I've made a relatively snap decision to go for a quick trip through Cambodia and southern Vietnam. I wish I had thought of it before, because I only have about 20 days before my flight from Bangkok back to Melbourne.

The itenerary I just sketched out in my notebook basically involves taking a train from Bangkok to Phonm Penh where I'll stay for 2 nights. Then I'll get a bus from Phonm Penh to Saigon, where I'll also stay for 2 nights. I'd like to find a coastal town in Vietnam to spend a couple of nights as well. After that I'll catch the bus back to Phonm Penh, then another bus to Angkor, where I'll join the million other tourists gawking at Angkor Wat. From Angkor I'll take a bus back to the Thai border, where I can get a train back to Bangkok. I want to spend at least a couple of nights in Bangkok before I return to Australia to do some shopping, which is an activity I've been resisting for the past 2 months in the interests of keeping my luggage (relatively) light.

This is a tad unplanned, but I think it should be fun. In a few minutes time I'm gonna go downstairs and talk to the Atlanta's travel agent Lek (this is her nickname, it means "small") who's having her lunch right now. I need to organise visas for both Cambodia and Vietnam, and Lek will help me with this. I'll also need to go out and buy some U.S. dollars, which are widely accepted in both countries along with their native currencies.