Return Home

The trip home begins with a long day in the Marriott before departing for our late night flight to Doha. A hearty breakfast tides us over until afternoon tea at 1400.

Bangkok's airport is modern with gorgeous orchid displays and these ethnic presentations.

 

Qatar uses Royal Thai's lounge. Who ever heard of a lounge with liquor and beer and no wine?

Qatar Airlines has great service and very good people. We get a bit of sleep on the first flight, a bit more in the lounge in Doha, and quite a bit on the 13 hour flight to Washington.

 

Before sleep, one must get into their Qatar jammies, even more comfortable than the Roo jammies of Qantas. Do you only get jammies on airlines beginning with the letter "Q"?

Here's something you don't see on most flights.

Qatar might be the only airline that's made the boring safety briefing not only worth watching but doing so over and over; and taking pictures. Since they own Football Barcelona FCB, Lionel Messi's team, the build the entire briefing around the players and soccer themes.  This heart throb is Carol's favorite.  His walking through the airport is the prelude to swooning ladies needing oxygen masks.  The guy caught smoking in the lavatory gets red carded by the referred.

Somewhere over northern Iran or Turkey CJ observes snow covered mountains just before turning in.

It's been a wonderful trip.  The Thai and Cambodian people are wonderful and friendly.  We had great service everywhere we went.  Now if only they could turn down the heat a bit.

As the song goes, "See you in September." The blog will be back online in late September when we head off to France for a wedding. Or perhaps if CJ needs relief from work again sooner.

Until then cheers.

Final Full Day in Bangkok

The breakfast buffet in the hotel restaurant is varied and extensive. Small portions are needed to sample the delicacies. The cream dim sum bun is something new and delicious.

 

 

 

There is a market across the street from the hotel. Fish and meat product lay out in the heat and the Thai suffer no harm.  Are we too sterile and overregulated in the US?

 

The taxi driver tried to scam us on the way to lunch.  CJ's IPhone map and direction function and Carol's threats of police action gets him back in line.  We do not pay the meter fare!

The food court at Siam Paragon is incredible. We’ve had lunch here three times; 2008, 2015 and 2016. The choices available are incomparable and so far every one we’ve sampled has been superb.



 

 

Following lunch we are compelled to once again visit the second floor with its car and yacht sales shops. Doesn’t every shopping mall sell Rolls Royce, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, McLaren and Bentley? Last year there was a single high end stereo shop.  This year there must be a dozen.

A royal orchid show is being conducted at the Siam Paragon. The orchid displays are quite beautiful.



 

 



We pop up to the lounge for a quick “dinner” and then head up to the 48th floor Octave roof top lounge for the craft beer promotion. This turns out to be a good news and bad news story. As expected they have few beers we would typically prefer. CJ finds one to try and they are out of it. That’s the bad news.  The good news is that its happy hour.  The drinks are half price. And, the view of the city and setting sun is very nice. Check out the rain.

Back to Bangkok

The breakfast at the Shinta Mani isn't as extensive but they do have delicious teas, unique preserves, and great fresh fruit including red dragon fruit, something we've never had previously. Mango juice and cava add up to a mango mimosa; four for CJ.

 

 

Two car transfers and a plane ride get us back to the Marriott in Bangkok where CJ's discussion with management last week gets us the suite we expected. We arrive too late for lunch but in time for afternoon tea.

As we make ready for some time by the pool the heavens unload and put an end to that. The temperature is 93F with a feel like of 110F! In Siem Reap its 100F in real temperature and feel like,

The remainder of the day is spent in the lounge having snacks and enjoying the staff.

Shinta Mani and Downtown Siem Reap

The day starts with another breakfast that can't be beat. Shown are a few of the stations and dishes.

 

 

 

 

The time until our driver comes at 1400 is consumed by packing, the massage included in our package, lunch, a quick swim for CJ and check-out.  The snake is a cultural artifact at all the temples.  They line bridges, even modern ones. Naga is even in evidence on the pool lounges.

 

For lunch CJ has yet another curry dish while Carol has Fish Amok, a local specialty.

 

Our driver and our personal assistant transfer us to the Shinta Mani for our final evening. This hotel is located in the downtown section of Siem Reap.



This is a very different hotel.  It's designed by a famous architect and done in a black and white motif. Neighbors of ours recommended this place. The room is stunning but much smaller and the amenities far less. Just behind the hotel is the Siem Reap Brewery and Restaurant. They serve a sampler and two of the offerings are quite good. We didn't have time to return and purchase souvenirs.

During the afternoon we walk the town and find the market.  It's an indoor market with countless crowded stalls and aggressive salespeople. Open air food stalls which would never be allowed in the US, clothing, jewelry, and household goods.

 

As night begins to fall, we search out The Sugar Palm restaurant recommended by our new Austrian acquaintances. During our walk we find that Siem Reap is a dirty dusty city with garbage everywhere, broken down buildings and streets, and objectionable odors. It's not pleasant. We arrive dripping wet to an open air restaurant.

Carol has the recommended Fish Amok (Amok Tre in Cambodian) that takes 40 minutes to prepare. It does not disappoint. It's a fish soufflé in a pot; unique and delicious. CJ once again has a local curry.  Each curry is different. While waiting for our mains we munch on very different and very good spring rolls.

 

 

A remark (tuk tuck) motorized tricycle delivers us back for $3; and we overpaid and didn't care. At bedtime, the temperature is still 84F but feels like 96F.

Here a temple, there a temple

After another superb breakfast at the hotel we depart at 0930 for another morning of temple touring.

Today we explore the Angkor complex "outer loop." Transiting through Angkor Thom and exiting from the North Gate, we first tour Preah Khan temple. This temple is built with four long halls intersecting in a central room.

 

It's even hotter than yesterday with a reported temperature at 97F with a feel like at or over 104F. If we didn't have the air-conditioned car, ice water, and chilled towels waiting after each temple, we'd never make it to the second and third temples.

Neak Pean is a small temple surrounded by water and four chapels each with its own square pool.

 

Our final visit of the day is East Mebon. This temple in ancient times was surrounded by a huge manmade lake. One cannot imagine how big huge really is until one sees it. In the second picture the flat terrace is the original dock for the boats coming to the temple.

 

 

 

We request and receive a driving tour of Siem Reap downtown on the return to our hotel. Since he's hot and sweaty anyway, CJ finally has a chance to enjoy the floating bed on our patio.

The intense heat and temple climbing dictates the remainder of the day. Showers, the Khmer lunch, naps, cocktail time in the lounge and an evening relaxing in the room round out the day.

 

It is our last evening with these two great lounge attendants.