Well, it´s been a while, hasn´t it? And there really isn´t much to tell you. We went on a 4 day luxury trip to an exclusive resort at Sihanoukville, the only beach-town of Cambodia. The Sokha Resort is a place for high rollers and big spenders, with 2 miles of private palm beach, two pools with bars, several beach bars, a spa, a casino and 3 restaurants. We had to wait at the reception because a group of madmen on bicycles had just arrived and needed to be taken care of. I mean, really, riding a bike in this kind of climate? Half of the group had collapsed on the floor of the lobby, and the other half was babbling incoherently. Since this was obviously taking some time I used the free Internet access to check my mails. I was just reading a mail from the TripAdvisor site, when the manager happened to look over my shoulder. The words "TripAdvisor" and "reviewers badge" were very dominant on the screen and they must have jolted the poor man somewhat. He immediately asked me about my name, and since the reservation was in Annette´s name I said "Dr. Wilcke". That was the last straw for him. A Doctor and a reviewer! His reputation was in serious danger. He upgraded our ground floor room to a top floor suite, and had our luggage brought upstairs immediately, all the while apologizing profusely. Annette wasn´t sure what was going on but played along. The suite came with a seaside balcony, a gigantic flat-screen TV and a mini bar with exclusive scotch, three kinds of gin and champagne, all on the house! Well, I told the manager that I was quite happy for the moment and that I would let him know if we needed anything else.
Annette for once was not upset with my shenanigans, and really, I hadn´t done anything wrong and I am, after all, a respected reviewer on TripAdvisor.
We spent our days at the beach and at the pool bar, where I was soon known as "The Doctor". Whenever I had finished a drink, the next one was served to me right away and the manager stopped by with little baskets of fruit or restaurant vouchers several times a day, always making sure that his reviewer was comfortable. Annette received a free deluxe treatment at the spa and we had our dinners at the Lemongras Deck Restaurant with our own personal waiter on standby all evening. At the breakfast buffet we never had to get up to fill our plates. Much to the dismay of other guests our plates were brought to us by a flock of bustling waiters and maids, cups magically refilled and all of our wishes taken care of on the spot. At night we would order free movies to our room, drink champagne and do our best to forget the poverty and schmutz of Phnom Penh.
When we left after 4 days the staff lined up in the lobby to say goodbye, and we were taken into town by the resort´s limo. It was hard to return to the cruel reality of Phnom Penh, and we both caught a bad infection on the bus on the way back. We both have to take antibiotics and stay inside right now, but in a couple of days we should be back in business, whatever that means.
There´s not much work left to do for us at THE COMPANY and we are planning to leave Cambodia at the beginning of December for a little vacation before we return to Europe. Right now we´re thinking about a resort in Thailand on an island.
I hope they will show the proper respect for my reviewers badge...
