My travel luck is changing. It's really changing
Trip Start
Jul 24, 2010
1
16
20
Trip End
Aug 29, 2010
Cambodian-Thai Border, Bantéay Méan Cheăy, Cambodia
Sunday, August 15, 2010
The day started early (6:45) with an enormous hangover after watching Blackpool smash Wigan the night before. The bus came to pick us up from the hostel and forutnately we were first on so we got the pick of the seats. This I soon came to realise was how my luck had finally changed. The bus itself was nothing special. Though I've now come to realise that if I want luxury I'll travel with First Leeds or better still National Express. The bus stopped off at various guest house around town and quickly filled up with westerners on their way to various parts of Thailand. At the last place we stopped it soon became clear that there were not enough seats for the number of tickets that had been sold. Two unfortunate people didn't have a seat. One thing I will say about the Cambodians is that they are very resourceful. The driver quickly commandeered two plastic garden seats, presumably from someones house, and plonked then in the aisle of the bus. This was to be their seat for the 5 hour journey to the border. Two weeks ago it would have been me sat in those seats wondering what I'd done in a past life to deserve this bad fortune. It wasn't me and for the rest of the journey to the border I sat there in relative comfort with a smug grin on my face.
We arrived in Poipet, which is an armpit of a place, and found my second piece of good fortune. A couple on our coach had been told that they would be in Bangkok by 3pm. Which for them was good as they had a nother bus to catch somewhere else. As it was it was already 1pm and obvious that they wouldn't make it. Then when they got off the bus the luggage compartment under the bus that had their bags in wouldn't open. The guy at this stage was pretty pissed off and started kicking crap out of the compartment door. 30 mins later they managed to get it open and could join us in crossing the border. Somebody else's misfortune is hardly my good luck but again two weeks ago it would have happened to me. I knew that today only good things could happen.
We crossed the border with relative ease though the border guard forgot to cancel my Thai visa as I entered. I managed to it sorted though. Not sure what problem it would have caused but better safe than sorry. And then we had to wait for a bus to take us to the bus station in the Thai border town.
It wasn't a bus. It was a pickup with 2 rows of seats along the back. This was even more obvious that there wouldn't be enough space for all of us and our luggage. Justyna got to sit in comfort in the front with the driver and our bags and me and two Americans had to stand on a step at the back and cling onto the frame as we hurtled down roads that so many potholes that it was as if the Americans had been bomber happy again. I didn't mind so much. It was probably as much fun as I've had since my escapades on the cyclo in Vietnam.
At the bus station our minibus eventually turned up to take us and two French guys to Koh Chang AKA Paradise. From the offset it was apparent that the driver was a little bit crazy. His eyes were all over the place and he couldn't keep still. It turned out that he'd been doing the Koh Chang - Border run all day long and had far too many coffees and red bulls. Probably mixed together. He actually looked like he was and ADHD sufferer who'd had a concentrated dose of E numbers injected... into his eyeballs. He drove like a maniac and how we made it in one piece is a mystery. Must have been the good fortune of the flashing Buddha staring at us from the front of the bus. He was a nice guy but we couldn't understand a word he was saying. He spoke so quickly we wondered if he'd been dabbling in a bit of amphetamine as well as coffe, red bull and E numbers.
The ferry over to the island was pretty eventful and before we knew it we were in White Sands and ready to check into our hotel.
When we booked the room a few days ago in Vietnam we asked for a beach hut with aircon. When we got to the resort and were shown our room it wasn't on the beach at all. We were pretty pissed off at this as waking up everyday on the beach is what we'd most been looking forward to. The manager showed us a room with a balcony view which was close to beach (very close in fact) but not on the beach. Also 500 baht a night more expensive. We explained the situation that on their website it clearly shows photos of huts on the beach and that is what we wanted and that tomorrow we would be moving to another hotel. The guy offered us a more expensive room for the same price if we decided to stay tomorrow. So we went off to the internet place to check their website for these photos of beach huts and to find another place. We then realised that the beach huts we'd been looking at and fell in love with were in fact from another, much more expensive, hotel. After realising our mistake we returned to the resort to quickly take the guy up on his offer. He had since rented out that room but was able to give us a room right on the beach. It wasn't the hut we were after. But it was on the beach and more expensive (we're getting it for the same price as the crappy room though). You walk out the door and there is the sea. We couldn't believe our luck. It's really made the final stage of our travels much more enjoyable.
