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When I had the opportunity to use frequent flyer miles for an overseas trip, I decided to use them to go over a different sea than usual for a trip to Asia in November 2002. Here is a report on that trip to Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam, and Cambodia.
TRIP TO ASIA, NOVEMBER 2002
Amc2004-09-13 14:42:34
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soulless feel of modern roadside hotels in France and Italy in the 1970s. My room had a refrigerator with bottled water and TV with channels from everywhere, but no chair or night table. I quickly got settled and went back to the car.
The car was a Toyota Etoile with right-hand drive, which most cars seem to have although traffic is on the right. The driver and I communicated reasonably well; he said that I could hire a guide but might as well just use a book. We drove to the booth where one buys the visitor’s pass to the temples; I gave a picture and $40 for a 3-day pass (it would be $20 for one day). We drove past Angkor Wat and made our first stop at Bayon. There was no problem getting a guidebook; before I was out of the car, a young girl was offering a selection of guides. There was a book for $1 with black and white pictures and dated 1994, but she persuaded me to buy Angkor by Dawn Rooney, dated 2002 with color pictures; the cover price was $22.95 but she would sell it for $15. I lightened my wallet’s load by paying it with 60,000 riel. As I started to count 60 bills, she pointed out that groups of 10 were marked by one bill folded around the others. The guidebook offered lots of information, and I’ve tried to read to learn more about the temples from it after my visit. It was somewhat confusing to use on site, though; the author suggests alternate places to start a tour of a temple, but when she says “now turn right” it isn’t always clear from which starting point. There were diagrams of the temples, but the suggested tour route should have been marked there.
At Bayon I got my first sense of the wonder of the temples, with their intricate bas-reliefs and sculpted figures, surprises after dark hallways and steep climbs. I won’t try to add to what others have written other than to say that it was very impressive, and I’ll write about what happened to me. My driver and I set up regular meeting times
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See photographs from:
Vietnam Gallery
,
Macau Gallery
,
Hong Kong Gallery
,
Cambodia Gallery
