A new journey

It starts - as do many journeys to foreign lands - with queues and waiting at the airport, fortunately I am flying out of Cebu/Mactan airport which is a reasonably small airport (by international standards) but it is still a case of finding the correct check in counter, joining the queue, shuffling forward a couple of steps every few minutes before you finally reach the front and get your boarding pass (after dealing with any issues like excess baggage or in my normal case too much hand luggage....! )
You see I often travel alone for my work for which I need:
a laptop with power cable and adapter plug
Camera plus lenses, spare battery, chargerBack up camera with a spare battery and charger
Phone with its charger
SD cards and USB cards
Notebook - the paper kind - I still write everything down as I travel
Pens
Any paperwork I may need

Plus on my 'shorter' research trips I don't have hold luggage so need to pack clothes and basics for a two week trip.... this always puts me over the deemed maximum for carry on, I show them the cameras, laptop cables and batteries ask which items they would like to risk putting in the hold and not arriving at the other end smile sweetly make polite conversation and manage to secure my camera bag and laptop bag brimming with spare t shirts, shorts and underpants onto the flight with me.

Security
With boarding pass in hand I then proceed to the boarding area - first through the security checkpoint, out comes the laptop, mobile phone, coins, pens (I like metal pens) and if you have one on belt into a tray to be scanned separately.

I personally have given up wearing a belt at airports spent too much time taking it off, putting it on, missing a loop taking it off.. you get the idea. I pack my belt into my bag when I arrive at the airport and put it bag on just before I board hoping that my trousers don't fall down at an inappropriate moment (like when they frisk you as you stand with your hands raised).

Safely through the checkpoint now but without my shaving foam as I had packed one over 100ml so had to leave it behind, so now I will either have to grow a beard or remember to pick some up when I arrive at my destination.

Coffee and airport seats
Checkpoint cleared and now another round of waiting for my flight, fill in time with a toilet trip and some airport coffee which was quite nice and not too over prices, (I must remember to start asking people where they had the best/worst/most expensive airport coffee). Then I take a seat on one of those uncomfortable, impossible to sleep on airport chairs - I think the designers brief was to make a seat that was:
only comfortable for the first 30 seconds
shaped so people could neither lay across them or slouch in them
numbed bottoms in the quickest possible time

Gratefully I board the plane for the short 45 minute flight to Manila where I have a couple of hours at the airport before my next flight.

Manila Airport
No offence but Manila airport is not the most exciting airport in the world, the check in area always seems so hot with no apparent air-con and of course once again I am doing the queuing thing smile get my boarding pass, through security (where my trousers stay up), pay the departure terminal fee and now I have an extra stage to go through.... immigration as I am leaving the country this time, a simple exit stamp from the very friendly official who tells me that when I return I must visit the south of the country where she is from as it is the most unique part of the Philippines, this noted and passport stamped I meander the small collection of shops before finding my boarding gate then settle down to wait, I have to admit the chair was comfortable - for at least the first five minutes before I felt my legs going numb! Maybe they are designed so you don't miss your boarding call?

Inside the Cebu pacific flight

Boarding Time and late arrivals to the party
Boarding time arrives and everyone shuffles aboard, stows their luggage and when I see what bags some people bring on board I wonder how they got passed the check-in staff!
Finding my seat - a nice window seat with extra leg room - I buckle up and settle in.

Now have you noticed that there always seem to be someone missing at this point? everyone is sat down the air stewards have done their passenger count and then comes the announcement
'we are just waiting for the final four passengers' so 100 or more people can make it from the check in lounge to the plane on time but somehow 4 people have managed not to make it from the boarding gate to the plane in a timely manner................................. so we all sit patiently in a slowly overheating plane while the airline staff round up the errant missing passengers and hustle them on to the plane, at this point I think the passengers who managed to make it on time should be provided with tomatoes to throw at the latecomers! or at least make them explain to everyone why they held up our flight... well whinge over for now at least on that topic.

A pleasant uneventful two hour flight and we touch down in the dark at Siem Reap, everyone does the usual leaping out of their seats only to be told to sit down and fasten their seatbelts until the plane has come to a final stop and the seatbelt signs have been turned off....

Everyone sits down again for a few more minutes as we make our way to our parking bay and as soon as we stop people once again leap up and start raiding the overhead cabins, this time the air stewards let them get on with it, daft really because after the initial srush we now wait for several minutes until the doors of the plane are opened plenty of time to get your stuff!

A stroll across the tarmac and we arrive at immigration, first order of business is to obtain an entry visa so go to the front get an entry form then join the queue at the back while filing it out, yes more queues.

The form is the usual questions: name family name, passport number, passport issue date, date of arrival, length of time in Cambodia, where you will stay etc it takes 3 minutes to fill in the form then another 40 minutes of waiting in the queue to get back to the front, hand in the passport and form pay US$20 fee plus I pay an additional US$1 'fine' for not having a photo with my application.
Then your passport is passed down a line of desks each with an official sat behind them - nine in total each one seems to examine something and put a stamp either in the passport on the form or both, finally it arrives at the final desk where your name is called out and you collect your passport now with a Cambodian visa (takes up a full page plus additional stamps), but its not over yet now on to passport control.. yes that was just the visa process!

Now you have to queue again fill in a two part arrival/departure form with all the same questions as the other form and get another stamp in your passport (good job I have a jumbo 72 page one) get your passport back and only one more stop and form before escaping the airport, the customs join the queue hand in the form and at last you can enter Cambodia WELCOME

I have pre booked my accommodation at a guesthouse and they had a river waiting for me at the airport exit flourishing a sign with my name on it, he introduces himself as 'Bun' not sure if this is his first name last name or nickname anyway he is a likable fellow and we load my two overweight hand luggage bags into the car and head into Siem Reap.

Bun quizzes me on where I am from, how long I am staying, where I am going and most importantly ... what I may need, I tell Bun I need a local sim card for my phone 'thats all?' he inquires disappointedly 'what about temple tour? tuk tuk trips? places to eat? places to meet people? maybe a lady?'
I explain that at 11h30 at night after a long journey all I needed was a sim card and after a nights rest I would call him and arrange a temple trip. Partly satisfied Bun drives us to a small street stall where we buy a sim card for the local Smart network it costs US$2 and included 50 cents airtime, in a couple of minutes I was up and running on a local cell and let the office know I had arrived in Cambodia and now had a new contact number(international texts cost US$0.20 each)

Next stop was the guesthouse and a friendly greeting and cool drink welcomed me on arrival, they ask where my big bags are and seem confused that I have so little luggage (I needed them at the airport) Bun says goodbye and tells me he will be round tomorrow morning to discuss a temple trip then trundles off.My room is clean quiet and cool and after a hot shower I am happily tucked into bed for the night

Temples of Angkor

Ride a remork (tuktuk)

Temple pass 3 day

Relax by the river at Kampot

Even monks need buses

next - visiting the Temples of Angkor

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