Where in the world am I?

When I tell people that I am going to Vietnam and Cambodia, right after they wonder why in the world I want to go there, they ask me where these two countries actually are. And to be honest, before I was going on this trip, I probably couldn't pick them out for you from the general lump of the Asian continent. So I've attached some helpful maps.

The first is a map of the world, showing where I live now (NY, NY), and where Southeast Asia is (see the two very obvious red arrows for guidance).

Now let's zoom in on Southeast Asia:

Finally, here are the tour routes that I will be taking through each country.

There. We all feel a little smarter now.

I'm not going to Cambodia because of any weird obsession with Angelina Jolie and/or her son

For the record.

Truth is, a number of my friends are going or have gone to Thailand recently, and while I would like to explore the whole Southeast Asia region, I don't want to just blindly follow in their footsteps.

Besides, our stories will be much more interesting for each another to listen to if we haven't all experienced the same things. So Thailand can wait.

I'm not leaving for three months, but I've already got a blog

I leave for Vietnam and Cambodia on September 8. I'll be in Vietnam for about two weeks, traveling down the coastline from Hanoi to Saigon, and then I'll be in Cambodia for a little less than a week, from Phnom Penh to Angkor Wat/Siem Reap.

In preparation for what I think will be an epic journey (or about as epic as 18 days can get), I'm going to try to keep this blog so everyone can stay informed as to where I am and what I'm doing. Also, this means I don't have to write a lot of emails. When practical, I'll include some pictures. But expect a Kodak Gallery of several hundred photos on my return anyway.

So this post and probably the next few will be the of the dull, preparatory ilk. For example: I just bought travel insurance, which provides for $100M should I have to be Medevac-ed out of Southeast Asia. On July 1 I am going to start the miserable visa application process. Oohh, I almost gave you chills, didn't I?