Day 19

We woke at about 6am this morning to pack up everything and have breakfast before our return to Thailand today. We were a bit early for breakfast but the staff didn’t seem to mind. This has been the most grand hotel that we have stayed in, and it is definitely one we will remember. We organised a Grab to the airport through the busy Phnom Penh traffic, although it’s nothing like Bangkok or Beijing! Our driver was very grateful when we gave him the remainder of our Cambodian money as we will not be needing it from today onwards.

As it turned out, the time of our flight had changed to twenty minutes later, so we were quite early. Adding to that, they didn’t open the check in counters until about two hours before the flight! This was the only airline where we were required to purchase the cost of checking in a bag beforehand and, even though my bag was over 15kg, they didn’t mention anything about paying extra.

We had a slight freak out at immigration when the agent couldn’t locate Ted’s Cambodian visa in his passport. We weren’t sure if the check in agent removed it or if it fell out, but Ted provided proof on his phone that we had purchased one and all was fine. I bought a coffee and croissant before the flight since it is an airline where food is optional. The flight itself was actually quite pleasant, mainly due to the crew and the fact that it wasn’t overly full.

Our arrival in Bangkok was very easy because, as hectic as Bangkok airport is, it also runs quite smoothly. We caught a taxi back to the Park Nine Hotel and settled in before Ted headed into the city for a dental appointment. After he returned, he had mentioned seeing Sizzler near our hotel and, after great memories of the restaurant, thought it would be a good option for dinner.

After crossing the absolutely crazy street out front to reach the restaurant, the experience sadly wasn’t as good as we remembered. The vegetarian meals apparently weren’t available so I settled for just the salad bar. Even that was disappointing as there were so few options. Ted’s meal took ages to arrive and unfortunately the whole experience didn’t motivate us to come back again.

We had a look around the local shopping centre too where I bought some shorts, as well as an egg tart from KFC (if they sold them back home, I’d become a regular there). Tomorrow we will continue our journey home via Manila.Read more