Asian Adventure - Onward to Cambodia, 11 May 2019

Darrell left at 7.30am this morning for Incheon Airport for his flight to Singapore and Australia. Our time together has gone way too fast; I shall be counting the days until I see him again. I always try my best, not to show emotions, especially at difficult times. If I start crying, it will just make the situation worse and neither of us need that kind of stress on top of what we already have to go through. We hugged and kissed and said our goodbyes and then he was gone. It will be six months before we see each other again, so these last ten days were important for us as a couple. We have experienced much together and travelled to many different parts of the World, but our time in Hong Kong and Korea have by far, been the best adventure yet.

My Aunt and I left the hotel at 11.30am and took a leisurely walk to a French Patisserie at the end of the street, next to the train station. We had a light lunch before the next stage of our journey. Sat in the small cafe, I was in awe of the sites around me. I will really miss Seoul and have found my time here relaxing and enlightening. Our beautiful apartment was the perfect place to stay at the half way point of our holiday. Visiting Seoul has been an eye opener; there is little western tourism here and as a consequence it remains largely untouched. It's perfectly preserved culture is not only breathtaking, but has also been an amazing introduction to the Far Eastern lifestyle, that I hope to see more of in the future!

After a salad and a ham and cheese flatbread we headed to 'Chungmuro Station,' to cash in our Korean Tourist Transit Cards. We loaded the cards each day to use the Seoul Metropolitan Subway, the largest such system in the World. We made our way to the vending machines in the foyer and did our best to try and get our money returned, to no avail. After pressing the help button, we were told to head to 'emart24' along the High Street, where they would be able to take the cards from us. Once more we tried to use the machines just inside the door, again without success; finally we approached the counter, where a lovely lady returned our unused funds and wished us a safe journey to Cambodia.

The subway system in Seoul certainly is impressive, but as we found out on many occasions, it can be confusing, sending us in the wrong direction. The process of returning our transit cards was also a little archaic, but the fact we could get a refund at all was a bonus, not something you would be able to do in London for example. Suitably stressed we returned to the hotel, where our cases were being stored and ordered a limousine for our trip to the airport; probably wise under the circumstances; neither of us wanted to be dragging cases around for the next few hours in the searing afternoon sun!

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The journey to the airport took one and a half hours. The drive itself was a little erratic and the driver seemed on edge. Both my Aunt and I said a little prayer as we sped through the streets of Seoul. We did however see many sites that we wouldn't have seen, had we taken the subway. I was struck by how clean everything was; well ordered residential blocks of flats surrounded by beautiful landscaped gardens, nestling next to tall skyscrapers, gleaming in the 31 degree heat. Finally we rode over a rather large bridge, before turning into the bright, modern Incheon Airport.

Greeted by a robot, we travelled to our departure gate on the other side of the airport, where we settled down to wait for our Air Seoul flight to Siem Reap. This was one trip I wasn't looking forward to. When we booked it online, we had no end of trouble navigating the website, leaving us unable to order food for our journey. After reading reviews about the airline itself, I was under no illusions as to the standards to expect. I was fully aware of the lack of English speaking reps and apprehensive about the plane journey itself, which by all accounts could be quite turbulent.

'Currently I am on the Air Seoul Flight to Siem Reap, sandwiched between my Aunt and a lovely Korean lady to my right. She has offered us some tasty homemade Korean bread and advised us on the best way to season our Korean Noodles, that we were able to purchase from the air hostess when we boarded. She has even shown me how to eat the noodles with chopsticks, no easy undertaking, believe me, but actually quite manageable when she showed us how.

The lady is on the way to Siem Reap with six members of her family, to meet her husband. At the moment she is filling in all the boarding cards for her entourage. She looks perfectly organised and totally in charge of the group!

Oh wait, she's now fiddling with a rosary and chanting something in Korean, looking totally uncomfortable. Jesus Christ sake, if only she knew how scared she was making me feel. I just hope she is saying a prayer for us too!'

True to form, the Air Seoul flight was rough. The standard of service was excellent however, totally different to what I was expecting, but the turbulence was incredible. I have never experienced such choppiness before. With my Aunt asleep one side and the Korean lady playing with her beads on the other, I was just hoping we got to our destination in one piece, which thankfully we did!

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We arrived at Siem Reap late in the evening, the airport buildings were stunning, designed in oriental style and our disembarkation, through the terminal was a dream. We were lucky enough to have bought our visa's weeks before we travelled, so avoided the queues at the airport. After a short wait outside for our driver, in what I can only describe as intense, hot tropical heat, we were driven the short distance to La Rivière d' Angkor Resort, our hotel for the next five days.

This was a beautiful, impressive, colonial building, centrally located, 700 yards from the famous Pub Street and a short walk away from all the major landmarks. Situated along the river front, set in lush tropical gardens, it was the best accommodation we had stayed in so far, even better than the hotel in Vietnam. The room was richly decorated in  tasteful Art Deco style that harked back to an era long since forgotten. I was glad to collapse in bed after such a long journey. The only worries on my mind were snakes and spiders that were probably surrounding our room as we slept. This was a country unlike any we have been to so far and I was looking forward to my stay...Tomorrow couldn't come soon enough!

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