Sunday, May 9, 2010
Mother’s Day in Hong Kong and travel day to Cambodia. Cadbury’s mini-eggs and swedish berry candies for my beautiful wife and the wonderful mother of my two little guys! Also, Happy Mother’s Day Mom, if you are reading this! Final breakfast in the Club lounge at the Inter-Continental - only four pieces of toast and peanut butter today compared to the six I had yesterday! Love the bread and pastries here. We sadly checked out of one of the greatest hotels we have ever stayed in. The service was top notch. Traffic was light to the Hong Kong airport and the airport itself was virtually empty. Managed to change one of our flights for later this week. Just one to go. The Hong Kong airport is truly amazing. It is wonderfully spacious, organized and quiet. The security screening process was a pleasure. North Americans could learn a lot from their Asian counterparts. Spent a few moments in the Royal Thai lounge where we checked in with the boys back home before getting onto the plane. Sat on the top deck of the 747 to Bangkok. Only a two and a half hour flight so very civilized. We watched Survivor on iTunes - Go Russell! Go Parvati! Landed in Bangkok and checked in for Siem Reap. Managed to make the final flight change we were hoping to make, so all revised travel arrangements have been finalized. Bangkok Airways have been a pleasure to deal with. We successfully changed two hotel arrival/departures and two flights at no cost. I can’t imagine how much this would have cost in Canada! Sitting in the lounge at the Bangkok airport typing this blog. Yet another wonderfully modern, spacious airport - what’s up with the rest of the world? Will check back in again when we are settled in Cambodia later tonight.
The flight to Cambodia was quick - 55 minutes by propellor plane. Super hot on arrival and it was nighttime! I love it! We went to the visa counter and got our visa applications processed. Very interesting system. About 10 visa officers sitting in a row. Each one passes your passport down the line to the last guy who gives it back to you with a visa in it. We then made our way through immigration and customs and were done. Amansara had arranged transportation for us to the hotel. They picked us up in an antique Mercedes limosine. The car is over 50 years old and apparently belonged to the king of Cambodia years ago. The drive to Siem Reap and the Amansara hotel was about 20 minutes. The drivers and staff were very welcoming on arrival and we were checked in quickly and off to our room. Beautiful place. Very peaceful. Used to be the king of Cambodia’s summer home when it was built in the sixties. We have our own private pool but it is hard to see in the dark so will have to check it out in the morning. The hotel arranged some beautiful lilies as a Mother’s Day surprise for Catherine and they brought us some wonderful freshly squeezed lime juice and pork and vegetable rice paper springrolls as a welcome snack. We had a light dinner in the restaurant with a refreshing cup of tea and then called it a day to rest up for some temple touring in the morning. I believe we are going to see Angkor Thom first.
Mother’s Day in Hong Kong and travel day to Cambodia. Cadbury’s mini-eggs and swedish berry candies for my beautiful wife and the wonderful mother of my two little guys! Also, Happy Mother’s Day Mom, if you are reading this! Final breakfast in the Club lounge at the Inter-Continental - only four pieces of toast and peanut butter today compared to the six I had yesterday! Love the bread and pastries here. We sadly checked out of one of the greatest hotels we have ever stayed in. The service was top notch. Traffic was light to the Hong Kong airport and the airport itself was virtually empty. Managed to change one of our flights for later this week. Just one to go. The Hong Kong airport is truly amazing. It is wonderfully spacious, organized and quiet. The security screening process was a pleasure. North Americans could learn a lot from their Asian counterparts. Spent a few moments in the Royal Thai lounge where we checked in with the boys back home before getting onto the plane. Sat on the top deck of the 747 to Bangkok. Only a two and a half hour flight so very civilized. We watched Survivor on iTunes - Go Russell! Go Parvati! Landed in Bangkok and checked in for Siem Reap. Managed to make the final flight change we were hoping to make, so all revised travel arrangements have been finalized. Bangkok Airways have been a pleasure to deal with. We successfully changed two hotel arrival/departures and two flights at no cost. I can’t imagine how much this would have cost in Canada! Sitting in the lounge at the Bangkok airport typing this blog. Yet another wonderfully modern, spacious airport - what’s up with the rest of the world? Will check back in again when we are settled in Cambodia later tonight.
The flight to Cambodia was quick - 55 minutes by propellor plane. Super hot on arrival and it was nighttime! I love it! We went to the visa counter and got our visa applications processed. Very interesting system. About 10 visa officers sitting in a row. Each one passes your passport down the line to the last guy who gives it back to you with a visa in it. We then made our way through immigration and customs and were done. Amansara had arranged transportation for us to the hotel. They picked us up in an antique Mercedes limosine. The car is over 50 years old and apparently belonged to the king of Cambodia years ago. The drive to Siem Reap and the Amansara hotel was about 20 minutes. The drivers and staff were very welcoming on arrival and we were checked in quickly and off to our room. Beautiful place. Very peaceful. Used to be the king of Cambodia’s summer home when it was built in the sixties. We have our own private pool but it is hard to see in the dark so will have to check it out in the morning. The hotel arranged some beautiful lilies as a Mother’s Day surprise for Catherine and they brought us some wonderful freshly squeezed lime juice and pork and vegetable rice paper springrolls as a welcome snack. We had a light dinner in the restaurant with a refreshing cup of tea and then called it a day to rest up for some temple touring in the morning. I believe we are going to see Angkor Thom first.