MARCH 12, 2008 – BANGKOK

This was an early call for us. Initially the ship was to dock right in Bangkok. Then a crane fell on the pier and we were rerouted to Laem Chabang, a port that is 2 – 2 ½ hrs from Bangkok. We signed up for the Bangkok, off the beaten track tour. Our group was headed down the gangplank by 7:30 am. We had ordered breakfast by room service to conserve time.
TRIP TO BANGKOK: We got a very cute tour guide with a robust sense of humor, mostly at her own expense. But don’t be misled, she was terrific.
The trip between Laem Chabang and Bangkok has changed so much since we were here 4 yrs ago that I didn’t recognize a thing along the way. They have built an elevated expressway with several toll booths along the way. Many people retained their homes which are now directly under this expressway.
Thailand is immediately recognized as cleaner than Cambodia, and more prosperous. It’s still a long way from a first world country, but it’s clearly making great progress. Some of the ship passengers were stunned that we weren’t accosted by begging children here.
JIM THOMPSON HOUSE: This was an American who had been stationed in this area during WWII and returned after the war and developed the Thai silk industry. I had first heard of him when Ed brought some silk items back from Bangkok. This man never married, was an architect by training, and collected Thai artifacts wherever he found them. So much so that the Thai government would regularly appropriate many of the items he had searched out and paid for. He found this old home made out of teak at a far away location, had it dismantled (very few nails are used in Thai construction), and recreated at it’s present location. He continued to add to the grounds through his life. Thompson disappeared at the age of 61; no sign of him has ever been seen or heard of. Ultimately, a foundation was created and they currently run all the industries: silk, store, tours of house.
You must take your shoes off and leave all your bags in a locker. Then a teeny, tiny little lady who spoke very passable English, guided us through this lovely home full of much Thai history. The grounds are lovely and there is a boat pier on the canal right in front of the house.
The selection of items for purchase is modest but of consistently high quality befitting his commitment to the Thai silk industry. We did pick up a few things but I am not a good shopper when I have only 20 min. to look and decide. The Thai Baht is 31 = $1 USD and that complicated my calculations (brain dead these days).
BUSSARACUM RESTAURANT: www.bussaracum.com We had a cooking lesson at this Thai restaurant. They taught us three dishes; I have photos of Ed making the beef dish. Later we ate these with the rest of our buffet lunch.
The first item we made was a very cute and absolutely delicious appetizer. You make a dough of rice flower and lavender juice. This is cooked until it’s like play dough and then you form it into little bowls into which ground chicken is placed. Then you mold the dough into a shape about like cone incense only larger. At this point you take a utensil that looks like a large pair of tweezers and you create flower petals. I did a passable job and got many kudos from my tablemates and the staff assisting us. These are then steamed (they puff up a little and then the flower design really shows). They are really delicious. You can make them in different colors and it would be a fun thing for 4th of July and other celebrations.
The other dishes were a papaya salad and the aforementioned beef dish Ed made.
When we finished with this, we went downstairs and helped ourselves to the buffet while the staff brought down the dishes we had made and put them on our tables. I couldn’t begin to tell you all the Thai foods we saw and ate but all were very tasty. At the end I visited the dessert table and took some of a dish that reminds me of frog eyes: tapioca beads in a green gelatin type gel. I put some in a small dish and started to walk off when a local, pulled me back and said: “Let me show you how to eat that” at which point he put something like yogurt or coconut milk or something on it. It really was very good.
TEAK MANSION: This was a building near the sea shore that belonged to the king but which he never used. So he had it dismantled (do you get the drift of all this dismantling?) and rebuilt on the property adjacent to the Royal Palace here in Bangkok. It has 72 rooms and is really quite lovely. One of the kings (the one upon whom The King and I was based: Rama IV) loved photography from the beginning and he took lots of photos which are displayed around the house. The carpets are from China and the furnishings are Louie the XV type (I don’t recall the names of all this furniture types but you get the drift) and they would be oppressive were it not for the huge size of these rooms which still seem to have a sense of intimacy to them.
We took our shoes off here as well and left any packages. Further, if your shoulders were exposed, you (female) were wearing slacks or shorts, you were given a Thai wrap to cover up. Men could not wear shorts either. One of the folks on the tour, not a passenger, seemed unable to follow the rules anywhere. If it said not to take photos inside the building (this was everywhere we went), she acted dumb and when reminded, turned her flash off and surreptitiously continued to take a shot. When it said not to sit on furniture, she did. She had spaghetti straps and simply put on a cap sleeve T shirt. She had hip huggers on and she put the Thai wrap around her hips. Her underwear, tattoo and cleft of her buttocks were frequently seen. Many folks commented about her behavior; she seemed oblivious. I am embarrassed when tour participants act as if the rules apply to everyone but them. The only good thing I can add is that she is not American but does speak English. I hope folks can place the accent so they’ll know that, for a change, it wasn’t an American.
It was hot and humid everywhere we went and we were reluctant to complain that the air conditioning on the bus, while cool, was too high. We survived by being grateful we had anything like that. The “motorcoach” today was a very nice one. We were regularly offered cold water and “refreshing tissue” to wipe our hands and faces.
SHOPPING: the last stop was one of the tourist traps you become used to when traveling on tours. They sold gems, jewelry, silk items and handicrafts. We had 30 min. here. I was interesting to see the different items and ooohh and aaahhh over everything.
The trip back was about like this morning: rush hour traffic, stop and go; the expressway helps though. Along the way, our tour guide gave us each a Thai cooking certificate to frame. This was unexpected but fun. We got back to the ship at 6 pm and the ship closes the doors at 6:30. there were some stalls in the ship terminal and we looked around there as well. We got better prices on the items around Angkor Wat so no takes. We made it back on the ship at 6:25p. There were 25 more people unaccounted for as we checked in.
It occurs to me that you may not know that we have credit card ships ID with a mag stripe. Everytime we enter or leave the ship, we swipe this card. It has a photo attached to it. Occasionally we hear someone’s name called at the last minute to call the purser’s desk; someone hasn’t clicked in.
SUPPER: the dining room was closed so we went to the Panorama Buffet for supper. Renzio, the Matre d’, stopped me and asked how I liked the cooking class. Ed came much after me and Renzio asked him as well. Now we have to ask him how he knew that we had a cooking class! He’d first have to know what tour we were on (our group was very small: about 18 of us), and what we were doing.
ENTERTAINMENT: It’s the flutist and the Benny Hill comic. Ed went down; I want to get caught up on the blog.
TOMORROW: We are at Ko Samui, Thailand, one of the largest of their islands. Here we have an ELEPHANT RIDE scheduled. This time Ed will be joining me. The ship is in this port for only a few hours so we don’t leave until about noon and the ship leaves at 5 pm.
MARCH 8, 2008 –
TO SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA

I went down to the purser’s at 8:30 am to get our passports. Mine wasn’t there; they said it was still being checked “upstairs”. When I got it later, the problem was finding a page to put the visa onto. They moved my immunizations page to one that had stamps all over it. I also got some money changed into USD for use in Cambodia where they accept American money freely as long as it is fresh bills in small denominations.
We took the shuttle downtown to see a few things in Saigon and then came right back, had lunch, and double checked our packing. There really wasn’t enough time to do anything else. Everything is very dirty here; rubbish everywhere. Traffic is indescribable but I have some photos. Still Saigon, actually Ho Chi Minh City, is looking more prosperous than last time with much construction going on.
We were to meet in the Cabaret Lounge at 2:30 p. I went down at 2:15 pm as they called our names so I called Ed to tell him. He wasn’t happy and neither was I because I’m always early to things. I won’t ventilate where this all went but we went to the airport in Saigon. I try to get a seat on the right hand side of the plane near the window to accommodate my Reid sleeve. I don’t have good luck generally. However, the clerk did accommodate us in 17 E and F. They don’t make provisions for disabled or folks with small children; everyone crushes you to get onto the plane. It doesn’t help to be near the gate—they’ll run you down.
SEAM REAP: You leave the plane on the tarmac and are greeted by the smell of incense from the temples. It is dark by now and the building is lit up and looks wonderful in reddish teak color with the upturned corners of the roofs. We were served a good sized snack and water on this 45 min. flight.
We collected our luggage, managed immigration, and boarded the busses for the trip to the hotel. We were about 150 on this overland tour. The hotel we stayed at is at least 4 star and perhaps 5 star. It is a resort and spa, Sokha hotel, with a reflecting pool and an outdoor stage. The grounds are gorgeous.
We picked up our room keys by identifying our ship cabin number. Then we went to get our ID for the temple pass which would allow us to get into all temples.
We thought we’d died and gone to heaven when we got to our room (yes, I got photos). There were light housecoats and slippers waiting for you, wonderful amenities including a free bottle of water daily (you can’t drink the tap water here). You got fit our cabin in the bathroom with room to spare. And there were apples and oranges for us to snack on.
Dinner was a wonderful, but relatively disorganized, buffet of many types of foods, all delicious. You get two drinks with your meal; one choice is beer or house wine. Such a deal.
After taking a wonderful shower, we fell into bed knowing we had an early wake up call.
MARCH 8, 2008
WAT DAY
Frankie from the ship was with us. He’s a pleasant, well traveled fellow of undetermined age, who doesn’t get ruffled. He arranged a wake up call for 6 am. I thought this was smart on his part because if you leave it up to folks, they will wait until the last minute and many of these folks need a lot of time.
We had set our Treos, and got up and dressed and went down to breakfast. I went down first, alone as Ed’s timing is definitely a different drummer. I went next door with one of the other tourists and took photos of a temple next door. It was 7:45 am and almost all of the busses were loaded. I tried to save a seat for Ed but they kicked me off the bus since it was holding them up. So I found Ed in the dining room visiting and told him the busses were waiting. He was the last one on the bus. Not a good way to start the day I’m afraid.
PREAH KHAN: This is the place where the trees have infiltrated the stones and it’s a dilemma whether to cut them down (to prevent future destruction of the stones) or leave them alone as they are holding up many of the structures. These trees are enormous. The early morning light meant some great photos. It was warm but the humidity is what wears you down. There is a lot of walking and as I’ve described, most of these folks are not walkers.
Along the way was a musical group comprised of men who have lost limbs and in one instance, vision, due to land mines. The government teaches them to play native instruments so they can make money. They had CDs for sale.
THE KIDS: We were here on a Sunday which I suspect made it worse. The kids are persistent and annoying in trying to sell you the items they have. Their English is pretty good; one person asked them where they learned their English and she replied: “From you.” They are hagglers but some of the passengers delight in squeezing them down to the lowest possible price. In at least one instance, a man got a fiddle type instrument for $2, not because he wanted it, but for the sheer delight of making the seller beg. It’s really disgusting past a certain point.
I can’t possible remember the specific details of the places we visited so I’ll simply list them and tell you of what sticks in my mind. On this day our agenda has these places (I’ll deal with Angkor Wat on it’s own): Angkor Thom, Famous Bayon, Baphuon, Terraces of Elephants and Leper King, Ta Prohm; in pm: Banteay Srei, Angkor Wat and Thom. We passed on shopping at the Central Market.
LUNCH: We were returned to the hotel for buffet lunch. Again, delicious. We were supposed to get there at 12 noon; we didn’t arrive until 2 pm and the tour guide told us 20 min only for lunch. There was a passive aggressive revolt: we didn’t leave until 3 pm for afternoon tour which meant we didn’t get to everything on our agenda and arrived (if you didn’t go on to the central market) at the hotel at 6:15 p. This was only because one of the passengers had an appt. for a massage ($45 USD for 90 min) in the spa.
DINNER AND FOLKLORICO SHOW: Dinner was scheduled for 7:30 pm to include a folklorico show on the stage in front of the pool area. I went down at 7:15 pm and probably 75% of the people were already eating (do you get the sense of time here by now?). This time I didn’t call Ed; he eats fast anyway. The buffet was sumptious and had been set up around the pool so we could watch the show from our tables. There was no lip on the side of the water areas and one lady stepped up to get a better shot and fell into the pool. Only her dignity was hurt (and perhaps another camera bit the dush); she went to her room and changed and returned quickly.
The show included several dances with peasant themes and then those gorgeous Balinese type girls dancing. They are so beautiful and graceful. I got cramps in my feet just watching them.
ANGKOR WAT: Nothing quite prepares you for this huge complex. I thought the Forbidden City was impressive. It is but this is right up there with it. At one time, all of these wats were covered with gold. Over the years, they were abandoned and the jungle took over. When you see the jungle areas, you have a small idea of the work that has been done to uncover all of these huge structures. The stones are not from a quarry near these sites. How did they get here? Not sure. The purpose of the different edifices is speculated but probably close to the reality.
I can’t do justice to all this so I’ll just refer you to a book about these sites and I’ll show photos when we get home.
ANGKOR THOM: This site is also very interesting in it’s own right. Faces are carved everywhere. I’ve forgotten the actual number, but it’s in the hundreds. I posted one photo of one of the towers on this blog’s gallery site. We saw this late in the afternoon and the lighting was gorgeous. Of all the places we had to climb and walk through, this site had the steepest, narrowest, worn-down stone steps of any other—and no handrails folks. You manage but you’re also very slow and very careful. If you get hurt here, it would take a helicopter to rescue you! Especially since we tourists make about 3 of the natives in terms of size and weight.
RECOMMENDATIONS: This was the first time Princess has offered this overland trip. The locals want to please you and are justifiably proud of these sights. However, they tried to cram 3-5 days worth of sight seeing into this one day. You had no time to really enjoy and savor where you were. Further, if I ever get back, I want to go to Angkor Wat for sunrise, and Angkor Thom for sunset. And we saw no elephants and apparently sometimes elephants give you a ride from one area to another. We did see monkeys (another photo I posted) but tourists feed them and that isn’t a good idea; they won’t know how to fend for themselves soon and the foods are surely not good for them (or us for that matter).
CARE OF TOURISTS: Each time you return to the bus, you are offered a “refreshing tissue” (these all have wonderful fragrances!) and a cold bottle of water. There is a 10 min pee-pee break mid morning and mid afternoon at a tourist rest stop that is maintained and for which there is no charge. Jim finished in the men’s room, saw the long line for the women, came over and told us there were 4 stalls in there not being used and to go for it---which many of us did. We hollered out warnings to the men who went in as Jim has gone to take pics somewhere. The staff sat there and had a good laugh at all of this.
MARCH 10, 2008
SIEMREAP TO PHNOM PENH
THEN TO SIHANOUKVILLE
There were two groups for the airplane; one left at 6 am for an 8 am flight; we were in the group that left at 8 am for a 10:20 am flight.
We went separately to breakfast; the bus was supposed to leave at 8 am for the airport. Ed had agreed to be in the lobby at 7:30 am. I should have been more specific. He brought everything down and went to breakfast. Again he was the last one on the bus to the airport. Do you see two patterns here? One of which is that these Cambodians and this passenger population are early birds. This is actually fine with me as I hate waiting for folks who are never on time.
AIRPORT: We survived immigration, checked in. Ed asked for a window seat for me on the right hand side and the nice man must have liked my smile because he put us in 2E and F! We had other ship’s folks in first class too but I felt so appreciative. Again we had a small snack for this quick flight. (note to God: can you arrange for first class across the pond on our return flight? Thanks for listening).
I may not have this correct, but I believe the “international” airport at Phnom Penh was the former US base. It is pretty much open style like the one on Maui. We were greeted by our local guide and shepherded to our bus. We visited the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda. These are gorgeous sites to visit and I can’t do justice to them in this blog. We had only 20 min. and the guides at the Palace and Pagoda tried their best but these are usually 1-2 hr tours. The grounds are gorgeous; silver covers the floors in the silver pagoda and there’s an emerald Buddha (and a good sized one at that) on display—but too far away to touch. Again, we are getting good at taking our shoes off. I should have brought slippers.
Next we were taken to the National Museum where the Museum’s guide takes over. Again passable English and I learned a lot from the guide, but while the grounds are so gorgeous, it mostly contains old artifacts that we all agreed we could live without; we’d have preferred spending that time at the Palace. Again, too much crammed into an outrageously short period of time. Making it worse is that we are hot, sweaty, and in the case of many deconditioned folks, cranky and not feeling well.
LUNCH AT ROYAL HOTEL: Since we were running late, this guide also told us only 20 min for lunch. (Did they coordinate with the guides in SiemReap?). We quietly rebelled. The offerings were delicious; there were many military eating here from many nations. On the bus we were told that we had to be back to the ship one hour earlier than we had originally been told. I don’t know if this was true or a ruse to get us to hurry. If it was, it failed miserably.
DRIVE TO SIHANOUKVILLE: We drove 4 hours, with a quick potty stop (where two guys bought a case of Angkor beer to take back) along the way. The tour guide discussed the history of Cambodia including much detail about Pol Pot. You’ve all heard about it but hearing it from someone who lost so many family members (taking to the killing fields and shot) makes it so real. What a story.
Along the way saw the crops, animals including water buffalo (still haven’t ridden one of those guys), and little kids walking and bicycling home from school. I catch photos from the bus now and then: some are good, most aren’t but I live for the occasional good luck shot.
We got back to the ship around 6 pm, which was the original time we were scheduled to return. Ours was the last of the 5 busses. Ed and I went down to dinner but we were the only ones. While Dave and Twyla had been on the this tour with us, they were too tired.
ENTERTAINMENT: A young woman who plays the flute, piccolo, and penny whistle. She played a program from Henry Mancini music plus some unusual pieces written for one of the instruments. She’s a keeper. Oh yeah, she also played one of my favorite pieces: concierto de Aranjuez by Rodrigo.
THE LAUNDRY (again): Of course, we had sweaty clothes from our trip and added to what we had before we left, I decided to see about doing the laundry. I dialed the laundry and finally a man answered. I asked if there were any washers free; he said yes; I said I’ll be right up. So I grabbed a bag and asked Ed to bring the other stuff along. I got two washers right away and when the 3rd opened up, I called Ed to hurry up before someone else got it. So I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. It’s 9:15pm when I start this; others are coming in and out checking their laundry. Remember the man who offered me a $1 bill when I put 4 quarters in his dryer since he had left it unattended? Well he was the one in the laundry room this evening. A lady from our overland came in and only needed a dryer. One was stopped but it had clothes in it that were not yet dry. She mulled this over, we talked for a while, and she asked me what I thought. I told her since the party wasn’t here to attend to their dryer (I didn’t have enough quarters to splurge on this one: the purser only doles out these quarters in a few dollars at a time), I felt she was justified in taking the clothes out and putting hers in. This she did. Just as she was about to go out in the hallway where it was cooler, this aforementioned man comes over, feels the clothes and tells her that those are his clothes and why did she take them out. She was very apologetic, removed her clothes and he put his in again and started the dryer with change. This woman and I looked at each other with astonishment. What the hell did he think we were discussing this whole time???
And Mike, you’re right: some writer could write a good stage play just around the laundry room on ships.
Eventually dryers opened up and Ed came to help me fold things. We had a few things that still had to be hung for a little more drying, but overall, we were done. Hallelujah! And we scampered out the door at 10:55 pm – they close up at 11pm.
I still had my stinky clothes on, so I did my hand laundry and included these things. The shower was full of hanging, dripping clothing. As I write this, the slacks still have a wet waist band, but the compression garments are all finally dry as is the top I washed.
Amen.