So it goes! Woke up early and checked out! Mansour picked me up with his mini-bus and drove me to te airport. Explained to me that this whole region was floode in tsunami in 2004! And that the government funded the rebuild by half. If you want to build a house, they pay half. Then he told me about the behavior of some arabic tourists, specially the Saudis. Well, more specifically from Riyadh and Dammam! That they were arrogant and not friendly!
I flew first to Kuala Lumpur with Malaysian airlines! I don’t believe in superstitions 😉 the view of Langkawi from the sky is amazing!
Luckily we flew over the beach where o was swimming yesterday! Managed to take a photo:
From Kuala Lumpur, I flew to Siem Reap with AirAsia, a low cost airline. Things started to look like The Middle East in the flight already. Three forms to fill! One for the immigration office, one for the customs, and one practically for Ebola!
When we landed in the basic airport of Siem Reap, and we walked to the terminal, a fourth form for the application for the visa was waiting for me! I withdrew 200 USD to pay the 30 dollars fees. Filled the form and handed it in. When they saw my form and password, it was sent to a different officer who asked me to follow him out of the queue! Started asking me all the usual questions. Where do you stay, how long? Why? Do you have enough money? I said i have 200 USD and credit cards. He wanted to see the cards, my stay permit in Germany. How much money is the limit in each card. Then to insure I have money, he asked me to withdraw another $250! So I did. Went back to him after he made another phone call. Then asked me to withdraw another $250. WTF, man? It is Cambodia for 4 days! He wanted to ensure that I have money to cover my stay. In a country where you can find a hostel for 2 USD.
They finally gave me the visa! I proceeded to the immigration office and the officer asked me, who is coming with you? I said I am coming alone! She first looked at me In surprise. I read in her face: "People from your country don’t come here alone for backpacking" she actually repeated the question two more times in different occasions. And finally shouted at someone in Cambodian in surprise. I only picked the word "Egypt". Wasn’t a rocket science to know she was talking about me!
Phewww. Visa is a big word in the life of anyone with a "lovely" passport. We know how it can change our lives and it actually does!
I changed 50 USD to get Riels. 1 USD is around 4000 Riel! You can do everything in Cambodia with dollars though! Outside the airport, I rented a motorbike for 2USD with the rider "Toni" to take me to the downtown, where I can find a hostel!
I checked-in in "Downtown Siem Reap" hostel. 6 beds per room and 6 USD per bed! Cheap! Run by an English man with Malaysian workers. Toni was outside waiting for me, no wasting time! He will take me with him to the Angkor Wat temple. The landmark of Cambodia. If I buy the ticket for tomorrow, the sunset tonight is included! This is a new nice trick. Let’s goooo Toni! With his Honda, we were faster than tuk-tuk, bikes and even cars! 💨