Today we are travelling to Vietnam. We set our alarm and Simon set off in search of some hot water so we could make coffee. There are no ATM machines here and we get some dollars over the counter at the bank to see us through when we first arrive in Vietnam.

Our guide book advises we don’t use this particular border as the roads to it are bad and it is very quiet with hardly any international travellers using it. However if we don’t go through here we will have to return to Phnom Penh and then catch a boat down The Mekong. Although this sounds good we want to maximise our time in Asia and spend as little time as possible back tracking. So decide to go for it after chatting to Cheang. He can’t take us as he has a prior booking through the hotel which is a pity but has sorted it out with his friend.

After breakfast we return to The Bokor Hotel. Cheang is sat in reception apparently his job today fell through and we ask him if he can take us but he explains he has promised his friend he can take us so its not possible. It�s a shame as he speaks great English and we have got friendly over the past few days. We set off with his friend and before long can see why this border crossing isn’t recommended. The roads are almost deserted and not surfaced and the journey takes around 2 and a half hours of serious sweating.

The aircon doesn’t really work and sat on the leather seats bouncing around at over 35 degrees is pretty tough. The roads are also very dusty and when we finally arrive after getting lost once in the middle of nowhere our gear is absolutely covered in a thick layer of red grime. I have spent the last 20 minutes worrying about accidentally straying across the border as an illegal and getting captured and shot by the Vietnamese but Simon assures me this is not possible across a road even if it is only a track.

By the time we arrive I am slightly nervous especially as the Cambodian border guards seem to think its funny to poke Ali’s arm muscles and rag him around a bit. We leave Cambodia and walk across the bridge to Vietnam and sit anxiously at the SARS detention area. The stern looking Vietnamese border guard touches Maisie’s hair (I guess they don’t see too many blond kids here) and gives us some Rambutan fruit. We are all thirsty and hot and they are very good.

We ask the border guards to ring a taxi for us to take us to the town of Chau Doc. We picked up a card telling us it costs 20 US dollars. But when the taxi arrives on the other side of the border barrier the motorbike fellas all crowd around him and he tells Simon it will cost 80 US dollars. They are clearly trying to intimidate the driver into charging more but Simon sticks his ground and refuses to pay up. We ask the border guards for help and they let the taxi driver up to us where we all pile in. As soon as we are through the barrier they surround the car but we just ask the driver to keep going and make it quite clear we aren’t paying any more.

We get to Chau Doc around 3pm. It seems to be a busy small town and is so noisy. We have rang ahead and made a reservation at The Vinh Phouc Hotel. The owner speaks excellent English and they make us feel so welcome. After our slightly scary morning it’s good to be somewhere that feels safe and friendly.

We get some food, steamed rice, chicken with lemongrass, Lok Lak beef and beef with green peppers. The beer in Vietnam is the cheapest in the world at around 35pence for a largish bottle- hurray there is a beer god! We guzzle down a couple which will I’m sure be the first of many here.

The Guesthouse owner tells Ali that he has a friend who also plays the guitar, he introduces us to an Australian fella called Ray and they spend a bit of time playing together. It must have been a bit intimidating for Ali. The whole family appeared and pulled up chairs the instant we had finished eating and sat there looking at him expectantly!

We head off to bed around 11.30 and have already decided we are going nowhere and doing nothing tomorrow. Looking forward to a seriously long lie in.

I guess as we didn’t scrape our lazy arses out of bed until gone 11am today that does constitute a long lie in and it’s so good! The room we are all sharing is quite big but doesn’t have any windows which is why I suppose, we slept so late. I had a slightly disturbed night though as I was a bit paranoid about cockroaches.

Although I have got used to lizards everywhere and don’t mind the roaches as long as they stay away from me, I had a complete hysterical hissy fit last night when I picked up my towel and a huge roach crawled across my hand. The kids thought it was funny and so did I after about 10 minutes of sat sobbing on the bed. Even though I love Asia and everything about being here I will never get used to some of the big bugs that we have seen.

After breakfast we head off for the internet and send a few emails. The kids spend their time researching the American/Vietnam war and we plan that they will share the information with us and write it up later. We walk through the market up to the river. It’s really amazing we sit having a drink in a floating restaurant and watch the river traffic going by. It looks exactly as I have always pictured Vietnam. The small narrow boats are paddled by women in conical hats and huge dense clumps of water plants drift past.

We spend the afternoon chatting to Dave, he tells us he is from Boston and works as a conservation biologist. He has spent the past 4 years living in South Korea and is travelling around SE Asia for 2 months before returning to the States. Like us he has just arrived from Cambodia and also seemed very enamoured with it. I’m jealous when he tells us he spent a month in north east Cambodia living with the indigenous tribes. It sounds really amazing and something we would love to do in the future.

By the time it is dark we have had a few beers and wander back to The Vinh Phouc Hotel for dinner. Again the food is really good, and we stuff our faces for under a fiver. There are many interesting dishes on the menu and we ask the family to get us some fish and frog for tomorrow nights meal. We are definitely getting braver and after watching a telly program about food taboos on the National Geographic Channel feel we are up for most things.

We get a slightly earlier night and plan to try and see a little more of Vietnam tomorrow.

Well today has been very peaceful and quiet. I have been feeling sick all morning (Taken anti malarials on very little food) and we didn’t really make any moves except to do some maths with the kids. We have been thinking about their schoolwork and are going to try and separate what they are learning a bit more from now on. Although Maisie learnt all the biology really well the physics and chemistry are proving to be a bit more of a challenge for her and we think they will benefit more now from one to one schooling.

We walked up to the river and tried some of the world’s worst ice cream. Simon ate Maisie’s and I looked around for a plant pot or something in which to dump Alisters. Later we spent some time chatting to an American fella called Sam. The highlight of that was finding out he was born in California and went to UCLA. I wanted to know if he regularly rubbed shoulders with the stars and he did mention a few names which disappointingly I hadn’t heard of! (Basketball players).

Tomorrow we are going to catch a boat up the river and see a bit more of Chau Doc. In the afternoon we have planned to go swimming. My last chance to top up my tan before mum and Paul arrive. I don’t want them looking browner than me!

Today has been a much more interesting and eventful experience than the past few. It started early enough (5.30am) when the metal grinders thought they would greet the sunrise. I did manage to go back to sleep around 7.30 but Simon woke me at 8.30 bright and breezy with a cup of “lucky draw coffee” that stripped the enamel from my teeth.

I then discover the packet of cookies in my bag has a hole in and a bite taken from one. We accuse Maisie but she is so outraged that we decide to investigate further and I’m slightly upset to find mouse droppings in my bag. Mystery solved and the biscuits are binned! Still after a shower I’m feeling excited about doing something and we set off for the river.

Chau Doc is a small, very busy and extremely noisy industrial town. On the way to the river we take our lives into our hands as we struggle to cross the roads. They are teeming with bikes, pushbikes, motorbikes and 3 wheeler things with a shelf on the back. Actually there are very few cars so it isn’t too dangerous but there isn’t any let up and the knack is to step out into the road and move across at a steady pace hoping they will go around you which seems to happen most of the time anyway!

The shops are all open for business and the market is bustling. Everywhere we look are piles of fruit and vegetables. We don’t recognise them all although we are getting better and can spot durian, rambutan and sugarcane amongst other things. I see some chickens scratching around waiting for the chop, as well as cakes, biscuits and all kinds of food sizzling in pans, boiling in pots or grilling on skewers.

The Bassac River is massive and we arrange with a lady to have a one hour trip up the river to see the fish farms and the indigenous Cham peoples floating village. We all clamber into the boat and after pouring a litre of green fluid in the engine the lady starts it up and we set off. There are lots of other boats on the river, mainly rowed or steered by women. In the long silk “pyjamas” that are the Vietnamese national dress and the conical hats the women are very elegant and serene looking as they row the boats from a standing position.

First we stop off at the fish farm. The river people live in houses constructed of oil barrels as floats and wood and corrugated tin. Underneath many homes are fish cages. We read that over 90% over the fish is exported to the US and Europe. We stop off and get out, it’s interesting and we are given handfuls of fish food to throw in. The water immediately becomes completely alive with hundreds of large fish all battling each other for the food. Three fellas are fishing with a line and we eventually realise that a large eel is in there also and they are trying to catch it. We guessed that it has perhaps been eating some of the farmed fish.

Next we go to the Cham floating village. As we pass the houses we talk to the kids about the differences in the people’s lives here and our lives. Although the river people don’t live in complete poverty it is obvious that money is very tight and they don’t seem to have many home comforts. The river looks quite dirty and the Cham people use the water for bathing, washing their clothes and as a toilet. I tell Ali not to trail his fingers in it and give him some alcohol gel to rub on his hands. We then watch two, cute naked little boys swimming like otters in the river. It’s funny watching them throwing themselves in and although they must have, in those 5 minutes, swallowed several mouthfuls they looked as healthy as can be so maybe it wasn’t too bad after all.

After slightly longer than an hour we ask to be taken back and are expecting a full on discussion about how much is owed. Basically that’s what we get! We had agreed a price of 3 dollars but when we go to give the lady 4 dollars in Vietnamese dong. (Local currency) she looks at us as if we are mad and obviously don’t understand the currency. Simon is too savvy for that though and after pointing out on a calculator that we have in fact over paid she concedes to him and gives a dirty cackle when she realises we guessed what she was up to. It makes us laugh and we set off for the Victoria hotel for a swim.

This hotel is the best in town and we have to pay to swim there. We manage to get Maisie for free and all head straight for the pool. Its lovely to splash around in the bright clear water and when I get out I sit on a comfy sunbed over looking the river. Simon says it’s quite a paradox sitting in luxury looking at the jumble of metal that are peoples homes just a 10 minute boat ride away.

We have a blissful afternoon soaking up all the luxury of the hotel including huge fluffy towels, free wifi and great western food. We have lived very cheaply in the past few days spending around 15 pounds a day on accommodation and food. Although it justifies to us today’s extra we always end up feeling guilty when we splash out a bit and seeing the Cham peoples simple and basic homes adds to that. Quite rightly I guess.

In the evening we book bus tickets to Can Tho. This is on the way to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and should take around 3 hours. We have also spent a lot of time looking for somewhere to stay with mum and Paul, that fits in nicely with their idea of a decent hotel and our budget. Could be tough but I’m sure the place is out there somewhere.

When we awoke this morning not only was our room in total darkness as usual but it was also very hot. We quickly realised there had been a power cut overnight which isn’t too good as we have to pack. Simon goes and asks the fella downstairs if we can move to a room with a window so we at least have the benefit of some sunlight and when he agrees we lug everything across and go down for breakfast. We have got the kids some chocolate money and give them 20 dollars each. Happy Easter everyone!

By midday it is unbearably hot and I have already had 2 showers. The fans in the restaurant do make a big difference and after packing our stuff up we sit and do some science with the kids. Maisie and I learn the composition of rocks and soil and Simon and Ali learn about sound and the structure of the ear. We are leaving at 2pm and nip round to a decent bookshop so I can change the latest trash medical drama I’m reading for something a bit more interesting.

At 2.15 a car arrives to take us to the bus station. We have paid 5 dollars each for our tickets and this turns out to be nothing short of daylight robbery as we see the locals all piling in the mini van and paying around a dollar each. Most intriguing is a very large lady who gets on in front of Simon. Half way through our journey she starts to undress and we realise she is padded all over with cigarettes. She must have had at least 20 thousand fags strapped around her body, legs and arms! It was quite bizarre watching her taking them all off. Simon said she went from being Jo Brand to Twiggy in 15 minutes. We sat there wondering if she had stolen them or smuggled them perhaps. Either way we decided it definitely wasn’t the usual way to transport your smokes!

Despite that bit of interest the journey is pretty bad. We literally have no room and I felt very sorry for Simon who looked like a scrunched up spider with his knees up around his chest. We don’t see much of Vietnam on the way but what we do see looks very densely populated after the miles of deserted roads in Cambodia. We follow the river and I look at the houses on the way. They are built over the river half on the bank and the other half on long wooden stilts.

After a shorter journey than we expected, which was a godsend due to our squashed up conditions, we arrive in Can Tho. It is described as a large cosmopolitan city and also the political, economic, cultural and transportation centre of this area. We have arranged to stay in a midrange hotel at a cost of 10 dollars per room per night. We are pleased to see it’s in a great location and the rooms are clean and bright with a few extras such as a fridge and telly.

We choose a restaurant by the river for dinner and have a fantastic Easter nosh up. Not very traditional I guess, the kids had pizza and Simon and I shared a set Vietnamese meal which was really good. We had fresh tomato soup, spring rolls, beef with green chillies, chicken with lemongrass, pork with coconut, mixed vegetables, steamed rice and apple pie with ice cream. We washed it all down with a few local beers and filter coffee and despite saying we would get a taxi back decided to walk in an effort to walk off a few calories! The bill only came to 13 quid which was great and we sat in our room planning how to spend the next few days.

Today has been quiet. We didn’t get out of bed until very late and spent a few hours with the kids teaching them the history of Vietnam. They make notes and we decide we are going to base their literacy learning on this subject over the next few weeks.

In the afternoon we had planned to visit the waterpark but unfortunately when we arrived it was closed. Taking the easy option we headed for the most expensive hotel in town and were delighted to find there is no charge for the use of their pool. We surround ourselves in luxury and get on with doing nothing all afternoon.

I have been feeling slightly guilty that we have done very little since we arrived in Vietnam but decide in the end that is a waste of time and just get on with it. Although it does sound very lazy, the heat is draining and sucks all the energy out of you. Like the locals we seem to be spending longer sleeping than usual and have resigned ourselves to the fact that Vietnam is probably not going to be a great cultural experience for us but more of an extended holiday.

Tomorrow we are going to be getting up at 5.30 to visit the floating markets. Oh god. I will never get used to the idea of getting up that early. Enough culture there to last a lifetime I reckon.

Due to sleeping late yesterday I was completely unable to drift off last night and as we had to be up at 5.30 I had a complete freaky at 1am and resorted to a chemically induced coma. Taking sleeping tablets is something I only do in an emergency and when Simon woke me up when the clock went off I really didn’t think I had been asleep for any longer than an hour max.

I was so tempted to tell him that the floating markets could shove it and it was only due to his usual chirpiness that I managed to scrape my sorry arse from the sheets. It was as much as I could do to brush my teeth, chuck some clothes on, my sunglasses and in an effort to convince myself I looked normal, some lipstick. If I still smoked I would have had about 10 by now and even I admit I probably looked fairly sad stumbling along the street, clutching a baguette and scowling around at the world. I am so not a morning and that is the understatement of the century. Being drugged with night sedation really doesn’t help.

By the time we reached the river a little of the early morning goodness has started to seep into my black world and I am actually feeling not too bad. We clamber into the boat and I lean back close my eyes and let the warm sun slowly coax me awake. After about an hour we reach the floating markets and hallelujah the first seller we meet does coffee. Simon grabs a few and despite the fact that he has to gently point out that the fella has short changed him (Twice!) we are on our way.

The floating market here is the largest in this region and we can see straight away the difference between this and the less authentic floating markets near Bangkok that are geared towards tourists. For a start the sellers ignore us knowing that we won’t buy anything of substance. The huge wooden boats are laden down with all sorts of fruit and vegetables. We see pumpkins, pineapples, potatoes etc. The much smaller boats are busy buying from them and will take their produce back to Can Tho to sell in the street markets there.

After paddling around for an hour we start to head back but take a much quieter route through a network of canals. It is a shame to see how disgusting and polluted the water is. We had to stop 4 or 5 times when the propeller became choked with plastic and despite the natural outstanding beauty of the waterways it was spoilt by the rubbish everywhere.

When we arrive back we have our photo taken with a giant Ho Chi Minh statue (No Vietnamese city is complete without him. We make our way to Nanbo’s for breakfast and try and consolidate some of the information we have learnt with the kids about Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh. It is complicated and takes us a few hours to decipher the American intervention in the civil war here. Explaining it to Ali and Maisie is hard and inevitably they draw comparisons on their own about the current situation in Iraq.

In the afternoon we swim at the Victoria hotel and Simon and Ali play tennis. In this heat they must be mad and return to the poolside very hot and tired! We get pizza for dinner and eat it in our room. Tomorrow we are going to Ho Chi Minh City and are hoping to see a bit more of Vietnam and make a bit more of a connection with it. The people I have met here have been so friendly and welcoming to us but I feel there is so much more to Vietnam that we haven’t touched yet. Feeling tired tonight, hopefully will get to sleep a bit earlier and feel more refreshed tomorrow.

Our repacking was a very quick affair today as we had hardly unpacked much. We did have some laundry done so have clean gear although we are having to get our stuff washed after one wear as it is so hot and we all get fairly sweaty! We have arranged a taxi to Ho Chi Minh City. (HCMC) and it is supposed to collect us at 11am for the 3 hour trip. At 10.15 the phone rings ad reception tell us the driver has arrived. Oh my god! We chuck everything else in quickly, race downstairs, pay up and collect our passports.

Two hours later and we have travelled the grand distance of 2 km. The kids have been angels, no complaints at all despite the fact that we haven’t eaten today and when it eventually becomes apparent that we are in fact queuing for a ferry across the Bassac, Simon jumps out and runs across the road to buy some rice, spare ribs and bananas. Our driver speaks no English but drives well and I quite enjoy the ride despite the increased journey time.

We pass lots of rivers and at Vinh Long cross the huge Mekong. As we get nearer to HCMC the number of motorbikes increases a lot. Everyone we have spoken to has mentioned the traffic here and we’re not surprised when the driver is pulled over by the police for committing some minor traffic offence. He pays the fine and gets back, despite his lack of English and our lack of Vietnamese we all speak the same language when nicked by the police and his resigned acceptance and obvious pissed off face was plain to see!

He drops us at An Phu Hotel in Pham Ngu Lao. This is the backpacker HCMC equivalent of Bangkok’s Th Khao San Road. A great place to be, loads of cheap accommodation and very central. As we will be overspending in a serious way once Mum and Paul arrive on Friday we opt for a budget place that turns out to be a real bargain with a bath in the kid’s room, loads of TV channels and free wifi. For 4 pounds 50 per night per room we are pleased with our choice.

I sit and watch American Idol and we head out to get some food around 8pm. As Simon gets some money from the ATM he bumps into Dave the conservation biologist we spent some time with in Chau Doc. It’s good to see him and he joins us for dinner and tells us about his past few days further exploring The Mekong Delta. After a hourn or so catching up we say our goodbyes again, return to the hotel and crash out.

Its 10.45 now and I’m feeling knackered, tomorrow we have to go and get a decent hotel sorted for the weekend so as I guess we will be traipsing around for a few hours I’m going to get some sleep now.

Our task for the day is to find a decent hotel for the next three nights. This isn’t as easy as it sounds as the prices in HCMC are considerably higher than in the Mekong Delta. We have checked out loads of places on the internet and having discarded all the big hotels as too expensive we set off for the area of Dong Khoi. It is the best area in District 1 which is where we want to be. On the banks of the Saigon River, all the top name hotels are here and we check out The Continental first. At 300 dollars per night, its time to look elsewhere.

We head for a three star place we have checked on the internet. It is called The Kindo Hotel. We are pleased to see it looks great, lovely rooms, a pretty restaurant and even a pool although it has to be the smallest pool I have ever seen. After a prolonged bargaining session we eventually book it. Really we are just trying it on, as we know it’s a good deal at 140 dollars a night per room. Seeing it in black and white is slightly scary though. The grand total cost of this place is 18 dollars a night for 2 rooms.

We stop for lunch in a gorgeous restaurant Ali and I have lentil and bacon soup and Simon and Maisie have sandwiches. We have decided to visit The Reunification Palace this afternoon and try and learn a bit more about the conflict here in the 1960 and 70′s.

Following a thousand years of Chinese rule, the Chinese were eventually expelled in the 15th century. The mid 18th century saw the beginning of 70 years of French colonial rule and in 1941 Ho Chi Minh established the Viet Minh whose goal was independence from the French. This was finally achieved in 1954 after years of fighting.

Vietnam was by now, divided into the communist north and the anti communist south. For years, the United States had been supplying the French with military support to forward the” worldwide struggle against creeping communism.” The campaign to liberate the south and the battle against the communist National Liberation Front of the north had begun. The NLF would come to be known as the Vietcong or VC. There would be American soldiers on Vietnamese soil for the next 25 years.

The war in Vietnam escalated rapidly with the intervention of America. US President Johnson ordered 1000′s of bombing raids on the north and eventually every road and railbridge in the country had been bombed. The American soldiers usually controlled the countryside by day but by night the Vietcong got the upperhand.

By 1968 the war had been raging for years. The VC frequently led raids into the south and hundreds of villages were evacuated by the US troops so that they could use heavy weaponry such as napalm. Although the US soldiers were meant to protect the villagers many were killed and their surviving relatives soon joined the VC. The cost of the war in lives and money was absolutely massive, 60,000 Americans, 4 million Vietnamese and a cost to the US of 165 billion dollars. What a waste.

At the end of January 1968 the Vietcong launched a stunning offensive, bombing hundreds of villages. The Americans immediately counter attacked and the result was massive bombing and shelling of the cities. This would prove to be a turning point in the war, as Americans sat watching their TV’s at home grew increasingly disillusioned with the war. There were anti war demonstrations in the States as news of atrocities and massacres against unarmed Vietnamese villagers and the bombing of neutral Cambodia began to leak out.

On the 30th April 1975 the Vietcong tanks smashed into The Independence Palace in the capital of Saigon and South Vietnam surrendered. Saigon was immediately renamed Ho Chi Minh City. As the South collapsed, the last of the American soldiers left as did thousands of southern Vietnamese people. They would come to be known as the “Vietnamese boat people”

As we walk towards the gates of The Independence Palace we stare up at the flag of United Vietnam. We can both remember seeing TV footage of the tanks as they crashed through the gates and a VC soldier ran up the steps and raised the flag on the roof. The Independence Palace was renamed The Reunification Palace and remains today as it was left in 1975. We wander around for a few hours trying to explain the historical importance of this place to the kids. We all enjoy looking at the 1970′s décor which Ali thinks is cool in a retro way!

We head back to our hotel. I am having difficulty understanding the complicated history of the war here and we decide to buy some films to watch to see if this will help. We get Platoon, Apocalypse Now and The Quiet American. (2 quid for 3 films) and decide on Platoon first. It’s a gory film that I have seen before and we decide at the end of it that it has done nothing to make us understand the war history anymore. Although Simon felt it showed how war strips people of humanity and makes them do unbelievable things, we didn’t feel any connection between the film and being here in Vietnam.

It’s quite late but we turn the telly on and are delighted to find an episode of Globe Trekker on. Although Simon and I read loads and did lots of internet research for our trip watching Globe Trekker DVD’s was a huge part of our introduction to travelling for the kids. Listening to the familiar music makes us think of all the nights I used to sit watching them longing for our trip to start. This episode is about Cambodia and its interesting seeing all the places we visited. It does make us both want to go back there though and explore it more.

Off to bed now. Mum and Paul are coming tomorrow, so excited just can’t wait.

We transferred to the The Kindo Hotel as soon as was possible today. It was like stepping into heaven and I know we acted like the Clampits. Walking around the room fiddling with the complimentary slippers and bathrobes, marvelling over the expensive toiletries in stone pots and flicking through the numerous TV channels. We all showered and pampered and finally, thrilled with our new and posh surroundings ordered room service.

The entire day was spent lazing around counting down the hours until Mum and Paul arrive. At last its 6.30 and time to go, we get in a taxi and head for the airport. The kids have made signs to hold up saying “Nana and Granddad” and “Welcome to Vietnam”.

Two hours later and finally we see them waving through the barrier, at last they are here and its tears all round! It’s wonderful to see them, until this point I don’t think I had realised how much I have missed my family and we gabble at each other in the taxi on the way to the hotel.

They have brought the kids loads of presents and Maisie poses in her new clothes looking like a real star. We have a few beers sat on their bed and Ali orders some food from room service. Its so good to see them catching up on all the news and gossip, we all have so much to say but eventually crash out and head for bed. I’m so excited that they are here and can’t wait for the morning.

We are really looking forward to sharing a bit of our world with them. As they were landing Mum said how amazing that they were about to land in Saigon. They of course remember watching the war footage on the telly. I don’t remember that but them being in Vietnam does seem amazing, a bit unreal after all our months of travelling but really great.