Day 24 - Saturday, Nov 15, 2003
Phnom Penh - Bangkok
- Flight from Phnom Penh to Bangkok -
| The cab driver to the airport spontaneously told Dan all about how he'd learned English from his customers and how his New Zealand friend got him the car and before that, he only walked everywhere; he was a soldier for many years, went to Vietnam to study (as a captain) and he lost his entire family - parents, siblings - to the Khmer Rouge in 1976. He became a soldier so he could survive, but he never got paid. We think he liked us because when he did the standard "where you from?" and Dan said USA/England, he said "powerful countries" and Dan said "too powerful." |
| Claire preferred the Cambodian people to the Lao people but Dodo thought we'd just had more opportunity to chat with them, and that was because they were constantly throwing themselves at our greenbacks. Nice sweet people, but that was why they talked to us. The people in Lao were more independent, sold us food but didn't pester or coax or flatter us to buy more. |
| Ridiculous tangled rigmarole at P.P. airport and finally our flight to Bangkok ... Dodo was queasy from breakfast/anti-malarials/turbulence, and we had a quick sweet farewell in the airport before the Brits went to Transfers and Dan and Dodo got in the interminable Passport Check line. |
| The Amari Airport hotel was lovely and right at the airport, but it was also $265/night - but the bellhop got us a free cab ride to the nearby Don Muang Mansion, $34 a night with A/C, hot water, big hard bed, TV with silly Thai game shows and a subtitled "Seven Year Itch" at 6 PM. We were both too tired to wander into Bangkok central, so we had good Thai food in the hotel "coffee shop" and Dodo raided the minibar for sodas and chips. Dodo's sinuses were still clogged and she couldn't sleep, and Dan was ill; we were both ready to be home now. |