53 hours after leaving DTW for JFK, then DOH, then SGN, we finally arrived at Cambodia’s brand new Siem Reap airport. But were we done with surprises? Oh, no. . . We made our way to the immigration hall, waited in line, and when we got up to the window and handed over our documents, which included a piece of paper they had given us to fill out on the plane, the agent asked, “visas?” WHAT! This is a new wrinkle. I had not read anything on the State Dept. website about needing visas for Cambodia, nor had we heard anything about this from the tour people at Inside Travel. Looking at our confused faces, he directed us to a row of windows at the back of the hall, where at least a dozen bored-looking agents waited behind glass. We discovered that you had to hand over your documents, pay 30.00 US each, and they would give us this visa in our passports. The catch was that it had to be in cash (thank god RG always had cash on him) and they have this weird thing about not accepting any bills with even the slightest tear in them. They rejected three fifties of his before accepting one. In any event, we got through it, and waiting just as promised outside the arrivals building was our driver with a lovely Mercedes van and we had a great ride into Siem Reap.
The reception was very lovely at the hotel, and once settled into our very tropical-looking room, we went up to the restaurant where they had a dinner/show thing going on with traditional Cambodian music and dance. It was nice, but we were sooo exhausted that we didn’t even finish the meal but asked for our bill and went to crash.
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| We arrived just at sunset |
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| Driving into Siem Reap |
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| The FCC Angkor Wat is lovely |
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| Traditional Cambodian dancers |
That's crazy about the visas. And the bills!
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