TBK Travels but never travel on Friday 13th!

 

A suitably festive garden- Succo Gene hotel, Phnom Pehn, Cambodia

In 2019 I took a weeks vacation before Christmas in Cambodia and Thailand. Everything was booked months in advance and then at the last minute my Thai friend Wanchai asked when I was next coming to Thailand. I said I was flying in and out of Bangkok on my way to Cambodia, and we agreed I would delay my return to Bahrain and stay with him a few days in Bangkok. I asked our travel agent, Tony, to change the flight, which he did and I paid the extra amount.

I left work at 6 pm in a taxi on Thursday 12 December and had dinner at the airport and met lots of colleagues who were also going away for the week. I checked in early and they confirmed my bag was checked all the way to Siem Reap and that I would get a new boarding pass in Bangkok for the last leg of the journey. The plane was an hour late departing ( you expect this with Gulf Air) and I slept all the way to Bangkok , arriving at 930 am on Friday 13 December. 

 

The week before Christmas in Bangkok

I walked miles to the Transfer desk for Cambodia and waited patiently in line at the Bangkok Airways desk for my new boarding pass. She could not find my reservation . When I showed her the baggage was checked to Siem Reap and the itinerary showing the Gulf Air flight to Bangkok and the Bangkok Airways flight to Siem Reap she phoned her Manager. The Manager called Gulf Air, who could not see the reservation either. An hour passed and they concluded that when my travel agent in Bahrain had moved the Bangkok to Bahrain flight he had, accidentally,  deleted the Siem Reap flight. They suggested I called him to sort it out. I politely explained as it was Friday in Bahrain the Travel agency was closed, and, furthermore, as it was a public holiday for the National day , he would be not contactable for 4 days. In fact, I later found out he was on holiday in India and he still had not replied as I write this on 30.12.19 .

She said there was nothing she could do.  I told her I had a driver waiting for me in Siem Reap, a hotel paid for there and in Phnom Pehn, flights confirmed with another airline from SR to PP and various other activities like tours, cookery lessons and massages all paid for .Therefore I demanded they got me to Siem Reap.

 

Stay cool Neil, count to 10, you will get back to Angkor Watt some day

I patiently explained I needed to get on the plane at 1130 to Siem Reap, with my luggage, as stated on the paperwork. She told me the flight was already closed , so I was not going to Siem Reap. By now a queue had formed behind me and when her pregnant colleague went to the toilet things got worse. I asked if she minded if I stayed there at the desk for 4 days  until my hotel reservation in Bangkok was available. She said I could do what I liked, and so I started to unpack and get ready for a sleep . She then called her Manager again, who refused to come to the desk. However they agreed if I paid again I could get on the next flight at 1230. I asked how I would contact the driver as my phone was stolen ( 4 years before) and the battery on my laptop had run out . I also said the mains lead for the laptop was in the luggage which was somewhere between Bahrain and Siem Reap. She said I could use the computer and free Wi-Fi in the Bangkok airways lounge, and have fee lunch!

Lumphini Park, Bangkok

I then walked to the other end of the airport for the Bangkok Airways lounge, emailed the hotel in Siem Reap and rearranged the pick up and massage , and then ate before the long walk back to the plane. The lady at the Bangkok Airways  counter had said she would redirect the luggage , and when I arrived in Siem Reap I found it in the lost property office. They were confused by the two separate baggage labels on it. I showed them my receipt and explained I was changed to a later flight but the luggage was already checked through on the first flight. Outside the driver was waiting with a cold towel and cold water and I was whisked to the hotel for my welcome drink and massage, and then I went out for dinner with a friend on Pub street.

 

Finally I met my friend for dinner on Pub Street and got some Pasalubong at the Siem Reap Night Market

I went to bed early after all my traveling and was awoken by my 3.30 am wake up call on Saturday for my Angkor Watt at Sunrise tour. 

Angkor Watt- Dec 2019, 5 30 am, well worth getting up early for!

The rest of the trip went well but in Phnom Pehn my credit card was declined and I took the last of my cash from the ATM so flew on to Thailand without any money or credit to pay the bill! After several increasingly frantic emails to Bahrain to return the flight money and put money in my account there my physiotherapist, Aravelle, put 100 bd in my account in Bahrain so I could pay my bills and leave Thailand. Just to complicate matters neither Wanchai or Mr. Chen turned up, who I had gone there to see. 

The good news is that I met two other really nice guys in Phnom Pehn, one of whom took me to dinner and another who paid for my Grab tuk tuk to the airport.

The temples of Siem Reip

So that's the last time I will fly anywhere on Fri 13th!

Until my next trip this is the British Kabayan saying Ingat, Kita kits xxx