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Published: October 25th 2011
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Hi everyone and greetings from Flair Air – I’m writing this edition of the blog, in flight, on our way to Nepal. The internet was down in the hotel last night – and we know (and appreciate) that all of you are sitting and waiting for the next update – so, here it is. Apologies for the delay in your ‘daily entertainment’ – some of us feel as though we are part of a reality show – the Amazing World Adventure! (and we are even eating some of that strange food that is often on the Amazing Race – so this does feel somewhat like a reality show!) –
Our time in Cambodia was seriously enjoyed by all – you saw the blog for Day 1 – on our last day (yesterday), it was a day of rest and relaxation for everyone. So, that means that the blog entry is really from my perspective since everyone went off on their own way. What is happening at this point, however, is since the blog is becoming a ‘phenomenon’ with family, friends, colleagues……..and even strangers who have come across it on the internet – this is so fun! I’m now looking around for
a picture of Ellen DeGeneres so she can be in the photos with me in each country – she loves adventure so I’m taking her with me! Then we can work on getting a Twitter ‘trend’ going so the word gets out to her. I love technology (when it works!), LOL.
So, let me tell you what I did yesterday (along with some people from our group) – up and at ‘em early, after breakfast, a few of us headed back to Angkor Thom to enjoy a ride on the elephants. It took a few minutes to get ‘comfortable’ but, after that, it was a magnificent way to tour the grounds. Rose and I buddied up as I gave my camera to Carol and Othmar Steinhart, and I took their camera. We got some fun photos that way. From there, we hopped on a Tuk and headed back to the hotel – along the way, we stopped at a ‘gas station’ for scooters – I just couldn’t resist getting a photo of that to show you – and I do hope that my photos upload properly this time so the captions match the photo. For some reason, in the last
few blogs, the photos scrambled when I hit ‘publish’ and, well, you know the rest of the story because we’ve read your comments about the mis-match. Oh well, keeps you on your toes!!!!!
The hotel was offering a cooking class with the Executive Chef. For any of you who know me – that’s where I was, with absolute passion and enthusiasm. You would have seen the ‘special edition’ blog on that already – a few photos from that experience are included here today because, again with the internet outage, I couldn’t finish uploading all the photos.
From there, it was time to hit the Spa. Brenda, Robert and I had made arrangements to have a reflexology treatment together. It was a great time to relax, meet, chat and get caught up on some administrative things. (P.S. – it’s the ONLY way to work, quite frankly ). Then we split up – I headed off to the larger spa at the hotel to enjoy a full body massage (eucalyptus – for sinuses………ahhhh, bye-bye Beijing smog for good!). It was AMAZING!!!!!!!!! (Cathy Brown-Swanton – I took pictures for you and am bringing back their brochure). Those little Cambodian gals of fingers of
steel – wowzers! Then, I moved on to a facial – not bad – not great – but, all in all, a very relaxing afternoon. Some people grabbed a Tuk and headed to the markets to shop; some people went to visit museums, the hospital for children, or just hung out around the pool at the hotel for the afternoon. It was another gorgeous day.
I will say, at this point, that the Angkor Century Spa and Resort in Siem Riep takes the gold medal when it comes to customer service and hospitality. And let me share this one little story to demonstrate - 4 years ago, when we came here with Travel Guild, one of our team members forgot her ring and some cash in her room. Now, typically, one would think that was the end of the story - right? Well, not at this hotel. For FOUR YEARS, they held on to the ring and the cash - in coordination with our local representatives (not wanting to send things by mail or however, for fear it would never reach its destination) - and this morning, they handed both the ring and the cash to Brenda, our Tour Leader,
to pass on to our other colleague. Can you imagine? Talk about integrity!!!!!! Fantastic!
This was a unanimous feeling with our group as we were leaving this morning. The whole management team was in the lobby to say good-bye and to thank us for our patronage. They were extremely attentive during our whole stay and it was noticed, appreciated and acknowledged by all of us.
We had a quick cup of tea in my room later – as Brenda, Robert and I re-grouped to prepare for the evening meal by the pool and to get ready for all the administrative ‘stuff’ and logistics for this flight today. That’s when we all ‘co-wrote’ the special edition blog on the cooking class. It was a fun team effort.
Dinner by the pool was an elegant, magical affair – there were beautiful ice sculptures everywhere (dripping by the nano-second because it was so darn hot/humid out there), fabulous food displays, entertainment by the young women of Cambodia (in particular), and……….chocolate for dessert! YES! The cake read ‘enjoy your dinner’ – it’s those little touches that made it such a special evening. We were delighted to have the crew from Flair Air
join us for dinner – the passengers really enjoyed the opportunity to chat and visit with them and to get to know them better ‘off duty’. Since we are all together for a whole month, we do become ‘family’ so it’s nice to get to know your community, so to speak.
It was a lovely way to end a fabulous visit to a kind, loving, welcoming country.
Back to my room, ready to write the blog and……no internet. Geez! I really do like to get this done on a daily basis otherwise it just backs up on me because we head into another fabulous and unique adventure. So, I was a bit ‘stressed’ (lightly) also because I know you are all sitting there, ready and waiting, LOL ……….there really is no time in the morning, when we are moving on to another country, to ‘catch up’ – so, once I get to the hotel in Nepal, I will be able to cut and paste this content, upload the pictures and get you back on track with us, too.
Again, thanks for coming along. It means a lot to the passengers to know that their families are following along – it
is typically the conversation at breakfast and on the buses – so keep the comments coming. We love having you with us!
Happy Pat
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DOROTHY CARSWELL
non-member comment
WHAT A GREAT TRIP
I AM ENJOYING THIS BLOG SO MUCH. I WISH I WAS THERE.