What can I say ! Cambodia is amazing. After all the last minute run around we were put through, we persevered and landed ! The trouble began in Papete as we were departing and thinking that we would be landing in Singapore for a night to then head into Vietnam and Cambodia. It was some ridiculous monster o’clock time in the early hours of the Tahitian morning, we were set for departure, an hour to go and suddenly we were approached by one of the airline workers, ‘ Excuse Mam/ Sir, my supervisor has brought a small detail to my attention. It says on your planned itinerary you are both heading into Vietnam and Cambodia?”, we looked at her and confirmed,’yes we are, is there a problem ?”, She looked at us both and said, ” You know that you need visas to enter Vietnam and Cambodia right ?”, – WTF we said, “you have got to be kidding!”, she looked at us then added, ” Cambodia have only made it known that all visitors to Cambodia are required to have a visa!”, We were shit out of luck – we quickly jumped on our phones to find out that this was true, Cambodia had only made this announcement, what pissed us off, was that we weren’t flagged as travellers heading that way – a polite reminder what have been nice by the company that we were flying with !. Vietnam we had no idea about and I guess I can take that on the chin, honestly thinking that if you are from New Zealand, everyone loves you – generally New Zealanders have a reputation for being kind, polite and earth loving human beings – so not really dangerous or seen as a threat!

My partner worked her ass off mid flight trying to get this sorted, she was on her phone and I was running around on mine, pretending to be helpful, but really I just honestly couldn’t have given a shit at that stage. I was of the mind, sweet as, we will land in Singapore, have a few days to sort it out and we will be fine. Nikki turned to me advising me that we needed to get them done immediately as it would take three days to turn around. This was a problem as it now meant that we had to extend our stay in Singapore, find some solid accomodation and arrange for flights from Singapore to Vietnam then to Cambodia as the previous flights that we had booked, were useless. We would’ve made the flights but had no visa. What we didn’t know was that you can fill out visa papers on arrival to Cambodia!! Again, WTF. Thank you everyone for informing us hahahaha. My partner was a machine. Nikki sorted out all our visas and flights. I had the accomodation covered. Believe it not, where we had planned to stay in Cambodia, my god that team was awesome. Prior to us leaving New Zealand, their comms was outstanding. They were literally with us all the way through our journey and when we advised them of the delay, they were fine. Don’t worry they said, take your time and let us know if there is anything that we can do ! – Funny, because when we told them of the visa situation, they were even stumped! We thought, that’s fine, this is something that we can take sort out. Anyway – the day that we had decided to go to visit the Cambodia Embassy, I shit you not – that morning or night before, Nikki had her visa come through ! What a buzz and as we approached the door of the Cambodian Embassy, my email notification buzzed – holy wreck, just like that, my visa had been approved! And there you have it ladies and gentlemen, we were legal begal and sorted for Cambodia.

We were gone! Bags packed, at the airport – left Singapore three hour flight, boom landed in Siem Reap. It was so cool as we made our way out of the airport, there with a cute little sign was Phalla from Waka Villa and our driver, waiting to collect us. But shit it was hot, 40 degrees C – they had water ready for us, cool face towels, in the van and promptly whipped us off to our accomodation. From the airport to Waka Villa, was around 1 hour. But that was fine, the company was awesome and we were glad to finally be in Cambodia. When we arrived at the accomodation – what a treat! The Manager welcomed us, Masao Takeo and his team. We felt like royalty. A quick hello etc before we were escorted to our villa. All I can say guys, is check out our few pics, but google them. Waka Villa in Siem Reap! What a place! Straight into the room had a jack around the place, then without holding our breath, hit the pool! Perfect. That afternoon we sorted out our scooters and asked for a ride into town. Tuktuk was priceless, the other cool thing was that the rides are cheap. 10,000 KHR translates to just under 3 USD. Which runs at NZD 4 dollars. It’s worth it, don’t be a tight ass because when you do the math and figure shit out, you see that an extra couple of dollars goes a long way for the locals. We weren’t by any means rich however, we give a shit and we know what it’s like to work hard. The other cool thing about the Tuktuk ride is it showed us how BOSS the locals are on their scooters – this confirmed to us, that we were not going to risk lives by riding scooters around the place. So opted for a Tuktuk ride the following morning to Angkor Wat along with some bikes to get us around. Reason being – we like to do things by ourselves. There are options where you can hire a driver /guide for the day but the thought of having someone hanging out with us all day, waiting on us etc, we weren’t comfortable with that. And any way, we enjoy getting lost – it makes things a bit more exciting.

There’s a big thing about seeing Angkor Wat morning sunrise, we decided that due to our stuffed up flight plan, we would enjoy a few hours sleep in and make our way to the site around 9am. We were up, at least before 7am – we had purchased our tickets online which worked out great for us. However as we were heading to catch our tukutuku from the reception area, the staff made us an awesome fruit breakfast/lunch for the day. Things to know about Angkor Wat. Take a shit load of water – however in saying that, water is available around the place. We were told to drink coconuts – instant IV to the body. Fresh fruit is available – the mangos are delicious if you can find them. Keep an eye on the weather. When we headed out, by 10am it was nearing 39 degrees celsius. Take a hat, don’t be a dick – wear glasses, be sensible. As we were told later on that even the locals were struggling with the heat the day we were exploring. We managed to find a bike place maybe 15minutes from the site. The price from memory was USD 50 so just around 90 NZD, but hey that worked out fine for us. Nikkis bike had a front basket so we slipped our stuff into that. Then headed off to explore.

Things that the site should think about. 1. Signage. 2. Maps. And I suppose that’s why you hire a guide hahahaha. We totally winged it! Thank god, we have brains. We downloaded a “sort of map ” of Angkor Wat. Figured out North and South and took it from there. It was a piece of piss on the bikes. Where the entrance starts most of the visitors had to walk an additional 150 meters to get to the bridge etc to cross over into the site. We were allowed to bike right up the bridge. We padlocked our bike, we left our food in the basket ( no one touched it – that’s how safe the area is), then we got our tourist game face on! All I can say, is that you need to go and see the site – I could write all day about it. Angkor truely is amazing, but I must say, Angkor Thom is equally impressive – the bridge of the gods is something Devine. The shear size of the characters that line the bridge, the sculpture art work is something else. But again you have to make your way to the site and physically stand before these art pieces and process just what the f+%k you are looking at. It truely is breath taking. We biked around that main features on site. We ticked off the,Tomb raider, set which took us a while to find it, however our water, mineral intake was high and it assisted with the hard part of the afternoon. The sun was so strong but also the heat that was being reflected from the tar seal. With a surge of energy we took our time, little by little and finally arrived at the rental place. We had made it! The day was mammoth- the sites overwhelming however we had achieved a small goal and that was to walk upon the sacred grounds of Angkor Wat. The history of the place is riveting and being a researcher, I was always looking for links to our culture. What I appreciate is that in order to gain a more in depth understanding about ones culture, you truely have to step away from it. Allow yourself to explore and meander another. The physical, tangible monuments stand as a testament to a peoples absolute belief in their connectivity and engagement with their natural surroundings. Similar to Māori, the parallel would be the exploration of the grand Pacific Ocean by Polynesian explorers equal to what the Khmer people had created out of sandstone. So much to do in Cambodia, take your time – you need a good three days to see the site, as it is not just one temple however many. But don’t forget the night life is exciting and interesting also. The Museum that I walked through took an entire day, while Nikki had a day of being pampered. Siem Reap – Waka Villa. Cambodia – do it.