19October 2025: Of Rabies and the Ozempic Cast from Viking Cruise Lines
Descending into Siem Reap airport I was taken by the sparseness of vegetation and the flat topography. I was thinking Cambodia…jungle. On the bus to the hotel one can see what is referred to a mountain in the far distance. Flat fields with scrawny cattle grazing. The sparse traffic encountered are motorcycles. A few villages stamped with poverty, children in bare feet and feral dogs. What did my travel physician say about Cambodia…stay away from dogs and with some 200,000 dog bites a year sounds like a plan.
An embarrassing “gringo moment” upon arrival to Sofitel Angkor Phokeetrhra Hotel and Golf Resort being greeted by a traditional dance troupe…a show for the gringos!
Right to the dining room for lunch. The furnishings, service and menu indicate a true luxury hotel in a sea of archaeological heaven and poverty. Golf anyone? Perhaps a glass of champagne at the champagne bar?
An excellent lunch of sea bass in Putanesca sauce cooked to perfection with tossed greens and tomato salad for the brave (or the foolish). Chocolate tart with vanilla ice cream for dessert. ABC International, our tour company, says beer is VERBOTEN unless you pay $5USD. Obnoxious and parsimonious considering the large amount of USD paid for this trip! Excellent Angkor Wat lager!
Sofitel Angkor Phokeetrhra Hotel and Golf Resort is colonial in style with a plenitude of gleaming polished wood throughout. Our room 139 comfortable but a more colonial style than Singapore Shangri-la and Peninsula Bangkok. The bathroom is somewhat outdated and not what one might expect from a Sofitel.
Wanting to explore just a tad and get the legs moving I went with a couple of birds from ABC International to a pharmacy across the road from the hotel. A very busy street with waves of motorcycles and tuk tuk drivers gently inveigling you for their services. There are no pedestrian cross walks near the hotel and the traffic lights are rarely obeyed so crossing the street is a bit of a challenge. There are a few tourist centric businesses about including large souvenir and carpet shops and restaurants. There is a huge ramshackle buffet restaurant for locals intriguing to look at and with a buffet supper for $4USD sign me up! Not really as food safety Cambodia ranks behind Singapore and Thailand. There is clean adventuresome eating and there is unclean exotic! As my travel physician stated exercise extreme care in eating in Cambodia and be most careful hiking off the beaten path….landmines.
Oh back to the pharmacy which is a true pharmacy dispensing medications only unlike a U.S. or Canadian pharmacy which have morphed into mini supermarkets in the last couple of decades. There is a huge poster advertising rabies vaccine with a salivating German Sheppard. Perhaps a good business in a country with over 200,000 dog bites a year. Most medications at pharmacies do not require a prescription although I have heard many of the prescriptive medications may be counterfeit.
Back in the hotel lobby a bizarre sight of about 40 obese Americans with fanny packs heading out (in very loud voices) to some excursion. Could this be a cast from an Ozempic television advertisement? I see on a hotel poster board activities for Viking Cruise Lines. Are these the sophisticated passengers I see depicted in Viking Cruise line commercials. Worthy of a frog shirt scandal at the pool!
America is the 10th most obese country in the world and Canada 50th so pardon me staring at our supersize friends to the south. Quite a touristic site and what a goldmine for American pharmaceutical companies!
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