and tailoring heaven of Hoi An, and is so far proving significantly sweatier than our preceding ones. The bus has probably seen better days, and for the first time in my travels I'm not freezing my limbs off due to overenthusastic air conditioning. We've kept the curtains shut for most of it to protect us from the sun, but can final emerge as the sun moves overhead, enabling us to peek out as the coastline comes into view. And what a lovely view too - in keeping with the rest of the vistas we've encountered to date in Vietnam, though this one has coastline as well as paddy fields.

Hue was a pleasant place to pass a day - though wandering the Citadel in the mid-30s heat was in stark contrast to when I visited the Imperial Palace in Beijing which the structure was modelled on, where I was freezing in temperatures below -12'C. The palaces and temples are being lovingly restored after half a century of decay and the Tet offensive during the Vietnam war amongst other battles since 1805. My eye wasn't well trained enough to spot the scars from bullet holes in the city walls, distracted as I was by the tranquility of the gardens fringed with frangipani trees. We cooled ourselves in the heat with local flavoured ice-cream bars, and on a second eating, I was less enamoured with the sulphur smelling fruit durian, than I first thought. The flavour certainly does linger...

So onwards to Hoi An, the tailoring capital of Vietnam. I'm bracing myself to be overwhelmed by the options and be taken away with the frenzy of cheap clothing. Let's hope I can restrain myself enough to leave budget to sample all the local food specialities the place has to offer too.