Coming from London, we took a flight with Thai Airways to Bangkok which took 11 hours 45 minutes. Our flight was delayed 1 hour so we only had 45 mins to get to our connecting flight to Siem Reap. We ran the length of the Aeropuerto Suvarnabhumi and made it since there was no need to go through customs. The flight to Cambodia was quick and took about an hour. We landed in Cambodia at 8.30 AM and the airport is very small. At customs, there are 4 queues; one for a visa application, one for residents, one for ASEA members, and a general passport control queue. If you applied for the e-visa then you can join the last queue otherwise you join the visa queue. There are no ATMs at the airport but there is a Currency Exchange office.
For transportation, there’s a taxi office but they only take cash, so we had to exchange some GBP1 for KHR2. The cost of a taxi was 10 USD3 or 40,000 KHR. They give you a receipt and you have to exit the airport, handing in your customs form to the officials. You then meet the driver at the exit who takes your receipt and walks you to the taxi. The driver was very friendly and keen to sell us taxi transportation within Angkor Wat . He offered the service for 40 USD but this was solely transportation and no guide. He also had a price list of transportation to different places. We took his phone details but didn’t book anything. The ride to our hotel which was near the Angkor Night Market took about 30 minutes. After checking in, we headed out to look for tours and an ATM. We enquired with the tour agency at our hotel first but we then found another tour agency who had a very friendly sales rep. He sold us two Angkor Wat tours, a tour to the Floating Village, and a full-day car rental with a driver to Kulen Mountain. He also drove me in his scooter to a Maybank ATM which I read online had free withdrawals. However, this did not work for my card. So I ended up withdrawing money from ABA Bank which charged a 5 USD fee. The tour agency rep said that we could pay everywhere in USD or KHR, so we took out USD from the ATM since we’re more familiar with that currency.
After buying the tours we went for a walk and passed Pub Street in the Angkor Night Market area. We then walked towards the river where the Old Market is located. Both these areas are a nice walk and great for souvenir shopping. They sell clothes here as well and we ended up buying a couple of t-shirts from here for very cheap. We stayed in Siem Reap for 4 days and found the night market area to be great for walks during the day and night. The streets are filled with people since there are lots of restaurants, bars, and street food stalls so it feels safe. The people are also very friendly and there were more locals than I expected who could speak some English. The cuisine is also an interesting experience which can be similar to Thai food but with their unique flavors. Overall, it’s a very tourist-friendly place and the locals are keen to share their culture with visitors.
