I have been thinking for quite a long time to travel to a destination
which is cheaper, with beaches, nightlife, shopping and fun. Having
travelled to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, sri lanka I was researching
on Bali when my friend mite suggested Cambodia. Cambodia or Kampuchea as
our generation has studied over our social studies textbooks and the
recent knowledge on killing fields… I knew nothing more about the so
called kingdom of Cambodia.
Me imtiaz and Rajeev planned our flights via airasia. The itinerary was
to travel from Cochin to kuala lumpur and from Kl to siem reap. Since
airasia flew to 2 cities we thought of exploring both. From siem reap we
thought of taking a bust to the capital Phnom Penh. And from Phnom Penh
we booked return to kuala lumpur.
Months passed by, we did our research on Cambodia. Rajeev bought a
lonely planet guide on Cambodia. Imti contacted some fellow travelers
who had been there to Cambodia..I did my bit browsing through blogs and
travel sites of Cambodia.
Finally we got equipped with 2 cameras, a canon 5d and canon 70d. Our
luggage was minimal, just cabin baggage. We headed to Cochin by train.
It was almost a year for me as the last international travel was during
September 2013 to srilanka and I guess Rajeev’s and imtis travels were
too during late 2012. Anyway our fun started once we boarded the train.
There was enough tension waiting for us as the visa photo stamped in
Rajeev’s passport had a strangers photograph. The travel agent when
contacted told us to keep cool…we laughed our hearts out whenever Rajeev
used to check the visa
Alighted at aluva junction.. The usual last minute hurry burry…taking
printouts of tickets and itinerary’s and after having street food we
headed to Cochin international airport.
The check in was ok…the immigration was a bit tougher as the guys
sitting and standing around wants to know so many details…government
shuld give some kinda travelling allowances to these guys..Seriously…coz
they cant stand seeing every tom dick and harry travel to foreign
destinations.
We were a bit concerned when the immigrating officer checked Rajeev’s passport but thank god he was thru.
Since airasia flights did not have the on flight drinks facility…we were
prepared to have our self service on liquor. Sample bottles were
purchased and we boarded airasia.
The travel was ok with the boozed getting over all of us we slept off.
Airasia landed smoothly..I always admired the pilots of airasia..They always did a fantastic landing at KL.
we spend about 3-4 hours in the new klcc 2 terminal..just stunning
tat s all i can say about this terminal which only accomodates budget
flights.
Siem reap Travel
We landed at the Siem Reap airport around 2 PM local time from Kuala
Lumpur. We just walked to the terminal, no buses. small airport but neat
and tidy. The first thing I noticed was the Khmer script is very
similar to the Malayalam and Tamil script 
and the building reminded us of cochin international airport
and the building reminded us of cochin international airport
We got into the terminal and the immigration was no fuss, with
soldiers manning the station. Got our luggage and got some US dollars
changed at the exchange booth just after the baggage carousel and
instantly felt rich – for about $1 we got nearly 4700 Riels.
we thought of renting a tuk tuk, but later came to know that
cambodians doesnt like their 2 wheeler been called tuk tuk, instead they
call it Remork’. its a moped atached to a wagon. fortunately or
unfortunately we couldnt find one and we booked prepaid taxi to our
hotel.
the driver knew bits and peices of english yet he and we managed
the drive was cool..the streets looked like india with paddy fields and small houses.
After checking in at my home hotel we had lunch from the hotel
itself. The food was good. AMOK – the dish was fantastic. After lunch we
bought a packet of Marlboro cigarette – the first buy from Cambodia…it
cost around 4900 riel…a dollar and a few cents…: P
Money is been calculated in dollar and riel. So if you buy something
in dollar expect riel in balance. There were remorks around so late in
the evening we decided to go night market. The ride cost us around 2
usd.
Night market is a good place to buy some cool tees and souvenirs.
Bargaining is cool too…we bought some shawls which were pretty cool.
After exploring night market we proceeded to the pub street. Pub
Street is a 100 meter long street with pubs on both sides, restaurants,
bars and shops… foot massage and fish massage parlours are there worth a
try
