Hello from Siem Reap

I am in Siem Reap…wauw, Siem Reap…It is an amazing feeling guys, finally to be able to be here! I am standing next to the plane at Siem Reap International Airport, checking around, feeling the warm weather…I’ve been waiting for this so long and finally I made it, thanks God!

Then a voice from behind starts to shout…”move”…I open my eyes and realize that I am the only one standing here, yeah time to go guys…

The airport looks so traditional from the outside , I love these traditional buildings.

I have to apply for the tourist visa for 30 days at the airport (It costs 30$). It looks like I’m gonna wait a little bit..

Ups, it says “no photo” but somehow I see these signs a little too late, generally  after I took the photo…The officials are working hard but still there are a lot of people!

They transferred my passport to the other side of the department and here we go, I am at the back of the crowd.

I am glad that I didn’t take any of my winter clothes/shoes with me or put on as this girl did, she was suffering with these boots in this temperature (28 degrees). Well, hopefully when I am back to Shanghai, it won’t be freezing cold haha!

Yayyy, I got my 30 days of visa within 5 minutes. I was at the back of the crowd but they call my name first, awesome!

Now, as I’ll be here almost a month, I will need a local simcard. Which one to choose? Hmmm no idea, I’ll go to the one that has one customer standing in the front.

I got an amazing internet package, unlimited internet including international calls and messages costs 10$. It is quite fast by the way guys, so I can call my parents without finding a wifi connection, amazing!

This girl here also taught me some Khmer like:

Hello: Jum-reap-soo-a

Thank you:Or-koon

Sorry: Saok-sta-y

My simcard is ready, my internet is working, ready to  say “hi” to the crowd waiting outside the airport haha!

As I was trying to book a place in Siem Reap for weeks, it was hard to find a room at the well-known hostels as it is the peak season in Cambodia. So I said, I’ll go and try my chance there. A Khmer guy came and asked me whether I needed a tuk tuk or not. I said “yeah, sure!”. He took my bag and started to walk towards the outside of the airport, I said “wait, why don’t you bring the tuk tuk in?”. He said that they were charging him a lot to park inside the airport carpark. I said “well, fine!”. After 5minutes we stopped beside a black car which has also black windows that was making it so hard to see the inside. He was getting ready to get my bag in, but I said “Wait! I am not going to get on this car man! You said it was a tuk tuk, but this is a black, shady car.”. He said “the tuk tuk was broken!”. I was like “gosh, there is no way I am taking this car!”. So I got my bag and slowly walked away from the guy. It was so shady. It is important to take smart decisions especially when you’re tarvelling solo. After a while,  I found a tuk tuk!

Being on tuk tuk is one of the things that I love a lot about travelling. You can feel the breeze, take pictures easily as it is all open, I just love it! Here, the roads were so dusty that covering my face and at some point my eyes were crucial!

As we were going in the dark, the tuk tuk driver told me to hold my bags and hide them behind my legs so that no one could reach it. I was like, I have a bag as big as me, that is impossible but tried my best haha, better not to deal with any kind of unpleasant situation.

Let’s see whether we can find a hotel/hostel soon or not. What do you think guys? When was the last time you arrived a place without booking any kind of accomodation?

Let us know and see you in the next article.

Till then make your days count!