Arrival into Phnom Penh (Immigration and Into Quarantine)

[MaxNormal]

Touch down.

Late last night our flight arrived into Phnom Penh and my first time in the KOW begins...

The flight was good, standard and on time. There was a little turbulence but nothing of consequence. The flight time was 5 hours from Seoul.

After arrival we went through two sets of form checking ensuring we had the correct insurance, a covid test certificate from within 72 hours and [our work related correspondence.] [EDIT : This letter of a guaranteed offer of work was not checked at this time. This was used to get the business visa. It was the business visa in the passport that was checked at this stage.]

After that we were greeted with a line of very enthusiastic young ladies representing three or four different banks who take your $2000 dollars for quarantine. Picking one that had been recommended to us we deposited the money then went on to passport control.

Here our passports were checked and taken - to be returned to you upon completion of one's quarantine. We collected our bags and went on to another series of desks where our health declarations were checked and we received two tests, a throat and nasal swab test.

As UK passport holders we were filtered off to the side at this point and put on a separate bus to the other arrivals. Khmer were processed through first on one bus, we were on another and everyone else was put on yet another bus. Ours was the last to load and we were taken (as we had been advised by others and Mr Kiwi here confirmed) as expected, to the Okay Boutique Hotel.

It is a lovely building with beautiful wooden carvings and statues. Very friendly and helpful staff. We were processed kindly and welcomingly with the other Brits from from our bus and given our room. It became quickly apparent that the room we had been assigned had a broken Air Con. But we were so tired from the previous few days we fell asleep anyhow. In the morning during our daily temperature check I mentioned the air con and asked what could be done - fixing or another room. We were moved to another room, twice the size, corner of the building with two sides all windows, private balcony area totally separate and private from any other room, views out to the Palace and all over the surrounding area including the river. View is awesome.

The breakfast was nice toast, marg, a kind of jam, and scrambled eggs. Yummy. . Lunch was pasta, peppers, onions and cheese on top accompanied by a creamy mushroom soup and slices of watermelon. Dinner will be served later. Can't knock it really we are quite content.

WiFi is a little up and down and obviously speed can be hit or miss. TV was fired up briefly to check out channel selection but reception/picture is very poor but don't care for TV anyway.

So our two weeks begins in this really quite nice hotel. We are chuffed with the room. All in all a smooth experience. Friendly people at each step of the process, never made to feel uncomfortable or ordered about. Balmy weather just tops it all off.

If you are about to undergo this, in particular if you seek info as a UK passport holder regards the quarantine, but also generally about immigration, preparation for the process or anything feel free to private message me for a chat or post here and I'll help if I can.

So our Cambodia adventure begins, and I can't say anything really other than it's off to a good start. We have arrived and we are pleased and excited for what's to come...

[phuketrichard]

sounds great, enjoy

what do u mean..."....and our work related correspondence"

Ur a couple, are they charging you only one rate? Not double?
required 3 meals/day, can you opt out?

Allowed outside food?

[MaxNormal]

sounds great, enjoy

what do u mean..."....and our work related correspondence"

Ur a couple, are they charging you only one rate? Not double?
required 3 meals/day, can you opt out?

Allowed outside food?

I just checked with Mrs Normal, she has corrected me and I will correct my post. This letter of an offer of work was needed to get the business visa at the embassy before flights. They only checked we had the visa at arrivals, not the letter. I Will note this in the post.

We were both required to submit $2000 into an account for quarantine. We assume we will both be charged though we are sharing a room. Will have to get back to you after we are out in a couple weeks to let you know how charging worked out. We are not expecting anything much back as that way we cannot be disappointed but we live in hope.

In this hotel you can opt out it seems and order food from the restaurant menu. Some is more, some is less expensive, but we are unsure if we will transition yet as the food so far has been good.

Another arrival asked about ordering in food at reception but we were a little ways away, as such I can't at this time confirm or deny either way.

[Anchor Moy]

What a great positive review. Looks like you hit the jackpot for the hotel. Welcome to Cambodia !

[phuketrichard]

fyi:

[MaxNormal]

fyi:

Very interesting. Thank you for that. May make some enquiries with reception.

PS: your battery level makes me feel uneasy haha

[PSD-Kiwi]

Glad to hear your trip and arrival went smoothly.

Okay Boutique do not charge double the room rate for couples sharing, there are only a few unscrupulous hotels doing that.

Yes you can opt out of the $30 p/d meals and order from the in house restaurant which you pay for directly to the hotel, you can even dine up on the rooftop next to the pool. But no outside deliveries are permitted, although others have reported that staff are happy to go out and purchase any necessities you need.

[K1m0]

Sitting here in Canada with my first vaccine in arm, I'm wondering how soon quarantining will be done with. Cambodia is doing fairly well with vaccines administered. With talk of welcoming foreigners by Q4 (what's that, 4-7 months away?), hopefully Cambodia eases away from quarantine. Overall tho, it sounds like a decent experience. Good Luck.

[PSD-Kiwi]

Sitting here in Canada with my first vaccine in arm, I'm wondering how soon quarantining will be done with. Cambodia is doing fairly well with vaccines administered. With talk of welcoming foreigners by Q4 (what's that, 4-7 months away?), hopefully Cambodia eases away from quarantine. Overall tho, it sounds like a decent experience. Good Luck.

The talk of welcoming foreigners in the 4th quarter is only in the discussion stage, and only applies to those coming as part of an organised tour package to Siem Reap at this stage, not regular travellers.

I do not foresee any easing of current entry requirements and restrictions for regular travellers who are vaccinated this year, but that is purely speculation on my behalf.

[The Judge]

Once you're out of quarantine, general rule of thumb when buying tuktuk/motodop fare, clothes, food, etc. is 1/2 of whatever they say initially, with exceptions for convenience stores, mall shops, and places that have computerized sales terminals.

Assume nothing is safe, not even for 5 seconds. Lock everything at all times. Never give money upfront unless you don't want it back. Always a good idea to have a lot of smaller currency so you can only give exactly the amount due. Many nefarious Khmer (tuktuk/motodop drivers, among others) will play games saying they don't have change, and expect you to tell them to just keep the change, just so you don't wait a long time for them to dig through places they know money isn't, and make you feel like you're being a cheap Charlie.

Keep your phones and carry packs tightly strapped to you. Covid has, believe it or not, upped the level of thievery in Cambodia.

Welcome and good luck!!