Kristin and I had a very interesting time getting here. When I woke up in Bangkok, it was raining really, really hard and the wind was really strong. I was worried that King Tut might be mad at Kristin again, but she told me not to worry too much. She says the rain storm would probably go away by the time our flight was supposed to leave. She was right. Here is a view of the airport from Kristin's hotel room.
The sun was shining when our plane left Thailand.Kristin didn't have any problems checking in at the airport and we were able to spend a little bit of time walking around the airport. It is VERY big. There are so many shops in the airport that I thought I was in a shopping mall and not an airport! There is a really cool display by the shops.
Kristin warned me when we got to the gate that we would be flying on a small plane. I thought she meant that the airplane would be like the little ones that fly between Moline and Chicago. But our plane to Cambodia was one of those that has the big ceiling fan blades on the wings. Kristin calls this a "prop jet" and I know she doesn't like to fly in planes like this. I wasn't too worried until we were about to land in Siem Reap. It was cloudy and windy and just as we were about to land, the pilot suddenly started to climb back into the air! Then he came on and told us that the wind was too strong to land the plane. Oh no! He told us we were going to fly around for 10 minutes and try to land again. If we couldn't land on the second try, we were going to have to fly back to Bangkok or Singapore and try again later in the day. I could tell Kristin was a little scared about trying a second landing. And don't tell anyone, but I was scared too!
The pilot was able to land the plane on the second try...but it was a really bumpy ride. The plane landed on the runway with a BIG thud. It was a good thing that Kristin had on her seat belt and that she had me in a safe place, because Kristin had to put her hands on the chair in front of her in order to keep from flying out of her chair when we landed! I was really glad when we got off the plane!
All of Kristin's bags made it and the hotel sent a driver to pick us up. We are staying at the Le Meridien Angkor Hotel. It is very nice! It has a really cool pool.
There is also a neat fountain in front of the hotel.
Kristin took me on a walk around the hotel after we got here and I noticed there were lots of flowers everywhere. There were even some in the water! Kristin says those are lotus flowers, and they are used as a decoration in many Asian countries including Cambodia. I had no idea! Here is a big container full of lotus flowers. Kristin says if you look closely, you will notice the flowers have been nicely folded. Who knew?
Besides the flowers, I saw lots of interesting creatures including really cool lizards! I know Kristin doesn't like lizards very much, but I think they are cool. Look how long the tail is on this one!
Kristin also pointed out the interesting colors on the butterflies in the flower garden outside of the hotel. Butterflies are for girls (but the colors are kinda cool!)
That's about all for now. I am really tired from that jet-lag stuff and I know Kristin is tired too. Kristin told me to get some rest because she has a surprise for me tomorrow. I have NO idea what the surprise is, but I am sure it is cool!
Bye for now....
