Wednesday, January 23
Our last day in Cambodia—seems like we just got here! My coughing woke us both up about 3:30 a.m., so we watched the US stock market closing (on Tuesday afternoon Eastern time). Earlier the Dow had been down 500 points, then the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates .75% and that encouraged investors enough that it closed down "only" 180 points. A shot of my cough syrup let me sleep until 7 a.m. and then it was time for our last LeMeridien buffet breakfast.
We have to check out of our rooms by noon, but can still use the hotel amenities for the afternoon. We spent the next two hours packing up, realizing that whatever clothes we are now wearing, or what we can carry in our backpacks will be "it" until we are back in Salem many hours from now.
Mark hopes to travel with just his carry-on bag and backpack for the rest of his trip in Thailand, so we will be taking his unusual "see-through" waterproof rafting bag home with us. It will be holding our soft-sided ice bag which now contains a treasure trove of LeMeridien bath toiletries, plus tea bags and instant coffee tubes. What a haul! Glenn balked at packing the lemon-grass oil but I know I'll regret leaving it behind.
At noon we closed the doors on our beautiful rooms for the last time, and the staff hauled our bags away to a storage area near the Front Desk. We retired to the pool area where we loafed, swam and had showers at the spa.
By 3:30 p.m. we were back in the hotel lobby, our car and driver arrived and we had one last look at the towers of Angkor Wat enroute to the airport. The International Airport in Siem Reap is only a year and a half old, but it now serves the most tourist passengers to Cambodia, outdoing the only other international airport, in Phnom Penh. The lobby had the high pitched roof that we have seen on temples here, and the huge overhead chandeliers were elegant bronze. Very classy for a rather small airport.
Getting OUT of Siem Reap was a lot more frustrating than arriving. We got stuck behind a large French tour group who acted, well French, and that was not a good thing. When we finally reached the check-in desk Mark had his work cut out for him, trying to get our bags checked all the way through to Seattle, even though we would stay in Singapore overnight. The Silk Air representative kept insisting this could not be done, while Mark tried to explain that he had already talked to Silk Air reps in Singapore who said "yes, we can do that." Ultimately, luggage tags reading "SEA" were affixed to our bags, and we hurriedly went to the Cambodia immigration desk, turned in our departure visa, plus $25 US and headed to our departure lounge.
It was dark when we climbed up the steps to our plane and the twinkling lights of Siem Reap quickly disappeared after take-off. Mark accomplished one more thing at the Silk Air check-in desk—he got us seats by the bulkhead where we had plenty of leg room. This flight was not full, so he was able to enjoy the comfort of an empty middle seat next to him. We were served supper and the two-hour flight passed quickly.
We lost an hour going back to Singapore, so it was 9:30 p.m. when we arrived. This was when Mark's plan to stay at the airport transit hotel really paid off. It was just a short walk from our arrival gate, and a quick pass through immigration to get to the transit hotel where they were expecting us. Our rooms had no windows, but were neat, clean, had comfy beds, a full bathroom and even a flat-screen TV! There was a coffee maker too, but we were ready for sleep, and didn't need caffeine. We knew we had to be out of our rooms by 5 a.m. and hadn't noticed that Mark had asked for wake-up calls for both rooms—still being the careful guide. We couldn't raise anyone at the front desk by phone, so finally Glenn made a trip to the front desk and requested a wake-up call, then, just as a back-up, we set the cell phone alarm as well.
Thursday, January 24
Today may well be the longest day we have ever experienced. We will leave Singapore at 7:30 in the morning; and through the magic of the International Dateline, we will arrive in Seattle only one hour later—at 8:30 a.m! As the day goes on and on, we will travel east for fifteen hours. Thank heaven for those roomy Business Class seats! And thank heaven that Mark provided these comfy seats for just the cost of our economy ticket--$913, instead of the price of a Business Class ticket--$6401. each.
Of course, all the wake-up alarms went off and we had plenty of time for showers before we met Mark. He had discovered that the Silk Air agent in Siem Reap STILL screwed up our baggage routing—and our bags were going on the wrong plane! So, we trooped over to the "C" transfer station where many airlines had representatives. This time, Mark got a knowledgeable United Airlines agent who was able to get our bags put on the same plane as us and he issued us boarding passes all the way to Seattle.
With that settled to our satisfaction, we went to the "SATS Premier Lounge" where our business class boarding passes would admit us. Whoa! Not so fast! Glenn and I could get in this lounge, but not poor Mark—who was flying to Bangkok, Thailand soon after us, but NOT in business class. The caste system is still alive and well in the airline world! However, at the nearby Thai Lounge Mark was apparently acceptable. So Glenn and I quickly finished our very nice breakfast at the SATS lounge and joined Mark. Frankly, I think we had to go down a notch—as the breakfast selection at SATS seemed a tad better but Mark said he was very happy with his Thai Lounge noodles. Nevertheless, either lounge was WAY better than the awful Burger King breakfast we had at this airport a few days back.
At 6:20 a.m. we headed for Gate C20 and it was time to part with our guide after big hugs all around. The Singapore airport handles security in a unique way—instead of a few central security areas and the usual long lines of passengers to be screened, at this airport each gate has its own security staff and screening equipment. My titanium knee joint got me the usual pat-down and even my laptop required extra scrutiny. The security guard asked me to turn it on—that was no problem, but I couldn't get the darn thing to turn off for awhile! Once through security it was literally, clear and fast sailing to Japan. Glenn monitored the channel that showed our plane's path, speed, etc. He said that at times we were zooming along at 709 miles per hour. Whee!
This flight was pretty much the same as our outbound Japan-Singapore leg—no fancy amenities bag, although we were offered a dental kit, socks, eye mask and ear plugs. About one hour into the Singapore-Japan flight, we were served an ample continental breakfast with muesli cereal and milk, juice, sweet rolls, and a colorful fruit plate—including that odd "Dragon Fruit."
All was cloudy below the plane and every time I lifted up the window blind, there was the blinding sun beaming at us. We managed to get some short naps and about one hour out from Tokyo United thought we needed more nourishment, so we were offered either chicken salad or a fettuccine dish. Glenn passed on the food, preferring "more Merlot please" and the attendant was happy to oblige.
With that strong tail wind we arrived at Narita airport a bit ahead of schedule. And, for the first time, I sailed through the security screening without having my titanium knee set off the bells and whistles. We followed Mark's directions to the Red Carpet Lounge and took his advice to take advantage of the lounge's shower rooms. The shower room attendant handed us each a nice little satchel with all the amenities a tired traveler needed to have a shower.
We emerged feeling clean and refreshed. Good suggestion, Mark! These airports, both Singapore and Narita are so impressive. Of course, use of the Red Carpet Lounge and its shower rooms was a "perk" only for those traveling on Business Class tickets or paying a stiff price to use these amenities. We headed for the beverage and snack bar area of the lounge, and Glenn successfully poured himself a cold beer from the dispenser while Barb tried the cookies and coffee. Then, we found a comfy seat with handy electrical outlets and plugged in our laptop computer. Like everyone around us, we used the wi fi to access the Internet, and check our e-mail.
Before we knew it, our Seattle flight was announced, and there we were, at the head of the "Red Carpet" line and soon walking down the jet way. For this flight, we were able to get seats in a separate section of the Business Class seats—tucked between the First Class folks (the ones who were going to soon be snoozing in their lie flat bed, no doubt) and the larger Business section. There was a very private feel to this area and according to the Internet "Seat Guru" experienced travelers like this section because they get more attention from the attendants. We haven't had the chance to travel in Business Class often enough to know whether we got more or less attendant attention, but we had no reason to complain.
About an hour into this flight, here came the menus for dinner! We both chose filet mignon but I didn't do justice to my very tender beef serving. Could that have been because those attentive attendants plied me with two servings of United's famous warmed mixed nuts before dinner? Those were irresistible. The movies offered on this flight seemed a bit dull, and we mostly watched the progress of our plane on the map screen when not eating or napping. It was comforting when North America showed up on the map and our plane was over it. We had another nice fruit plate for breakfast shortly before the plane started its descent to Sea-Tac airport. We had breakfast, dinner, and breakfast again on this long January 24!
At Seattle, we had about 2 ½ hours before climbing aboard that cramped little commuter plane for the last leg to Portland. Most of that time was taken up with going through immigration and another security screening. THIS time, my knee triggered the alarms and I got a thorough wanding. They even asked me to remove my money belt and put it back through the x-ray. What a variety of screening standards on this trip!
No jetway entrance to this little "EMB" commuter plane and as soon as we descended to the tarmac at Sea-Tac we found out that it was Brrrr! Cold! We had retrieved our sweaters and light jackets from our suitcases while waiting for this flight, but they were barely adequate for these Northwest winter temperatures. We aren't in the tropics any longer!
It seemed even colder when we descended from the plane in Portland. That icy east wind was whistling west from the Columbia Gorge and we scurried into the terminal as fast as possible. It was noon when we got to PDX and 45 minutes later we were on the HUT shuttle, headed for Salem. LaFyrne was waiting for us at the shuttle stop in Salem and by mid-afternoon we were back home surrounded by ten days' worth of mail, and suitcases needing to be unpacked. We were relieved to find that the house had behaved itself during the chilly winter weather.
It turned out that the cold I took to Cambodia came back with me, and hung around for a couple more weeks. It "upgraded" to a bronchial infection and only finally disappeared after a course of antibiotics.
When we downloaded our digital photos to the home computer, Glenn said that between the three of us, we had taken over a thousand pictures! For the next month, we winnowed these down to a reasonable number. We found we could display the photos on our new 50-inch flat screen TV and enjoyed reliving this wonderful trip again.
Now, what is left on our list of "places to see before we have to give up traveling"?? It will be very difficult to find any place on the planet that could surpass the marvels of Angkor and we are very grateful that we were able to walk among those temples and view the amazing stone carvings. Thank you SO much for making this trip of a lifetime possible, Mark.
Barbara Halliday
Salem, Oregon
February 29, 2008
Photo Album Jan. 23>>
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