HEAT!

I forgot how hot Asia can be. I am hot, I am sweaty, I am tired, I am ready for adventure!

Normally my travel is relatively uneventful and not even worth mentioning however this trip has had a few hiccups so far that are sure to give a few people a laugh. First of all was the issue before I even left New Zealand. Apparently to enter Cambodia you ned to have proof of onward travel to show that you don’t plan on staying there for longer than your visa is valid for. This would be ok if I actually had any of that information, however I had planned on getting a bus across the boarder which is super cheap but can only be booked in person. This lead me to booking a flight from Cambodia to Thailand on my mobile phone in the airport to be able to prove this when needed. The best part of this was that although they wanted to check it when I was leaving New Zealand for Australia and also leaving Australia for Kuala Lumpur, they were not bother when I left Kuala Lumpur for Cambodia and also didn’t check when I got to Siem Reap in Cambodia!

The next little issue was completing all the paperwork to pass into Cambodia. The Siem Reap airport is tiny and only has one runway and maybe a handful of flights per day, yet it seemed to take an age to get through it. First I had to fill in a customs declaration, then an arrivals / departures card, then a health screening declaration before getting into the terminal building. Once there I then had to fill out a visa application and pass that on to be process which thankfully only took a few mins. With my new Cambodian Visa I then had to go to passport control where they take all of your finger prints before you can pass into the baggage collection area. Lots of paperwork and process for such a small airport.

After all that was done with I got a taxi to the hostel I am staying at, however the driver seemed to have a bit of an issue finding the place which was luckily just because it is quite new. When I got there the guy behind the counter seemed a bit shocked as it was as if they were not expecting anyone. They were in the middle of a city wide power cut that meant they couldn’t get on their computer to check the information but luckily I had my phone to hand to show them that I had a booking so they asked me to wait while they hurriedly prepared the room for me. As I kept looking at my phone I noticed something about the booking. On one screen it just showed the dates (23rd to 28th April) however on another screen it said the days to with the date “Saturday 23rd April” really standing out to me. I managed to get to another screen that had some more details only to notice that my booking is actually for 2016… not 2015! I am an idiot. Luckily it seems the room is still free and so I have at least for somewhere to stay even if the air con, TV and internet don’t work at the moment without power.

I have arrived here in Siem Reap a few days earlier than Ursi to give me chance to get over the Jet lag a little and just chill out in my room while doing some research and getting a few things in order but that plan has gone out of the window a little with the lack of power. I got a Cambodian SIM at the airport so my mobile phone works and I have internet on it, however it doesn’t seem to work very well as I think all the networks are getting hit hard with traffic while everyone’s fixed broadband connections are down.

Time for me to go and scout out the area and report back whatever cool random things I manage to find. Hopefully all the negative events are behind me and I can start looking forwards to the positive stuff.

P.S. I hate mosquito bites already!