Cambodian Chronicles. Zoo in the airport

 

Our flight to Cambodia was at 8:20am, and since Saigon Airport is right next door, I assumed we could quickly have breakfast in the morning (the breakfast area opened at 6:30) and then take a taxi to the airport by seven. The hotel immediately dismissed this idea because for international flights, one should apparently arrive 3 hours early. They promised to prepare food packs for us.

So, we ordered a taxi at 5:45, and we were at the airport by 5:55. The check-in line took about an hour because by six, they hadn't even opened it yet. Plus, the check-in girl didn't care that we could significantly reduce the contents of our bags by eating more and wear more clothes. She insisted on checking in the bag.

With check-in done, we entered the chaos of security and immigration. The lines moved as there was space for the crowd, and mostly, they didn't move at all. After about 45 minutes, we finally got through. From getting out of the taxi to reaching the gate, it took exactly two hours. Good thing we listened to the hotel :)

Sihanoukville Airport resembled a small hangar in the middle of a vast emptiness. Somewhat surprising, as Sihanoukville has grown rapidly in the last decade and currently has one of the country's largest resorts.

Immigration was as confusing as ever – we gave fingerprints, showed our printed visa, and filled out an entry declaration. After stamping the passport, we moved to the next table, where they checked the now-stamped visa (stamp: "used") and the passport. The young man asked where I was from, then looked at my passport photo again, stared at me, and declared that I am cute, allowing me to go get my luggage.

The taxi, which was supposed to take us from the airport to the port in 45 minutes, took about 20 minutes. We bought ferry tickets, a bottle of water, and waited for our white sailboat.

45 minutes later, we landed on Koh Rong Island, on Long Set Beach. Another hour later, we got into our room.

We had lunch, went swimming. The water is warmer than in a bathtub. We also went out for dinner, where we ordered fried corn cakes and were served regular fried canned corn. But if you exclude that random corn, everything else was excellent. We tried to watch the sunset, but since the sun set on the other side of the island, there wasn't much to see.