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Bangkok to Siem Reap, VTBD
- VDSR
We request a late checkout from
the plush Oriental Bangkok and are approved for leaving at
1:00 p.m., for a scheduled takeoff time of 3:30 p.m. Since
we have the morning free, we debate about what to do and agree
to forego another visit to the gym and instead do a power
walk around the downtown area. Big mistake.
Although the grounds of the Oriental
are serene and spotless, the surrounding area names shown
with the English spelling in much smaller print than the Thai,
so they are somewhat hard to read. With map in hand, we venture
out but only make it a few blocks before we are doing the
typical tourist bit of standing on a corner, map in hand,
puzzled look on face. A nice-looking, well-dressed, Asian
gentleman comes up and, in very good English, tells us that
he is the security director at the Peninsula Hotel (another
really nice one) and suggests that we should not be walking
where we are in the morning because it is the busiest time
of day on the major streets. However, he knows of a more secluded
area, about two miles away, and suggests we ride a taxi there,
walk in that area, and then either ride or walk back. Also
- What a coincidence! - there is a Thai handicrafts fair going
on at this remote location, it's the last day, and most things
are at least 30% off.
He walks us a few feet to curbside
and negotiates a cheap fare in one of the little, non-metered,
three-wheel "Tuk-Tuk" taxis, we hop in back, and off we go.
The Tuk-Tuk ride is fun, zipping along in the open air in
the back of this motorized rickshaw. We pull up in front of
a large building where two men dressed in security uniforms
welcome us to the "fair." No thanks, we say, we just want
to walk, but they are rather insistent so we think, what the
heck, we'll go ahead and walk through. It ain't no fair. Instead,
we find a large and nice shop with a multitude of touristy
Thai items, from silk to gems to wood carvings, and I buy
some pretty chopsticks. The 30% discount is only on certain
items; not chopsticks. I think we've been taken. The standard
tourist trick of getting people to come to your store has
hooked another couple of suckers.
The area is not pretty and the
traffic is not much less than it was downtown. Nevertheless,
we start out on foot and quickly decide that we don't feel
very comfortable in these surroundings. A talkative Chinese
Tuk-Tuk driver takes pity on us and we decide to hop in for
a ride back to the hotel. Wrong again! We end up going to
another shop! The good news is, he doesn't charge us anything.
The bad news is, we are still about a mile from the hotel,
and as we leave the shop all he does is point us in the general
direction for our walk. No more Tuk-Tuk ride. Well, we finally
get in our reduced-duration walk as we find our way back to
the hotel. As Pam says, "Whatever benefit our legs got from
the walk was nullified by the exhaust fumes our lungs took
in!" Live and learn, I guess. Next time, I'll stick with the
hotel gym and spa facility.
So now we are a little pressed
for time as we clean up, pack, and prepare to leave the hotel.
Our driver and car have been sent from the airport handlers
and we are on our way right on the dot of 1:00 p.m. Bangkok
International is a very large airport and the meeting area
where we are supposed to meet our agent is undergoing some
construction. Actually, Pam and I luck out and the agent finds
us right away but poor Pat & Ashley, an hour later, have to
stand around for over thirty minutes before another handling
representative finally starts helping them get through security
and out to the plane. As Pam and I have our, bags x-rayed,
we must unpack and remove scissors from the medical kit, Pam's
Swiss Army knife and the Leatherman tool from my flight bag,
only to have them returned to us by the handler once we are
out of the terminal. Wouldn't want to hijack ourselves now,
would we? Actually, it was somewhat comforting to see such
competence in security measures since this was the same procedure
for everyone who uses the terminal, which means 99.9% airline
passengers.
We had not refueled when we arrived
since it was after dark and near the end of a long day, so
now we top up the tanks. We had planned to stop at Phnom Penh
to clear Customs and Immigration, both going into and departing
from Cambodia, since our original information was that these
services were not available at Siem Reap, our final Cambodian
destination, nor was fuel available there. However, we have
received a fax from Universal advising that the handling representative
at Siem Reap says that all formalities can be accomplished
there. Great! Unless the winds are very much against us, that
means we can fill up in Bangkok, go straight to Siem Reap,
add no fuel, and still be able to go from Siem Reap straight
on to Kuching, Malaysia, for a fuel stop on our way to Bali
in a couple of days.
Thus far, WorldFlight2001 has
been fortunate to experience good weather almost everywhere.
Except for a little rain in Spain - That would make a cute
song title, wouldn't it? - and in Turkey, we have had absolutely
beautiful weather, and never, ever, a weather problem when
flying. But today? Well, a little matter of typhoon Lingling
was heading our way!
The information we had about
the Siem Reap airport was that it was a basic VFR field with
no approaches and limited services. Like the information about
Customs and Immigration, we come to find that this too is
incorrect, probably based on data a couple of years old. Our
weather and flight plan fax that we had received at the hotel
was incomplete, with only the first three of eleven pages
coming through. Surely, we think, we will get the missing
info at the airport, since we have found that usually the
handling service has been sent a copy also. Not today. When
asked to get the weather for Siem Reap, the agent says that
it is not available.
Pam, who is flying left seat
today, gets on the rented GSM cell phone and, after many frustrating
attempts, finally gets through to Universal Weather in Houston.
The briefer that answers is someone she had briefed with many
times when she was with AlliedSignal! He says that Lingling
won't be there yet when we arrive, that Siem Reap should be
in Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC) without any approach
required.
When P & A show up they are apologetic
about being so near the scheduled departure time due to the
snafu in connecting with the handler. No problem! Even though
it was somewhat "down to the wire," I am closing the door
right on time for our 3:30 departure. In fact, we taxi out
at 3:37 and are airborne six minutes later off of Runway 03L.
Immediately after getting airborne,
Bangkok departure control clears us direct to the intersection
on the Thailand-Cambodia border. There is a high overcast
as we climb to Flight Level 230 where we are still below the
clouds. This short leg will only take about an hour, so thirty-five
minutes after takeoff Pam elects to start descent so as to
stay in the clear as the cloud bases begin to drop lower.
We discover that the Garmin GNS 530 navigators do indeed show
approaches for Siem Reap even though we have no approach plates
for the airport. Strange! Although we consider the option
of asking the Siem Reap tower operator to provide altitude
and other information if we are forced to do an approach,
we would much prefer to remain in VMC and avoid clouds.
About fifteen miles from the
airport, with no radar services here, we are cleared to conduct
the VOR DME Runway 05 approach. With the ground below, but
not the airport ahead, clearly in sight, Pam decides to continue
descending to remain in the clear, figuring we can always
climb back up and try the approach if we cannot see the airport
when we are closer in. Ah! There it is! Looming out of the
rain and mist we see the runway, almost perpendicular to our
direction of flight. Pam cranks the airplane around for a
left downwind but is still closer than normal to the runway
so announces that she will overshoot the turn onto final approach.
I appreciate that. Good cockpit communication between crew
members is a very necessary task, and yet a difficult one,
to perform well. As she straightens the airplane out nicely
and gets it fully stabilized in the groove at about five hundred
feet above the runway, she calls for the completion of the
landing checklist and the tower reconfirms our clearance to
land.
Then, to cap it off, she greases
on another one! I'll tell you, she's showing me up rather
consistently on managing these smooth touchdowns! The runway
is soaking wet, which always helps, but her skill plays the
biggest role. Pat and Ashley cheer and clap for this job very
well done.
Just as we slow to taxi speed,
the skies really open up with lightening, thunder, and a torrential
tropical downpour that reduces the visibility to nil. We must
stop on the taxiway for about five minutes until the rain
abates enough to be able to see our way to our parking place
on the relatively small ramp. Meanwhile, the hurricane force
winds lift the roof off of the terminal and pieces of it barely
miss hitting us as Pam struggles to keep the airplane from
blowing sideways in the horrific conditions.
Oh, okay! You figured it out!
That last paragraph is a bald-faced lie! Actually, except
for light drizzle, the weather was fine. But, doggone it,
wouldn't you like my flight reports to be a little more exciting?!
After all, to come half-way around the world with everything
routine…where's the glamour in that? No, even typhoon Lingling
had almost zero impact on us. Boooorrring!
Now back to reality. There are
a couple of Chinese-made large turboprop airliners on the
ramp for Cambodian Airlines and we are marshaled into a location
right up close to the fence by the terminal. We shutdown just
an hour and seven minutes after startup. In addition to the
numerous security people, inspectors, and baggage handlers
congregating at the plane, standing at the bottom of the open
door is a fine-looking young man wearing blue jeans and a
pilot shirt who greets me warmly. I make the unforgivable
booboo of initially suspecting his accent to be Australian,
only to be told he is a New Zealander, and the station agent/pilot
for Cambodian Helicopters. Andrew Ashley - neat name! - not
only flies sightseeing and charter helicopter flights around
the Angkor area but he also does double duty as the handling
agent in Siem Reap. (Do you know that "Siem Reap" is a Khmer
term meaning "Watch them harvest?" Yeah, that's another lie!
Get it? But it sure seemed funny during the cocktail hour
one night when Pat defined it for us!)
Since it is a small airport,
since no fueling is to be done here, and since the hotel is
fairly close, all four of us go together and after a cursory
check of baggage and passports we are loaded into a bus to
head for the Grand Hotel d'Angkor. Andrew agrees to meet us
at 6:30 p.m. for a drink at the lobby bar.
We are back to driving on the
right side of the road again, a welcome change from the left-side
practice we've been experiencing. It is only about five miles
to the hotel and the bus driver does quite well with English.
The narrow road is packed with traffic, mostly school children
and adults on bicycles, with the occasional motorbike, car,
or ox cart included. We realize that developers have high,
high, hopes for making the Angkor area into a major tourist
destination. There are hotels of all kinds lining both sides
of the road and many, many, new ones under construction. We
think that there are going to be lots of disappointed hotel
owners over the next few years. Although we do come to the
realization that this is a premier tourist stop, we believe
that it will be years and years before demand will match the
supply of hotel rooms.
Our hotel is lovely. Built in
1929 and refurbished in 1995, it is a delight to the senses.
There is a single, small, open, cage-like Otis elevator that
is still is use, although the hotel has only four floors.
There is also a huge, marble, square staircase that ascends
to all floors. The room is spacious with two queen-size beds
and all the normal accessories.
Cambodia! The Killing Fields.
Pol Pot. Khmer Rouge. Angkor Wat. I can't believe we are here!
(The three pictures attached
here don't really go with today, but they'll give you a preview
of what we saw in Angkor.)
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