Dimitri had meticulously planned our two months in Indochina and Singapore, leaving Vail in November and returning in January. He started by hiring a travel agent but found he could not leave it to her. He loves planning and going on trips so he spent endless hours doing that during the spring and summer. We are flying Qatar Airlines again, stopping in Doha before arriving in Hanoi. Hopefully, this trip will not be disrupted like last year's flight to Bangkok. In order to avoid that, we are leaving Vail a day early and staying overnight at the Westin at DIA, just outside the airport. We have liked staying there and using their rooftop Jacuzzi. The next day we fly AA to Dallas where we board our Qatar flight to Hanoi.
We are looking forward to fully experiencing Qatar Q Suites, the highly acclaimed business class. We will have a long layover in Doha and we were able to book a room at the Oryx Hotel which is inside the airport. That will be interesting; do we get to add the country of Qatar to our list if we are just inside the airport? Humm.
In Hanoi, our Lotte Hotel representative will meet us inside the airport (like the Four Seasons did in Thailand last year) to help us with our luggage and the hotel car will take us to the Lotte. We stay in Hanoi only one night before boarding the Stellar cruise ship (large yacht with only 22 cabins) for a 4-day cruise of Halong Bay. (When we were in Vietnam in 1995, we didn't get to Halong Bay.) The cruise car will pick us up and drive us 2 1/2 hours to the port where we board the large yacht--so we get to see more of the Vietnamese countryside.
When we return to Hanoi after our cruise, we will again stay at the Lotte Hotel either in the hotel portion or in an apartment in the residence section. Dimitri has planned cultural events and eating events for our 10-day stay.
From Hanoi, we fly to the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, where we will stay for around 10 days in the Hyatt Regency. Click here to see a map of our route through Cambodia.
From Phnom Penh we have a car and driver take us south to Sihanoukville and spend a few days at the beach at Koh Russey Villas and Resort. Then we start a driving adventure north to the Cardamom Mountains to stay in a floating resort called Canvas & Orchids. We've arranged for a car and driver for that road trip too.
We continue our Cambodian road trip by driving from the Cardamom Mountains to Siem Reap, stopping in Battambang at the Maisons Wat Kor. We will spend 10 days at the Park Hyatt exploring Angkor Wat by bicycle. Dimitri has spent many hours making arrangements with a bike tour company and it should be great (especially since he thinks he has arranged an extra small bike for me).
After absorbing all that history in Cambodia, we fly to Singapore and stay at the Four Seasons for 9 days. We lived in Singapore in 2003 for 6 months and we loved it so we are excited to go back. Back in 1995, when Audre was interviewing for a job, we stayed at the Four Seasons Singapore and met Patrick Stewart in the gym there. We were really jazzed that he actually spent time chatting with us. (Will Patrick Stewart still be there?) When we return to Vail in January, we fly Singapore Airlines business class through Seattle. That should be a treat. Then we fly Alaska Airlines from Seattle to Denver.
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Sounds truly fantastic . Stay safe. Stay healthy. My love to both.
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