Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Welcome to Cambodia
I flew from Bangkok to Siem Reap in Cambodia this morning. It is a short flight - just over 200 miles, 40 minutes or less. One airline has the monopoly on the route - Bangkok Airways - and charges a nominal THB5575 (~USD157) one-way as a result. Nevertheless, considering the alternative - driving overland at an estimated 10 hours - the cost of the flight seemed a bargain.
Arrival in Siem Reap airport is a step back in time. Upon arrival over palm studded but otherwise mostly barren plains, aircraft are forced to turn around on the runway as there are no taxiways. Consistent with other smaller airports there are no jetways; they just park, swing the door open wide, throw down some stairs and set people off across a bubbling tarmac towards the terminal.
The terminal itself is one large open building with a door each for domestic and international arrivals - you must be careful not to choose the wrong one. The airport sees just a few arrivals in a day and so our arrival set about 40 otherwise immobile people into action. One could imagine the terminal floor plan being used for any number of things - a market, shoe warehouse, a manufacturing facility. In this instance, it houses the visa office (they are issued upon arrival), passport control (two booths and a fold up card table) and the baggage claim, a simple circular conveyor belt that pierces the wall in two places to drop luggage inside the building. That said, this "new" airport is a major leap forward for this small town and is one of the reasons the number of tourists has gone up.
The drive into town, about 20 minutes, yields in-your-face tourism expansion among the shantys; hotels going up as fast as the Khmer can build them, and supporting facilities to accompany. My driver told me that people were moving to Siem Reap from the countryside to build these facilities, bringing along their entire families in the process and setting up camps outside the construction site. They later try for work in the hotel itself once work is completed. I was pleased to find something that I did not see in Bangkok - pedestrian crossings with walk/no walk signals. What progress!
Tomorrow I will visit the much revered Wat Angkor; but first, I spent some time wandering around Siem Reap.
Now, some much awaited photos for your enjoyment.
Arrival in Siem Reap airport is a step back in time. Upon arrival over palm studded but otherwise mostly barren plains, aircraft are forced to turn around on the runway as there are no taxiways. Consistent with other smaller airports there are no jetways; they just park, swing the door open wide, throw down some stairs and set people off across a bubbling tarmac towards the terminal.
The terminal itself is one large open building with a door each for domestic and international arrivals - you must be careful not to choose the wrong one. The airport sees just a few arrivals in a day and so our arrival set about 40 otherwise immobile people into action. One could imagine the terminal floor plan being used for any number of things - a market, shoe warehouse, a manufacturing facility. In this instance, it houses the visa office (they are issued upon arrival), passport control (two booths and a fold up card table) and the baggage claim, a simple circular conveyor belt that pierces the wall in two places to drop luggage inside the building. That said, this "new" airport is a major leap forward for this small town and is one of the reasons the number of tourists has gone up.
The drive into town, about 20 minutes, yields in-your-face tourism expansion among the shantys; hotels going up as fast as the Khmer can build them, and supporting facilities to accompany. My driver told me that people were moving to Siem Reap from the countryside to build these facilities, bringing along their entire families in the process and setting up camps outside the construction site. They later try for work in the hotel itself once work is completed. I was pleased to find something that I did not see in Bangkok - pedestrian crossings with walk/no walk signals. What progress!
Tomorrow I will visit the much revered Wat Angkor; but first, I spent some time wandering around Siem Reap.
Now, some much awaited photos for your enjoyment.
# posted by Daniel @ 2:18 AM 
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