Temp blog post

End of day 10
We went wandering the town for somewhere to eat and matt found this awesome little local place that did nodle soup and not much else. It was super cheap and delicious, and despite the locals laughing at us for not knowing what to do with all the spices and sauces it was great fun. On the way back to the hotel we bumped into a canadian guy who had been on our night bus to hue.We decided to all go out for a beer which turned into several and then i found a place that served vodka redbull buckets for $1.50. The night gets a litle hazy from then on but got some great stories...

Day 11
Perhaps the buckets weren't such a good idea as we had to be up and out at 8 to go see the cu chi tunnels. Draging our selves out of bed we made it down to the hotels breakfast (omelette and bread) and then onto the bus for our tour. We were massively delayed leaving while the driver tried to get people in off the street in order to fill up the bus. Me and Matt chose the worst possible seats which weren't fixed down properly and had no leg room so the journey there was pretty bad. Once we arrived we saw a massively pro-vietnam film on the war against the "the american devils" and then our guide showed us round the site. It was the same as last time but still pretty cool seeing how the built the tunnels and how intricate they were. I managed to fit down the same hole i did 3 years ago (thanks to the fantastic diet that is "paying for your own food", side note but i've lost about 2kg already). I then (and the significance of which is lost on all but my family) went through the tunnels! They turned out just to be dark tunnels as i had suspected. Later on we went to the shooting range where matt fired a pretty big machine gun.
We returned home around 3 so went to check in to our next hotel. It was incredible, a true 5 star hotel. the room was huge and had loads of free stuff to nick! After checking in i went to get my passport sorted so walked down to the embassy. Apparently i needed a copy of my flight itinery and was told to come back tomorrow.
On returning to the hotel we went for a swim in the pool and some guests that were leaving gifted us a half drunk bottle of rum as they couldn't take it with them, result!
In the evening we went out for a meal at a different noodle place which was nice but not as good as the first.
Shattered from the early start we decided just to go to bed and fell asleep to some CSI on the TV.


Day 12
Really shit day sorting out visa.
That sentence pretty much sums up the day but i'll elaberate for those of you that have nothing better to do.
I went to the embassy at 9 and handed in all my documents and she said come back at 3 and it will be ready.
I returned at 3 and had to pay $180 for this new temporary passport (will have to get a proper one for more money when i get back to the UK). It also listed the countries and the exact days i'll be visiting them so i don't have any flexibility anymore so had to count visiting laos out. Next i had to get a new visa as the old one was lost with my passport. After waiting around for an hour (apparently no one knew what a queue was) i eventually saw the man who could give me a new visa. He said it would be a week before i could get a new one. I explained that i didn't have a week as i had to get a bus tomorrow. He said if i wanted it tomorrow i'd have to pay $200 and $25 for the visa. I told him i didn't have the money for that, all he had to do was use a stamp, it takes 2 mins. I soon realised it was just a bribe for him and so tried to haggle him down. After 30mins of getting nowhere and shitting myself that i'd be stuck in nam for another week i resorted to crocidille tears. Not my proudest moment but got him down to $25 and $25 for the visa. He said come back at 9 tomorrow to pick it up. Exhausted and broke we resorted to having instant noodles in our 5 star hotel room before getting an early night.

Day 13
Got up early and had the an awesome breakfast buffet at the hotel, with cearal, bacon, omelettes etc.
Headed off early to the visa place to make sure i had enough time to catch my 12:00 bus. i arrived at 8:30 and was told that he had to wait for his boss to arrive at 9. At 9 i asked again and he said his boss would be late in, try again at 11. I told him i had to catch my bus and he said he could do it earlier if i gave him another $100. I told him i'd wait. At 11 i asked agin and he said his boss is still not in and that he would do it for $75. I told him i really needed to catch the bus so he said wait. At 11:15 i begged him to do it as i'd miss the last bus for the day. He opened his draw, took out my passport and gave it to me. He had it done the whole time. WHAT A WANKER!!!
I then rushed back to the hotel to pick up my bags, said goodbye to matt who was going home and let him know i was all sorted then rushed to the bus station to catch the bus. In typical asian style the bus didn't leave until 1:30 while the driver rounded up passengers to fill out the bus.
After a small delay at the border while they tried to work out what my emergency passport was we got into cambodia. On the bus ride i was sat next to a cambodian girl who had been studying in america for the last 2 years. She was really nice and told me what to see and where to go etc. She even said she'd take me out to the clubs where all the locals went instead of the western bars but i was knacked so i said i meet her tomorow. We eventually arrived at 8 and i got a moto to the cheapest hotel i could find. $1 a night but you get what you pay for. The owner had to remove 2 cockroaches from my bed when we entered, there was no fan or air con, one of the windows was missing glass and there was no shower, just a squat toilet. I was so tired i didn't care and just fell asleep.

Day 14
I got up early and promptly checked out. I quite like cheap and rough places as it's part of the experience but i needed a shower. I looked up a hostel for $6 a night online and it was awesome. Had a pool, a pool table, really friendly staff and was prety central. I spent the day doing cultural stuff inlcuding s-21 prison and the killing fields which is harrowing and i probably should have done them on seperate days. I saw far too many dead bodies and skulls for one day. To cheer myself i up i went to the market and seeing as i had run out of clean t-shirts bought myself a couple of new ones to tie me over until i could find a launderette.
On returning to the hostel i bumped into the canadian from the night bus again and we went for dinner. It was really nice and super cheap. Later that evening we met up with the cambodian girl from my bus and she took us to loads of great abr and clubs. Drinks were crazily cheap and things got a little hazy after the first couple of bars but i have some great stories.