Grand Adventure 2017 Day 14: Luxury Heat
Unlike past travel days, today we tried to use as a part travel day, part rest day. Because our flight wasn't until 3 PM this afternoon we didn't have anything to do all morning, and it was glorious. We laid in bed like it was a Saturday morning, surfed the internet on our phones and enjoyed the beautiful sunrise in Hanoi.
A little before 8 AM I went up to the top floor for a run, while Jenn continued to relax. A little before 10 AM we went back up to the executive lounge where they serve breakfast. Similar to last night, they had quite the spread for breakfast. Jenn had waffles with scrambled eggs and a croissant. I had beef pho, with dim sum, and a salad. It was such a nice easy and relaxing way to start the morning, exactly what we needed.
We spent the next hour or two just relaxing and lounging about. We had this massive suite at the JW Marriott that it was hard to want to move out of the room and do anything. A little after noon we went downstairs where our driver was supposed to take us. We realized after a couple minutes of panic where we almost just abandoned the hotels ride for a taxi realize that with the dignitaries gone, the main entrance was where our ride was. When we figured that out we got in the back of a beautiful Mercedes and were off to Hanoi's international airport.
An hour later we were through security and waiting for our 3 PM departure from Hanoi to Siem Reap. Before today I wasn't exactly sure how popular going from Vietnam to Cambodia would be but I can say that our 3 PM flight was both on time and nearly full. The flight was uneventful, and the nearly two hours went by in a breeze. Jenn went through pictures on her iPad while I listened to a book and played a game on my phone.
We arrived in Siem Reap right at 5 PM with the sun going down and us pulling into one of the smallest, most remote international airports we've ever gone into. It's so small that you deplane outside and walk straight into the customs office. The heat of Siem Reap hit us right away, and the humidity only a few seconds later. After getting through customs with our e-Visa, and grabbing our bags (Jenns was one of the last off the plane) we met up with a representative from our hotel and were off.
The drive from the airport to our hotel was short and humbling. Like Hanoi but maybe even more so the surrounding area of Siem Reap is impoverished. Dirt roads are everywhere, most modes of transportation in the city are motorcycles and tuk-tuks, and our Hyundai car taking us from the airport looked like a luxury car. We arrived at the stunning Park Hyatt about twenty minutes later and were greeted with one of the most beautiful hotels I've been to. It reminded us both a lot of the JW Marriott Cusco we stayed at in August. We walked in and sat down after passing a couple of security officers and were handed two amazing glasses of their house lemonade that was to die for.
Our room like our last one was upgraded; it really does pay to be higher level members at these chain hotels. We were upgraded to a deluxe room which has an extra couch and living area, and a bathroom that's just ridiculous in size and amenities. We dropped off our stuff, recorded a room tour and went back down for dinner.
We decided to eat at the hotel's restaurant and at first, went inside. Sadly either the restaurant was not air-conditioned or they chose not to use it but it was boiling in there. We chose to sit outside with a fan on which was a much more pleasant option. For dinner, Jenn stuck with water and had a spaghetti bolognase. After all the Asian food she's had over the past two weeks it was nice for her to go back to her staple. I, on the other hand, went with their five-course Cambodian menu which was to die for. I sadly didn't write down or take a picture of the menu so I'll be doing this from memory. The amuse bouche was a nice light fruit dish which had an assortment of fruits. The next course was a light salad with delicious cooked white fish. After that was a soup which I thought it would be too hot for, but it was a nice curry based chicken soup that was incredible. For the main entree I upgraded to a lobster tail which wasn't my favorite lobster, but still really good. And for dessert, I had three small cakes that were pumpkin, cinnamon, and carrot.
It turned out to be the perfect meal and way to start out time in Cambodia. We got back to the room, unpacked for a few minutes and then called it a night, knowing full well that we will be waking up bright and early tomorrow for our first full day in Siem Reap. I literally cannot believe we are in Cambodia right now, this is crazy.
