And then it was time for the real trip!

SilkAir (MI) is Singapore Airlines' regional wing, flying primarily to vacation and low-yield destinations that SQ itself doesn't want to deal with. As there is little if any competition on these sectors, fares are usually relatively high... which is why I was gobsmacked to find one-way seats from SIN to Siem Reap, Cambodia for S$100 (~US$50) online, and grabbed a couple as soon as I could.

Getting the tickets themselves, on the other hand, proved to be a pain. This was the only flight in my entire itinerary that was not electronic, and if you order straight from SilkAir, you either have to pick up paper tickets from the airport at least 2 but not more than 24 hours before the flight (!?), or head down to their office in Tanjong Pagar to pick them up. Why they don't offer e-tickets or mail service, I don't know... but paying online wasn't a problem and I had the tickets in a jiffy when I did show up there at 8:30 on a Thursday morning.

MI 622 SIN-REP A320 seat 11A

We showed up at Changi a little before an hour to departure and checked in, the sole hitch being that the agent wanted to see our onward tickets... which we didn't have, as we were planning to continue to BKK overland, and we knew full well that Cambodian immigration is solely interested in whether you can pay US$20 for a visa or not. But showing an e-ticket printout of a flight out from BKK convinced the suspicious agent that we weren't planning to migrate to Cambodia, and we were given our boarding cards. At the gate, I was very surprised to find some people's shoes being x-rayed, the first time I'd ever seen this happen at SIN. The strappy little sandals of the Chinese auntie in front of me went through the machine; but my own size 15 sneakers were unmolested. Logic, anyone?

The flight was packed and departed on time. Compared to SQ, everything on board down to the air crew's outfits looked cheap; no personal IFE, no headphones, no frills. Breakfast was a choice between an omelette and "carrot cake"; the crew did not mention that this is a Chinese concoction of greasy fried turnip and very far from Western-style carrot cake indeed (although, having lived in SIN for a while, I was aware of this and warned my companion in time). The omelette was edible, but no more.

Precisely two hours later we landed at REP, a small but surprisingly well-organized little airport for a 3rd world country. Obtaining a visa on arrival was a painless matter of one photo, US$20 and three short queues. Outside a car from our guesthouse was waiting and we were whisked to the wonderland of Angkor in minutes. Go there while you can, as the town is growing at a breakneck speed... and try a Burmese sour at the brand-spanking-new FCC Siem Reap.

REP-BKK overland by taxi and bus

Cambodia and Thailand have an open-skies policy... in theory. In practice, the most popular route in the country between Bangkok and Siem Reap is monopolized by Bangkok Airways (PG), which charges a completely extortionate ~US$175 one way for a flight of less than an hour, more than we were paying for the rest of the trip's transport combined. This, needless to say, was a thing up with which we would not put -- and we went overland.

Crossing the border overland is not all that adventurous these days, although the days when it was an epic journey are not that far away. Suffice it to say that we paid US$30 for a taxi to the border at Poipet (a bumpy 3-hr ride) and then all of 164 baht each (~$4) for a bus to Bangkok; total time from hotel to hotel some 8 hours and total money saved around US$310. For lots more data, please consult the excellent Tales of Asia page on the subject!

Having gotten there a couple of hours earlier than expected, JW Marriott didn't have our room ready but easily acquisced to a strong hint of free drinks while we waited, giggling in our dusty backpacker gear in the posh lobby I've so often sat in dressed to the nines. Soon enough they got it sorted out, we had ourselves cleaned up, and then it was time to dive into the City of Angels...