Fortunately, we got some really cheap bus tickets while we were on Ton Sai that would take us all the way to Bangkok. Unfortunately, these were the famed "Joint Tickets" that Alex had painfully experienced on his last trip to Thailand. Basically we are stuffed into the back of a pick up with many other westerners, our bags on top. 15 mins later we arrive at remote 'station' we are herded off the pick up and depending on where we are going we get different colored stickers to put on our shirts. After an hour of waiting "Bangkok! Bangkok!" is called...we are shuffled on at 6:00pm. After three hours we pull in to another remote transfer point. "Everyone get off! Get your stuff, get off" We are shuffled in to an area with two women selling fried rice and corn. We cannot leave the designated area, we tried. Another sticker. 20 mins later another bus shows up....shuffle shuffle. Hmmmmm the seats are a lot smaller now but we manage to get a few hours of sleep. 5am..."Bangkok, get off everybody get off!" We are very very sleepy, and as usually are being bombarded by tuk tuk and moto drivers wanting to whisk us away to their buddy's hotel. It takes us a few minutes to escape and get our bearings. We are supposed to meet Geoff today at his hostel. We get there at 6:00am.
We had a great couple of days with Geoff exploring Bangkok, avoiding scammers, riding the river taxi, getting lost, eating from the street stalls visiting the city's giant park with very giant lizards. We saw Avitar in 3D and another very special show. On the way to the tournament registration party on Friday night we also had the most exhilarating tuk tuk ride imaginable. We get there alive!
The tournament was great fun. Like any hat tournament the first few games are weird and awkward. Not great frisbee, but the food is delightful and the beer plenty. Ashley is ammused at being the tallest girl on her team. It is also inconceivably hot! We were pouring sweat just from throwing before warming up. After day one we are all exhausted, including Geoff, our official cheerleader. One day two Alex's team advances to quarter finals. Ashley's team is in the B pool. However, we apparently decided to gel a little late and continued to win throughout the day...five games later Ashley's team is the winner of the B pool! More beer and more good food. We treat ourselves to a night of airconditioning and TV : )
The next day depart Bangkok by train, but not before bumping into our Russian friends from Ton Sai on the street. We have to leave the country today to renew our visas and we decide a visa run to Cambodia is the best option. Burma sounds sketchy and Malaysia and Laos are too far away. The open air train tugs across the countryside for 5 hours and finally reaches Aranya Prathet, the last town before the Cambodian/Thai border. It is 6:30pm, an hour and a half before the border closes.
