We breakfasted on fried rice, then went up to the room to pack. We didn't need to check out until midday, and it was only 10am, so we went out for one last walk. We asked reception to organise us a transfer to the airport as we had not seen many taxis around. We particularly wanted to see if Wiwat Wis or the jewelery shop were open.

They weren't so we headed down to the beachfront to try to find the drunks crossing sign. We took in some of the sights we hadn't seen. It was getting hot already so we bought some water and then it was time to head back to the hotel. Neither Wiwat Wis or the jewelery shop were open yet. (It was still morning and they both opened till late.)

We checked we had packed everything (I checked the cupboards, shelves, drawers and under the bed) and dragged our bags downstairs to the office. We now had 2 bags instead of the one we arrived with, mostly with Greg's shopping (I had not bought much). The bill came to 1800B on top of the room, which included the bar bill and breakfast extras. I paid this with cash as they charged extra for credit cards. We sat in the bar for a while until the taxi arrived.

The taxi took almost an hour to get to the airport. We saw a lot of the island that we hadn't seen in the dark on the way in. There was a pile of toilets beside the road on the way up the hill out of Patong Beach. It looked as if a palette had fallen off a truck. The rest of the trip was roads and villages. We passed a large attractive Wat on the way, possibly Wat Phra Thong in Thalang.

We joined one of the queues for Bangkok Air and waited probably 20 minutes for the pair at the head to organise their check in. There was not much at the airport so we went through to departures and waited. As we were both feeling a bit nauseous so I went searching for something with ginger in it. I found some sweets that helped a bit.

Flight PG276 was mostly over water. We crossed over to the Gulf of Thailand probably somewhere near Koh Samui. There were scattered islands, but it was cloudy so we didn't see much.

We landed at Suvarnabhumi Airport and taxied almost all the way around it until we got to our parking spot. We disembarked and had to get onto a bus. The bus drove along a few hundred meters, then turned around to the other side of the access road and dropped us at an entrance. It basically drove us across the road. This led us eventually to the baggage collection. There was an aero bridge which wasn't used.

The baggage hall was enormous, and we had the carousel nearest to the window. This allowed us to see one of the massive courtyards of the airport. It was very impressive with replicas of royal barges.



The luggage arrived relatively quickly and we exited into the arrivals lounge, made our way through the phalanx of touts and up the escalators two levels to departures. We organised our documentation and checked our luggage in. There were almost 4 hours until our plane departed so we took the opportunity to look around the airport.

Coffee first! We found a Chinese place, Mr Lee's, which has an espresso machine and ordered cappuccinos. They weren't very good. We found a view of the courtyard at the other end of the terminal which was rivers and rice and equally impressive.

There was not much else to do on this side of customs so we went through to the duty free part of the terminal. Once past customs we crossed a bridge and there was a wonderful statue Scene of The Churning of The Milk Ocean.



This scene depicts the Vishnu Kurmavatra and the churning of the Milk Ocean. The naga (the king of serpents), Vasuki, is curled around the mountain Mandara. Vishnu, incarnated in the form of a great turtle, supports the mountain on his back. Devas (demigods) and Asuras (demons) pull on the naga's body to churn the water of the oceans for thousands of years in order to produce the nectar of immortality, Amrita. From the churning, numerous opulent items are produced, including Dhanvantari carrying the pot of Amrita. In the end, the cooperation between Devas and Asuras is shattered. The Devas, fulfill their plan of acquiring all Amrita, disperse the Asuras out of Heaven to the Underworld.

We wandered around the terminal for a while. Everything was shiny and new. I felt it lacked some of the character of the old airport and that the shopping was much worse. Greg loved all the designer stores and goods.

Greg wanted to buy another memory card for his camera so we looked in all the shops. They all had the same brand for the same price. We ended up walking the length of the terminal about 3 times. The shops in both halves were almost the same.

Bangkok Air had their own lounge which was available for transit passengers. We wandered in there and sat down for a while. We also took advantage of their Internet facilities to check our bank balances. After a while it was time to head to the gate lounge. It was back across the other side of the terminal. When we got there a hostess rushed up and asked us our flight, then lost interest when she found we weren't late.

Half an hour late we were invited to board flight PG915 and shown onto another bus. We were driven half way around the airport to the plane. It was a small propellor plane, an ATR 72, and was only half full. There was nothing to see on the flight as it was night.

We ate (the food on Bangkok Air was good) and after an uneventful hour landed at Siem Reap. This was a simple airport so we walked down the stairs, across the tarmac and in to immigration. We joined the eVisa queue and were through fairly quickly. The immigration officials didn't say a word, possibly because they didn't speak English.

There was no one at customs so we went out to where the cars were waiting for the arrivals with their little signs. There was no one was there for us. We waited about ten minutes before deciding to phone the hotel to ask. They thought we had arrived that morning and suggested we take a taxi. We went to the taxi desk and paid $US5. We were then shown to a taxi who took us to the hotel: Golden Banana Boutique Hotel.

The taxi drove slowly as the speed limit was 40. We passed a night market where people were eating and a number of new hotels before we got to the city. We passed an ANZ ATM and the old market, went across a bridge and past some more local restaurants to a sign that said GB. The driver pointed us down the lane about 20m. We walked down there and were greeted by the hotel staff. The owner (I presume) told us that someone had checked in that morning using our name, but that they had gone out all day and hadn't yet returned. They didn't have another double available that night, so they offered us a twin room and would move us the next day.

After filling in the forms and letting them copy our passports we were shown to our room. We were taken across the lane into a separate complex with a lush garden surrounding a pool. Our room was in a corner with downstairs a large open area with desk, TV and bed that you could sit on. Up some steepish stairs to the bedroom and off it the bathroom. The walls were a rough white stucco and everything smelt freshly built. They told us to keep the doors closed so we wouldn't be disturbed by mosquitos.

Greg took a sleeping pill and went to bed. I stayed up for another hour writing up the diary and watching the geckos.