The Lee Family's Travel Blog: Day 10 — Singapore and Siem Reap, Cambodia

6/18/2023 Sunday

Itinerary:

Singapore Changi Airport (SIN)
SATS Premier Lounge
Siem Reap Airport (REP)
Park Hyatt Siem Reap

We checked out from our hotel in Changi Airport and it took us about 10 minutes walk from our hotel from Jewel to Terminal 2 where our flight was. The lady at the check in counter asked if we had our visa and that’s when I realized that I had left them inside my luggage which was already taken away by the conveyor belt. Luckily, she told me that we can go to a special counter called Changi Recommends at the airport to reprint our visa. Although it cost SIN $2 per page, but it was well worth it as I am not sure how it would be at Cambodia if we did not have our printed visa.

After going through the automated line to enter, we went to the SATS Premier Lounge for some breakfast where I had my favorite dish, Laksa.

We didn't have much time, so we quickly ate our breakfast before walking to our gate. Before we can enter, we have to go through the x-ray machine and we were given 2 forms each to fill out. One was an arrival form and the other was a custom declaration form.

We arrived at the Siem Reap airport early as it only took about 1 hour and 55 minutes from Singapore. We had a short walk to the airport after getting off our plane. This is our first time to Cambodia and I had always wanted to come to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat.

There was no line at the custom and since we had already applied for the electronic visa ahead of time, so we went straight to the custom. The officer asked for our printed copy of the visa, immigration card, passport and our boarding pass. After getting our passports stamped and the immigration card stapled to our passport, we went to get our luggage. Once we got our luggage, we walked towards the exit and was asked to drop our declaration form to the box. When we finally got out of the airport, we saw our driver holding the sign with my name. There was not many tourists, so we were able to find our driver right away unlike in Bali, it took us a while to find our driver among the hundreds of other drivers holding the sign.

The drive from the airport to our hotel at Park Hyatt Siem Reap was less than 15 minutes without any traffic. Shortly after we arrived at the hotel, we were able to have an early check in as I had informed the hotel that we were arriving in the morning. We were asked to pick our choice of welcome drink while they processed our check in. It’s our first time that we can pick our welcome drink as it’s usually the same welcome drink for everyone. I guess this perk comes with staying at a luxury hotel. The hotel was not busy, so we got a complimentary upgraded room which was bigger than what we booked.

After resting at our hotel for a while, we went outside to walk around and buy some lunch. We also went to Metfone which sells SIM card. The price was $5 for 8GB or $8 for unlimited. Since we only have 4 nights here, so we bought the 8 GB as we bought a 35GB SIM card in Bali and barely used it as the hotel offers free WiFi. We walked to Preah Prohm Rath to see their reclining Buddha, similar to what we saw in Thailand except that this was smaller. The admission was free but we did gave a small donation.

Next, we walked to Pub street which is their busiest area at night. It was very quiet during the day and there was many massage places and it was super cheap to get a massage here for $5/hour.

We then returned to the hotel to go to the gym before resting at our room. Later in the evening, we went to one of the restaurants recommended by our concierge to have Father’s Day dinner. Everywhere in the tourist area in Cambodia takes U.S. dollars, so we didn’t have to exchange any money but they do give you Cambodia money for small change unless you have the exact amount for the payment.

We went to Chanrey Tree and it was a fancy restaurant in Cambodia standards but since we are used to the high prices in U.S., so we thought the food was not too expensive and taste pretty good although some dishes were a bit salty.