TravelCambodia — Jim Winslett

On the one hand, it was kinda nice to be off the ship after more than a month, but on the other hand it was kinda sad. After that long, you get to know some of the crew and it was bittersweet saying goodbye. And then there was the travel. Ugh. We got on a bus and headed the 90 minutes to Bangkok airport. It’s an interesting airport, very clean, and has some art that you won’t see back home in North America, such as this whatever-this-is with guys playing tug-of-war with a three-headed dragon snake.

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Viking is really good at logistics and we boarded the bus while the luggage we wanted to take with us to Cambodia got on a little truck and the luggage we didn’t need in Cambodia got sent to the hotel back in Bangkok, which we’ll return to in a few days. When we arrived at the airport, our luggage was already waiting for us. We checked in and were told how to get to the Bangkok Airways lounge. So far, so good. There was a minor hiccup, however, in that the lounge host said that we couldn’t go into the main lounge until 4:15 and our flight boarded at 4:40, making it fairly useless. They did have a seating area, which we used. When it came time to board, we were put on a bus and driven out into the airfield, where we finally saw our plane.

A short 90 minutes later, we arrive at Siem Reap and we are literally the only ones in the airport.

Another Viking perk, although it was a bit unsettling, was that rather than spend a lot of time waiting for the customs officers to check us all in and stamp our passports and check our visas, we just handed them everything and got our luggage and went to dinner while a Viking rep stayed behind at the airport and waited for all the processing to get done. After we had finished dinner and got to the hotel, our passports were waiting for us there.
Speaking of dinner, we were transported there on a curtain-clad bus. Still “brothel on wheels” vibes, but at least these curtains didn’t block the view.

Dinner was at PorCuisine, a local place with traditional dancing to go along with your meal.

The menu, for a finicky eater like myself, seemed challenging.

I’m game to try most anything, though, because it’s always nice when I find a new food that I like. I didn’t hold out much hope for fish soup or anything with eggplant, however.
Shocker: it was all delicious. The soup had fish in it, but I think the broth was chicken stock so it didn’t taste fishy. It was quite good. The main course had very little eggplant and the flavour of the dish as a whole was really good. I liked it a lot.

Throughout the meal, we were treated to traditional dancers in elaborate costumes.

I asked our guide about the dancers’ hands bending backward and he said that they start at a young age, bending their fingers back, while the body is still young enough to be trained. It kinda freaked me out, if I’m honest.

I’m not sure what the history is behind feeling the need to bend your fingers back, but it’s shown in their dance and even in their sculpture and other art. It’s still freaky to me.

Then it was off to the hotel. Viking picked a really nice one for us and the room is lovely.

The bowl of fruit even includes rambutan (the spiky stuff), which I love.

It’s very much like a lychee, only sweeter. Best yet, once you squeeze it open to get to the good stuff, you’re left with a handy, spiky container to spit the pit back into.

And that’s about it for today - big day tomorrow, though!

One interesting thing I’ll end with… you can use US cash here in Cambodia at lots of places. However, if you get change, you’ll likely get a mix of US dollars and Cambodian Riel. Since the Riel is more than 4,000 to one USD, you get Riel instead of US coins. Our change was $4.24 - we got four US ones and a 1000 Riel note, which is roughly equal to $0.24 USD.