Saying bye to Cambodia after two more temple visits

The previous post in this series is here..

We saw an amazing sunrise and came back to the hotel. It was almost 7 AM when we got back. It was time to go pack, check out, have breakfast (eat it like brunch given we have been up since ~4) and load the luggage into the car . Then it was two more must see temples en route to the airport.

The hotel staff bid us adieu as though they were sending a newly married bride off after an Indian wedding. They were all nice kids. We thanked them for their hospitality. Seriously, Cambodia folks redefine hospitality. The best in this trip. Amazing kind hearted genuinely sweet people!

We visited two more temples.

The Bakong temple which was one of the first temples to be built here in the late 9th century. The domes looked like Angkor Wat.. we thought they practiced here before building the big temple. This one was a monster. We had to climb a few hundred stairs to get to the top. We told our driver that given our cold the fact that the sun was up and beating down on our heads, we had no plans to climb up. We were going to walk around the base and take pictures and that was it. So we were 30 minutes early on our plan.

The second one , Preah Ko temple, we walked around. It was relatively flat..This area on the way to the airport used to be an earlier capital of the kings. There were many nandi’s that were stil intact in this temple.

After this, we drove to the airport. On the way a 7 foot cobra crossed the road. Saruk barely managed to avoid it and had to brake real hard. We were happy he did not run over the snake but a couple of ladies driving a moped on the other side of the street were not lucky. They freaked out and may have it the snake. Did manage to catch it on camera even if it is a grainy video..

We took selfies with our driver who was just fantastic and said goodbye! We would recommend him to anyone trying to do a compressed schedule.

A video highlights reel..

The Siem Reap airport is brand new (Chinese are taking over Cambodian infrastructure building). The airport was empty when we went there. There was a lounge which had flat seats. I took a two hour nap. When I got up was still feeling slightly feverish.. but it was time to board our flight to Bangkok and and then on to Chiang Mai. Funny thing is that this plane was a small propeller plane. So all luggage had to be checked in and directly to Chiang Mai. We were told that the passport stamping will be in Bangkok but we will be diverted in Chiang Mai to the international baggage claim by airport reps to collect our suitcases. We were praying they reach.. We had carefully distributed clothes so that there will always be something to wear at the wedding. The thought of having all our bags checked was worrying. Luckily they all made it to Chiang Mai.

We had a three plus hour layover in Bangkok airport and went to another lounge where they had 15 minute complimentary massages. Majority of this day went just in traveling from Siem Reap to Chiang Mai. The massage lady told San “your husband is definitely having a fever. Give him medicine”. Given all the adventures, I had brushed aside any feeling of heat. So went and grabbed some tylenol. By the time we landed in Chiang Mai, was feeling better already!

Our guide and driver came with his wife to pick us up from the airport. They are a really nice couple Joy and Goy. Joy spoke English but Goy only understood and needed an occasional translation from her husband. They dropped us off and said we start at 7AM. Be ready! Our hotel room had a decorated bed with mosquito nets. We were not sure if that was for mosquitos or for decoration! We had arrived at 8PM and the restaurants were all a drive away. Our hotel was off from the busy area and we did not have the “Grab” app which doubles up for Uber, Doordash and everything else in Thailand. . We walked to the local 7-11 to get some bananas and yoghurt but they would not accept USD! They also had a minimum charge for credit cards which we did not meet. If they tell you folks in Thailand accept USD everywhere, it is not true. In Cambodia everyone took USD and spoke English. In Thailand it was not the same experience.

The hotel manager, was a nice guy and understood our plight. He loaned us 350 local currency, got on the phone with a local Indian restaurant and got us some Nan, daal, rice and yoghurt., paid them and got it delivered to our room. It was not what we expected but some food was better than no food and we ate what we could. The rice and yoghurt was at least a safe bet. We were also told that the hotel resaurant was closed for renovation the entire month of December and there will be no breakfast but if we pick from a menu they will have it delivered to our door at 6:30AM. The options were not what we were used to. This was going to be tricky the next few days.

We ordered a breakfast list hoping at least some items would be okay for me to eat and went to bed.

Staying at a cave hotel, missed chances and saying bye to Turkey

The previous post in this series is here..

After a quick dinner at the Indian place in the village, when Jr. and me walked back up to our cave room, we were given the news that the little one will not be joining us for the balloon ride in the morning. She will be resting and hydrating and will not be up before the sun. There was to be no negotiation and given my history of saying things like “we have come all this way and we may not come here again.. etc.” there was a family restraining order of me speaking anything within ear shot of the litle one. Gave her a hug, asked her to sleep and we all crashed. It had been a long day. All day tours can be fun but draining. Too much information for the brain and a lot of walking without realizing it.. with the potential to end up dehydrated.

The hotel was told that we will be three people going for the balloon ride. We woke up at 5AM and made it to the hotel entrance where a bus picked us up. After picking up a lot more people we ended up driving to the balloon launch point. There were a 1000+ people waiting around trucks with the balloons and every company had a breakfast table setup with croissants and coffee.

Unfortunately, after an hour of waiting, our ride was cancelled. The winds were too heavy and the air traffic control did not give a green signal. Our guides said “no more waiting, we go back. we will drop you off and you will get full refund”. An hour later we were back in the hotel with only a few photos of us at sunrise to show for it. The little one was still fast asleep. When we went to breakfast later and told her we never went up on the ballooons, she just rolled her eyes and was happy she slept in. Good news was she was back to her normal self. Given our morning was a wash, we just packed, ate breakfast late (almost made it a brunch) and told the kids that we were going down to the village.

The balloon refund came in local currency. It was 120 dollars per person and what were we to do with so much in local currency when we were leaving Turkey same evening? San was determined to exchange it to Euro or USD and we walked an hour and a half to every travel agent, a Western union, local post office, etc. etc. in the Goreme village, with no luck.. Finally one of the travel offices agreed to change it. We lost some in the transaction but it was still better than airport exchange rates. When we walked back to the hotel, the girls were ready to leave.

We took some pictures in the verandah of the hotel. We have to say that this was a unique experience staying in a cave. The Kelebek Cave Hotel was excellent. The food was great. The rooms were good. The service was excellent. It is on top of the hill so everytime you walk down, you get quite a workout walking back up. All said and done, if you are a fit person, this is an amazing place to stay. Strongly recommend it.

A video of the special cave hotel experience…

It was time for the ride back to Nevshehir airport in the shared van. This time it was in broad daylight and the driver was good.

We flew back to Istanbul, then after a two hour wait at the airport and a lot of walking within the airport, flew out to Naples. Was reminded of my Turkish friend again as we flew past

The kids had combined the Amalfi coast with this trip as a “fair” compromise. All of us enjoyed all places at the end. So it worked out. Just before leaving the Kelebek hotel, I was informed that given our flight timings and train timings, we had two choices. Pay 250 USD for a one way Uber from Naples airport to Sorrento or rent a car for all three days which would be the same 250 USD. Six eyes were looking at me.. and I said fine. Will drive. That turned out to be a disguised blessing.

Will continue this series from Naples later today..

A symbolic victory?

It has been a rocky three weeks. Lots of ups and downs.. both literally and figuratively. Figuratively because we made a trip to the east coast with family for four days and visited Pittsburgh and had a really great time with family. 

Kids got a detailed education on the family tree from the fathers side during this trip. We did three road trips in three days and visited Heritage sites, national/ state parks, the temple, not to mention Niagra falls. That was the up. The down was that I had multiple international trips and was sick for the most part and flying, even with a biz class upgrade was not a pleasant experience when your ear and entire face hurts at every takeoff and landing. 

The literal part of course was the number of flights in a 20 day period. Have not had a crazier travel schedule in the last two years. 

This intense schedule has made my yoga attendance near zero. Have gone to yoga class twice in 15 days. Many times I have wanted to drag my butt to the hot room inspite of multiple systems failing but decided against it. Today was different. Decided to go and give it a shot anyways. 

You see, this is not new. Most of my friends think that I am crazy to go do Hot Yoga when I have a sinus infection, sore throat or a 101 fever. Let me tell you something though. It actually works! As long as you are confident that you won't pass out in the room and are hydrated enough before class, you come out in better shape than you went in! 

This morning I was pitting multicolored phlegm, couldn't talk above a whisper and the place behind my cheekbones felt numb after repeated attempts to clear my sinus. My ears were hurting as well since the last flight and would pop on and off for no reason. 

While I got a few weird looks from the fellow yogis in the room for repeated coughing during the initial breathing exercise, the rest of the class got better and better. In sequence :

First your lungs clear during the breathing exercise. 

Second, your sinuses drain on to your mat (which is kind of gross but totally relieving) when you do hands to feet pose and get out of the pose. 

Third and this is the best part.. you break into a sweat by the time you are doing the third pose (Eagle pose). Now this is the best part because I think (cannot prove it) that the virus or bacteria that are fighting the body kind of give up when the body breaks into a sweat. Kind of like war time where one party hoists their flag up the fort and the other guys see that as an indication and just give up. Given the body goes into a sweat when it wins the fight against intruding bacteria or virus, this is probably a fake move.. but I will take it! 

The minute you break into a sweat and shiver a little bit in a hot room, magically you feel alright! (Not sure if others have observed this, but I have at least five times so far). 

By the time you do the stretching pose with your head to the floor, anything else left in my sinus is gone! I can breathe again and for a few seconds my body tries to grapple with what just happened. In another 10-15 minutes we are on the floor and I ace this part of the class and come out of the room practically feeling like every other class! 

I have managed to yell at Jr. once for not coming to eat lunch with us and the little one for picking up silly fights with her sister. They are both happy that daddy is getting back to normal and is yelling at them as usual. That also means that daddy is now responding when they try to push my buttons as opposed to "I don't care anymore as I am sick". Girls can be cruel that way. They cannot handle it when  you leave them alone. 

Anyways, now that I am getting my voice back and my breathing is back, going to start working again and process the hundreds of photographs still to be downloaded! 

One has to be blessed to be able to go do Yoga.. for those of you who have the luxury of a fixed time job with no travel, you have no idea how much I envy you! 

On a side note, a friend asked "how come you do yoga so regularly and yet you fall sick?"

My response ? "Sure my immunity is better but I am constantly traveling and picking up germs. If I had a routine between work, yoga and home, I do much better!" and that is true. 

Have you ever tried to wipe the tray table, arm rest, window and monitor with a wet wipe before the flight takes off? It will become black! That is how much crap is there on planes and they don't clean them anymore. 

Enough with the rant. On with life. Photoshop and powerpoint beckon...as do the kids!