Traveling to Phnom Penh from Kuala Lumpur started easily enough. After finishing breakfast at the hotel in central Kuala Lumpur I took a walk around the botanical gardens next to the National Museum. I knew that the rest of the day would be mainly sitting on trains, planes, and automobiles so I figured I would get some motion prior to leaving for the airport.

Check in was smooth, and the person at passport control took such a long time processing my exit that I really started to think that something was wrong, but he apologized after several minutes of silence, saying the computers were particularly slow. Then he asked me to go to the automated passport gates instead, and the person there, seeing that I was referred from the other officer allowed me to go to the head of the line. The automated gate was quick and simple.

I boarded my flight on time and then the weird delay happened. All the passengers were on board but the crew didn’t close the airplane door. The gate agent repeatedly came on board, talked to the flight attendants and pilots, and then left. There were no announcements about what was going on. After about 15 minutes and 3-4 visits from the gate attendants, the weather turned and there was a very strong thunderstorm going over the airport. I assumed that weather had something to do with the delay, but still no announcements.

The thunderstorm kept getting stronger and stronger, and at one point there was lightning that was so close that the very bright flash of lightning and the very loud boom of the thunder happened simultaneously. Well, I guess the delay was self-explanatory, but still no announcement.

After about an hour of delay, the flight attendants did a beverage and meal service while we were still on the ground. That seems like good customer service, even though we still had no idea what was going on. By then the storm had subsided or at least moved away from the airport.

Finally, the captain made an announcement that we would be delayed for a while longer because the original reason we were delayed was for two passengers who checked in for the flight and checked luggage but were no shows for boarding. So for security reasons they had to find and remove those bags, but while that was happening, the entire airport went into safety shutdown mode so the baggage handlers had to exit the plane and go into the terminal until the storm moved out. Now that the airport had the go-ahead to start operations, those baggage handlers still had to get on the airplane and find those bags.

So finally, after almost two hours of delay (for a 90 minute flight) we got on our way to Phnom Penh. The flight and the arrival into Phnom Penh was uneventful, and after being mobbed by Tuk-Tuk drivers wanting to drive me to the airport, a security guard came to my “rescue” and yelled at them to leave me alone. I was actually kind of enjoying being in demand.

I checked into the hotel and spent the evening wandering the riverfront in Phnom Penh, seeing the Royal Palace and the night market. All in all, a good adventure.