After what seems a lifetime of talking, asking and planning how to get into Cambodia, I finally did it last night. I am now safely in the Tian Yi Hotel on Russian Boulevard, which after an 11 hour plus a 5 hour flight and a 3.5 hour layover, is absolute bliss in terms of comfort. The food is another matter. Hotel facilities include a closed pool, a closed gym and Chinese food only. It's now 09:45 and there is no water pressure to the 11th floor.

Arriving at the Airport.
The one piece of advice I can give which you should take seriously is get as FAR FORWARD in the aircraft as possible. And be prepared to be a bit pushy and shovey. I was in 10C which was at the front of economy section of the Asiana flight. I had the row to myself and Asiana enforce the no pay-no sit rule, so it stayed that way. The flight was virtually full of Khmers (and some Koreans) with about 10 or so European looking passengers. This was, and still is, a concern as that's a lot of people on board with no pre-flight screening. Khmers don't seem to like paying for legroom seats as nearly all the exit rows were empty including 10 A and B with me in 10C. It costs £35 extra. This is money well spent as I will explain later.

Checkpoint 1
On leaving the aircraft you are straight into the terminal building near the immigration area. At the bottom of the escalator (the stairs are blocked off) you then funnel into two lines - Foreign Passports (on the right) and Cambodian Passports (on the left). The moment anyone is in the right hand lane everyone follows so Khmers are constantly being re-routed into their own lane.

The first check of your paper work is at the front of this line. I was number 8 in this queue and it got long very quickly The women is in full hazmat gear and checks your Covid-19 certificate and insurance and this examination is, at best, cursory. She is much more interested in your health screening card, fully completed.

The normal Immigration card, normally in two sections, is now just one section, and this disappears later at the final immigration counter. The Customs declaration never gets looked at and I still have it with me. But the new WHITE health screening form is important. Fill it in in your best handwriting, including your seat number. This form is used letter and a badly written one slows everything down. The only real interest shown in the your Covid-19 test is the date and she encircles it in pen. She barely looked at my insurance documents.

Deposit Payment
Once through Checkpoint 1, you are then funnelled into the deposit lane. It is well organised and you are in an orderly line. As I was very near the front of the queue when we were suddenly called to go to the counters the first 10 or so all got to a counter without waiting. There are about 6 windows in one booth and another 2 temporary booths set back against a wall.

Passport and money is all they want here and those girls are FAST. Of all the people is Cambodia that seem impressive and in a job that nature intended, it's cashiers. These girls are the premier league of this profession and within 2 minutes (maximum) my $3000 in new crispy $100's had magically been turned into a single sheet of pink paper and a smile. The pink sheet is your receipt. KEEP THIS PINK SHEET handy and quickly accessible. It is needed at every stage of the process.

Checkpoint 2.
Once paid you then turn towards the old wooden immigration booths. These are blocked off swathes of those airport cloth lane dividers. Checkpoint 2 is the old table where unorganised 'tourists' used to stand around filling in forms to get their visas (unlike us seasoned travellers with out long term visas!).

This table is surrounded by random men, without any uniform or hazmat gear, just a cheap mask. They may well be the old limo drivers from the airport now moonlighting as immigrations officials. This is a more detailed examination of your paperwork but it still didn't feel like any proper scrutiny. I first showed my Covid-19 Certificate and drew his attention to the date, my passport number and the fact it was a PCR test. He seemed quite happy to be led through the process and checked the date and gave it little more than a once over. The insurance documents were even less studied. He wanted to see that pink sheet of paper though! He also wants to see your visa. That was it with this guy and so I moved onwards towards the final hurdle...

Checkpoint 3
The next and final immigration stage is now held at the old physical booths. They have had a protective screen installed with a letter box size slot to present your papers through. Unfortunately, it is too small, so, I passed my papers around the side of it - I knew I was 'home' by this point.

I gave him my passport and Covid-19 certificate, plus insurance papers, plus pink sheet. The insurance was pushed straight back with a, "don't need this". The passport is scanned and RETAINED. The Covid-19 certificate is scanned and RETAINED. The pink sheet is returned, make sure it is, you will need it.. Again, no apparent scrutiny of my Covid-19 was made and no questions were asked. I had an invoice and a credit card slip to support it together with the lab report. No supporting documentation was sought. I would of scanned it and posted it soon so you can see the template that seems to work just fine, but they kept it! If I get it back I will post it so you can all see.

Once through Checkpoint 3, you know YOU ARE IN!!. Off to the carousel you go and find your suitcase. Once done it's off to the final fun part of this obstacle course...

The Swab Test.
It is at this point you will be glad that you were first off the plane and at the front of all the queues at the cashier and checkpoints.
Once passed the customs check (two bokes in blue sitting down and ignoring everyone), you then move towards the old exit doors but are then funnelled to the right. There was a crowd of Khmers, the public, waiting for their relatives, right next to the queue for the swab test; a complete farce.

The queue then comes to a head where Khmers are sent off to testers on the left and foreigners (lots of Koreans actually) were kept to the right. There was about 10 people in front of me. Within 5 minutes there was 40 or so behind me with plenty still in baggage hall.

The testing stations are screened off by bamboo makeshift screening, it's all sill a bit haphazard and not very reassuring.

Once you get called to your testing station you then present your WHITE health declaration card. This is the one you filled in with your very best handwriting, remember? All that you wrote, your name, address in Cambodia, your phone number etc will be transferred onto another form. It must be legible. I must confess that mine was not well received and I had to show the PINK sheet for him to take my name properly, plus read out my phone number and show him my Sangkat registration for my proper address. My apologies for all those I held up, but I was not alone in this regard, the data transfer is a slow process.

Then you take a seat for your swab test.

The test is one swab at the back of the throat, quick and painless. The next one is up ONE nostril, in she goes, then a little further than is pleasant and then a twist and out. The swab is covered with some kind of fluid which feels very cool when it is inserted. It is not fun but it is painless and over quickly. The guy that did mine was very good and professional.

There has been some chatter, particularly from those journos in their twitter feed, about this test and people shouting and women crying. I won't call bullshit, but close. It is nothing to worry about, they were very professional - so well done to the testers - I mean that.

Onto the bus

You are then funnelled towards the back doors of the building, the opposite to the normal exit. Onto the bus you go. SIT AS NEAR TO THE DOOR as you can. Being first off it a big advantage.

If you come to the Tian Yi hotel they will spray you with some shit at the door and give you a piece of paper to fill in and hand to reception. I just stood at the desk and completed it but they kept asking that you sit. I played deaf. They keep this form and they also keep the pink sheet and give you a room key. They also tell you that you will get back the pink sheet and the passport when you leave. Make sure you get that pink sheet back, you are going to need it to get your deposit back.

I would stress one extra thing; get your papers in order in a clear wallet, with dividers, and keep it organised. It was very easy to end up clutching various bits of paper and dropping or misplacing them. I would hate to think what a missing sheet of paper would do to your chances f getting through in less than 3 hours!

I landed at 10.35, was through the whole process and waiting for the bus by 11:40pm. I was in my room by 12:10am. And that's being pretty much at the front of the queue for everything.

Be at the front of the plane, get your skates on, take cash for the deposit and keep you papers well organised. That's my recipe for getting through it all unscathed.

And that's it folks. Here I sit at 11am with no food (the food on offer was that same shit as previously seen in photos) and no water in the room. Thank god I filled the kettle at 9am when the water was on and I have coffee.

All in all, the process was a bit chaotic, Khmer style. The scrutiny of the paperwork was not high but do not let that think you can play fast and loose. Do as much as you can to get your paperwork in as best order as you can, and then you will be ok.

I would just like to express my eternal gratitude to @PSD_Kiwi, who's information, and up to date changes of the whims of Cambodian officialdom, have been an invaluable source of help and assurance that I was doing it right and in good shape. I owe you many beers mate.

I will let you all know if I get the all clear (please please God... I will be good from now on!)

PS

Some of you may of read about the English guy who got refused 3 weeks ago because his Covid-19 test was a print out of an NHS test he had. He was sent back to Korea, and then Frankfurt and then London. £3500 round trip. He got back in! He was on the bus with me and we were laughing about what a farce it all was.

I just heard that the $3000 payment on arrival will be lifted tomorrow.




































jk

These two freakshows got on in London to Seoul. They had full masks and face shields too. They were better equipped than most of the NHS.

There were quite a few people in overall clear plastics and a few with face shields. Mask wearing compliance was 100%.

wow,
did u get a meal on the flight/transit and did everyone than remove their masks and eat?




/......
Kinda defeats the whole purpose of wearing one than.......