We left for Cambodia on January 5 with a flight from Dulles Airport in Virginia on Korean Air to Seoul, Korea. The service and comfort were very good for tourist class. Plenty of leg room for me. Better than the ANA flight from Dulles to Tokyo. However, we only had 70 minutes for the connection to Siem Reap, Cambodia. The security line was way too long, but we were directed to another transfer entrance with no line. I do not know if they felt sorry for us, but when we got to the plane, we were upgraded to first class for the 5-hour fight to Siem Reap. We made the flight but our bags did not. After 22 hours, we arrived in Cambodia at 9:10 pm on Jan 6. It is a 12-hour time difference. As soon as you enter you get in line to pay the $20 each for a tourist visa. It looked like about 8 people handle your passport in an assembly line, but it was pretty efficient.
Quick note on money. Cambodia has its own currency, the Real, but most things were done in US dollars. Including the visa, Angkor entrance fees, tuk tuk, and restaurants. I brought along a lot of small bills to pay tips and souvenirs. Be ready to bargain outside the temples.
We had a private tour guide, Sunny, in Siem Reap who met us at the airport with a driver, Lon. My wife went out to make sure he was still there as I worked on the lost luggage. It was a short drive to the hotel, Tara Angkor, and we made arrangements for the guide to return at 9 am the next day. At midnight, my wife’s bag arrived.
The hotel was very nice, a five star hotel, but we mostly just used it for sleeping and the free breakfast. There was a lot of food for breakfast, but that was because they had to cater to Westerners, Koreans, Chinese and Japanese. A lot of the food was oriental. We had time one day for a massage, but we walked next door to a local place and paid $10 for what would have cost $50 in the hotel.
On Saturday, January 7 we set off for the Angkor temples. We had prepaid for the entrance but still had to get our picture taken. I had read that you could save time if you had your own photos. They never even asked us for photos, but quickly used their own camera. You have to show the pass whenever you enter the complex and at each temple. There was no 2-day pass so we got a 3-day pass.
Our first stop was to Ta Prom, the temple where many of the trees were left in place to show how the jungle had over taken the temples. Some of the trees had to be removed due to lighting strikes, but it was still very impressive. I was in Cambodia 9 years ago, and the number of tourist had really increased. Not a lot of Western tourists, but lots of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese tourists. It was also a local holiday, Liberation Day, so that added a few Cambodians as well.
We next went for lunch at Kitchen Angkor. Mostly local food, but very good and not expensive. Our next stop was a school for disabled people. There were deaf and dumb young men and women doing carving, lacquering, silver plating, and painting. We bought a sandstone carving of some apsaras (dancing girls) and a sliver plated box. I felt save enough to use my credit card here.
Next our guide took us to Angkor Wat, the highlight of the tour. The major thing that changed from 9 years ago was the number of wooden steps that had been added over the ancient stone steps. They said the wooden steps were added to protect the ancient stone. They made it a lot safer. There is only one wooden stairway, with a railing to the highest part of the temple, with a line to limit the number of people at the top. It was a challenge to climb up the old stone steps, but I really enjoyed it the last time. My wife did not want to go up the stairs, so I passed this time since the wooden stairs looked too easy. The other change was the number of people. My last trip was in May 2003 at the heart of the SARS epidemic. Very few Western people were traveling to Asia at that time, and I saw few Asian people as well. Now most of the visitors were Korean, Japanese or Chinese.
That night our driver took us to a local restaurant that featured a Cambodian dancing show. The dinner was buffet style and very good. Dinner and show was $12 each plus drinks. Jet lag had caught up to us by now, so we left early and took a tuk tuk back to the hotel.
Sunday morning we left at 9 am for Angkor Thom. After driving around the complex, we took an elephant ride around the Bayon. The rides stop at 10:30 am, so we got one of the last rides in the morning. We then toured the Bayon, the Elephant Terrace and Pimeanakas. The last place is a high tower that the King used to climb every night. There were not too many people here. They have added wooden steps since my last visit, but we were still allowed to use the stone steps. I took them all the way to the top with the guide. He was able to translate the prayers of a young Cambodian girl who was so happy that she could come there and was able to brave the steep steps. It must have been quite an accomplishment for her. I took the wooden steps down.
After that we returned to Siem Reap to drop off the guide for his next job. That was the end of our pre-arranged tour, but the driver was available that afternoon. I wanted to go to Banti Srie, so the guide said we take a tuk tuk for $20. Then he said we could have the driver and car for the same cost. On the way the driver said that his boss was not too happy with that, so they asked us to pay for the gas. So I had to pay an extra $20 for gas, but it was worth it. Riding 37 kilometer in a tuk tuk would have been rough. Besides the bumpiness, the dry season made it very dusty. The driver took us to a restaurant past Angkor Wat and on the way to Bantea Srie. The carvings are really spectacular there and it was worth the trip. We were then driven back to the hotel and said good bye to the driver.
It was too early for dinner so we had our massage. Then we got a tuk tuk to take us to the Old Market in downtown Siem Reap. We bought a few dvds in the market for $1.50 each, including the movies that were still at the theaters. However, when we got home, the newer movies would not play on our blue ray player. Then it was dinner at the Red Piano. Nice meal and not too expensive. The final activity that day was at 12:30 am when the desk called to say that my luggage had arrived, and they would bring it to the room. Why it took two days was never explained.
Our itinerary called for us to be at the Sofitel Hotel at 7:30 am the next day for a 5 hour bus ride to get to the ship. However, we checked ahead of time and found out that it had been changed to 11 am. If we had not checked we would have been there at 7:30 with a long wait. It turns out that the ship captain had decided that the level of the Tonle Sap lake was high enough for him to get the ship all the way to Siem Reap. That was much better than the long bus ride, but it would have been nice if they would have let us know about the change. We had a 30-minute bus ride to the lake and a 30-minute speed boat ride to the ship. The rest of the day was cruising down the great lake. A word about the ship. It was called the La Margaurite and run by AMA waterways. It was only a few years old. We signed up too late to get a balcony, and ended up with just two small portholes near the water line. The balconies were not large and you had to share the space with the air conditioning unit. The cost of the cruise was not cheap, but it include all food, local drinks (including local wine and beer), and all excursions. Tips, imported beer and wine, and spa services were extra. We only had the local beer and wine, so our ship charges were zero. One of our fellow passengers got some chips the first day from the room mini-bar, and had a total of $2.00. About 20 of us joined an existing group that had been touring in Hanoi and Seam Reap, for a total of about 80 passengers. We were broken up into 3 three groups for the excursions, with all the new people in the same group.
The rooms were what you would expect from a river cruise boat. Buffet breakfast with a wide selection, partial buffet lunch with the main dish off a menu, and dinner was served from a menu. We normally had a choice of meat, fish, or vegetarian meals. There was a mix of local food and international food. The food was good but not spectacular. It was open seating, but we tried to sit in the same section as we liked our waiter. There was one Vietnamese tour director and separate Cambodian or Vietnamese local guides for each group. The entire crew was supposed to be English speaking, but other than the tour director and local guides, the rest of the crew spoke only spotty English. This was not a major problem.
Everyday, except for one, we had at least one excursion, usually two. We saw local fishing villages, floating markets, silk weaving villages, a brick factory, and other out of the way places that most tourists will not see. We also saw a killing field in Phnom Penh and the S-21 torture prison of the Khmer Rouge.
The ship would have to go out into the South China Sea to get to Saigon. It was a river boat, so we got a 90 minute bus ride to the Soffitel Hotel in Saigon where our cruise ended. Our travel agent made arrangements for someone to pick us up at the Soffitel and take us to our hotel the Duxton.
We spent the next day and a half wandering around Saigon on our own. It is an easy city to walk around. We did not use the cabs much and got ripped off by one cab drive. Most locals use motorcycles to get around and as taxis. We used one once, but my wife did not want to be separated from me, so we both rode the same motorcycle. That was different. It probably was not legal either. The locals do it all the time, but I have never seen Westerners do it. We got there okay. We had to pay double the price-one dollar each.
Traffic in Saigon is very hectic and you have to be really brave to cross the street. The motorcycles will not hit you, but you have to have a lot of faith and do not hesitate. We got pretty good at it by the end. Our tour guide recommended the Tuc Huc restaurant near the Park Hyatt and our hotel concierge recommended the Vietnam House near the Duxton Hotel. Both were very good and not expensive.
There are spas and massage places everywhere. We went to a place called Oasis that was near our hotel. It think it was a local chain. I got my 90 minute massage and Christine got a massage and manicure. In talking with the ladies at the spa Christine found out that she could get eye brow tattoos for $50. So we went back the next afternoon for that. They said it would take about 90 minutes, but it ended up taking almost 3 hours. Same $50 price and it looks really good on Christine. I had run out of US dollars, but ATMs were plentiful in Saigon, so I made a few stops at the ATM in our hotel for more dong.
The next morning the guide and drive that picked us up at the Soffitel was there to take us to the airport. We could have done this on our own and saved some money, but our travel agent had already set it up. We took Thai Air to Bangkok where another local guide was there to pick us up when we cleared customs. It was a really long wait at passport control, and the bags still were not ready when we cleared passport control. Not sure why it was so slow. The English of Thai guide meeting us at the airport was not real good, but his French was excellent as I heard the guide and Christine talking in French. Our travel agent is in Montreal, so they must have thought we needed a French speaking guide. He dropped us at the Aetas Hotel and gave us some advice on how to get to the commercial shopping district not far away. That area was the scene of some bombings a few years ago and it looked a lot better than when I saw it in 2010.
I had some Thai baht that I had from my last visit to Thailand and I bought some baht from a fellow traveler on the cruise ship who had stopped in Thailand prior to the cruise. When I ran out of baht I used the ATM at the local 7-11. The hotel did not have an ATM. I did not realize that the ATM fee was 150 baht or $5 US. It was not that high in Vietnam. After lunch we walked and took the train (one stop) to the commercial shopping area. After wandering around for a while we went to the shire with the golden Buddha with four faces to see the shrine and watch the dancers. There we met a local lawyer who suggested a local jewelry place. On our way to the tuk tuk, we met a local doctor who agreed that it was a good place and said they were giving 30 percent discounts but he got 40 percent. Christine got some really nice cut sapphire jewelry at even more off. I do not know enough about jewelry to say if we got a bargain, but it is good stuff.
Then we walked back to the hotel to get cleaned up for dinner. We took a cab from the hotel to the night market which was in the red light district. The cab drive kept telling us to see the ping pong show which we were not aware of. After walking by the clubs with the girly shows, we finally figured out what the ping pong show was and passed on it. We did find an okay place for dinner. I wanted to take a tuk tuk back to the hotel but they wanted 300 baht for what had been a 60 baht cab ride. I know I could have bargained for less, but I did not feel comfortable with the tuk tusk at that point so we took a cab for 150 baht. At least he knew when the hotel was.
The next day we took a taxi to the royal palace. As we entered we were met by a woman who offered a hour tour in English for 500 baht. The tour was not bad, but her English was not that good. On the way out she introduced us to someone else who offered a hour boat tour on the Royal River that included a stop at Wat Arune. We bargained the price down from 1500 baht to 1300 baht. It was just the two of us plus the driver speeding up the river. We went by the floating market, but it is only active in the morning, so it was empty. After that we had lunch and went to Wat Po to see the reclining Buddha. We did not get a guide this time. We left out the back door where a local advised us to get a tuk tuk to see the lucky Buddha, the marble Buddha temple, and the flower market. It was only 60 baht, but we also stopped at a tailor where Christine was fittted for a cashmere pants suit. We may have overpaid for that, but the tuk tuk was cheap. I am sure the driver got a kick back from the tailor. He also took us to a souvenir place that turned out to be a jewelry shop. We did not buy anything there. We wanted to go to the flower market, but it was getting late. I asked the driver to take us to our hotel, but the best he could do was to drop us at a train station. It was an easy ride from there. For dinner we went to a near by restaurant that offered jazz music after 9 pm. However, they said the band was in an accident so we did not get any music.
The next day was not too productive. We got a late start. We wanted to take a tuk tuk to the flower market but none came by the hotel. We ended up taking a cab. The driver said it would be 300 baht. We spent 3 hours in Bangkok traffic and got to the flower market too late to even get out of the cab. We did make one stop at the golden Buddha on the way. When we got back to the hotel the cab driver wanted 300 baht for each hour. Another misunderstanding. We paid. We had to be back at the hotel by 5:00 for a fitting for Christine’s new suit. He got there at 5:30 an made the adjustments. He wanted 200 to make the delivery the next day – which we refused to pay. The package came the next day at noon. After that it was another massage at a nearby spa and dinner.
The flights leave Bangkok late at night, and we had to check out of the hotel at noon. So we sat by the pool in the morning, showered, and checked out at noon. We left the bags at the hotel and headed back to the commercial district. After lunch, we got some more souvenirs. I was tired of shopping by then so I got a massage while Christine did more shopping. It was back to the hotel for dinner and getting our bags ready for the long ride home. The guide was there early and he took us all the way to the security check point. The baggage limit was 2 check bags per person with a limit of 20 kg (44 pounds) each. We bought some heavy things, so we had to work to stay within the limits. Having our own luggage scale was really helpful in packing our bags.
We had a 5-hour lay over in Seoul so we found a resting place for transfer passengers on the upper floor. It even had computers to use, but they did not work for me. Another 14 hours and we made it back to Dulles Airport.
