May 8th, 2015 - Travel day, Koh Lanta, Thailand to Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Messages like these are everywhere at the White Linen Guest House
Peter's POV
Today was one of our last travel days. Today I woke up and realized that I hadn't packed and our driver came to get us at 10. It was 8. The packing took me 30 minutes and afterwards Lea and I went to go and get some breakfast at the buffet next door.
When we got back we finished packing and waited for the car. Our drive to Koh Lanta was great, we were in a big minibus and our driver drove very fast so we got to our house in record time. This driver pulled up and we first thought that he was looking for someone else because he had a tiny car. But we made it work.
When we got to the airport we all stretched out our backs and got ready to check in. We did some shopping to look for stickers. but after trying all of the stores we decided that it was a hopeless cause. When we walked over to the check-in counter we found no one working at any of the booths. We decided that we still had a while before our flight so we walked to get lunch before we checked in. Ironically, our most expensive meal in Thailand was 4 sandwiches and 3 bags of chips at Subway. When we got back to the check in counter we checked our bags and headed off for security. As we were hustling through security my dad told Lea that she didn't have her immigration departure card. So once we were through security Lea was told that she had to go back to the check-in counter and fill out another.
When we landed in Bangkok it was 4. Bangkok airport is probably the biggest airport that I have ever been in. We had a two hour and 15 minute layover in Bangkok but we only waited for 15 minutes because it took us two hours to get from gate to gate.
When we landed in Phnom Penh we got our visas and got out of the airport easily. When we got outside we needed to get a taxi. We told the driver where we were going before he got into the car he said that he knew were it was. When he got into the car and my dad asked him if he knew were we were going he didn't know. My dad, having gone through the same thing in Ha Noi had the address pulled up on his phone in preparation.
When we got to the place that google maps told us to go the hotel was nowhere in site. We asked someone and drove around the block again but we still couldn't find it. After asking again and having someone walk my dad to the hotel we did finally find it. We checked into our room and went right to sleep after a long day of travel.
Big Pete's POV
Friday May 8th
Today was a travel day from the wonderful island of Koh Lanta to the madness of Phnom Penh Cambodia. Stacie and I woke up early because I had a call I needed to be on at 7:00 and we wanted to get our walk in before the sun came up and started to bake the beach. We had our coffee, our walk and then I had my call. After the call we had breakfast and packed up and before we knew it we were on the road. We had a two and a half hour taxi ride followed by a one hour flight from Krabi to Bangkok. Then after a two hour layover in Bangkok we had a one hour flight from Bangkok to Phnom Penh. All of the travel went really smoothly. We arrived at the Krabi airport about two and a half hours early and we were all hungry. We have not eaten fast food since we left the US with the exception of one visit to Subway in New Zealand. In the Krabi airport we spotted another Subway and decided it would be nice to have a sandwich for a change. We ordered two foot longs (for the kids) and Stacie and I both had 6 inch subs and we had three bags of chips - no drinks. The total bill was about $32. Now $32 is not all that much for a meal in the airport, but it was a stark contrast to the meals we had been eating over the past couple of weeks. Those meals were generally full blown affairs with entrees like Massaman Curry, Pad Thai, Garlic and Pepper Prawns, Fried Rice, Naan, etc. They all included drinks and were all LESS expensive than our meal at Subway. Welcome back to reality.
The rest of the trip was eventful, just the way I like it. I will say that arriving in Cambodia was by far the easiest entry into a country we have had in a LONG time, even though we had to get a visa in the airport. They were efficient as all get out and we were in our taxi no more than 20 minutes after we touched down. Oh, and another nice surprise - Cambodia uses US Dollars - no conversion :-). It was nice to hold some greenbacks again!
We arrived at our guest house - the White Linnen, which is owned by the Daughters of Cambodia, with the proceeds going to help protect and rehabilitate women who have been targeted by human traffickers.
The rooms are perfect and impeccably clean - they have done an incredible job.
We are happy to be here and are looking forward to working with Cambodian Care on their school projects.