I woke up at the Shadow of Angkar II and settled up my tab (and they had me pay cash, which was unexpected for such a large bill). I had my laundry done while I was at SOAII, and while I was dissapointed that it took 24 hours to get my laundry returned (at HueNino it had taken them 2 hours and was half the price - but then all the white people prices in Cambodia are quite high for asia), when I inspected my laundry I noticed that they had sewn a red thred into every item I had given them. Now red threads are what are given at temples for good luck, so either they put these threads in my clothes for luck (and if they did, I think that is super sweet), or they used it as a tracking method to see whose clothes belong to who. I will never know, but I choose to believe that they added the threads for luck.
I took a tuk-tuk to the bus station where I boarded the bus only 30 minutes after the scheduled time.Off to a good start. I sat in the very back of the bus, next to two Dutch people, who told me stories of how often people get ripped off at border scams. I was a little worried.
The bus itself, as usual, did not have a toilet, but the Air-Con worked well. We stopped every hour or so for "gas" - but really the drivers had a deal with the various cafes we stopped at. I had packed water and snacks, so I didn't need to buy the overpriced food stuffs, but I did used the bathroom every chance I got for about 1000 Riel (25 cents). The bathrooms on the road were not pleasant. They did not have western toilets, and the rooms themselves were filthy. One thing I do look forward to upon my return is a nice clean bathroom (as I write this sitting in my hostel in Bangkok, I dread showering in my toilet/shower room. The shower is just a hose above the toilet).
The trip, which was advertized to take 8 hours took around 12 - and that is with the bus not breaking down.
The boarder crossing itself was a little strange. We were kicked off the bus and sort of left to our own devises to figure out the boarder. I waited in line for passport control, only to be told I did not fill out the right form, so I had to return to the back of the line. After passport control (where they electronically took my photo, and all ten finger prints), I had to walk about 1K to get to the Thai border where I waited in another line to get another stamp. While waiting in line, I talked with some folks from Japan, and I met a really nice Indonesian boy (24 year old student). We got to talking, and he introduced me to his friends (2 girls and 1 boy) he was traveling with. From that point on, they took me under their wing and adopted me as one of their own. The two indonesian boys tried to carry all my luggage, and in general looked out for my best interest. I talked with them about Islam - they are all quite religious -
After crossing the Thai border, we were loaded into the back of a truck (seriously) - a flat bed truck - and then driven about 3K to a cafe and told to wait. I ate some really good Pad Thai at the cafe, for $2. After 45 minutes of waiting, they loaded us into mini-vans. Westerners were to get on one, and Asian on another. BUT I stayed with my new Indonesian friends.
It took another 4 hours to get to Bangkok, and when we did we were dumped out at a traffic circle to find our own way around. Luckily one of the Indonesian girls brought a map and we were able to find our way to the backpackers street. We wandered into the closest hostel and I booked a room with the two other girls - a triple with no air-con - for a total of 500 Bat (30 Bat = $1). I tried to overpay for the room, but the other girls would not hear of it.
After settling into the room, we headed out via tuk-tuk (all five of us on one tuk-tuk) to some mega big shopping mall the Indonesians were dying to go to. The mall was huge, and expensive. After wandering around the mall for an hour or so, we went outside to one of the night markets to eat some cheap street food. I ate grilled squid on a stick, and got a papaya juice (with ice). I hope I don't get sick....
We negotiated for a cheak tuk-tuk home, and I now sit here typing up my travels on the hostel's shared computer (which cost $1 bat a minute - pricey for the area so tomorrow I will go to an internet cafe).
Tomorrow morning I plan to go to temples with my new friends and find another hostel for a private room my last night of my trip.
