First impressions

As we walked off the plane, the airport building impressed me with its temple like look. As we walked in I noticed the neat dark wood counters and very clear signs both in English and Cambodian. The visa on arrival sign immediately caught my eye, hence we followed without hesitation. The form is pretty much a 2minute exercise and the organized system with lines and clear signs gave me the comfortable "american dream" feeling. There are clear yellow lines to wait your turn. The officers are firm yet friendly, 20minutes later we had our visas and cleared customs. I got the bags due to the "one at a time" policy in Asia. ( you don't clear customs as a family).

There are CLEAR BOLD signs (AND PICTURES with a crossed out camera) everywhere at the visa and customs area of the airport to NOT TAKE PICTURES! Guess who is taking pictures??Yet he is not stressed to be arrested or taken into a small room, but more stressed about completing the form🙈and me getting lost. I can't comprehend this🙊!!

Everyone is too busy on their phones so we walked out of the airport without a customs declaration form. Our driver had a lovely printed sign with our names. He ran off to fetch our new way of transportation, its soooo authentic!! Roedolf get 2 local sim cards for us, a standard vander travel-procedure on this trip. We need to be connected right. 4 G data boom !!! ( and so I can't get lost- Roedolfs main concern- it kills me to be so DEPENDENT gRRRRR)!

I chatted to our driver and looked at the map as he loaded our luggage. Roedolf arrived back from the ATM ( oh and he hates cash but cash is king in Asia)- ( and everywhere else just not in his world) and off we went for our first tuk tuk drive from the airport.

The streets are cleaner and less chaotic than Vietnam. There is actually a split for cars and tuk-tuks or bikes on the bigger roads. There is a warm welcoming feeling in the air, I am excited to explore this.

{Issy}Read more