gross [inter]national happiness

Memorial Stupa at the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek Time is ticking against us as we travel by bus from Saigon into Cambodia and into the city of Phnom Penh. We are due to fly back to the UK from Bangkok in just over a week, and so can only afford a whistle-stop tour across the length of Cambodia, taking in this its capital, and Siam Reap. Phnom Penh is an old French colonial town that was once known as 'The Pearl of Asia' . And on our visit its people were some of the smiliest and friendliest we met on our entire trip. Unfortunately though, it's also a city that is possibly best known for one of history's darkest moments - the  Khmer Rouge genocide  of 1975-79 during which an estimated 2.2 million people, almost a third of the country's population at the time, were wiped out in just 4 years. 'The horror, the horror' is a reference to Colonel Kurtz's closing line in  Apocalypse Now  - Francis Ford Coppola's classic 1979 film set during the V...

Our final stop in Vietnam was Ho Chi Minh City , previously (& still quite commonly) known as Saigon and formerly the capital of South Vietnam. It's home to over 9 million people, and our friends Sophie and Stu who were the most wonderful hosts over the 3 days we spent there, guiding us to all the best non-touristy places to see, eat and drink, as only locals can do. On our first night in town we all met up and talked like crazy to catch up while chowing down on plate after plate of fantastic food in an outdoor restaurant alongside the Saigon river. A scene that was to repeat itself every evening (& some lunchtimes), each time in a different fascinating corner of town, and away from the Tourist zones. Ace. They also introduced us to Walt, an Australian Vietnam War veteran who took us out one day on a kind of war tour of the city, flying around the streets on the back of motorbikes. Through his charismatic descriptions, and the use of old photos from the 1960s a...