Today is the commencement of our group tour to Cambodia and Vietnam. We thought we could stop off in Siem Reap on the way to Ho Chi Minh city (formerly Saigon) just to compare the way of life of both countries. The main tourist ‘meca’ in Siem Reap is the Angkor Watt, which we will do tomorrow.
After taking cars to Tullamarine and meeting up with Judy & Ian who flew in from Sydney to join us, we departed on time at 5 past mid-night on Sunday morning. It is the longest Sunday I can remember. A meal was served just after departure and then we were woken up for breakfast 5 hours later.
As school holidays had just begun, the flights leaving at that time were all full and so immigration was very busy indeed. However, it turned out to be the funniest time we have ever had in a security area. Firstly, Lyn got told gruffly, to turn off her mobile (tut tut), but the funniest ‘blonde’ moment happened when Ken told us his episode with the security guys. Ken has a leg that doesn’t work too well, and so to maneuver around is an effort. He had placed his belt, wallet and watch in the box to go through the x-ray machine. When he put everything back in place, he realized that his watch was missing. He said to security guy ‘I’ve lost my watch.” The guy wasn’t too helpful but checked anyway to see if it had fallen out of the tray in the machine. Well, it could not be found – and this was his Dad’s old watch. So we continued on through all the shops before arriving at the departure lounge and sat down. Ken felt an uncomfortable feeling in his shoe and took it off – and there was his watch. His gummy foot has no feeling in it and he hadn’t felt the extra ‘cargo’ in his shoe. So the first blonde moment is recorded as being in the male kingdom.
The Singapore government, it seems, has intentionally made the airport the most interesting of airports to spend 5 or 6 hours. There are so many upmarket shops and flower gardens, and entertainment areas, and, and, and……. All enjoyed the 5 hour layover, that’s for sure. The orchids were just brilliant. Our flight to Siem Reap was quite bumpy during our 2 hour flight at 38,000 feet altitude.
Arriving and going through customs and immigration at Siem Reap is quite an interesting experience too, with about 15 officials (in smart uniforms) in a ‘chain gang’ each viewing the passport and doing something with it. After photos and finger printing, customs was a breeze with just a ‘drop the form in a box’ procedure.
Siem Reap is at a very low altitude and flooding at this time of year in their rainy season is all through the area and town. On the way from the airport, our bus was going through flooded streets. It was interesting to see motor bikes parked in 6 inch deep water with their riders having a chat with someone on the side of the road – well, not just one here and there, but many.
After checking into the Victoria Angkor Hotel, we sat by the pool for the afternoon, gathering some much needed sleep. The hotel is just magnificent – old architecture with lots of dark timber used throughout. Chris, a builder from Wesburn, has been taking many photos of the structure. And he had a blonde moment too – while taking all his photos, he couldn’t remember his room number, so was systematically knocking on each door. Eventually, one of the doors that opened, was to his room. After having a sumptuous meal together, we ‘retired’ early, for Siem Reap time, to our luxurious rooms.
