In any case, I arrived at the Phnom Penh airport in one piece and then had to deal with getting a visa. I didn't realize this until I got to the visa counter, but they use American dollars in Cambodia. And of course I hadn't brought any with me, assuming that there would be an ATM in the airport where I could get real (pronounce "ree-Al") or I could just charge it. You'd think so, right?
Oh yeah and I forgot to bring extra passport photos. (And I thought I was a seasoned traveller!)So they wanted to charge me an extra dollar to make a photocopy of my photo in my passport. I told the guy I'd give him 3 ringgits, since I didn't have dollars. The official exchange rate is actually 3.5 ringgits to the dollar, but he didn't seem to care. Yep, that visa dude is now 3 ringgits richer thanks to good ol' me.
And of course you can't charge your Cambodian visa to your Visa. The guy said if I wanted to pay in Malaysian currency, it would be 100 ringitts, which would be a nice $10 profit for him. I was having none of that nonsense. After a protracted discussion and further confusion (one of the visa counter ladies had erroneously told an Aussie chick that she could pay with her credit card--maybe the visa counter lady was confused by the sign, too), they let me and the Aussie chick's boyfriend through customs to get cash from the ATM. (The Aussie dude showed me his 50 dollar bill and asked me who Grant was. My response: "Some General." Ah, yes, I'm an American history guru.) Dollares in hand, it was back to the counter to pony up my 20 bucks for a tourist visa. Customs was a trip as well. Flat screen tvs displayed messages like "Child abuse ruins a child's life. If you abuse a child, it will ruin your life, too." I very badly wanted to snap a photo, but was afraid they'd sic the Khmer military police goons on me. Finally through customs, where they had a scary camera that I was afraid was video taping me all 1984/Big Brother style, but was just for the photos. Cambodians apparently like to have lots of photos of people visiting their country. (My friend Bonnie said she needed to submit photos for her utilities application, mobile phone, etc.)
The taxi pulled up right in front of a restaurant and Bonnie was standing right there! So funny. I checked into my hotel just down the street and got my ticket to Siem Reap sorted out. We then met up with some friends of hers at Alley Cat, a Mexican restaurant in--you guessed it, an alley. I tried to order the Thai curry as I wanted something somewhat local, but changed my order to chicken tacos, since the guy taking my order looked so sceptical. (Apparently Alley Cat is a Mexican joint.) We had a few more beers and chatted for a bit, then it was sleepy time.
Woke up around 5ish this morning for some reason and watched Bloomberg tv and read for a bit. (I finished "The Nasty Bits" and am now on to "Kitchen Confidential.") Was just going downstairs when I ran into Bonnie in the lobby. She was coming to get me to see if I wanted to have breakfast. So funny that we kept running into each other that way. Maybe we're long lost twins. Ha. Breakfast was yummy chicken with "yellow noodles" with a very light and tasty broth. I am really loving the noodle breakfasts here in Asia.
A tuk tuk ride to the airport and Bangkok Airways flight later and I was in Siem Reap! Bonnie told me a lot of people coming to Cambodia skip Phnom Penh (or PP or P2, as the locals call it) and just go to Siem Reap. It's high season right now, so the Bonnie-recommended Golden Banana was booked up. They sent me to Wats Up, which had a few available rooms. The "Monky Room" (sic) was available and had beautiful bed sheets, but I didn't want to be on the first floor. So "Freshie Girl Room" (2nd floor) is my home for the next few days. They give you the option of paying for AC or just using the fan by simply removing the AC remote. Pretty smart idea. Can be cheap or comfortable, your choice la.
I then checked out the Banteay Srey temple, which is pretty far from town. The tuk tuk ride out to the temple was scenic & very rural. It actually reminded me of rural Costa Rica, when I was there in 1996. (I'm sure it's changed since then.) We stopped to get some gas, which were crazy Kool-Aid colors.
Some other funny sightings on the drive to the temple:
Skinny Cow (click to see larger version)
The Banteay Srey temple was absolutely beautiful.
Unfortunately Blogger is taking forever to upload photos, so I'll have to add more another day.
The tuk tuk driver took me to another temple and then my camera battery died from all the photos I'd been taking all day. I was pretty exhausted and famished at that point, so had some good fish curry and rice and fresh pineapple juice before heading back to town. Not bad for $6.50 (although pricey by Cambodian standards).
That's all for now, sleepy time so I can take in more temples and sights tomorrow!
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