Travel with Kevin and Ruth: More travel planning, and an afternoon by the pool

Monday, February 12, 2024

More travel planning, and an afternoon by the pool

I spent a couple more hours planning onward travel yesterday. While it would have been much easier to only have to book one direct flight from Bangkok to Istanbul, it's going to be a lot more interesting doing the four flights from Bangkok to Maldives to Abu Dhabi to Kuwait to Istanbul!

So I booked the remaining two flights yesterday. In total, it is costing $513 USD ($691 CAD) each for the four flights, which is actually a few dollars cheaper than it would have cost for the one direct flight.

And I even splurged on the last leg of the flights and booked extra legroom seats!

But then it was time to start looking at accommodation. All three destinations (Maldives, Abu Dhabi, and Kuwait) are expensive places, so it's tough to find anywhere both decent and reasonably priced. They are all Muslim countries, so fortunately we are going to be there during Ramadan and prices are typically cheaper at that time.

But still pricey compared to what we've been used to for the past five months. I've got Maldives ($50 USD a night) and Abu Dhabi ($46 USD a night) booked, but I'm going to have to spend more time (and money!) on Kuwait because it's looking like it's going to be at least $100 USD a night. But, it's only three nights.

Where we do our morning computer work.

Not a bad office!

The plan yesterday was to go into town and rent a scooter for a couple of days. Easier to get around, and it's only $5 USD a day, which is pretty cheap. However we got there to find that they keep your hard copy original passport as a security deposit.

So I questioned that, because of course your passport is fairly important, and it would be a pain in the butt to have to get it replaced. And the canvas bag on his outdoor desk where he keeps them didn't look that secure to me!

So we passed on the scooter. Apparently all the rental outlets here operate the same way. The story is that a few years ago people started renting scooters, driving them across the nearby border to Vietnam and selling them and never returning. So now, the only way to rent a scooter in Kampot is by leaving your passport, or a cash deposit equal to the value of the scooter.

I read reviews about one expat guy who makes you feel secure about the whole idea, and I've contacted him but he's currently sold out. So we'll see. Worse case scenario, we'll stick with tuk-tuks and not see as much.

Durian traffic circle in town.

Taking a tuk-tuk back to the resort.

We actually only took it part of the way, and we walked the rest of the way because we needed some exercise. That meant that we were ready for a cooling dip as soon as we arrived back...

Proof that even I get in the comfortable water!

Yep, thats me in the pool!

We better not get used to this!

For dinner, we walked down to a local pub one km or so down the road. It's called "The Kampot Yacht Club", which is of course a joke. Entirely expat crowd there, but friendly group. We'll probably stop in and see them again before we leave.