We stayed in a hostel here that was pretty disgusting but it only cost $2 a night & had a free pool table & Angor Beer (best beer in the world bar one which is in Oz) so for 2 nights -no bother! And they usually sort you out with a tuck tuck to bring you around the temples -don’t bother getting up at 5am like some nutters do -10am is fine & after 13 temples you’ll be jaded anyhow -make sure you see the furthest one out & the lightning one &of course the one that is being eaten by the trees!
Indochine is a beautiful restaurant that serves Amok = fish curry -Cambodia’s national dish but very hard to get it really tasty & here it was delish! http://www.cafe-indochine.asia/
New Dehli is the best Indian we’ve ever had although we’ve haven’t been to India yet… & the family are so nice -bring you up all these different sauces & chutneys to taste. http://www.restaurantnewdelhi.com/
Dead Fish Guesthouse is a surreal experience -they have real live alligators in a moat around the bar which you can feed for $2 while enjoying a drink yourself -great craic!
Phnom Phenn:
We got a $6 bus to Phnom Phenn which lasted 8 hours -make sure you stock up for the journey & bring tissues (toilet situation is dire!) Also buy yourself & good rain cape with a serious hood.
Get yourself & good tuck tuck driver when you land (the one we had was studying in uni & had great english) -make a deal with him to look after you for the few days you’re there, on-call for food & drink place drops etc. -he’ll bring you to S21 (torture chambers) & the Killing Fields.
While in Cambodia we got visas for Vietnam -they disappear with your passport for a few days but its normal although pretty scary at the time! We went with Happy Happy Tours - hilarious outfit -they make you sing their song when you get on the bus at the border crossing!
Ho Chi Min:
Go to the Cu Chi Tunnels -they’re amazing!! And climb down through both of them -you get a great sense of achievement following the path of the Viet Cong people who lived underground for 26years by going 10m down with zero visibility, being covered in muck and getting seriously sweaty!
I didn't make it to the Mekong Delta but it's meant to be beautiful and the Napalm Museum really eye opening.
Reunification Express:
Organise your First Class berth ($80) (share with 2 others or maybe more that may be hiding under the covers as we found out & great banter) for the Reunification Express Train, they get sold out really quickly. It’s the most fantastical journey I’ve ever been on-get on the train drunk & risk being run-over by an oncoming train; bring food & more beers, water; join in the 8 bunk berths sing-a-longs if you can find them down the train; wake up & look out the window as you whistle past the women in the padi fields collecting the rice with their conical hats and misty cliffs that defend the land from the beating of the South China Seas…. https://vietnam-railway.com/train/SapaTourist/reunification-express-train
Dalat:
You can get this train either from Saigon for 2 days up to Hanoi or else take a bus to Dalat first in the Vietnamese Rainforest. Here you'll stumble upon a brilliant smoking Café Tung in the centre for coffee & hot chocolate; eat the local noodle soup which is called Pho Bo.
Theres a deadly rollercoaster that bring you down to Datanla Falls & cable car which journeys right over the middle of the forest.
Back on the bus to Natrang (a tourist rip-off resort) then its an over night train journey to Hanoi on the Reunification Express.
Hanoi:
Stay in the Cathedral Quarter & drink Bia Oi which is fresh one day old beer -sold at the crossroads as you sit on tiny stools & are handed plastic cup fulls for 8c. after 10 you’re nicely tipsy & no hangover!
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