ST LUCIA DELAYED

HAVING FUN IN PHILLY?

Janet (mostly) and I had it all planned. We were going to fly out early Saturday morning from Philadelphia on DELTA. We had cashed in mileage for free roundtrip flights to a ten-day vacation in St. Lucia. We usually fly with American, but flying with DELTA had us avoiding American’s dreaded hub in Miami, where connections are routinely tight. One time they were boarding our connection flight before we even got to the gate. So, we decided to switch it up on our yearly trip to a Sandals resort in the Caribbean.

OOPS.

To ensure we would get to our DELTA 5am flight departure we booked a room at the La Quinta motel in Essington. For less than the price of simply parking at an airport lot we also were able to park at the motel for the duration of our trip.

Sounds like a great idea so far.

The first inkling of our bumpy ride to St. Lucia was the text Janet received from La Quinta informing us the parking lot at our motel was under renovation and to park at the Holiday Inn about a mile away instead and call for a shuttle. Okay, we’ll deal with this inconvenience.

It gets worse.

At just past midnight we got a text from DELTA that our 5am is now leaving at 7am. We figured we could still make a 45-minute connection rather than “explore other flight options”. Then Janet got a text saying there was a “power outage at the terminal with no confirmed timeline for restoration.”

We decided to head over to the airport anyway. The shuttle driver had not heard of the power outage.

Lights out.

Terminal “D” was completely out of service and DELTA, United, Canadian Air and Spirit Airlines were stopped in their tracks. They didn't have power to check in passengers. Passengers kept entering Terminal “D”, but no one was leaving. Except for emergency lights the terminal was dark. 

Terminal D was the only terminal effected by the outage. American, wouldn't you know it was running smoothly. We checked the last minute prices on the American flights and they were about $2,000 each! And, DELTA said they would not reimburse us for a change.

A day late.

Finally, a DELTA spokesperson came out and said it would be best if every DELTA flyer rebook for the next day. They couldn’t explain why this happened or when it would be rectified. They gave us a number to call, and Janet was able to get us on the next morning’s flight. The representative said expenses would be reimbursed and to keep receipts. We got a room at the airport Marriott at 6:30am. Our trip to the paradise of St. Lucia was delayed with another night in Philadelphia.

Butterfly Effect.

We were going to fly into St. Lucia’s Hewanorra International Airport on the south corner of the island from the Bay Gardens Hotel in Rodney Bay. The hotel is not far from the Sandals Grande St. Lucian. We like to get in a day or two before our trip to a Sandals resort. We had stayed at the Bay Gardens Hotel before when we sailed out of St. Lucia with the now defunct Windjammer Cruises. We were looking forward to a day of exploring the “old neighborhood.” There’s a treehouse restaurant there we wanted to revisit, etc. This delay put the kibosh on all that.

Good News.

Last time we visited St. Lucia, we took a private taxi to Rodney Bay. It’s about 40 miles from the airport, but this time we paid money to take a ferry. Because we like to get to a resort destination a day or so earlier than our Sandals stay, the resort won’t pick us up, so the ferry was a nice way to get to the other side of the island. Thankfully, Janet had the foresight to purchase trip insurance with the ferry company. For $20 pp if the flight is delayed you can either get your money back or reschedule. When we called them on the WhatsApp they had already heard about this delay and had us booked for the next day. Without the insurance we would not have refunded our money.

We miss a day at Bay Gardens, but not a far more expensive day at the Sandals resort.

You don’t need it, until you need it.  

We carry our own travel insurance. We buy a yearly plan with Allianz and the company has worked out great for us and though we are missing out on one day in the beautiful weather of St. Lucia, it should not cost us any hard-earned dollars. Small solace to spend the day looking out at the frenetic traffic on Route 95 and not a beach.

ALLIANZ TRAVEL INSURANCE

WHY?

We never got a definitive answer about how this power outage happened, but Janet thinks someone needed to recharge their phone and unplugged something.

Isn’t traveling fun?

Wish us luck.

Love Janet and greg

© 2024 by Gregory Dunaj

LAS VEGAS 1991 / 2024

BABY STILL NEEDS A NEW PAIR OF SHOES

Vegas Vic yesterday

I worked in Las Vegas from 1986-1991 with Frank Sinatra. We started out at the Golden Nugget downtown on Fremont Street before moving over to the Bally’s Casino (formerly the MGM Grand) on the Strip in 1987. We would come in for a week of shows and then tour elsewhere.

I was his teleprompter operator, probably one of the first performers to use a prompter for lyrics. Now, acts like Springsteen, U2 and the Stones use prompters. Whatever, it was a great gig, I traveled the world with FAS… twice.

Since that gig ended in 1991, I had not been back to Las Vegas.

Back then Las Vegas was already changing. There was a time when gentlemen would always wear suits hitting the casinos and women would always dress to the nines, but near the end of my stretch in “Sin City” there was a t-shirt movement, and the glamor of Las Vegas was becoming “tainted”. 

We recently traveled to Las Vegas for a wedding. No, it was not officiated by a midget Elvis impersonator, besides he’s called a “mini”-Elvis. It was a traditional wedding, but for the first time in 33 years I got to visit Las Vegas again. It was Janet’s first trip to Vegas.

LITTLE ELVIS WEDDING 

Both she and I vowed never to return. 

Back then I would look out my window and see on one side nothing but desert. The Flamingo, which opened in 1947, was on the other side of Bally’s, across the street. Caesar’s Palace was across the strip. I felt like we were on the “edge” of the strip then. I remember going for a run to the UNLV outdoor track a mile or so away and passing block after block of empty lots.

That’s all changed. There are so many new casinos like the Bellagio, Paris Las Vegas and the Venetian, to name a few, that seemingly cater as much to tourism as they do high rollers. These mega casinos are sprawling and offer a lot of eye candy on the outside. The Bellagio has their prancing waters that enthrall crowds every 15 minutes or so. The Venetian has gondola rides. There’s an elevator to the top of the faux Eiffel Tower at the Paris Las Vegas casino.

There’s also a sleaze factor on the strip that I had never seen before. Break dancers spin and aggressively hawk passerby for money. There are Elmos and Spider-Man characters and neon-lighted people posing for pictures, with a majority of the crowd seemingly disinterested in the casinos, but only here for the “experience “of being in the Times Square of Nevada. 

For us, the craziness of Las Vegas was unappealing. It’s too much of EVERYTHING.

We decided one night to venture onto the Las Vegas strip to see how much it had changed. We first visited the Venetian to see the gondolas for ourselves. 

We walked around aimlessly in the massive casino for a bit, watching conventioneers all on the prowl for that a “what happens in Vegas” adventure, their eyes narrowed searching for a glint of opportunity. We then went to the equally cavernous Paris Las Vegas for dinner at Mon Ami Gabi. We sat inside near the front window with a landscape view of the Bellagio across the strip and watched the fountains course through their ballet as we had a very nice (and expensive) meal. At our seats we also had a view of the hot air balloon evoking French history and one foot of the Eiffel Tower nearly in our laps.

MON AMI GABI, LAS VEGAS 

After dinner we dodged obnoxious break dancers and weaved around doe-eyed tourists and crossed the strip to watch the Bellagio fountains. We then used the pedestrian overpass that was non-existent when I was last in Vegas and crossed over to Caesar’s Palace to hail a ride back to our hotel. Once was enough.

A short walk from our hotel (not a casino) was the old Circus Circus Casino that has a lot of interesting things for your kids to see and arcade games to play when you decide to throw away the mortgage on Black 28. “Old” is a good word, moldering is better. We waded through a lot of tank-tops and toddlers on shoulders to see a few acts on the midway. Surprisingly nothing fell from the ceiling, but the dust was a few inches thick in places.

CIRCUS CIRCUS

VEGAS VIC ON FREMONT STREET

The next day we went down to Fremont Street. When I first came to the Golden Nugget, I was 29 years old and had never experienced any of the glitz or glamour that Vegas offered. Fremont Street was open then to vehicular traffic and the Nugget was across from the 4 Queens and Bill Binion’s Horseshoe and I the neon sign of Vegas Vic, and his “Howdy Pardner” beckoning arm was still moving. 

Vegas Vic today

Mind you, I was working freelance in NYC at the time, and I had already traveled extensively, hitchhiking my way around France. I had worked on the Sarajevo Olympics in 1984 for ABC and flitted around a couple of Greek islands afterwards. For some reason though seeing Vegas Vic for the first time I felt like I hit the jackpot of experiences.

The return was not so glamorous.

They call it the Fremont Street experience and the 4-block stretch is now a canopied pedestrian walkway. Videos are projected onto the canopy. There are zip line rides so you can soar above this stretch. Vegas Vic is still there, but the Pioneer Club he would beckon patrons to enter is now a souvenir shop. Street performers are everywhere including a man in a gorilla outfit and very scantily clad ladies, and yes there were more breakdancer performers. Everything felt like there was a greasy film on it. I had to walk into the Golden Nugget to see the old digs, and it was unrecognizable, which is to be expected I guess, but I remember it being a very classy joint. Across from the Nugget was the old Bill Binion’s Horseshoe, a down and dirty place that still offers cheap steaks and yes, the line to get into the eatery was still long. It is now called Binion’s Gambling Hall… the Horseshoe is now brand name of the Bally’s Casino… Are you keeping notes?

FREMONT STREET EXPERIENCE 

BILL BINION'S GAMBLING HALL

THE MOB MUSEUM

A block off Fremont is the Mob Museum. Take a trip down mayhem memory lane and learn about the history of Las Vegas and how the mob made it even greater. Don't forget to count the bullet holes in the actual wall from the Valentine's Day Massacre. It was educational, if you can get past all the morbid history.

THE MOB MUSEUM, LAS VEGAS

ESTHER'S KITCHEN

We ate out a couple of times while during our visit and I had already mentioned Mon Ami Gabi at the Paris Las Vegas. It was a nice experience with the view of the prancing waters of the Bellagio across the way. We sat inside at the window not wanting to brave the heat.

We also went to Esther’s Kitchen about halfway from our hotel to Fremont Street. We sat at the bar of this elegant Italian comfort food restaurant. I had pizza which was enough for two. Janet’s order of goat polenta came out with lamb (they had run out of the goat) and when the mistake was realized they bought us glasses of wine and were very apologetic and fawned over us throughout the rest of our meal. If anything, with competition in Las Vegas as it is, service is always at a premium. I would eat at Esther’s again, but we warned, they do not make good martinis.

ESTHER'S KITCHEN

NO WHERE  

Across from our hotel is a new mega casino, the Fontainebleau. It opened in 2023, and we decided to watch the first game of the NFL season at the hotel. Their sports book takes reservations, but there is a much quieter bar next door that had all the afternoon games on several big screen televisions, and I got to watch my NYG get dismantled by the Minnesota Vikings. Ugh

What made our visit to the Fontainebleau was the jazz club "No Where" up stairs. It was actually a classy quiet place with a quartet and singer and best of all, they made some very good, if very expensive, martinis. 

RAT PACK REDUX

Just down from the strip on Flamingo Road and just past the Battle Bots arena is the Tuscany Suites Hotel. At this joint is a small theater that was hosting a Rat Pack experience. Janet saw a flyer and wanted to go. Having worked for all three at one point on the short-lived “Together Again” tour in the 80s I figured what the heck. With a live band and three guys mimicking Frank, Dean and Sammy, it was a fun one-hour show. Lots of songs and reenactments of the antics of the Rat Pack’s performances at the Sands Hotel. The Rat Pack you may recall would do their act and then past midnight go off to film scenes for the original Ocean’s Eleven.

Admittedly I enjoyed myself, but Las Vegas is in my rear-view mirror.

I’ll leave you with a joke told by the faux Deano:

“Marriage is like a deck of cards. At first all you need is a couple of hearts and a diamond. At the end you need a club and a spade.”

THE RAT PACK IS BACK

Viva Las Vegas.

Thanks for reading

Love Janet and greg

© 2024 by Gregory Dunaj

TONLÉ SAP LAKE, CAMBODIA

BREATHING

Tonle Sap youth

Angkor Wat and the temple complex of the Khmer Empire is the most popular tourist destination in Cambodia, but don’t pass up an opportunity to visit the floating villages of Tonlé Sap, the largest freshwater lake in southeast Asia. There are several small communities that live near or on the lake, either in houses on dramatically long stilts, or on floating structures that are anchored but can be relocated when the water level rises with the rainy season.

The locals spend much of their lives tied to the cycle of nature and the ebb and flow between the dry and rainy season is like breathing. In the dry season the lake drains into the Mekong River, but during the rainy season the flow reverses pushing water back into the lake swelling its volume 5 times to roughly 1,000 square miles. As the lake grows the homes and structures are towed to stay above the waterline and to maintain access to land and fishing areas as fish migrations change with deeper water.

house with floating garden

The small communities of the lake fish for food and commerce and also use the flooding waters to help irrigate crops on land. Though tied to the lake these communities still have all the nuances of a land-based lifestyle, with stores, bars and restaurants and schools and churches. Some of the larger structures even have multiple levels and can accommodate several families. Some of the villagers even have floating gardens and keep chickens and livestock for eggs and meat.

DAY TRIP

This unique way of living is not far from Siem Reap and there are several tour companies offering day trips to cruise on the lake and see the villages up close. We traveled to Cambodia with Overseas Adventure Tours, and they brought us to the Mechrey village by bus where they had arranged a stop with a family who lived on a floating house, though tethered to the shore. Several generations lived on the boat including a couple of spirited rambunctious boys who tussled with each other as they vied for the attention of our cameras. The family had electricity, a television and a small garden on the roof and a fish pen on the side of the boat where they kept their catch until needed. 

                                                                fish pen Tonle Sap

When we finally headed out on the lake we boarded a private wooden boat with a canopy and seats enough for a dozen passengers. As we headed down the canal in the brown silt-choked water we passed several clusters of homes on stilts and several people waist deep casting nets. We passed sampans laden with produce and bottles of water and gasoline. Other boats swiftly flitted by us in both directions.

Tonle Sap

Finally reaching the lake the true expanse of Tonle Sap was revealed, and there was only water on the horizon. Sadly, our lake cruise only took us to the fringe of the village; we were not able to “shop” and the restaurant was not open, but we got a great view of many homes, and our tour guide pointed out (in the distance) the church and the school that serves this community. Whenever we saw people on the houseboats they waved.

I understand other tours one can kayak or ride a sampan to get up close and personal with the villagers, but still our trip gave us a great view of this unique way of living in Cambodia. If you travel to Siem Reap don’t pass up an opportunity to see Tonle Sap.

Thank you for reading

Love Janet and greg

© 2024 by Gregory Dunaj

ANGKOR ARCHEOLOGICAL PARK

BIG BUSINESS

Party on

Angkor Wat is a sprawling, massive, majestic Hindu/Buddhist temple near Siem Reap, Cambodia. Erected in the 1100s, Angkor Wat covers over 400 acres and is surrounded by a moat. This temple is historically and culturally important to the Kingdom of Cambodia. The five towers of Angkor Wat represent Mount Meru, which in Hinduism and Buddhism is the home of the gods and the center of all spiritual universes.

So important is Angkor Wat it is depicted on Cambodia’s flag, the only country in the world where a building is featured as its main symbol.

It is also the main draw for both national and foreign tourists. Yearly visitors to the Angkor Archaeological Park, where the Angkor Wat temple is located, number in the millions. The current number of foreign visitors purchasing tickets to the temple complex this year is over 800,000. A one-day pass is $37USD, a three-day is $62USD and a 7-day is $72USD. This is a multi-million-dollar enterprise and it’s worth every Riel (Cambodian money) to see this magnificent structure.

Cambodian nationals do not pay a fee to enter the Angkor Archeological Park.

Check the updated numbers here: 

ANGKOR RECEIPTS

As part of our travel package, Overseas Adventure Travels, OAT, arranged for the required pass, but if you’re traveling on your own a pass can be purchased at the Angkor Archeological Park and your photo is taken, and they do check the IDs.

ANGKOR ARCHEOLOGICAL PASSES

OH, ANOTHER TEMPLE?

Before our recent visit to Cambodia, we had no inkling of the expansive temple network beyond Angkor Wat or of the city of Angkor itself. Angkor was the center of the Khmer Empire for several centuries beginning in 800 AD and the metropolis covered over 400 square miles.

Angkor Wat is the largest religious structure in the world and was commissioned by Suryavarman II as a Hindu temple and dedicated to Vishnu, the god of creation, preservation and protection, but after the monarch’s death, the city was attacked and plundered by the Chams, the Khmer’s traditional enemies. A later king, Jayavarman VII felt the Hindu gods had failed the people of Khmer and he decided to go full Buddhist and Angkor Wat transitioned into a Buddhist shrine.

FLAG OF BUDDHISM

Buddhism remains the official religion of Cambodia and Jayavarman is considered by historians as the greatest king of the Khmer Empire. During his reign he commissioned several other temples and was benevolent enough to have over 100 hospitals built and even several rest homes for travelers. He even introduced welfare for the needs of his Khmer subjects.  

Anyway, over the course of our recent 5-day visit to Cambodia with Overseas Adventure Tours or OAT we toured several of the temples. In fact, we visited so many of them, that despite each one being unique and different, by the end of our trip the initials “OAT” stood for “Oh, Another Temple?”

Admittedly it got to be a blur with the temples, but OAT did intersperse the visits with other activities and were never heavy-handed with the individual history of each temple visit. Plus, we got to stay in a very nice hotel for the duration of our stay.

OVERSEAS ADVENTURE TRAVEL WEBSITE

HOME BASE

The Tara Angkor Hotel, just a short (and cheap) Tuk Tuk ride to Pub Street in Siem Reap, and just a ten-minute drive to Angkor Wat, was a very luxurious and comfortable hotel. After pretty much living out of our suitcases for three weeks during our time in Vietnam, staying five nights at the Tara Angkor hotel was relaxing. With a pool and an expansive breakfast, the hotel is great, even if we had to teach the bartender how to make a proper martini.

TARA ANGKOR HOTEL

TEMPLE TRIPPING

There are around 70 temples located in the Angkor Archaeological Park. Thankfully we didn’t try to see all of them, but here’s a quick description of the ones we visited.

Pre Rup

This Hindu temple was erected in the 10^th Century and is thought to have been used as a

Pre Rup

crematorium. “Pre Rup” translates in English to “turn the body” and in traditional funerals it is customary to rotate the body during the service. Pre Rup is not as popular as other temples and one can explore it in relative peace, but we just gave it a quick “spin” before moving along. Dad joke alert. 

Banteay Srei

Also built in the 10^th Century, Banteay Srei was dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. This temple is very popular with tourists and is known as the "pink temple” because of the sandstone used in its construction, or the “lady temple” because it is said the intricate carvings could only have been made by the delicate hands of a woman. 

Hanuman

Banteay Srei detail

There were several spooky Hanuman statues sitting stoically throughout the temple grounds. These half-man half-monkey gods are guardians of the Hindu god Rama and are not just the titular character of the Cambodian beer. (It’s not very good… but it’s better than monkey piss). Dad joke alert.

Ta Prohm

This temple is very popular and very ominous. It was featured in the 2001 film “Lara Croft, Tomb Raider”, the live-action version of a popular video game.

Commissioned in the 1100s by Jayavarman VII and built without mortar, the temple was abandoned when the Khmer Empire ended in the 1500s. Neglected for centuries the jungle has reclaimed the site with massive, thick limbed Spung trees snaking along and sometimes through the walls. There is a preservation effort to restore Ta Prohm, but for now this very popular temple brims with people ogling the impossible growth of trees that seem like they are devouring the stones themselves.

Ta Phrom

There are bas-reliefs of various animals engraved on the stones throughout the temple, and on one archway is something that looks like a stegosaurus…that’s a dinosaur. There are many theories about this etching, which implies man and 
dinosaur co-existed, including a hoax by a modern film crew.  Not a Dad joke.

"Stegosaurus"

Angkor Thom

The greater area of the ancient city of Angkor was one of the largest pre-industrial cities covering roughly 390 square miles. Angkor Thom was the city center and within this citadel that covered 9 square kilometers which was surrounded by a 12-kilometer wall and a 100-meter-wide moat, it is estimated 100,000 people lived. The Royal Palace of the Khmer Empire is gone, but there are several popular temples in Angkor Thom. We got to visit one.

Tonle Om Gate

  

Tonle Om Gate

Tonle Om Gate

To enter the citadel, we crossed over the moat on the impressive Southern Gate causeway aka the Tonle Om Gate, one of 5 entries to Angkor Thom. Either side of the causeway has a massive stone carving of the mythical 7-headed Naga with stone giants pulling on the body of the serpent. One side has Devas, with slender oval eyes and wry smiles and the other side has Asuras with round bulging eyes and grimacing faces. Basically, this represents the incessant tug of war between good and evil.

The giants have eroded badly but are in the process of being restored.

The gate and its wall are equally impressive. The one temple we visited in Angkor Thom was Bayon.

Bayon

Bayon

This temple is at the very center of Angkor Thom and second in popularity to Angkor Wat. There are 37 towers and carved into them are over 200 smiling faces. Some believe this is the face of Jayavarman VII.

We were allowed to walk through the temple for a half hour and at one point a Buddhist alms box was collected by the smallest monk we encountered on our trip. He was just a boy, clad in the orange robes and shaved head of a monk. He grabbed the box, gave us a cursory look and disappeared into the dark recesses of the temple.

Angkor Wat

Hindu temples are usually oriented to the east facing the sunrise which evokes a sense of new beginnings and hope, but Angkor Wat is oriented to the west. Dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu, who restores the balance between good and evil and as the preserver of life, statues of Vishnu face to the left or the west.

Angkor Wat from the west

The main causeway approach to Angkor Wat is on the west, and most tourists enter the complex this way. Our OAT tour guide had our driver bring us in from the east. There’s less traffic and it gave us an unfettered view of this magnificent temple. He would pick us up at the main entrance after we walked the galleries that are filled with carved bas-reliefs of Hindu history and climbed the towers, all the while dodging hordes of visitors.

Angkor Wat from the east

Considered to be the largest religious structure in the world, Angkor Wat covers more than 400 acres and is then surrounded by a 15-foot-tall wall and then a moat. Angkor Wat is the main reason people travel to Siem Reap, Cambodia and it is a UNESCO world heritage site.

tower at Angkor Wat

When Angkor was abandoned in the 1500s, the jungle reclaimed much of the land, but conservation efforts that started with the French Colonialists in the early 20th Century and are continuous to this day are helping to maintain this magnificent structure.  

 

climbing the tower at Angkor Wat

Janet in Angkor Wat gallery

Thanks for reading… 

Love, Janet and greg

© 2024 by Gregory Dunaj