Day 67 - Sunday March 5 - Siem Reap, Cambodia

Angkor Wat photos

It was an early start today after a long, tiring day yesterday. It was another hot, hot, sunny day in Cambodia. We now have a new standard for hot. There used to be Africa hot for really steamy, now there is Cambodia hot. In minutes your clothes are just soaked through and the mosquitos are thick in the air and on the buses. We all got wake-up calls at 6am. Breakfast at 6:30am. Bags to the front desk by 7am and the buses were to depart by 7:45am. There was just one problem. All the times given to us on our printed itinerary on the ship have been changed by the local ground operator. They tell us the changes verbally but then they change again and sometimes, word of mouth does not reach everyone. We left at 8am.

We slept right through to about 5am in a very chilly room, but no complaints from us. Cold was better than sweltering and it had the added benefit of slowing down the mosquitos. We had an alarm set, but barking dogs woke Clay even earlier. We were up and ready for breakfast by the time the wake-up call came. We checked out and turned our suitcase in at the reception desk and went to the Cafe for breakfast. It was a buffet and wow, what a buffet. They had eggs benedict, french toast, an omelet station, fresh fruit, cold cereal, chocolate croissants, and about 30 other things including 6 kinds of dim sum! But, they ran out of orange juice before we got there and it was never refilled. They had apple and watermelon juice. They served some really potent but delicious coffee. Debbie got a cup and overheard someone comment that it was really strong so she put in extra sugar, then she poured in a lot more milk than she normally uses and never got anywhere near the color she usually drinks. But, she tasted it and liked it alot. She knew she had a flight and a long day ahead, so she asked for a 2nd cup. By the time we got to the airport her hands were shaking and it lasted until nearly lunchtime. Very potent coffee! But, she did stay alert. It was an amazing and delicious breakfast buffet. But, the chocolate croissants were no where near as good as those on Voyager.
The drive to the airport was uneventful. We did not see anything new and the traffic was not too heavy. The airport was nearly empty unlike our departure from Ho Chi Minh City. We got our tickets, happily we saw we had seats together this time. We were through security pretty quickly and had time to stroll the airport. Unfortunately, this was a pretty small airport and all there was to see was a pretty bar area, restrooms and a small gift shop. We did get some funny T-shirts with artwork showing a family of pigs on a motorscooter on the front and Cambodia printed under that. Now we did see the pigs on the motorbike in Vietnam, but if they put it on a shirt here, it must happen all over this peninsula. We boarded an Airbus A320 about 5 minutes late and around 10am we took off. The flight was smooth and lasted about 30 minutes. About 15 minutes before we landed they put a box on everyone's tray table with a meal and orange juice and water in it. It had ham and fish and fruit and a roll and butter in it. But as soon as we opened the boxes the pilot announced to prepare for landing, and they came back around and collected them from us. Some people did eat what was in there in that time, but mostly we just drank the drinks. The flight was full and we were not expecting a jet as the guide in Ho Chi Minh City had told us all our flights would be on prop planes. We landed in an even smaller airport in Siem Reap. We had been warned that we would switch from 2 buses of 30-some to 3 buses of 20-some. The reason was that the buses had to be small enough to fit through the gates at Angkor Wat. Wait 'til you see the picture. The gate must have been built to accommodate an elephant and nothing larger. We know because we had to back up the bus on the way in for 2 elephants that were coming out. It was a gate full of elephant, or bus, with just inches to spare! So, our 3 buses were waiting and we only had to wait a while for the luggage. Since this flight was not mostly RSSC passengers that took a little longer. Plus everything was manually done, no conveyor belts in sight here!

We went first to Bayon in Angkor Thom. It was straight down a dirt road about 15 minutes from the airport. It had amazing bas-reliefs. You would not believe they had been there for over 900 years. It was full of towers with four-faced heads. This was after the bridge with 54 guardian statues over a moat and through the amazing south gate described above. This was a high-risk walking day. There are of course all these old stones to walk over and through and around and on and past, not to mention the roots and holes from missing stones, etc. It was inevitable that people would fall. It was very crowded and the sun was either blinding you or else you entered a dark room and could see nothing and all the while the surface where you are walking is all angles. Then,there are the crowds. Swarms of people, some pushing and shoving to stay with other groups and some just rude people trying to get past the groups. Fortunately, no one broke anything, but there was a lot of stress. We both think we twisted every joint on our bodies at some point today. Kudos to all those who made it through the day. We cringe to think of trying to do something like this in 10-20 years and there were some much older and less fit people along. Some of them complained that when they got the literature on this tour and when they booked it that no one warned them about the amount of walking, stairs, heat, unlevel surfaces, etc. That is true, we did not see any warnings either before booking, but we had also read about it beforehand and did know that it would be like this.

Then we did a drive-by, inside the Angkor Thom complex, to view the Terrace of the Elephants and Terrace of the Leper King. Then we drove past the Sofitel Royal Angkor where we will stay tonight and to a new hotel called Sokha. It was very beautiful and we had another great buffet lunch there. Once again, there were extra ground people when we arrived and lunch was ready and waiting for us and there was plenty of food. They had a great array of choices with many Khmer dishes and another noodle station. They had 4 kinds of ice cream and a chocolate fountain which were big hits with all of us very sweaty people. After a long leisurely lunch, we drove back out and went to Ta Prohm first. This is the "jungle temple." It has been nearly destroyed by giant trees taking root in the buildings and walls. At this point, the trees are holding up as much as they had previously knocked down. It was another amazing sight. We started here because the walk and much of the temple complex are in shade from the jungle. So, as the afternoon wore on the guide expected it to get cooler. Unfortunately, by the time we got to Angkor Wat, while the sun was no longer overhead, it was angled into our eyes. We walked to and across Angkor Wat from east to west, so into the sun. Life is just full of tradeoffs. It meant that you could not really see or take pictures of anything until you passed it and looked back. This is so huge, it is impossible to take it all in. Our guide walked us around one side of the 2nd level but told us not to go to the third level. Of course, some did. They said that the views from up there were amazing, which is to be expected. They also said there was a reclining Buddha up there. While the guide was full of commentary at the 2 earlier wats, he had almost nothing to say at Angkor Wat.
The first big snafu of the trip was when the guide told us on the way to the hotel that he had called and they would not be ready for us to check in for 50 minutes. He had a revolt on his hands. He wanted to take us to some stone and woodcarving workshop. Then, he really did have a revolt. We had all had enough of those forced marches through endless showrooms and were not ready to repeat the experience in his country. He got back on the phone and we were on our way to the Sofitel Royal Angkor. This was apparently a replacement hotel. Not clear why and no one made any announcements about the substitution but it was fine. This hotel is closer to the temple ruins and further from town but there are all kinds of new hotels in the area or under construction around here. This is not as impressive as the hotel last night, but it is much larger and newer. Also, the spa is a lot more expensive. After the flight, bus rides, and long killer hikes and climbs we both considered some kind of leg and foot massage. But, the measure was the 1-hour massage cost of $45USD here vs. $30 last night and they did not have any leg and foot massages anyway. Oh, well. We got right in our room at any rate. It seemed that the hotel had planned a little band to play and costumed girls to throw flowers in our path for our arrival and wanted all the buses to come at once. They didn't. Our bus was first to arrive and that was why they tried to wave us off. They told the guide to tell us that our rooms were not ready and he did. But, as a group, we told him to call back and say that we would sit it the lobby, or the bars or just give us our bags and we would use the public restrooms to change and use the pool. He did as told and they let us come on ahead. This meant that they had to get their performers to stay longer and welcome each bus individually as it arrived, but our keys were all ready for us again the moment we arrived. We stepped out of the buses right in front of the little band, walked through the flower petal girls and into the lobby to cold wet washclothes and iced lemongrass tea in martini glasses. Then out the back door of the lobby to a table with our keys already assigned to us. We just picked them up and we were escorted directly to our room in the back of the complex with another street view and our waiting suitcase. It was very well air conditioned and a nice, large room with beautiful hardwood floors. It had one large bed this time and was already turned down when we arrived. We asked our escort on the way to show us, and she did, where we would have breakfast and dinner. Dinner was changed to 8pm tonight so we had about 2 1/2 hours to kill without falling asleep! We walked through the Magical Memories Boutique, the hotel's boutique and got 2 T-shirts with images of Angkor Wat temples and a hotel logo on them. They were around $10 each. The ones this morning at the airport were $15 each. We probably could have gotten t-shirts cheaper at markets here, but our tour did not include any stops at open-air markets or time allowed to go to one when we were parked near one. Oh, well. These were all nice shirts we got and they were not too expensive for us. But, it would have been nice to have the chance to spend more money in the local economy.

Dinner was outside again. We have no idea what would possess anyone, much less two nights running, to eat outdoors here, but we did it. It was even more buggy tonight than last night. Now, both settings were beautiful and picturesque. But, the heat, humidity and bugs were overwhelming. Tonight, we had entertainment, traditional Khmer music and dance. Apparently, this hotel has this as a normal event in the courtyard outside. It was all set up when we arrived and the stage was permanent. The entire thing was by reservation and it looked like RSSC had the whole thing booked. The food was good. This time the noodle station was Khmer stir-fried noodles with pork. It was good. They had a lot of choices again and the overall consensus was that everyone will be happy to have a hamburger in Compass Rose when we get back on the ship. Clay said he was not eating another meal outside for a long time, no matter what they are grilling on the Pool Deck! The entertainment was very good and fascinating. How do they bend their fingers and toes back like that! At dinner, we were informed that we would all get a 6:15am wakeup call. Breakfast is at 6am. Suitcases to the front desk between 6 and 7:15am and buses leave at 7:30am. We fly out at about 9:30am from Siem Reap to Bangkok, Thailand. The flight will be about an hour. We should be in the 2 hotels that the rest of the ship is spending the night at by noon. We have tickets for the 2pm shuttle back to the ship on the 7th, so tomorrow will need to be a busy day. We have not booked any tours in Bangkok. We expect to try to either go independently or to hire a guide at the hotel either through the concierge or the ground operator hospitality desk. We will have to see after we get there. We had expected to be at the Shangri-La originally, but we find ourselves assigned to the Peninsula across the river. It is supposed to be very nice, but the drawback of course is that you have to cross the river for everything. Oh, well. We are looking forward to our first visit to Bangkok and since Phuket has been cancelled this will be our only time to spend in Thailand at all this trip. We hope to make the most of it if we can keep up the stamina!

We have had a lovely time in Cambodia. The people are very friendly and welcoming. Many of them speak English. There is poverty and a lot of begging but we have felt quite safe and not seen anything that we felt threatening. Everyone we have met has thanked us for coming to Cambodia and really quizzed us about how long we have been here, where we come from before here, how long we will stay, where we will go after and after all the questions have been answered they all ask if we will come back. We would have to say that the answer is that it is quite possible. This would be an easy place to spend much more time.

Note: to anyone thinking of doing this: bring a swimsuit! Even if you aren't a swimming pool person. These hotels are centered around the most beautiful pools and after a long, hot, sweaty day even we wanted to plunge in. But, alas we had no swimsuits!

It is past our bedtimes and another early start and another long day tomorrow. So, that is all and it looks like unless we get in-room internet in Bangkok that none of this will get posted until we get back to Voyager on the 7th. Sorry! Good night, and as we have been wished many times here in Cambodia, "sweet dreams!"

Weird sight of the day: nocturnal albino lizards all over the footbridges that take you around this hotel complex! Eeuw, creepy! Debbie HATES lizards! Keeping fingers crossed for actual sweet dreams, or better yet, no dreams.

Angkor Wat photos