2011-11-29 Day 19 Tuesday
Siem Reap Day 1: Fly from Bangkok to Siem Reap
Once again, the struggle to get everything packed. It would sure be nice to have some room leftover in our packs, but it is too late for that now. Pleasant drive to the airport in a taxi, going against rush hour is always better. Had lots of time to spare, but that seemed to evaporate pretty quickly once we were checked in. 15 minutes on the airport free wifi, then we boarded. Quick flight, about an hour, and as we approached, Sandy’s heart sank as we saw huge flooding, and trees poking out through the water. False alarm, turned out that this was the lake shore. We even saw a floating village from the airplane.
Landed and made our way through the airport efficiently and quickly. Really nice to have our visas already in hand. Sandy had some difficulty following the instructions for the finger printing process. Hotel pickup was there with our name displayed, and we were on our way to the Pavillion Indochine. Good thing too, because Sandy was already starting to fade in the heat.
We spent an hour appreciating our room, had a quick lunch in the hotel, then were picked by our guide, Mr. Pines (pronounced “Mr. Bean”‘ which made it easy to remember) and our driver, Jetack. Our vehicle was to be one of the local remorques, which is a smaller passenger trailer towed by a motorbike. We took off to Angkor Wat. Everything we had hoped for, except for the masses of tourists. Here our guide was invaluable, quickly taking us to the noteworthy spots, selecting alternate routes to avoid the crowds. Mr. Pines also took group photos for us in the really good spots, also important to do quickly before the hoards descended on us.
After an hour recovering in the hotel, Jetack took us downtown to a favourite tourist restaurant (okay, I think it tried to provide western style food, and as such, excelled at neither). Back to the hotel, play on the wifi, have a nice hot shower, then tuck in the mosquito nets and go to sleep. I was cold all night, next night we need to do something different.
2011-11-30 Day 20 Wednesday
Siem Reap Day 2:
Nice breakfast, coffee, croissants, omelette and bacon. Even had some homemade yoghurt (with a little trepidation). Then we were off to Angkor Thom, the old capitol city. Actually it was known as “No Koi”, a mispronunciation of which has led to “Angkor”‘. City gates are impressive, as is the entrance into the city. A big line of single file traffic was making its way through the gate; we walked through and were picked up by our driver on the other side.
The first temple today was Bayon.
Then Baphuon.
Then the Royal Palace.
Then the Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King.
These were all within easy walking distance of each other, so sort of flowed into each other. We then hit a tourist restaurant for lunch and made sure that we ordered “Amok” chicken, a local speciality. Turned out to be served in a large hollowed out coconut. Lots of coconut flavour, along with other more subtle spices. Returned to the hotel to relax for a couple of hours and play in the swimming pool.
At 4:30, Mr. Pines and Jetak picked us up, and we ascended the hill up to Phnom Bakheng to watch the sunset. Hung around the top, took a few photos and descended just ahead of the rush. Sandy let herself be accosted by a bunch of enthusiastic merchants at the bottom.
Back to our hotel, dinner and a pleasant night.
2011-12-01 Day 21 Thursday
Siem Reap Day 3:
Another nice breakfast, a little more leisurely because we had arranged to start a little bit later, 9 instead of 8:30. This time, Mr. Pines and Jetack were going to take us out of town see the countryside and visit Banteay Srei, famous for its high relief stone work, along with red and yellow sandstone. This is also the temple where all of the tourists were trapped a month ago by rising floodwaters, and had to be airlifted out by helicopter (a Russian Mil-Mi 6, which we had seen at the airport while taxiing in).
On the way back in, we visited the Land Mine museum, worthwhile seeing. Sobering as you would expect.
Another lunch at one of the many tourist restaurants ($5 per dish, probably expensive for locals). Decided to go out to see the floating village, so that was going to be another long drive out the other side of Siem Reap. Unfortunately, the flooding a month before had really damaged the road, and it was either in miserable shape, or under construction. This slowed us down and made for a bumpy ride. We felt sorry for Jetack’s remorque.
Had a ride out in a nice mahogany boat. Yet another home-made engine propeller configuration, quite different from the longtails of Thailand. As soon as we left the dock, a small sampan sped up along side, and a 6 year old girl hopped aboard at high speed to sell us drinks. Sandy bought drinks for everyone, including an Angkor beer for herself.
The village itself was almost divided into two parts: the dwellings alongside the narrow road/pennisula going out, and the floating portion. Both were very poor. The highlight for me was the little girls paddling washtubs about.
After a long day of driving (and another slow bumpy ride through the broken road) we chose to eat at the hotel rather than go out for dinner and a show. Once again, really enjoyed the local Loc Lak beef at the hotel.
Did some token packing, but since we had lots of time the next morning, there was no pressure to get it finished.
2011-12-02 Day 22 Friday
Siem Reap Day 4: Fly from Siem Reap to Sydney
Travel day. Got up late, leisurely breakfast and a quick ride to the airport. Paid up our bill for the hotel (3 nights), including taxis to and from airport, guide expenses, driver expenses, 1 lunch, 3 dinners. Pleasantly surprised by the total, only $400 or so.
First flight was exactly what we expected, being our 4rth Bangkok Air flight. Quick and we got the expected sandwich meal, in spite of the fact that the flight was less than an hour long.
Airport was fine, but the international transit lounge was not particularly glamourous. Only one choice of restaurants, and we ate in the so-so Western-Thai restaurant. Sandy finally got her Pad Thai, Keiran had satay chicken skewers and a bowl of spaghetti.
Next flight was to be 9+ hours, and then also lost 4 hours of time change, so we didn’t get much sleep. I like the little time schedule that they passed out, explaining what was going to be happening over the next 9 hours, what food and when. Food was excellent, including ice cream and apples! I assume the audio visual was good, but mine was broken, 2nd time for me. Audio book was actually preferable for me, so no problem.
This day ended with me semi-conscious, having to re-listen to my audio book,the next day to figure out what had happened in my brain’s absence.
2011-12-03 Day 23 Saturday
New Zealand Day 1: Fly from Sydney to Auckland, Wander Mt. Maunganui
Day began with a nice muffin and coffee for breakfast. Sandy and Keiran dozed on, both in very uncomfortable positions. Once again, Sandy had bad things to say about parents and yelling babies.
Sydney looked very nice from the air, although the airport wasn’t particularly sparkling, especially after our recent experiences. Went through the usual additional security scan, then sat in our departure lounge for the next hour or so.
Flight to New Zealand was much shorter than I expected. Two and a half hours, and we lost 2 more hours. Yet another short day.
Kim was waiting for us, in spite of having just taken Teagan to the hospital for stitches in shin a few hours before. A short stop to remove an air dam from the front of his car, get the GPS synched and a destination set and we were off and running. Once again, we were back on the left hand side of the road. So far our trip has been: RIGHT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT. Two-ish hour of New Zealand country-side and we pulled in to our luxury apartment that Kim and Karin had accepted from friends. Gorgeous, and THE location for Mt. Maunganui.