Siem Reap, Cambodia to Bangkok, Thailand
Flight 10 of 18
350 miles of 22,121 total miles to travel
It was a toss-and-turn night last night. I got so hot from the duvee but the room was so cold. So I turned the AC off and took off the duvee. Much better. I woke up several times and finally turned CNN on about 6:30. Showered, dressed and packed final things. I'm hoping the hotel will let me stay in the room until I get back from my Tonle Sap Cruise on the large lake just outside Siem Reap. I leave at 9 - it's a 20 minute ride there - a 2 hour cruise - and a 20 minute ride back via tuk-tuk. So I should be back by noon to checkout. We'll see.
Off to breakfast - a light one today - I've been eating way to much and my stomach is telling me to "slow down". I checked with the front desk and they wanted to clean my room for the next guests so I checked out and they put me in Room 2 above the dining room and told me I could keep that until I leave at 4 pm. The bill was wrong as they had charged me for the dinner we had when the apsara dancers performed, but they fixed it.
My tuk-tuk driver was ready early so we headed out to Donle Sap Lake - there was a bit of confusion at first about which lake we were going to, but the other one was far away - and I don't have that much time - and don't want to travel that far in a tuk-tuk either ! But my driver knew exactly where we were going.
The ride was very bumpy but we got there in a little over 20 minutes. Only $10 for the round trip tuk-tuk ride and the driver waited for me at the lake while I went on my tour. I bought a boat ticket for $30 and went to my private boat with guide and driver. This area is all land in the dry season (January) and the boats all move out to the big lake. But during the rainy season this isall flooded and the lake is about 4 times bigger. These people live on these small boats and fish every day for a living. They had been out fishing in the morning and were "beating" the nets to get the small fish off.
There was a floating school, floating market, floating church, and even a floating basketball court. They took me to a school and requested I buy books and pencils for the small children. Today is Sunday and it isn't a school day - so I'm betting this is some sort of scam - you buy the books, give them to the teacher, and she probably returns them to the store and they sell them all over again. My guide was concerned I hadn't bought enough books for all of the children but there was boat after boat stopping here. Oh well, I hope the children get some benefit of this.
We went into the large lake - and it is very much like the ocean. A Vietnamese woman came up to our boat in her small boat and wanted me to take a picture of her daughter holding a water snake - for $1 of course. I don't think so! Not me - ugh!
Lots of women begging for money - these are really poor people. But it is life as they know it. During the dry season, the boats move out to the big lake but come back each year during the rainy season to the same spots. There were boat builders and one man was building a new house boat. Some men were bathing in the water (it wasn't clean!). Most of the boats had antenna for their TV - they use generators to get electricity. But there is no water out here - they have to bring it all in for use in large containers. I'm glad I don't have to live this way.
They dropped me back at shore and my tuk-tuk driver was right there waiting for me to go back into Siem Reap. Another bumpy ride. I'm now in Room 2 and will shower and change clothes before I go to the airport at 4 pm for my flight tonight to Bangkok on Bangkok Airlines. I'll have a 4 hour layover there and leave a little after midnight on Thai Airlines for Munich.
My tummy has been doing flips all day so I'm taking heart burn medication and eating Tums like candy. I decided to go into Siem Reap (Siem is the old Siam!) one last time. I took a tuk-tuk from the hotel for the short ride since it was so hot. Walked around but nothing to buy - same ol', same ol'. Went to Central Bar and Brasserie for a light lunch. I've got to get my tummy settled. Then back to the hotel for a great hot shower and a short nap. I'm going to try to stay awake on the plane until after dinner tonight. We will be leaving here at 1 am Bangkok time on Monday but that is like 8 pm on Sunday night in Budapest. So my thinking is if I stay awake and have dinner (hope it settles), then I can sleep for 6-8 hours and I'll be on Eastern Europe time. We arrive in Munich at 7:30 am on Monday morning. An 11 1/2 hour flight.
I checked email one last time and loaded my picture to the computer and then went down and my driver was waiting. They are punctual for sure. He was practicing his English on me the entire way to the airport - difficult to understand at times, but we made do. He make $30 a month as a driver (oh my God!), and he is going to school to learn information technology - he likes computers. He dropped me at the new Siem Reap International Terminal. I had to wait about 30 minutes to check in for my flight with Bangkok Airways. Security and immigration was painless. The plane arrived from Bangkok and they loaded us up about 45 minutes early. That went so fast that we left Siem Reap about 30 minutes early - that has never happened to me before! Plane was full with lots of Brazilians, Chinese, and Thai people. Small plane and a smooth flight. They even served a nice snack - I ate part of it that I thought would digest without any issues.
Arrived in Bangkok at their new airport - it's huge - and had to walk a long way to the Transfer desk. But they had given me a boarding pass in Siem Reap since I leave on Thai Airways and Bangkok Air does code share with Thai. So I went back through security as required and then to the Business Class lounge. Ate a small sandwich and a diet coke. Now I'm having my evening scotch - yum! It is only 9:30 pm here and my flight doesn't leave for over 3 hours (actually Monday, so this saga will continue on the next blog page!). I sure would like to take a nap, but I'm not going to do it - gotta stay awake and adjust to Eastern European time if possible. I'm just hoping I can sleep on the plane!
I'm listening to Yanni on my ipod and enjoying that. I may make reference to a few of his songs in my book. So today comes to a close in the Thai Airways Business Class Lounge - they do a such good job with service. Looking forward to my flight with them to Munich early on Monday.
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