Cambodia Vacation: Prologue and Day 1

Cambodia Vacation. Prologue and Day 1

Prologue:

"What if we met in Cambodia?" This is how it began.

Ailee had been a friend of mine since my days at University of Oregon. She had been teaching English abroad for several years from Prague to Istanbul to now Hong Kong. Through this time we had managed to keep in touch in a large part due to the fact that she was close friends with an ex girlfriend.

Even after that relationship we had managed to keep in touch through things like GChat from time to time.

"What if we met in Cambodia?"  I repeated again over instant message. The seed had been planted. I had time off from my English teaching job in Korea and since she worked freelance she could take vacation whenever she wanted. We had both expressed curiosity in seeing the country, especially visiting the beautiful and mysterious Angkor Wat. We made a decision and with a month before our departure, we booked flights and began our plan to meet in Cambodia for an adventure.

Day 1.

I felt like I needed to keep my wits about me traveling to Cambodia. Traveling anywhere requires you to keep your wits about you but going into Cambodia for some reason felt more wild, more adventurous, which to some extent both was and wasn't true.

I got my first dose of learning this lesson without even having left the Phnom Penn airport. At the line for landing visas I presented then with my passport photo and necessary money. The cost was $25 for a 30 day travel visa. In a clever move I thought to pay in two $20 bills. I got my visa, was about to exit customs when it dawned on me: did I get my change? I walked back to the counter and asked the man working there if he gave me my change. He then presented me with the $15 I had left behind. Keep your wits about you.

I took my first tuk tuk ride from the Phnom Penn airport to the hotel Ailee had booked. It was dark and not many folks were walking around on that particular rainy night in Phnom Penn.

I arrive at the hotel. Meet with Ailee and we quickly exchange some "good to see you"'s and "I can't believe we're doing this"'s before going to sleep in preparation for tomorrow morning'ss early bus departure for Siem Reap.