Last Full Moon Party, Tears at the Pier, the Road to Hell in Cambodia

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Sunday 24 Feb 2008

6th in a row, and final Full Moon Party for me and Sheena, sob sob. We went to Coco Gardens for a final feed up with Ash, Christel, Emma, Sally, Jo and Charlie and Johnson joined us too. After a munch up, i went to Emma's and Christel's (our old house) place to dress up in our fairy costumes! Emma and Christel had done most of the work already, and we had tutu's (homemade) and wings which we finished off by sticking shiny hearts on, and wands (mine of which got stolen by Charlie - is he a closet fairy???) and deely boppers on our heads, oh and charlie and johnson bought luminous body paint too. We had some vodka and spent over 2 hours dressing up!!

finally got dragged into a taxi with ash and sheena and we made it to full moon party, around midnight i think......it was rockin as usual and we went down well in the fairy glade. some thai shop workers went bonkers when they saw us and we popped into their shop for a quick bop with them before heading down to the beach and drop in bar. i lost the other 2 fairies fairly shortly after, then lost sheena and sally and bopped a bit with jo, charlie and johnson. then johnson disappeared and 3 of us wandered down the beach towards Reggae bar, then we lost charlie and it was just me and jo. lots and lots of people took my photo as a fairy, it was like being a film star ha ha, people loved it, altho i found that my wings were getting a lot of abuse and being flapped about a lot without my prior permission. i felt a tad violated at times but bore up well under the pressure of being a temporary public figure and beach fairy and smiled at many camera's for the good of the community.

we went to mellow mountain, bumped into Golf on the way, was nice to say hello -short n sweet, then we sort of randomly wandered, danced, talked, photo'ed etc. the FMP dvd people filmed us and i had a short celebrity interview, i am dying to see the DVD and if i dont make it on there i will burn my wings. (if i still had them).

had a brill party, i got home around 6am, i left early because i had to check out at 11am ready for Ci to give my little bungalow to some other usurper.

i think i managed a couple of hours sleep, then jo called for me and we took our rucksacks to sheena's room, Ci was letting us use it for the whole day til she took us to the pier at 4.30pm.

johnson had crashed his hired motorbike and we had to sort out getting Jo's passport back as we had left that when we hired 2 bikes the day before. we had to pay some money as johnson had buggered up his cash card and couldn't get any money, anyway, we sorted it out and hopefully we will get it sorted after..............

felt a bit spacey after buckets and full moon party and little sleep, sort of hung around all day, mooched about and sheena and i went to PAC to say goodbye to the dogs. the clinic is closed the day after full moon party so it was just us and the animals, very sad. Boogley has just had another op on his knee, cruciate ligament and still has one op on his hip to go, the dislocation popped out again and it wont mend so he has to have the ball joint sawn off next and hope to make the best of it. he is really down in the dumps as back in a kennel and he cant walk again for a while, he has been through the wars that dog and is still a little star. also, Tiny, the little cripple i picked up one night outside the night market mooching around on mangled legs and a twisted body - she had to have a back leg taken off. she is very affectionate and loves her cuddles. She found her way to my bungalow at around 1am one morning a week or so ago, i heard her whining and opened my door to find her on my balcony!! i couldnt believe it - she was wagging away with her stump! she follows me back along the beach from the clinic, but gets beaten up by the chokana dogs so its a bit of a worry. i waited ages for her to get bored one day and go home but even when i went in the sea so she couldn't follow, she swam out after me! gah - heart wrenching - i feel i've abandoned the poor thing. she has no home or owner so i don't know what will become of her - i wish i could take her home with me!

anyway, it so happened that johnson was travelling to bangkok with us, so at 4.30pm after a very last sandwich at Coco gardens and a goodbye to Aw, Thai and Ash, we wandered back across the beach to Chokana and Si gave us a lift to the pier to catch our ferry, we had a hug with Sally and set off. I had tried to call for Emma and Christel 3 times but they were spark out after full moon party so i was a bit sad not to say goodbye, but then the girls were suddenly behind the truck on Christel's bike - coming to wave us off! brilliant, they chased us down to the pier, and then we passed AD and Lee (Coco gardens) sat at Chequers bar on the pavement having a beer, and they shouted and waved goodbye. I got all tearful and emotional and hugged everyone goodbye, Emma, Christel, Si, then Por and Shevaun turned up on their bikes, i think they were dropping off another vet nurse and then they were there, so had a hug and a sob with them too, and then trooped off onto the ferry. Talk about gut wrenching to leave, i couldnt even wave from the ferry - too sad! ive waved off a few people on the ferry and now it was our turn - bloody horrible. After nearly 5 months on the island it feels like home and there is the bond of PAC and the lovely staff and dogs and cats there, just to add to all the good times and brilliant friends we made on top of that, and the beautiful beaches and jungle we found too.

johnson was a star and carried my big pack for me all the way to bangkok. we had a boring 2 and a half hour ferry ride to Donsak, then a bus to Surrathani to get the overnight train to Bangkok. We got there for the 11pm train but it was delayed and delayed so sheena went to buy coffee and spotted sangsom. Johnson still had a bucket as a momento from full moon party so we bought the sangsom, some coke and had a bucket at the train station! Arf. it was good fun and whiled away some time, listened to some good tunes on johnson's ipod too, then a couple of hours later the train finally arrived. A long journey to Bangkok, but we arrived eventually and caught a taxi to MBK centre, the same place i stayed with Sarah last time. We checked in and went for some lunch at Au Bon Pain, bagels and coffee, then Johnson left us and Sheena had her hair cut at Toni and Guys, same place i had mine done! Then we went off to the Siam Paragon mall and wandered around the amazing food court with all different types of fresh food and cakes and drinks that you could imagine. It was rude not to have some cheesecake so we did.

We then caught the sky train, and a taxi and met up with Kate in the Silom area as she is studying there still and taking some exams just now. We went to a restaurant but me and sheen were very tired after full moon party and a night train of very little sleep so we weren't very sparkly company that night! sorry kate - will make it up to you when we travel together again. she is a star - she's gonna meet up with us later in march - fantastic. should be in laos by then. apparently all is going well with Pedro (real name jose) in barcelona - they are web camming every night - how romantic, sigh.

so we got a taxi back and an early-ish night ready for the trip to Cambodia next day.

Weds 27 Feb

we got a taxi to the bangkok northern bus station and had a mare with the taxi driver. we noticed he didnt match the photo on the license of the driver id hanging up - then we discovered that he was driving round in circles and barely spoke english so didnt know where we wanted to go. the meter was clocking up and he was driving like a loony, the police pulled him over and gave him a ticket at one point so i leaned over and turned off the meter when he was out of the car- scam the scammers i say. so eventually, after he jumped out in full traffic 3 times to ask other taxi drivers the way to the station - we eventually arrived there just before midday!!! ha ha, the meter was still on 100 baht as when i turned it off, which is about 3 times more than it should have been had he driven there directly, but we paid the git anyway. then we find out our bus leaves in 5 minutes and had to run over to the bus and fling on our rucksacks just in time! 5 hours later, we arrive at the Cambodian border - to enter into Poipet. Poipet is much like an armpit in smell, ambiance and looks and would be more aptly named Pantsville. We were hassled slightly on our way through, then on the other side, after having to go through the passport control, then another place to fill in a form, then another place to get it stamped (would be a bit too logical to do it all in one place hey) - then the real crap started. We were deluged with the taxi drivers who wanted to take us to Siem Reap (another 4 hours away on the road to hell), but we read that we could get a bus very cheaply and this was what we wanted to do. however, everyone and his wife were very unhelpful and wouldnt tell us where we could buy a ticket or catch the bus. only taxi! no bus apparently - so after a long time tramping about in the hot sun with heavy packs we got a taxi and he took us the 3 and a half hours to Siem Reap, it was 6.30pm by the time we left, the taxi driver was a nice chap and very jovial but the guy who talked us into it got a bit pushy when he demanded his 'tip'. anyway, there is a bus that we found is only 5 dollars but god knows when or how we would have found it. we even asked at the bus station and they wouldnt tell us. arf. welcome to cambodia.

anyway- the road from Pantsville to Siem Reap was a bit mental - its not surfaced so is very very bumpy and potholed with some rickety bridges. The drive was very bumpy but it was only 3 and a half hours long so not too bad eh!!!? we laughed a lot and had some fun singing along with the driver, Janee, to some dodgy music and gave another cambodian guy a lift too for part of the way. we got here, no problems really in the end. just not the way we wanted, we were pushed into the more expensive taxi route. ho hum.

arrived here at 10.30pm and Janee dropped us off at a tuk tuk, which bought us to this guest house, Green something or other, altho we asked for another one out of the guide book, they are on commission and you will end up where they want you to basically! however, its only 2 quid a night and we have a triple room which is very nice (apart from the nest of mosquitos that ate me alive last night!). The menu has happy soup with a pinch of ganja, hilarious. We had a couple of well deserved large beers and went to bed. I got eaten alive by mosquitos in our room, then read about dengue fever. great. sheena never gets bitten, she must taste bad i reckon!

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Photos

me Si and Sheena at Chokana
this is the lady that owns/runs Chokana where we stayed for the last month. she is great

me and johnson sucking the bucket at train station
the best way to deal with a delay is to drink sangsom bucket

Cambodia border (cambodia side)
at Poipet - pants of the universe

Comments

[Jo Jo wants to go]

haha loving the happy soup!!