Siem Reap

We landed at the Siem Reap airport around 2 PM local time from Kuala Lumpur. We just walked to the terminal, no buses. small airport but neat and tidy. The first thing I noticed was the Khmer script is very similar to the Malayalam and Tamil script and the building reminded us of cochin international airport
We got into the terminal and the immigration was no fuss, with soldiers manning the station. Got our luggage and got some US dollars changed at the exchange booth just after the baggage carousel and instantly felt rich – for about  $1 we got nearly 4700 Riels.
we thought of renting a tuk tuk, but later came to know that cambodians doesnt like their 2 wheeler been called tuk tuk, instead they call it Remork’. its a moped atached to a wagon. fortunately or unfortunately we couldnt find one and we booked prepaid taxi to our hotel.
the driver knew bits and peices of english yet he and we managed
the drive was cool..the streets looked like india with paddy fields and small houses.

 siem reap airport..# small is beautiful#


After checking in at my home hotel we had lunch from the hotel itself. The food was good. AMOK – the dish was fantastic. After lunch we bought a packet of Marlboro cigarette – the first buy from Cambodia…it cost around 4900 riel…a dollar and a few cents…: P
Money is been calculated in dollar and riel. So if you buy something in dollar expect riel in balance. There were remorks around so late in the evening we decided to go night market. The ride cost us around 2 usd.
Night market is a good place to buy some cool tees and souvenirs. Bargaining is cool too…we bought some shawls which were pretty cool.
After exploring night market we proceeded to the pub street. Pub Street is a 100 meter long street with pubs on both sides, restaurants, bars and shops… foot massage and fish massage parlours are there ..worth a try.

pub street..just about 60 mts in total.but good nice pubs and restuarants.

fish spa...worth a try...fish eating the dead skin in between our toes..:P

THE TRAVEL PLAN

I have been thinking for quite a long time to travel to a destination which is cheaper, with beaches, nightlife, shopping and fun. Having travelled to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, sri lanka I was researching on Bali when my friend mite suggested Cambodia. Cambodia or Kampuchea as our generation has studied over our social studies textbooks and the recent knowledge on killing fields… I knew nothing more about the so called kingdom of Cambodia.

Me imtiaz and Rajeev planned our flights via airasia. The itinerary was to travel from Cochin to kuala lumpur and from Kl to siem reap. Since airasia flew to 2 cities we thought of exploring both. From siem reap we thought of taking a bust to the capital Phnom Penh. And from Phnom Penh we booked return to kuala lumpur.

Months passed by, we did our research on Cambodia. Rajeev bought a lonely planet guide on Cambodia. Imti contacted some fellow travelers who had been there to Cambodia..I did my bit browsing through blogs and travel sites of Cambodia.

Finally we got equipped with 2 cameras, a canon 5d and canon 70d. Our luggage was minimal, just cabin baggage. We headed to Cochin by train. It was almost a year for me as the last international travel was during September 2013 to srilanka and I guess Rajeev’s and imtis travels were too during late 2012. Anyway our fun started once we boarded the train.

There was enough tension waiting for us as the visa photo stamped in Rajeev’s passport had a strangers photograph. The travel agent when contacted told us to keep cool…we laughed our hearts out whenever Rajeev used to check the visa

Alighted at aluva junction.. The usual last minute hurry burry…taking printouts of tickets and itinerary’s and after having street food we headed to Cochin international airport.

The check in was ok…the immigration was a bit tougher as the guys sitting and standing around wants to know so many details…government shuld give some kinda travelling allowances to these guys..Seriously…coz they cant stand seeing every tom dick and harry travel to foreign destinations.

We were a bit concerned when the immigrating officer checked Rajeev’s passport but thank god he was thru.

Since airasia flights did not have the on flight drinks facility…we were prepared to have our self service on liquor. Sample bottles were purchased and we boarded airasia.

The travel was ok with the boozed getting over all of us we slept off.

Airasia landed smoothly..I always admired the pilots of airasia..They always did a fantastic landing at KL.

we spend about 3-4 hours in the new klcc 2 terminal..just stunning tat s all i can say about this terminal which only accomodates budget flights.

 The massage chairs in Kl airport. 3 ringitss for 20 minutes..worth a try.

 me  and rajeev waiting with a co traveller who is travelling to india