I'm back in Bangkok now after a gruelling 12 hour drive on dirt roads from Siem Riep. The trip was bad for many reasons. We found out that there is a bit of a scam going on with the operator, in that he will stop at a few places in order for us to "rest" or to get some food. There were too many stops and it was obvious that the driver or the company got some kick backs from this. This on it's own would have been fine, but for the fact that he drove so slowly. Once in Thailand, with very good roads, he plodded along at 45MPH. The reason for this became obvious as we pulled into a hotel drive way at 9pm - he was hoping that we would succumb to tiredness and book in at this particular hotel. We were having none of this, and after refusing to "just look, see if like" at the rooms, we headed off to the Khao San Road for some food and to find a decent guesthouse.
At one of the stops along the way, we were having a bit of food when a street kid came up to us, trying to sell us some flutes. We weren't interested, but did end up giving her a few dollars, because she was a very smart kid. Her English was fantastic, and I wondered how it got to be so good. She was dirty, wearing ragged clothes, and we were in the middle of nowhere. She asked us where we were from, and after replying, she said, "Ah, England, capital London, has 10 million people, but Scotland has only 8 million peple...". She prattled on for a few minutes, rattling off statistic after statistic from all the countries we happened to be from. God knows how she knew all this, and how her English was so good (she was only about 10) but needless to say, she was a bit of a gem, and deserved a few dollars - take note all the other dead beats who hold out their hands and say, "you, you, give me dollar"!
So tonight I am booked on a bus with another lad, also called Dan for the trip south to Ko Phan Yan (sp?) I am looking forward to it because there I will meet Barry & Elle, and I can't wait. They have booked the hotel for me already, so all I have to do is turn up, which is a great feeling! I'm so looking forward to a week in the same place, relaxing on the beach and hopefully catching up on some Japanese - I'm a bit sick of staying in a place for 2 days, only to up sticks again and move on!
