THAILAND (Days 23 & 24)

DAY 23

We ran a bunch of errands in the morning, including going to the Vietnamese embassy to get a visa. We then grabbed a couple of motodops (motorbike taxis) to the dock. On the ferry, we dumped our luggage in a big pile in the back then squeezed into the very small seats.

After about 2 hours, the ferry stopped at a fishing village, where most of the locals got off. The rest of us went another 2 hours up to the border area of Koh Kong.

The ferry

I have to admit, there is much I won't miss about the country... constant scams, super aggressive vendors that start at ridiculous prices (plus angry comments when you walk away not having bought something, especially the transportation guys), relentless beggars, extreme pollution, endless power failures, late and unorganized tours, and cramming people into seats just to sell more tickets.

When we stepped off the ferry, countless people pulled on our arms and luggage, trying to get us to this taxi or that hotel. We literally had to fight to get to free ourselves from their grips. We pushed past every one and to the motordops in the back where they weren't so aggressive.

We rode over a long, had to pay a surprise toll, then eventually arrived at another swarm of vendors and begging children. My motodop driver tried to change the price on me. Oh, and it was raining too. We then got to stand in a long line at the Cham Yeam International Checkpoint.

They checked my passport, took my picture with a webcam camera, then I walked over to the Thai side of Checkpoint Khlong Yai. I payed an entry fee and then was allowed in.

We caught a minivan up to Trat. We grabbed something to eat in a nearby shopping mall.

In the mall was the most dangerous squat toilet ever. It was actually elevated about 6 inches! Talk about precarious balancing!

We then headed to the bus station where we caught the 8:30 pm bus up to Bangkok. It was MUCH nicer than all the transportation we'd just experienced. It was clean, had leg room, and we got to enjoy more Thai movies... this one was a horror movie about a cheating doctor, his 'good' girlfriend, his other girlfriend, and some tiny voodoo dolls in glass tubes. We even got free water AND a red bean filled bun and a custard filled bun (both a sweet thick paste but one was dark brown-red and the other was orange).

The nice Thai bus

We watched two more dubbed movies and entered Bangkok at 2 am. Even at this hour, there was lots of slow traffic due to construction. We then caught a taxi to the hotel.

The only room they had available was the apartment room, complete with kitchen and a large bathroom.

We rested and checked out at noon. It was going to be another travel day.

The sun rises on Bangkok

We took the skytrain and metro and train to get out to the airport in order to buy our plane tickets to Vietnam. Once that was done, we were hoping to find a direct bus to Pattaya. There was one... but unfortunately it had been cancelled. So we took the train back to the main station. Yes, there was a train, but it cost twice as much as the bus and would take about an hour longer. Sigh.

So we took the metro to the skytrain to the main bus station. Eventually we found ourselves on the 7:30 bus to Pattaya. The clock on the bus was slow by 10 minutes... so not late even though they were.

We arrived at 10 pm and grabbed a songtheaw to a hotel.

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