Siem Reap, Cambodia to Bangkok, Thailand

This was the longest travel day covering the smallest distance. Ouch!

Only 150 miles across the Cambodia-Thai border. How could this happen?

We left Siem Reap in the morning crammed on a pick up truck. There were a few stops to cram on more people. Then, we got off and got on a full sized tour bus. It was actually nice. Good AC and clean. Except for more FEET! The girl behind me threw her feet up on the seat next to me and I had a conniption. So, I grabbed the only weapon readily available, the camera. I turned to my right, held up the camera and got this....

She said, "Oh wow. Everyone is always taking photos of my feet. I wonder why." Then it started.

I told her, "It's not the tattoos that I am interested in, but the way you just put your feet on the chairs in this nice bus. If you have paid attention to the culture around us, you don't exactly put dirty feet up on everything."

She didn't really liked this, at all. We went back and forth for a few seconds, and I left the conversation with, "I guess your mom teach you any manners." Her feet did not come off the chair, and they stayed up for an entire 3 hours to the border. Seriously, they did not move. I could only imagine the pressure points developed from the hard plastic arm rest from the chair in front of her. There was a guy, that we later befriended, sitting in front of her. He mentioned at the border crossing that her feet really annoyed him.

We got off the bus to get stamped out of Cambodia. This was fast and easy. It was the walk down the road to the Thai gate that was the mess.

There was a line about 100m long and about 4-6 people wide. At the end were the doors leading to the Thai customs agents. Little did we know this line would take us 4 hours! The only thing I can complain about is the line, as everything else was really nice. We had some interesting people next to us to chat with. The weather was nice and we were in the shade. Life was good. I had a chance to talk to a guy from Mexico City named Mario. He spent a lot of time in the USA and is well versed in politics between the 2 countries and within his own. It was interesting to hear the political insight from a city dweller in Mexico. He is a lot different than the Mexicans I know in Vegas. It's similar to talking with someone from New York City versus someone from Amarillo, Texas.

Behind us in this 4 hour line was an American English teacher. We talked to him for a while about teaching abroad and situations that he has been in. He loves his job and had some interesting things to say. I never got his name, but could see "Michael" on his entry papers. I saw a large camera bag with him and then asked all about it. He told me about his amateur photography addiction and I swapped info about my underwater endeavors. Talking gear and teaching could go on forever, which was great, since this line was going NOWHERE!

After chatting and sitting, we finally made it up to the guard. STAMP! STAMP! We were now on our way. It was just a short walk to the pick-up truck that took us to the minibus station. We got a quick lunch, as it was now 4pm. Ouch! We ate with Mario and then crammed into a 15 passenger minibus. I mean crammed. Katherine was next to a pile of bags that fell on her when we rounded a right hand corner. I came to the rescue.

The driver had a death wish, no doubt. Minibus drivers are the aggressors on the Thai highways. They are constantly overtaking other vehicles without a care for oncoming traffic. Lights flash and horns blair. People behind us in the minibus just slept while I wanted to keep my eyes forward to see when my life would end. Somehow, after another 4 hour drive, we came into Bangkok. We hopped into a cab and he magically took us right to the LubD hostel, even with a communication malfunction. Nice work!

It was a long day and we made it fun by joking and talking with people. Just keep your feet off the seat! Didn't your mom ever teach you anything?

 

Posted with Blogsy