My plans for going to Cambodia and Vietnam are coming together. Yesterday I gave Lek $US 125 to get some visa's fasttracked for both countries. Today I went to Hualamphong station to look into the train situation to Cambodia. The tuk-tuk driver that I flagged down to take me to the station took me to a travel agent NEAR the station (no doubt he gets a commission for doing so). At the travel agency they told me that for 1000 baht I could take an airconditioned mini bus directly from Bangkok to Siam Reap, which is the city nearest to Angkor Wat. When I eventually got to the station, I found out that they only have 3rd class trains (i.e. hard bench seating with no fans or aircon) which go to a city called Aranya Prathet, near the Cambodian border. The train ride is around 6 hours, and leaves at 5:55 am. On the upside, the cost is only 140 baht ($US3.18). I've read that you can get from the border to Siam Reap by pickup truck. By the way, Siam Reap means "Siamese Defeated" in Khmer. I'm gonna try to find out what that's all about when I get there.

I think I prefer the train / pickup truck option - riding in a minibus with 8 other western tourists for 10 hours seems kinda boring. I'm going to ask around, starting with Khun Lek, to find out about the security situation before I make my decision though. I'll do that tomorrow. Tomorrow I also need to buy some US dollars. I couldn't do it today because I gave Khun Lek my passport so she could organise my visas. I might also try to get some Cambodian Riel, and Vietnamese Dong too.

Somewhat coincidentally, the film that they played at the Atlanta last night was partly set in Vietnam, and the scenes from Saigon have really whetted my appetite for the place. I think that both Cambodia and Vietnam will be vastly different places to anywhere I've been in Thailand. I'm really looking forward to going there now.