Day 30: Bangkok, Same, Same🌞😊

Oh Canada!🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦❤️

Presently, sitting on the airplane awaiting departure for our flight to Bangkok. The news just came through that our Canadian boys beat the Americans 3 to 2 in overtime! I suspect that they will become instant national heroes in Canada during these difficult times. Trump has been upsetting Canadians every where, but at least for today the score is Canada one, US nil. As a nation we really needed a win.🏒 🥅

We had another chaotic breakfast this morning as there were many tour buses trying to get their respective herds fed and away. Eating before 8:00 is a definite no no unless you are in one of those herds. The place emptied out by 8:00. A few minutes of peace and then we were forced to leave as well. However. Not before I finally had a morning cup of tea!😅

Phanna picked us up at our hotel as agreed at 8:30 to drive us out to the airport, a solid hour away. We really like Phanna, and just as we did when arriving we had a great conversation along the way. He told us that he wasn’t able to work as a driver for 2 1/2 years during Covid as there was no tourist industry. He’s a father of two and has two granddaughters. He also told us that it would be more profitable to work independently as a driver, but he can’t afford a car. So he drives for the hotel where we stayed, using their vehicles, but unlike Billy who is younger, he seems fairly content.

Contrary to what Billy had said, Phanna told us that there is indeed a middle class in Cambodia, with most living outside the cities in the countryside where it’s more peaceful. They commute into the city to work, but return to their country villages in the evenings. This is the conclusion we had already come to, but it was helpful to have it confirmed.

I snapped a few photos out the window as we drove to the airport.

There’s so many hotels sitting empty and unused because of the reduction in tourists from China, Japan and Vietnam since Covid ended. As we drove by a number of large hotels Phanna told us that 70% of the hotels are open and operating. That’s a full 30% that are closed and because they are the very largest properties this must represent thousands of beds. Phanna would point out the super large hotels as we passed and tell us that they were closed. Very sobering, but it was apparently the wealthy who were overbuilding.

As I believe I mentioned earlier, the Siem Reap airport was financed and constructed by the Chinese government in return for a 50 year lease, a large swath of land around it  on which to build a Chinese community and all the revenue generated. The airport today is completely empty. The only flight going out of this medium size airport is ours. I took photographs of the empty hallways, the empty airport and empty airplane docking facilities. Hard to fathom.

China’s Belt and Road strategy is helping them to establish political influence in some developing countries, and it may also be helping them in other ways. With our shifting geopolitical landscape it’s not a big leap to anticipate the possibilities. 

I’ve wanted to write about our observations and our discussions with a few people in Cambodia, but I didn’t feel comfortable posting about it until we left the country. Of course my observations are based on conversations with just a few people who were willing to share. What did became clear to us is that Cambodia has a difficult road ahead. They know that Trump has announced that he is going to cut off almost all foreign funding and this has not been received well.

With the exception of some of our transits around the area, we didn’t really see very much of the ‘real ‘ Cambodia. I think a return visit here would be very rewarding to see a more representative Cambodia.

We met a family from Toronto in the waiting area and we had a really nice discussion for almost an hour about so many things. We had observed them having challenges trying to check in their luggage as it was all found to be slightly over the weight limits for carry on. They were forced to pay another US$110 to check them through. They had both recently retired and they had their daughter with them. As we get on the airplane it turned that the ladies were seated with AM. I was across aisle by myself, but figured that AM might enjoy having someone new to talk with. Turns out she and AM were both social workers and had lots in common.

Arriving in Bangkok we again passed through customs control and wandered off to find AM’s bag.

AM had figured out the metro and how to get to our hotel.

We worked our way through the rather large airport, one of two in Bangkok.

It was a long run into the centre core of the city. 9 million people live here so it can take some time to move around.

It was now after 4:00, about & hours since our last meal. We walked out to find a snack and found a Tim Horton’s! It was jammed with young Thai students. This forced us to eat at KFC which is very prominent in Asia. Very spicy chicken!!

Tomorrow we plan to walk and see some of the better sites in Bangkok. There is much to see, but we won’t try to see everything. We have just three days! 😳

Time now for some sleep! Cheers!

Geoff🇨🇦🏒