Day 16 - Phnom Penh

Travel day. Private car to airport. Fly from Phnom Penh to Taipei. Taipei to SFO. BART, Amtrak, Lyft, home.

Day 7 - Koh Samui/Siem Reap

Travel day.  Packed bags.  Had breakfast at the buffet.  Checked out.  Off to the airport.  The flight from Koh Samui to Bangkok is short.  The flight from Bangkok to Siem Reap seemed surprisingly shorter.  Immigration and customs were relatively quick... if you did e-visa beforehand.  We did.  Others who didn't spent a little more time in immigration.  The Anantara driver was waiting for us after baggage claim.  A short ride later and we were at Anantara Angkor Resort.  Painless check-in.  Good welcoming drink.  Room upgrade.  This was a good travel day.

One thing of note that we didn't know before we got here:  Cambodia accepts US currency.  I went to an ATM and it gave me US money.  Convenient.

Traveling Again

@kumimonster and I are traveling again in southeast Asia. Specifically, Thailand and Cambodia. We had an eventful time getting here. Lyft and Amtrak were good. BART had some issues with maintenance, bus transfer, train transfer, and a “security incident” at SFO BART. (Mental note: Probably not a good idea to be standing behind a cop with his gun drawn if the person he’s pointing his gun at also has a gun drawn.) The BART ride which should have been about an hour, took about 2 hours. Still plenty of time to catch the flight though. kumi was already there. Quick check-in, quick boarding.

The 13 hour flight to Taipei seemed short. Probably because I had a window row all to myself. I slept most of the flight. Long layover in Taipei, then off to Bangkok.

We arrived in Bangkok to find Bangkok Airways agents waiting for me. Seems I had a very short layover in Bangkok and they wanted to make sure I made the flight. We also found out that we had been put on different flights for the 3rd flight. kumi’s flight was an hour after mine. Minor inconvenience, but still ok.

I caught the flight and arrived in Koh Samui without issue. Anantara Lawana was there waiting for me. Since the resort close to the airport, the driver convinced me to drop off my bag, check-in, then we could come back to the airport to pickup kumi. That worked for me. Checked-in, welcoming drink. Got a free upgrade on our room to one with a plunge pool. Went back to the airport to pickup kumi. Returned. She got her welcoming drink. Then off to our suite. After more than 25 hours of travel, we made immediate use of the plunge pool.

Day 23 - Return

We didn't have any issues getting to the airport.  Traffic wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. Bandaranaike International Airport does something I haven't seen before in other airports.  They allow people who aren't flying to airport passes to get inside the airport.  Some airports I have been in (mainly US) allow people in, but they don't get past the security checkpoint without a boarding pass.  Others won't let you in the door without an itinerary.  At Bandaranaike, you get checked the door for an itinerary or pass.  Then you go to another checkpoint where your luggage is checked.  After that, you can go to airline counter to get boarding passes and to check your bag.  Next, immigration.   Then one more security checkpoint to enter the gate.  Boarded the plane, over 5 hour flight to Hong Kong.

At Hong Kong immigration is waiting at the gate performing random passport checks.  We also had to go through another security check for transferring flights.  We had a long layover in Hong Kong,  so we decided to spend it in Plaza Premium Lounge.  Food, shower, massage, etc., nice place.  Eventually,  we went to the gate.  Another security checkpoint.  From there we went to the gate where they took our boarding passes. 12 hour flight to SFO.

Landed in SFO.  kumi used "Mobile Passport."  I used Global Entry.  Both of us avoided the incredibly long line for immigration.  Found out there's a Global Entry line for customs too.  (Woohoo!)  After that, BART, Amtrak, Lyft, home.

Day 12 - Malaysia, Sri Lanka

Travel day. We got up at 0-dark-30 to take a car to airport at 0530.  Kuala Lumpur International Airport (1 & 2) is approximately 40 minutes from the resort.  Although our driver was late, we still made it there with time to spare.
Anyone who has been to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL) knows it's 2 separate airports, KLIA1 and KLIA2.  Both airports have shopping malls.  I don't mean that little area of stores that some airports have before you get to the gates.  I mean a full fledged mall with shops and restaurants on different floors, that happens to connected to an airport.  If you have never been there, your first time may be a little disorienting/intimidating.  But it is surprisingly easy to navigate.  We found the check-in counter no time.  Immigration and security were quick.  We did a quick detour through Air Asia Red Premium lounge before going to the gate.  Shortly we were off to Sri Lanka.
The time difference between California and Sri Lanka is 12 and half hours.  We arrived in Sri Lanka without issue.  The wait in immigration wasn't bad.  kumi went before me in line.  When the immigration agent asked her the ever popular "Purpose of visit" I guess she explained our itinerary in excruciating detail.  Because when he got to me he literally said "I don't have to ask you any questions because she gave me more than enough information on what you're doing."  A short time later, we got our bags, met our driver,  and off we were to Avani Bentota.
It's about a 2 hour drive to the resort.  It is scenic in some places.  No traffic to really speak of.  When we arrived at the resort,  I must admit the entrance is not as impressive as others I have been to.  But that became moot when I saw how nice the resort is.  2 restaurants, 2 bars, 2 pools (3 if you count the kiddie pool) and it's on the beach. 
We loved our room.  Why it's not call a suite, I don't know.  83 square meters (893 square feet) and a very nice terrace.  (It's bigger than my first 1 bedroom apartment.)  A huge walk-in closet and bathroom with separate shower and tub combine to make us very happy with this "room."
We arrived early enough to get lunch.  We ate at Chatters bar which is next to our room.  Initially I thought this might be a drawback, but so far it's good.  We don't hear much noise from the bar and we can walk a few feet from our terrace if we want a drink or something.  (I am still evaluating the drink menu.  I will give a report later.)
After lunch we walked around the resort a bit.  Found out where a few things are.  We found the spa.  Scheduled a few appointments.  We also found an on-site boutique.  We did the touristy thing and bought stuff. 
The store owner was really nice.  We hadn't switched our currency yet, so we were going to come back later to buy the stuff.  He told us to go ahead and take it and pay later.
After shopping, we did a little more unpacking and crashed a bit.  Later, kumi went to a foot massage she had scheduled.  After which we went to dinner to Frangipani, one of the resort restaurants.  We really liked this place.  We were the only ones there.  Which really surprised us because it's a really nice restaurant and prices are good.
Anyway, after dinner we went back to our room.  The long day of travel plus the 2 hour time change (Malaysia to Sri Lanka) caught up to us.  We crashed.

Thailand - Day 18

Travel day.  I had an afternoon flight, so I had time to enjoy breakfast and leisurely pack. 

Beautiful, sunny morning.  It started raining on my way to the airport.  Anantara provided transportation to airport.  Mercedes with cold towel, beverages and snacks provided, approximately a 20 minute ride.  My driver went above and beyond the call of duty.  I only needed him to drop me off at the airport.  He took my bag out of the trunk; escorted me into the airport; waited while my  bag was scanned through security; took my bag to the check-in counter; then escorted me to the security checkpoint.  That will definitely be included in my Tripadvisor review of Anantara.

1 hour and 15 minute flight from Phuket to Bangkok.  From Bangkok to Taipei, a little over 3 hours.  Taipei to SFO, approximately 11 hours.  At SFO, I got to go through Global Entry instead of normal immigration.  Awesome!  In and out in approximately 3 minutes.  My bag came out of baggage claim about 15 minutes later.  Then it was a breeze through customs and a leisurely walk to a waiting BART train.  About an hour ride from SFO to the Richmond Amtrak station.  Amtrak to Sacramento normally takes about an hour and a half, but due to delays with Union Pacific, it took about 2 hours.  I setup a pickup with Lyft on my way from the train to the curb.  The car was there in 2 minutes.  A short ride later, I was home.

Malaysia - Day 8

Travel day #2.  Got up at 0400 this morning in the Philippines to catch an early flight to Malaysia.  I've been in airports all day.  By the time I arrived in Kota Kinabalu, it was dark and rainy.  And I still had to do a 20 minute car ride to the boat, followed by a 20 minute boat ride.  I was tired when I arrived at Gaya Island Resort.  Unfortunately, I couldn't go to my villa because the resort lost power earlier in the day and they hadn't restored power to the section my villa was in....

Positive things today were:

   1.  Malaysia is my second best immigration experience ever.  (Switzerland is still number one.)
   2.  Gaya gave me a free dinner while they were trying to restore power to my villa
   3.  When power still wasn't restored after I finished dinner, they moved me to another villa

Philippines - Day 7

Travel day.  45 minutes to 1 hour boat ride.  90 van ride.  55 minute flight.  Now for the fine details:

   - It rained most of the day. Luckily not bad enough to cause problems for the motorized outrigger we took back to the mainland.
   - El Nido airport, though cute in its own unique way, is not high tech.  Security consists of a few security people physically going through everyone's luggage.  There aren't any scanners.  Surprisingly, they don't check the passengers.
   - While the rain didn't affect the outrigger, it did cause problems at Manila airport.  Our plane was an hour late.
   - I do not recommend driving in Manila.  Definitely get a driver.