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One of the benefits of mostly pretending it wasn’t happening was we didn’t obsess about getting ready for months. We pretty much did our whole prep in under a week. Plus, our Africa experience taught us a lot about what to bring and we already had some quick-dry clothing. An afternoon at REI and Cabela’s completed our inventory, including new shoes, bug spray, and just in case, a water purification straw.
My friend Les drove us to the airport in style in one of his 6 Lincolns (the red one). One benefit of traveling to Asia is the flights leave at night so we didn’t have to get to the airport until mid- afternoon. Luckily we left ourselves plenty of time since the on ramp to I-84 to the airport was closed and we had to detour. But because we had plenty of time, we didn’t panic.
The airport was fairly uncrowded. It looks like Sunday afternoon is a good time to travel. Our first stop, LAX. That flight wasn’t too bad. We landed out at a terminal extension and had to take a bus to the main terminal. There was a bit of confusion about which one to take (and a woman on our bus had gotten on the wrong one) but we figured it out. We had plenty of layover time so it kept things calm.
The International terminal was a zoo. And it seems to me they always are. Something about leaving the country or long flights or who flies internationally, but the tension level and noise and what not is always higher in the international terminals.
We tried to find food with limited success and ended up with (expensive and not great) pizza.
It was an endless 14-hour flight to Hong Kong but at least there was good in seat entertainment. I watched Creed, Inside Out and Borg/McEnroe. Plus, some other random stuff. Marion and I had across the aisle seats so we both were on the aisle which was nice. I had specifically requested that. As 14-hour flights go it wasn’t too bad. Except for the food. It wasn’t the worst food I’ve ever had on an airplane. That distinction goes, likely in perpetuity, to British Airways. But Cathay Pacific was number 2 and could give BA a run for their money. Their only saving grace, Haagen-Dazs ice cream bars.
It was early (5am-ish) in Hong Kong when we arrived so there was no coffee to Marion’s dismay. The only option was waiting with a giant crowd at McDonalds, where she doesn’t even like the coffee. We didn’t want to wait. Two English children seemed to have found some though. Four adults, including the nanny, couldn’t manage them. They were running around the terminal like wild men, blithely ignoring various requests to settle down and attempts to corral them. We hoped they weren’t sitting by us.
The airline never announced (at least not that we heard) that the flight was boarding. It just seemed like a crowd showed up at one point. We figured we’d better join them and that seemed to work. Luckily we were paying attention. And given we’d been up for 20+ hours, that’s saying something.
The English children were not near us on the flight to Siem Reap, but there was a very small baby by me. It was just a few months old. But it was better behaved than the English children. It barely whimpered.
We arrived in Siem Reap where it was clearly warm out and headed into the building to customs.
There was a long counter where 6 or 8 border security guys were lined up in an assembly line for visas. They looked very cute in their spiffy uniforms, like children playing dress up. But we couldn’t take their pictures. That’s too bad. But we would have ended up in Cambodian jail and that’s no place to be. A smiling border guard took our papers, looked them over, then said ‘pay up’ in a joking way. (There’s a fee for the visas.) It threw me for a second but then I figured out what he wanted.
Since we were arriving a few days early there wasn’t anyone to meet us. I knew from the Internet there was taxi service so we looked around to find it. There was a convenient office and without too much trouble we figured out how to get a taxi (10 bucks! A bargain!) The driver rolled up in a very nice Lexus SUV. His name was Saroun and we had a nice chat with him on the way in. He wanted us to hire him for the day for sightseeing (a theme that would be repeated endlessly by everyone we came in contact with).
There were lots of hotels lining the streets. Clearly the town is for tourists. (And it turns out the town was essentially built to provide tourist facilities for the temples once they decided to open them for tourism). Our driver tells us that tourism is down, especially for Europeans. There were a lot of Chinese tourists but that was not good for him because the Chinese arrive en masse on bus tours so he doesn’t get hired for those. We saw lots of those buses. I’m sure the Americans were like this back in the day but it does seem our day has passed.
Five people greeted us bowing at the hotel. Asian service overkill. I’ve experienced this before in Hong Kong and Seoul. Someone meets the car, someone else grabs the bags, someone else greets you at the door, etc. etc. I never know who to tip!
It’s 10 am. The very nice bell hop tells us the room won’t be ready until 5. 5pm? WTF? I thought check in was 2? We could sure use a rest. But it was not to be. And the next problem is what to do with our stuff while we wait. I’m okay leaving the suitcases but I don’t like leaving the carry-on bags since they have the expensive stuff in them. And it appears the luggage storage area is a pile in the middle of the lobby. But there’s not much choice so we reluctantly hand over everything to the bellman. Marion tells him how important it is to keep an eye on them (thus ensuring he knows there are valuables in it). But the hotel staff seems very upright and responsible and I’m sure would have been hugely offended if they thought we thought they might steal from us. Although I was more concerned with random people walking out with something.
We decided to walk and look for food. It’s hot and muggy. Every tuk-tuk driver tries to get us to hire him but we persevere. (The tuk-tuks are open sided passenger vehicles pulled by motor bikes. They are the primary form of transportation in the city.) We walked for about 10 minutes but when we hadn’t gotten very far and the sidewalk ended we happened upon a guy who offered us a 1-hour tour of the city for $2. Marion really needs to eat, and soon, but we haven’t seen any restaurants and that seems like a deal to me so off we go.
He’s friendly and we can mostly understand him. He starts off with cultural attractions which were interesting. A temple, the markets, and ‘pub street’ where, true to its name, there are lots of pubs and it apparently gets pretty wild in the evenings. It was fun to ride around. Tuk-tuks are cool. There are scooters/motorbikes everywhere. Some cars but not many. The roads are marginal so it’s a bit like the “African massage” we got on safari (very bumpy, a good core workout). Marion is starving and starting to lose it but our driver finds a bakery just in time. We buy 5 or 6 items and a crisis is averted.
We continue our tour but the next stop is the silk ‘museum’ and the silver center and it’s clear it’s now an exercise in going to his friends’ stores with pressure to buy things, so we beg off to head back to the hotel. At the silver store we thought we heard people playing ping pong but it turned out to be the hammers of the people working on the silver! All by hand. There was a guy making silk on a small loom using his feet to move sticks back and forth to switch layers of fabric. We end up at close to 2 hours and give the driver $5 which he seems to appreciate greatly. “I’ll be around, hire me tomorrow”
The room is ready when we’re back (at 2 not 5!). One guy walks us up and shows us around. Another brings up the bags. Who to tip and who not to tip? Ugh. The room guy got nothing. The bag guy got some. Who knows?
We had a much needed lie down. I conked out big. Marion went to the pool for a bit then woke me for dinner downstairs. I was very groggy and out of it but I managed. Pad Thai for me. Fried fish plate for Marion, in a basket that looked like the ones our driver showed us by the river for catching fish.
Now it’s time for our first experience with the plugs and power. We had each gotten a transformer to charge our phones and I brought a variety of plugs (since per Google the countries we’re visiting use 2 or 3 different types). But my transformer doesn’t like the high speed phone charger. It keeps switching between low and high voltage which resets the power, so I can’t use it. There was a moment of panic until I realized the laptop can handle 220 volts and I can charge the phone via USB cable. It was a good thing I brought the laptop (not that I go much of anywhere without it)!
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