July 22nd, 2014
Travel day….nothing to report
Tuesday was a travel day! Got up, had brekkie, caught the GiantIbis (I’m not making that up) to Phnom Penh at 8:30am sharp. Tickets were $8 each again. We asked the driver to drop us off at the airport since we remembered from the way down that the bus goes right by the airport. We figured this would save us a $10 tuk tuk rude BACK to the airport from downtown Phnom Phen. He said sure sure and we felt encouraged when he motioned to the luggage guy to set our bags to the front of the pack. Half way to Phnom Penh, the bus pulls over and we see another GiantIbis bus pull up across the road going the other direction. Their driver gets out and comes over. He had a red bull in his hand and I was thinking he was just going to give it to our driver, maybe they are pals. But nope, our driver gets out and they switch busses. So now my first thought is “hey….what about us getting dropped off at the airport?” Yes! It is ALL about me 😃😃 they did exchange a few words in Khmer, which of course I have no idea what they said, but at this point, what am I going to do?
We we buzz right along….making what I would consider record time! And as the clock approaches 10:45am, I feel we must be getting close to the airport. We are ready to jump right up in case he actually stops. By 10:55, I can see the airport, and sure enough, he slides over to the curb and stops on the side of the road and let’s us out right there. Guessing we aren’t the first ones to ask for this service 😉😉
Just shows I worry too much.
What this does now is give us LOTS of time to chill out at the airport since our flight doesn’t leave until 3:20pm.
We caught the flight to Bangkok without any problems, then after a 2.5 hr layover in Bangkok, transferred to another flight to Phuket. We arrived in Phuket at 9:30pm. See how a whole day can get chewed up in travel?
Now the next step is to get a taxi to Khao Lak. The negotiations start at 2000 baht. We get them down to 1500 baht and we are on our way. It is pretty clear that the driver and his pals there have no idea where the hotel I booked is, but we are off none the less.
Khao lak is about 1 1/4 hours from Phuket at that time of night. The taxi is a new hybrid, so very nice ride with Thai pop music playing the whole way. I was reading on my iPad so actually ended up feeling a little car sick with all the curvy roads! Had to stop that!
The poor fellow had to stop a couple times once we got to the area and ask locals where the hotel I booked (Fanari resort) was. But we found it eventually. We pulled up, and got checked in very quickly! He took us to our Room and lo and behold we must have gotten some sort of killer upgrade because we are in a giant pool access room! I booked this place because it had great reviews and was on a super promotion for $22 plays tax a night. I looked up this particular room again and it is a $150 a night room 😃😃 I Only booked two nights. Hoping I can extend our stay in this room at this price. Stay tuned!!
