Exploring Philippines' Neighbors - Phnom Penh/Bangkok Day 5

We had a flight to catch at the Phnom Penh airport to Bangkok at around 5pm.

The bus ride from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh was six hours. We left Phnom Penh around 7am via Mekong Express.

We had lunch at Phnom Penh and for convenience, the nearest food stop we found was KFC. Our KFC chicken back in the Philippines was better, I might say;) The meals they served were localized such that they served a sunny side up egg and what we call in the Philippines achara.

After lunch, we had to go find some money changer as we needed dollars. We had extra VNDs but we needed USD to pay for some airport terminal fees.

We were able to find one and where there also abound tuktuk drivers. We got one tuktuk that took us the airport. We were like two hours early for our flight. But there was nothing much to do in Phnom Penh that day as it was raining.

We already did the web check in so we got on a different lane. Actually either we took the normal or web check in, it didn't really matter. The line on the normal lane wasn't that bad. We flew in with AirAsia, Asia's budget airline. :) Without AirAsia, we don't know how this cross-country trip was going to be such a breeze!

At the airport, we took the opportunity to use their public PC with internet connection. We desperately wanted to get in touch with Philippine news as we had received messages of the typhoon that hit the country. And we were worried of another Ondoy-like flood that would hit Manila.

So we read then of the sea surge in Manila and how it devastated Roxas Blvd, the US embassy and Sofitel Hotel. No news of flooding in our area though. But the wind during the storm was really like no other that a billboard in Buendia fell on top of a car. Good thing no one was hurt.

We calmed a bit...and it was now time to board. Another feeling of excitement came as we will be setting foot on a new country. We were also excited to see our dear friend who is now based in Bangkok.

The flight was approximately 1 hour. We arrived on time. Thailand's international airport was really nice. Now I know why this country would beat us on the number of tourists. Our NAIA 1 is way below the international standards for airports.

Our friend picked us up at the airport. And brought us to where we would stay for two nights - in his service apartment. :) Very kind of him.

He took care of our dinner at this posh Thai restaurant near his place. Oh good food~ I so love Thai food - pad thai and tom yum!

After such a hearty Thai feast, we had to withdraw some money. I took out about 10k THB. THB is higher in value than PHP but not so high like USD.

Then I had to get myself a Thai sim card for us to easily contact our dear friend. He was not coming to join us in any of our trips as he had work. So in case we get lost, it would be easy to call him or vice versa.

We then got back to his place and had a good rest.


Next - Day 6 - Khao San Road, Grand Palace, Wat Pho, shopping...