Back to Bangkok

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Today was another early start to share Dave and Amy's taxi to the boarder crossing at Poipet. I was up at 6am to have a little breakfast to keep me going. I had bought a bag of muesli from the seven eleven last night and amazingly it was wheat free. Showered and packed I checked out and waited patiently for the taxi to arrive. The three of us piled into the cab and set off for Cambodian Thai boarder. I'll admit I was a little confused, and worried, when our driver mentioned Phnom Pehn with a cheeky looking smile on his face. When we stopped for fuel I turned and asked the American couple if I had been hearing things. Dave agreed that that was what he had heard so we doubled checked with the driver who laughed and said 'Yeah, yeah. We go Poipet, only three hour'. So off we went and true to form was almost passed out in the front seat within ten minutes.

I woke up about sixty kilometres from the boarder worried I'd been rude to my companions by falling asleep. Thankful Amy had too, even though she congratulated me on sitting in the front for the break neck journey. As we passed through the last few towns before the boarder I smiled at how similar they all looked to one another. Although not identical the shops, stalls and general lay out of the buildings was almost identical. We reached the boarder just after 9.30am so we had made pretty good time. We paid for the cab and I wished the couple safe travels as we went our separate ways.  I passed out of Cambodian immigration into the no mans land that contained a casino and a few stalls and walked the five hundred metres to the Thai checkpoint.

Entering the country was an absolute breeze third time around, no questions asked, just passport stamped and I was back. I followed the snaking line of people towards the bus station and gratefully slung my bags to the floor. It was already hot and the sweat felt like it was running in rivers down my face with my overly full backpack. I knew that the next train to Bangkok wasn't for another four hours and I was keen to get there so the next cheapest option was coach. I managed to get a ticket on the 12pm bus for 300 Baht (£6) which got me to the capital for 4pm. Delighted I left my bags with the office and went to get a very early lunch. With only American Dollars and Cambodian Riels left in my pocket I was forced to draw out more cash from my already depleted overdraft. The chicken Pad Thai I had however, was well worth it and really hit the spot. I returned to wait in the rising heat outside the coach office.

At 11.30am I was walked to the bus station and put on to one of the brightly coloured double-decker coaches. It was air-conditioned and yet again I found myself to be the only westerner on the bus. I sat close to the front but was soon harassed by a guy who spoke no English. My Thai was still limited to 'Hello', 'Thank-you' and 'Cheers' so I was none the wiser to his rantings. When he had got tired of getting no response from me he disappeared and brought back with him one of the guys from the ticket office who told me this seat was already reserved. I gladly moved further down the coach smiling and thanking the guy as I did. 

As we drove towards Bangkok I realised how similar the Thai countryside was to the Cambodian. You would be hard pushed to tell the difference if you fell asleep in one and woke up in the other. Which funnily enough is just what I did for most of the journey until our non-stop coach stopped halfway. I jumped off to stretch my legs and grab some more water. The temperature outside was ridiculous, easily in the mid thirties, and I started sweating just walking to the seven eleven. Once back on the bus I caught up in blogs. It's definitely something which you need to be in the right frame of mind for, and having slept an eaten surprisingly healthily made the words flow.

Although it was only 4pm when I got off the coach in Bangkok, it felt like I'd been on the go for hours without actually doing very much. I felt drained and although the BTS was only a short walk away, I feared my patience for entering the war zone of the New Year water fights wouldn't last so I hailed the nearest taxi to get me to the hostel. I checked in and Shaun, one of the staff, told me my iPod had arrived and I was relieved. There were two things I needed before flying to Australia; my iPod and to post home all the souvenirs I'd bought. I dumped my bags and spent the next couple of hours uploading as many photos as I could on to the web.

It was absolute bedlam on the streets by Chong Nonsi BTS line as I left the hostel. The normally quiet area had been taken over by party goers still seeing in the New Year and drenching each other and passing cars with water. I purposely hadn't bought out my rucksack and was traveling light incase I got caught by someones water-gun or bucket crossfire. The staircase to the BTS was just beyond the end of an alley, so I could slip out without being noticed. I made it to the Paragon centre unscathed and went down into the food hall. It felt good to be back in surroundings that felt familiar and I knew exactly where I was headed. After a Chiang Mai sausage and a slab of cookies and cream cake I was full and almost ready for my bed so I headed back to the hostel to get some shut eye before my mad day at the post office tomorrow.

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