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Vietnam & Surrounds Day 17

Day 17, Saturday, 3/29/25, The Flight Home

We wake leisurely after 8 AM. The Resort cooks breakfast for us. We pack up for the final time. We have to check out by noon. Our flight isn’t until 6:30 PM but we will go to the airport and check our luggage in. Then look for something to while the time away.

We get to the airport at 12:30. Luggage checked in by 1:30. We walk what seems to be miles through the airport and find the VIP Lounge. $30 each later and we have 3 hours of comfort with food, drinks and electricity.

So I get all my photos into the computer and start to sort them. When our time is up, we walk to the gate, what seems like more miles. We get there just in time to be ushered down stairs to the gate seating. It’s now 6:00 PM and we should board soon.

We have a 2 hour flight to Hong Kong and a 16 hour flight to LAX. Can’t wait for this torture!

I have my sleeping pills at the ready and many various snacks. My noise canceling headphones are in the top of my backpack. I’m good to go!

So we board the first plane to Hong Kong. It’s only a 2 hour flight and everything goes smoothly. We land in Hong Kong and leave the plane. We walk through the airport and the signs all tell us we must go through Security and Customs. I vaguely recall this from the beginning of our trip. But we follow the signs and go through Security and Customs. We do see some signs for “Transit” but don’t understand them. We ask a security person and are told to go through Security and Customs.

Suddenly, after following instructions, we find ourselves outside the secure part of the airport and we hold back the desire to panic. Now we have to go back through Security and Customs again and our time is running short. But we steel ourselves and go through. I get to Passport Control and I look up as Elee goes through. But my Passport isn’t accepted. Elee looks back at me. I mouth the words, “I’m screwed, it won’t scan” and she looks worried. A guard tells me I have to go through the manual line. Luckily (or unluckily), there isn’t a line. The guard takes my Passport and starts to review it. He asks me where I am traveling to and I tell him Los Angeles. I explain what happened with our misunderstanding the signs and all we are doing is changing flights. I give him my boarding pass and explain I have no time left. He seems sympathetic and understanding and processes me through.

We have traveled fairly extensively and I think other, less traveled people, will make more mistakes than we do. We don’t run, but we walk fast and it’s another mile or so to our next Gate. We arrive at the Gate just as our loading time arrives. We have made it! We have missed flights before but this one we have paid for extra leg room for the 16 hours it will take to get home. We board and Elee gets the Aisle Seat and I get the Window Seat. The Middle Seat (we call it, ‘Monkey in the Middle’) is empty.

We watch as everybody boards and stows their Carry On Bags overhead. The plane is filling up. The middle seat remains empty. Then this lovely lady walks up and identifies the middle seat as hers. She is not only very nice and pleasant, she exudes niceness. The only problem is, she weighs somewhere between 350 and 400 pounds. Now, I’m not one to judge people, I love everyone. But when she sits down, she fills her seat and she flows into one third of my and Elee’s seats. We all know that airline seats are minimum sized to begin with. Now we only have two thirds of our seats to ourselves. Good thing we can stretch out our legs!

So here’s where I came prepared. The plane takes off and we are served a meal within the first hour. After finishing that, I take a sleeping pill. Then I inflate my neck pillow and pull the airline supplied blanket over my legs. I put on my headphones. I lean against the window and close my eyes. The sleeping pill does it’s job (Thank you Dr M!) and I do fall asleep. When I wake, I see something that normally would terrify other travelers, I see on the video screen (that I had set to the ‘Flight’ channel that tracks the plane), “Flight Time Remaining, 4 Hours”. I am thrilled!

Why am I thrilled? It’s because the flight is a 16 hour flight and there’s only 4 hours left! I have done quite a few 16 to 18 hour flights and, for the most part, have stayed awake for all of them. What I saw on the flight screen told me that I stayed awake for an hour and then I must have actually slept for 10 to 11 hours! The last 4 hours are absorbed by watching a couple movies and we are served another meal about an hour before landing. Remember we only have two thirds of our seats to ourselves! I fare better than Elee as she is pushed towards the aisle and I am laying against the window. Elee says she didn’t sleep but then she tells me that the flight was only 8 hours. That tells me she got 8 hours of sleep! Good for her!

Now here’s the real kicker! We have completed a Bucket List Item that we didn’t even know we had! We take off from Hong Kong at 1:00 AM on Sunday, 3/30/25. We land in Los Angeles at 9:30 PM on Saturday, 3/29/25. We Time Traveled!!!

We deplane and bid our ‘Monkey in the Middle” lovely lady adieu. (she really was a very lovely lady!). Back in LA, we are consistently amazed at technology as the screens and cameras we walk up to, look at us and without showing any passports or paperwork, greet us and say, “Welcome home, Mr Don (insert my real name here)”!

Our great friend, Tony, is on his way to get us. I text him (I put my home Sim Card in my phone a couple hours before landing) when we land and he tells me he is 20 minutes from the airport! Perfect! We clear Customs with our Trusted Traveler status and don’t have to deal with long lines. Our ride home with our good friend is full of exhausted travel stories and promises of sharing more!

Goodnight my Blog Friends!

Vietnam & Surrounds Day 16

Day 16, Friday, 3/28/25, to Bangkok

It is time to bid farewell to the charming city of Siem Reap.

We get up today at 5:30 AM. Elee discovered last night that our flight is an hour earlier than we thought. So our travel friends make sure we get our bags first and head into the airport. The hour ride to the airport is uneventful. The architecture and decoration of the Siem Reap International Airport (REP) is beautiful. We are traveling today to Bangkok where we started this trip. The sole purpose is to get us back where we will travel home from. Little do we know what’s in store for us!

We go into the airport and there are no lines. So we get through security and still have an over an hour to go. It turns out there was no mistake of flight time. Our travel friends, Rich and Esther with their sons Dusty and John, are also on our flight. So we board on time for a one hour flight. When we land we are 25 minutes early! How does that happen?

Anyway, I order a Bolt ride and it costs $5.50 USD, including tip, to get to our hotel, the QG Resort, only 15 minutes from the airport. Try paying that in the States! At the hotel, we have to take our shoes off and put them on a rack in the lobby!

Then we kick back in the spacious room and browse the internet for things to do. Suddenly the room is shaking. Sure enough, we are feeling an earthquake that, turns out, is centered in Mandalay, Myanmar. It’s a 7.7 magnitude. The people in the hotel are scared. Being from SoCal, we just ride it out. Everything is swaying, the entire room is swaying. Ceiling lamps and fans are going crazy. I’m sitting on the bed feeling like I’m on a ship in 30 foot seas! And yes, I know what that feels like! However, having experienced dozens of earthquakes in Southern California over the decades, I never think about trying to take any photos!

We settle on finding a dinner cruise on a river after dark that includes free beer! It’s only $30 each. So our plan is to get a ride to the start area a couple hours before and check out the area. The ride arrives 1.5 hours before we need to be there and it’s a 50 minute ride. But traffic is snarled because of the earthquake. Trains are shut down and everyone is on the roads. Add to that it’s Friday night. The time comes for our Dinner Cruise to start and my GPS tells me we’re still over an hour away! So we tell the driver to turn around and take us back. We will tip him handsomely!

We cannot get a refund on our dinner cruise but we knew that in advance. So we hope to get a meal at a Marriott hotel near the airport. Our driver brings us to the Marriott and I tip him the maximum allowed. Then I have him wait and I go to an ATM and get him an additional 500 Baht cash.

We eat at the buffet at the Marriott and I am not impressed, even though it is rated 38th out of 4000 restaurants in Bangkok. But hey, it’s better than sitting in the back of a cab going nowhere! We come across some random Lotus Blossoms in the dinner restaurant. Some of the most complex and beautiful flowers in the world!

It’s time to go back to our Resort. We turn in for the night.

Reflections on the earthquake:

On March 28, 2025, a 7.7 Earthquake struck Myanmar (Burma) at approximately 1:00 PM Bangkok time. The quake was felt strongly over 650 miles away in Bangkok. You ask me how I know this? Aside from reading the news, I was in Bangkok at the time. In retrospect, I would call what I felt as a 5.5 to 6.0 Magnitude quake in Bangkok. And I was (luckily) in a single story AirBnB. The quake rolled and rolled for almost a full minute. Followed 5 or 6 minutes later by an aftershock. We had travel friends that were on a 10^th floor in the city and ran down stairs to the street where they waited over 3 hours before they got the all clear to re-enter their hotel!

Now to put a little more perspective to what I felt. Note that I was over 650 miles from the 7.7 Epicenter. And I felt quite the strong earthquake. I feel the need to mention that I live in Los Angeles County and earthquakes are no stranger to me. Over the 45 years I have lived in LA, I have lived through countless earthquakes, including the Northridge, Whittier, La Habra and other quakes that I forget the names or never knew them. The strongest quake I recall was a 7.2 and I was within 10 miles of the epicenter.

I live about 350 miles from San Francisco. Never have I recalled feeling an earthquake centered in or near San Fran. I know people who live in San Francisco. None of them, to my knowledge, have felt an earthquake occurring in the LA area. This is where this gets interesting. Note the first paragraph where I point out that I was over 650 miles from the epicenter of the Myanmar quake. Almost twice as far away as San Fran is from me. And I rocked and rolled for almost a full minute. There has not been a substantial earthquake in that region for over 30 years.

The people were in full panic mode in Thailand. I just rolled with it. Does that make me weird? I never even thought to turn the camera on my phone on. And my phone was in my hand as I was searching for activities to participate in for the rest of my day. I settled for a River Dinner Cruise and my wife and I hired a driver (Bolt) to take us there with over 2 hours to spare. Does this sound like foreshadowing to you? It should. After being in the cab for 2 plus hours, it was clear that we were still an hour plus from the boat docks.

It turns out that we underestimated the power of the aftermath of the earthquake. Rail lines were shut down. The Sky Rail was shut down. Everybody was forced into the streets. Add to that it was Friday Night! Friday Night is not much different anywhere in the world. Everybody is trying to end their week and start a party!

So the bottom line is that I live in Los Angeles (Earthquake Country) and I traveled to Thailand to experience an Earthquake! LOL! And I was twice as far from the epicenter as I have ever felt an earthquake! Even more! My friends back home told me that it was California missing me!

Goodnight all!

Vietnam & Surrounds Day 15

Day 15, Thursday, 3/27/25, Angkor Wat

Our room in the hotel is nice. The bed is comfortable. The view from the room is like looking into a jungle. Mangos hang ripening on the tree just out of reach. Breakfast at the hotel is another good buffet. The bus will pick us up at 8:15 AM.

We’re on the bus now. Our guide, Pisa, from yesterday is our guide again today. We go by a fun shop, The Samurai Barber Shop and it reminded me I need a haircut!

Angkor Wat is made of grey blue sandstone. It took 75,000 people 32 years to build. This is the world’s largest religious site. over 400 acres! Doorways are made in one piece. There is a 200 meter wide moat around it. Angkor Wat is the crowning jewel of Khmer architecture and the national symbol of Cambodia. It is the largest, best-preserved, and most religiously significant of the Angkor temples. We are impressed with its sheer scale and beautifully proportioned layout. As we approach the temple, we cross a vast moat, 200 meters across, and continue along a broad causeway lined with naga (snake) balustrades. We enter the main building and ascend through a series of galleries and courtyards before we reach the central sanctuary The views back over the causeway and across the surrounding countryside are beautiful. We admire the intricate stone carvings that adorn nearly every surface, with some 1,700 Apsaras or celestial dancers sculpted into the walls. The outer gallery walls feature the longest continuous bas-relief in the world, narrating stories from Hindu mythology, including the famous Churning of the Ocean of Milk.

The views are amazing from the top and all around. Every visible surface is carved in some way.

It’s 11:30 AM. The temp is 37C (98.6F) and approximately 80% humidity. Sweltering! Cambodian New Year is in April. There is scaffolding being set up for the upcoming celebrations. A flooded rain pond gives a fun view of the complex.

Some cute children pose for our cameras. Red fire ants cross our path. You might remember that I had them in my salad last night! Intentionally!

A 7 headed Naga (snake) protects Angkor Wat! There are several protective Naga’s that protect this place. They always have 5, 7, 9, or 11 heads! This is one of the best preserved that we see.

Back on the bus with AC blasting we all take a deep breath! We head for lunch. At the restaurant we are given ice cold lemon eucalyptus towels to refresh our faces! Then we have more local food favorites such as Snake Head Fish and Beef Lok Lak. Once again, lunch was a fantastic amount of food!

After lunch, we head in search of more temples. Fabulous history behind all of these temples. We drive for over an hour to this one and it was suggested we all take a nap. Not the case as the road was too rough. And besides, my camera kept nudging me and asking what was outside the window. I kept telling it to close it’s eyes and take a nap. Then the bus would hit another bump and my camera would snarl at me. Okay, okay, you win. Take a photo or 50. These temples are extraordinary examples of Khmer sculpture and architecture!

We arrive at Banteay Srei Temple, this one is built with a lot of pink sandstone. It is considered one of the jewels of the Angkor area. Water Buffalo and roosters greet us at the entrance.

We even see a man fishing in murky rain puddles and catching fish with his bare hands! A group of minstrels plays for tips. How many people can fit on a motorcycle?

Then it’s a 30 minute drive to the next temple to visit and probably the most unique temple of the day. Ta Prohm Temple is very unique in that trees, some over 400 years old are still alive and growing in and on the temples! These are Spong trees. They are spongey and fibrous and seemingly live as one with the temples! It was fabulous to see. Ta Prohm has been left relatively untouched since it was discovered and retains much of its mystery. Its appeal lies in the fact that, unlike the other monuments of Angkor, it was abandoned and swallowed by the jungle, looking very much the way most of the Angkor temples appeared when European explorers first stumbled upon them.

Pisa tells us we have only 3 more temples to visit. Takeo, Thommanon and Chau Say Tevoda. The bus erupts in a collective groan. Even the younger people in the group have seen enough today in this sweltering heat! So we go back to the city where Elee gets off at Pub Street to shop. Pisa leaves us also but the driver takes the rest of us back to the hotel. I go back to the hotel and kick back. When Elee arrives back we both relax for a while and then go to the same restaurant we visited last night and sit in the Air Conditioned section.

Our entire group comes along and even Hannah (who has come here on her own) comes to hang with us! We all begin to say goodbye to each other even though some of us will travel to the airport together in the morning. I splurge and buy dinner for the group of 9 people and the bill, with tip, comes to $90 US Dollars. 9 people! Including drinks!

So Goodnight All!

Vietnam & Surrounds Day 14

Day 14, Wednesday, 3/26/25, Fly to Cambodia

We get up at 4:00 AM to go to the airport. Our bus picks us up at five. The ride to the airport is quick in light traffic. We check our luggage and get a bite to eat and an iced Vietnamese coffee. We see what might be our plane out the window. Nope, our plane is a 15 minute bus ride across the airport’s tarmac while standing!

Our plane finally takes off 35 minutes late. Looking out the window, Saigon stretches as far as the eye can see. Today we are headed to Krong Siem Reap, Cambodia. More commonly known as Siem Reap. Goodbye Vietnam. The flight is only 30 minutes and uneventful. Welcome to Cambodia!

Only six of our original group members are still with us. Rich, Esther, Dusty, Jon and us. Our group picked up 2-4 people in the last two days, Paul and Lesley, Jose and Gloria. It turns out that Hannah is also going to Siem Reap but she is doing it on her own.

Our guide today is Pisa. The bus windows are adorned with decorated curtains. There are toll booth to get out of the airport. There are only 16 million people in Cambodia.

We drive through a cashew farm. The cows here are skinny. We arrive at Angkor Complex and get passes.

We stop at Charisma Artisans Store and enjoy the air conditioning inside that our bus doesn’t have.

We drive by the kings house. A bit more touring and we stop for lunch at Khmer Duerm Restaurant and have Amok, recommended by the guide. It is a kind of chicken curry served in a black coconut bowl. I have a small Angkor beer and our new friend, Rich, has a large one.

The air conditioner on the bus doesn’t work and it’s stifling. We check in to the hotel, La Niche d’Angkor Boutique, and take a nap. We go out to the bus at four PM and the air conditioner has been repaired! Now to tour Angkor Thom, built in 1181.

Angkor Thom is an ancient (1181) marvel. Every surface is carved! There are five gates in the outside wall. We walk and climb around the ruins entertaining our cameras. We enter through the monumental South Gate over a causeway lined on either side by statues of demons and gods, each carrying a giant naga (snake).

This is quite the place to see. Even if it’s a third world country. There are monkeys everywhere. We are warned not to get too close to them and do not attempt to feed them. They will steal anything they can grab. But they are soooo cute! The temperature is 35 C and the humidity is upwards of 80%. We continue to the Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper Kings, former spaces for public ceremonies, both adorned with dramatic bas reliefs.

A group of guards pose for our cameras. This place is an enormous group of dozens of individual temples. We then visit the ruined Baphuon, Royal Enclosure, and Phimeanakas before continuing to the mysterious Bayon Temple. This temple, one of the most popular and compelling in Angkor, we explore the galleries of beautifully preserved bas reliefs and ascend narrow stairs to reach the central sanctuary, where we find giant stone faces smiling enigmatically down at us from every angle. Catching bits of sunset light in some doorways. Then it’s time to drive away. We see sunset outside one gate over a river.

We’re glad the AC on the bus has been repaired. Even at dusk, it is uncomfortably hot and humid. We head back to the hotel in the dark. I even get a few shots of the hotel pool at night.

Back at the hotel for only a few minutes and we head off to find dinner. We use the guide’s recommendation and try the Urban Tree Hut near to the hotel. Note the gecko lizards on the sign! The food is excellent! I have a beef salad with Red Ants! Yes, you heard that right! Ants! Delicious! Add some Pad Thai noodles and dinner is complete. A Passion Fruit Margarita and life is good!

Now off to bed and we’ll see you in the morning.

Vietnam & Surrounds Day 13

Day 13, Tuesday, 3/25/25, Mekong Delta

We are up early today and have breakfast by 7:00 AM. There is a lot of good Vietnamese food! We are on the bus at 8 AM to head to the Mekong Delta.

Interesting that on this trip, to most of the group, 8:00 AM means 8:05 or 8:10. On our last trip, it would mean 7:50 AM to the group. We drive by the Apocalypse Now Saigon Hotel. Today’s ride is about one and one-half hours. Roads here commonly have separate lanes for motorcycles.

Today our journey is to My Tho, the capital city of Tien Giang Province. This picturesque city is located on the Mekong River, about 75 kilometers southeast of Ho Chi Minh City, and is known for its lush orchards and rice fields that produce grains for the entire country. I see a Phat Dat sign for a ‘land’ company. The name Saigon or Sai Gon are prevalent everywhere. Ca Phe Pha May signs everywhere. Translates to Coffee Machine.

We stop at a temple with a laughing Buddha and a lying Buddha. It is called Van Phong Chua Vinh Trang.

We have Honey Pollen Tea at a bee farm. Band An tea. They serve us ginger and banana together. They are good.

We board river boats on the Mekong River and ride to a village. We visit several parts of the village and then get into small SamPan boats where we are paddled along a small canal through water coconut groves.

We then walk along the Mekong River and visit a place where we taste different fruits and listen to singing and instruments playing. Then it’s back on the river boat and off to lunch.

The food is good and includes whole fried tilapia fish and deep fried sticky rice balls. Dessert is watermelon.

We visit a candy factory and taste various taffy and other candy.

Back on the riverboat to the bus. We are each given our own coconut and a straw. It’s very sweet. These coconuts grow only in Vietnam.

Back on the bus for the 90 minute drive to the hotel. I wonder if my camera can find something new or if my sleep mode will win?

Sleep mode takes the lead and I doze for most of an hour. But I wake with the jostling of the bus brings me awake and I watch us drive through traffic into the city. We arrive at the hotel and recon in the room for a few minutes. Then it’s off to find a Happy Hour and I locate one that’s only 5 minutes walking distance.

Le’Fe Rooftop Bar is found without too much hassle and we sit up looking over another part of Saigon. It’s a fun place to have drinks. We watch the sun set into the smog and watch the building lights turn on.

It’s Happy Hour and I’m 4 IPAs in, LOL. Now it’s time to walk to a restaurant in traffic! We’re on a party street that even includes disco dancers! Wish us luck! We’re headed for Di Mai Ben Thanh. See if we get there!