Fly by the seat of my what now?

As some of you might know, the Bangkok volunteer project that I was going to be a part of has been officially canceled due to the political unrest in Thailand’s capital.  Not wanting to spend the next three weeks driving myself mad from restlessness and boredom, I decided to trade my tickets to Bangkok for tickets to Hanoi, Vietnam.  Here’s what I’m planning:

1. Two days in Hanoi, the capital of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam which boasts a Museum of Ethnology (woot!  I’m such a freaking dork), Temple of Literature (double woot!), a massive mausoleum complex and all sorts of goodness.
2. Catch a train to the nearby city of Ninh Binh and spend three days wandering around its famous scenic views and national parks.
3. Keep pushing south by train to the former capital of Hue where I’ll spend two days basking in the glory of Kinh Thanh (The Citadel), royal tombs and Buddhist temples.
4. On to the beach town of Nha Trang for two days of temple hopping and developing skin cancer.
5. My final stop in Vietnam will be in Ho Chi Minh city where I’ll probably skip self-guided wandering and hop on a boat down (up?) the Mekong to Cambodia’s Phenom Penh.
6. Two days in Phenom Penh will allow me to see the horrors of the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot’s “Killing Fields” before I move on to Siem Reap.
7. I’ll spend the next seven days in Siem Reap and Angkor before heading out on the 29th, just in time for Sydney’s spectacular New Years Eve extravaganza.

A bit of a whirl-wind adventure, but I’m planning on enjoying every minute.