29th July 2007- Bangkok, Thailand
29th July 2007 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Up early and head for the bus station. Get dropped off and rumour has it that the bus leaves for Bangkok at 7.45am. Well, at about 8.45 a small banger of a minibus appears and about 13 of us pile in. the heat is already unbearable and it doesn’t help having so many people in such small quarters! But anyway, the dilemma arises again - do I open the window and let some air and lots of dirt in or sweat like crazy with the window closer. So go for the air and dirt option!! But, the window keeps closing itself, cos the road is so rough and bumpy. So have to jam it open with a pen!! The road is the worst one I have seen yet. Rumour has it that an unnamed airline has been delivering brown envelopes to an unnamed political party to continuously delay tarring the road, so tourists will pay for a flight to Bangkok!! So we bounce and bump along for 6 solid hours, and we hit a massive pothole and the bus just dies. Everyone groans and hopes that we havent broken down, cos we are in the middle of nowhere. But the driver opens up the engine, hits it with a spanner and it starts up again!! So continue on bumping our way to the border. Get there and go through immigration to leave Cambodia. In between the two borders there is an enormous casino - clever, don’t pay tax in no mans land!! Anyway, get through Thai immigration, and don’t have to pay them for a visa, yippee. Find the connecting bus to Bangkok. God, I hadn’t realised how much I have missed civilisation - we cruise along nicely on massive motorways all the way to Bangkok. The only down side is that I manage to get stuck beside an incredibly dumb American, who talks non stop for th ewhole 4hr journey. He is about 45, divorced and thinks he knows it all. He was so loud and kept contradicting himself and showing himself up. I was dying to correct him when he said he was in Czechislovakia last year!! Finally, we arrive in Bangkok, and find a place to stay on the Ko San Road. Was too tired to do anything, so just went for dinner and headed to bed in a tiny room like a furnace!
