7-9 January 2004

Return to Phnom Penh

7 January 2004 I was honored to be driven to the airport at 0615 by sister Jane and my brother Dennis.  It was a last chance to reflect with each other on the events of the past week.  I offered that we had "done good."  The weather was 20 degrees F in Louisville and 7 degrees in Chicago, a far cry from what I could expect in Cambodia.  I flew to Chicago and had a three-hour wait which I used for making phone calls, and then we were on our way to Tokyo on a 14-hour flight.  We arrived in Tokyo a little late and I just barely had time to run from Gate 37, back through security, and then to Gate 31 for the flight to Bangkok (six hours and twenty minutes).  We arrived in Bangkok at 2330 on January 8th, and I went to my usual place in the Transit Desk area to sleep on the floor for the night.

9 January 2004 The Bangkok Airways transfer desk opened at 0530 and I got my new boarding pass and then went back to work on the computer.  The flight to Phnom Penh was just 50 minutes.  Bangkok Airways' meals are getting smaller, I've noticed on the last three flights with them.  Must be some cost-cutting measure. We landed in Phnom Penh at 0845, the trip overall taking 39 hours from Louisville to Phnom Penh.  I hurried through immigration and customs and was out on the street at 0900 where Siphal, our Maryknoll office manager, met me and drove me to the Russian Hospital where I interpreted for a deaf man till noon while Siphal took my suitcases to the Maryknoll office. And so this trip ended.