This was the first ever picture I took in Cambodia, on the plane which everybody can fly now. I guess the swampy area is Tonle Sap which will be fully flooded when it's raining season and will be the biggest lake during the time. Very much anticipated the start of my trip. I arrived in KL on Jan 5 and spent a night with my best buddy who's cutely pregnant. Really appreciated her as she drove me to the airport!!!!!!!!!!! Nice to spend time before the trip....
Oh yeah... there was a group of Malaysian Chinese onboard the plane as well and it was one shameful moment. They were sneering and spoke loudly and made some improper remarks about the air stewardess in Cantonese and it's really a pain in the ears. There were a few foreigners who's obviously disturbed by their endless rude and loud chats not to mention laughing out loud along the flight. Luckily it's just around 2 hours I guess.
Met a French guy (oh... couldn't be sure actually cox I forgot to write down his name) who was on transit a night before in KL. He couldn't get a plane from Spore to Siem Reap so he ended up making a detour (
macam Amazing Race Asia pulak) to detour to KL by bus and arrived around midnight and took the same flight with me to Siem Reap. He walked alone in the Pudu area and luckily he's safe. I met him in Siem Reap a few times with his Singaporean friend as well. Oh yeah... when he asked me where should they go when they're in KL few days later.... I was dumbfounded!!! I mean after seeing Angkor Wat and was asked to recommend a place in KL? U know what I mean??? Other than Petronas Twin Tower.... I dun have any other worthy suggestion. Did take a pics with him and the friend but due to some unforeseen circumstances (another story in the next post), I couldn't post it up here...
You may think that the pic above is some museum or palace but it's not. It's the Siem Reap international airport!!! Unique right? Even Bangkok airport is not traditional-architecturally built like that! Oh yeah.... Malaysians need no Visa for both Cambodia and Vietnam so we save almost USD80 for both. That's my 40 days accomodation in Siem Reap!!!
I brightened up the pic above a lil bit to show the face of the driver,
Makara sent to pick me up at the airport. Yes, you are right, for an accomodation of USD2/day (RM7/day), I got free transfer from airport as well!!! And name printed in Welcome Card??? I felt so privileged!!! Though it turned out to be a
moto, I was still very impressed. He drove me with my backpack on my back (not knapsack) for about 20 mins (well.... with about 72kg of my weight and 15kg on my back, he can't drive fast can he?) to Jasmine Lodge. Romantic journey if it's a gal who drove me and no scorching hot sun on top haha.........
(part 2 on the way......)
After the moto ride with Makara for about 20 mins, we reached Jasmine Lodge. I didn't realize it was recommended in Lonely Planet (LP) and I booked it online due to its super cheap price (USD2/night). The pic above is the common dining area with a pool table. It's actually on 2nd floor so it's quite nice at night too. A comfy sofa inviting the guests to lay down and rest.
