CamboThai Day 1: Fly, fly, tuktuk ride!

Day 1 was technically Day 0, considering that it was mostly spent traveling, and when we finally did arrive at our destination, it was already too late to do anything other than rest.

Day 1 was December 6, 2012. A Thursday. I got off work at 8:30 AM, took my time getting home by riding the wrong jeepney (I know, I should have just taken a taxi) and so decided to stop by the church - Carmellites - to light some candles and pray for a safe trip. It was around 10 AM when I finally arrived home and started speed packing.

Speed packing!

You'd think that with all the trips I'd done just for 2012 alone, I'd be more organized. But nope, I had a panic moment when I realized that I had asked the rest to be early at our meeting place (before 12 noon), and here I was still struggling to put together a backpack that would last me 7 days abroad. As expected, I forgot quite a few important things. Like my old camera. I packed batteries but ironically forgot the gadget that they were to be used for. And my sunglasses. And 2 more shirts. I literally arrived in Cambodia with just 2 shirts, and the one I was wearing. Haha. I'd never pack at the last minute again (maybe :P).

I arrived at the J Centre Mall a few minutes after 12 noon. That essentially meant that I wasn't going to be able to get my toenails cleaned. Bummer. At least I had a nail cutter with me.

I found Jykie at Jollibee with her boyfriend, who was there to send her off. I left my bag with them while I excused myself to find July and do some last minute purchases (toiletries and medicines). After a quick lunch at Jollibee, we hopped into a taxi with our backpacks and sped off to the airport.  Lyle and his girlfriend, Joan, arrived at the airport first, which was a feat in itself considering he was the last to get off work that day.

We proceeded to the check in counter to get our boarding passes. And because Julio and Jykie were playing with the weighing scale, the crew hanging out behind the check in counter took notice of their bags, decided they looked suspiciously overweight, and asked that they be weighed to make sure they weren't more than 7kgs each. Ironically, I wasn't asked to have my bag weighed, which was weird considering that my backpack LOOKED big (turtlish). Haha. They had to shift some of the weight between each other's bags to pass the weight check. We finally were able to get through to pay for the terminal fee (Php 200, domestic), and then sat on a couple of the benches at the waiting area.

Group shot!

Tried out my new camera during the almost 1 hour of idle time.

Different settings

(cr: Lyle)

Eventually, we went down to the waiting lounge to await boarding announcements. We were flying to Manila via Tiger Airways (SEAIR), and from there, would catch another flight to Siem Reap.

First flight of the day!

The flight to Manila went smoothly, only a few minutes delayed (ETD was supposed to be at 2:55 PM), and just some minor turbulance here and there, nothing to be scared about.

Testing my new camera's features. Happy. :)

We arrived at the Terminal 4 of NAIA at around 4:30 PM.

 After asking around, we found where we could take a shuttle bus to Terminal 3, but we had waited for almost 20 minutes and there was still no bus in sight. Spotting a Cebu Pacific office nearby, I grabbed Lyle and we went in to ask about getting to Terminal 3. The lady told us to take a taxi, and that it shouldn't take more than 30 minutes since it wasn't rush hour yet. We had just decided to do just that when, wouldn't you believe? The shuttle bus arrived! I thought it was for free, but I guess nothing comes free in the Philippines haha. The ride cost Php 20 and took all of 10 minutes from Terminal 4 to Terminal 3. I don't know where the heck the lady got the 30 minutes estimate from.

Shuttle bus ride

My first time at Terminal 3 was just a few months back, with Ria when we took a Cebu Pacific Air flight back to Cebu from our Sagada trip back in August. But the area where the bus dropped us off didn't look familiar - until I realized we had alighted onto the ground level entrance of the terminal, and Yza and Eliel had taken me and Ria to the upper level entrance. Figures.

 

We entered the terminal building, and it took us a while to get to the Departures area. We checked in, paid the Terminal Fee (Php 550 each, international) and the International Departure Tax (Php 1620 each), got our boarding passes, and proceeded to look for some dinner. Lyle had been eying Burger King, which we passed by on the ground floor, so we relented and ordered some burgers for our last meal before the trip out of the country.

Searching for the check-in counters

Burgers for dinner

Once satiated, we started off for the International Departures section, breezed past Immigrations (because I took some embarkation slips with me to Burger King LOL), and headed to our designated gate where we didn't have to wait since our flight was already boarding. At approximately 7:55 PM, the plane took off. We were finally headed to Cambodia! ^_^

Cebu Pacific this time around

 
The flight attendants handed out disembarkation cards to fill out. I had to take pictures because they were so pretty :P.

Arrival/Departure card and Customs Declaration card

There was an in-flight game, as is customary for Cebu Pacific Air flights. I had prepared my boarding pass, passport, and a pen in case they were going with a Show Me game. And, in fact, they did - except that they didn't ask for any of the stuff I had prepared haha. The game sponsor was Robinson's Homes, so as you can imagine, the stuff they asked for had something to do with Robinson's Homes. The questions/items asked were as follows:

1. A picture of your loved one
2. The Robinson's Homes ad in the Smile magazine
3. Name 3 locations of Robinson's Homes.

Didn't get none of them! Haha. Oh well.

I slept the rest of the way to Siem Reap. The lack of sleep (from having had hospital duty the day before til 3 PM, then work at 11:30 PM to 8:30 AM, to the speed packing) had taken its toll on me. At around 10:20 PM Philippine time (9:20 PM in Cambodia), our plane touched down at the Siem Reap Airport.

(cr: Lyle Q.)

Hello, CAMBODIA! ^_^ We finally meet! Hahaha!

The airport was soooo picturesque! I was honestly expecting something along the likes of our provincial airports here in the Philippines but it was sooooo pretty! It didn't feel like an airport, rather, it gave off a resort vibe. I loved it!

Siem Reap Airport

It took a while passing immigrations, basically coz they didn't really have a designated counter for those who needed to get visas on arrival (being from an ASEAN country, we didn't need visas to enter Cambodia) so not only were the queues long, but it moved along quite slowly. Thus, we had some time to abuse this one elephant statue by taking multiple pictures of it, and of ourselves with it. Fun!

Camwhoring with the elephant statue

Long queues

Siem Reap Airport

After getting our passports stamped, we took some time to admire our immediate surroundings - and grabbed some free copies of whatever was being given out for free - a map (which didn't really turn out to be of much help haha).

They staple the departure card onto a page of the passport O_o

Top: Welcome sign. Bottom: Our flight, and a Cebu Pac ad

Left: Airport decorations. Right: Photowall? Lol

Free map!

Then, we proceeded to exit out of the building to look for our ride to our guesthouse. This was for free, and came with the package that we availed of.

A half-hearted Christmas tree? Haha. It's a Buddhist country, after all!

We were greeted by a sign with my name on it (hihi), and promptly led to 2 tuktuks at the parking lot. Jykie and me got on one tuktuk, while Julio, Lyle, and Joan rode in the other.

Yep, that's me! :D

Our ride. :)

July started mimicking our tuktuk driver's accent when talking to him. I cracked up because he was so serious about it, but it just sounded funny. :P

Our chariot - a Cambodian tuktuk! ^_^       (cr: Lyle Q.)

And we were off! The air smelled like being in one of our provinces (Negros, according to Jykie's senses) back home.

Out of the Airport, onto the Highway!

The ride lasted about 15 minutes. We passed by big hotels, small guesthouses, some schools and temples, and street food carts. No time to stop by any of them, though, it was straight to the guest house for us!

When we arrived, the staff had us settle onto seats at their mess hall or dining area. They provided us a basket of cold towelettes - a welcome relief after the long trip we had to go through to get there! About a couple of minutes later, they came back with glasses of fruit shake for each of us. Yum! I was loving the place already. Of course, I already knew of this treatment as a number of blogs had highlighted the service of Bou Savy guesthouse and made mention of the above welcome service that they provided. But my companions were impressed, and it certainly did make us feel welcomed.

Cold wet towelettes!

Fresh mixed fruit shake! (cr: Lyle Q)

A few minutes later, once we had cooled down and filled out their log book with our information, we were shown to our rooms.

Lyle and Joan had a double room on the second floor, while the 3 of us had a triple room on the third floor. Both were fan rooms since we wanted to be as cheap as possible LOL. But they were sufficient, clean, and quite comfortable. We were each provided towels, small pieces of soap (which looked like Bazooka gum) wrapped in white plastic, and toothbrushes with a small tube of toothpaste per toothbrush. There was free tissue both by the dresser and in the bathroom, and complimentary bottles of water - which we put in the fridge to cool. There was a small TV that had cable service (watched Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King the first night, woohoo!), and some clothes hangers on a rack where we could hang our clothes. All in all, a pretty good room that was great value for the money we paid for it.

Our triple fan room

Complimentary water

We had asked for the WiFi password at the reception desk and were pleased to find that the internet connection did reach our room at the top floor. After we settled down and changed, we decided to go check out the dining area to see if we could get some food, but were disappointed to find that they had already closed. I mean, it WAS already past 11 PM, and I read they closed the kitchen at 10 PM so boo hoo. Had to sleep hungry :(.

Considering the lack of sleep, you'd think we'd conk out immediately. That wasn't the case, though. I think I fell asleep at around 2 AM, Cambodia time, which meant it was 3 AM in the Philippines and I had been awake for more than 24 hours (well, slept for at least a couple of hours on the plane but that was about it). July was up the longest, though.

So there you have it! Our first day in Cambodia! Not really anything to brag about - yet. Haha!

Signing off! :P

Next up: The Temple tours!