Today, we are heading back to Phnom Penh to take a flight back to Bangkok, our hub for Asia. We started the day with breakfast at the hotel. Waffles, omelettes, noodle soup, fried rice and then some. We stuffed ourselves enough to hold us over for the 5 hour car ride back to Phnom Penh. We really enjoyed the Borei Angkor. It was very comfortable and classy.
We had asked a bellboy at the hotel to call our prior chauffeur to arrange for a private car back to Phnom Penh. The bellboy promised us he would take care of it. Anyhow, not surprisingly, on the day of, our chauffeur was a different driver. No explanation, bellboy just said "different driver." I think the guy got his friend to drive and got a cut of the profits. Highly doubt he ever made that phone call for us. I was skeptical from the start, but Eric has more faith in people than I do. I think it's the lawyer training, hard for me to trust people. I guess this time, my intuition was right.
Not a big deal though, this guy was a good driver. He had a small bladder though, had to stop twice to go to the bathroom. We were worried he'd step on a landmine and we'd be stuck in the countryside of Cambodia. As usual, I fell asleep immediately. Eric, of course, enjoyed taking pictures of me sleeping. He gets some amusement from taking bad pictures of me...I don't get it.
We got to the airport in 4.5 hours, only to be delayed at the airport for awhile. While waiting, we had a plate of spaghetti bolognaise at Angkor Pub. Not sure why I've been on this pasta kick. The pasta was really good. It may have been because we were just plain hungry, but in any event, it hit the spot.
We've arrived in Bangkok. Staying one night at Queen's Garden Hotel in Bangkok near the airport before heading to HK. I would characterize it as an upscale hostel - barebones, but clean. As long as there aren't bugs, I am happy.
Somehow, even while wearing sneakers with socks, I managed to get three ant bites on the bottom of my feet. Girlfriend is not happy.
Day 25 - Bangkok, Thailand - Macau, China - Hong Kong, China
We are exactly 1/3 of the way through our world trip and on flight #10. Surprisingly, we are not yet sick of getting on and off a plane. Today was a little annoying though, because we had to go through immigration three times - Thailand, Macau and Hong Kong.
Day started with a 4:30 wake-up call from the hotel. Then they herded us to the shuttle to take us all to the airport. We were surprised as to how packed the airport was at 5am in the morning. We saw a verbal argument among three Thai men. One jumped the line, the other was already in line but proceeded to check in an entire tour group with about 20 pieces of luggage.
The third man was later in line and was not happy about the other two men. Anyhow, the first man who jumped the line decided to just jump to our line instead. We didn't say anything because we assumed he was late for his flight. Then I took a peek at his ticket, his flight was later than ours! Punk. At least he thanked us after the fact for letting him cut the line.The flight was smooth and uneventful. I fell asleep as usual while Eric played computer games. We landed in Macau and went through immigration because we had to pick up our checked bags. Then, I had the bright idea of asking the information desk as to the best way to get to the port to take the ferry to HK. He mentioned that there was a temporary port within walking distance of the airport. According to him, "ten minutes." Turned out to be more of a 20 minute walk and poor Eric was carrying 12 kg worth of luggage and pulling another 12 kg. Let's just say he was not a happy camper. We will be taking a taxi on the way back.
On the ferry now. It's nice and clean and looks new. It's about an hour ride to HK. Looks a bit rainy outside, hopefully that doesn't last. Meeting up with my Aunt Donna and my cousin Willy for lunch, assuming we can find our way to the meeting point. I'm excited to be back in HK. It's one of my favorite cities to visit. Must take more money out of the ATM....in preparation of all the shopping that will need to be done.
We finally arrived in HK. Met up with Aunt Donna and Cousin Willy in SoHo to check out the apartment we'll be staying out while in HK. It's Uncle George's office - cute little 1BR in the heart of the city. Perfect for us. We quickly dropped off our bags and headed to a nearby wonton noodle place. It was very good! Afterwards, we all parted ways, Willy went to the arcade, Eric went back to the apartment to rest up and me and Aunt Donna went shopping of course. Not a minute to spare! I saw some beautiful dresses, but apparently I know how to pick out the expensive ones, cause the few dresses that caught my eye were $18,000 HKD (~$2250 USD). Ouch! too expensive for my blood.
Afterwards, we had dinner with Aunt Donna, Uncle George
and my grandmother. Our dinner at Chuk Yeun in Happy Valley was seafood galore. Boiled shrimp, clams with black bean sauce, ginger and scallion crab, steamed giant clam with fresh garlic, yee mein with crab, and spicy razor clams. We had been looking forward to some good Chinese food on this trip and we finally got it.Thoroughly stuffed,content and exhausted, we retired early that evening. If we keep up at this rate, we're going to gain 10 lbs by the end of this leg of our trip.
For the pictures of the Days 24 and 25, go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=theresang1977&target=ALBUM&id=5394172357948561249&authkey=Gv1sRgCIeel4ui29-VmAE&feat=email
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