 |
| A random statue in a restaurant |
In fact, the beginning of the trip was very promising. We had never travelled by sleeper bus before
but, as Cambodian buses (or buses in general) were, in our opinion, one of the
most uncomfortable modes of transport for Paul in particular because of his
size, we figured that a sleeper bus couldn’t be any worse. At least, if he couldn’t stretch out fully
(which we knew was unlikely, he would at least have more leg room than you get
on an average bus.
The journey to Bangkok was interminable. We reached the Cambodian border town where our
Cambodian bus abandoned us. Everyone
seemed to have the impression that a Thai bus would pick us up over the border
to take us on the rest of the journey to Bangkok.
 |
| Tuk tuk mayhem in Khao San Road |
We passed through passport control on the Cambodian side and
in fairness this was relatively straightforward but as it was mid-morning by
this time, the heat was beating down and standing around in queues was not
exactly what you wanted to be doing with sweat pouring down your back. The temperature was about 38 degrees and it
was humid.
Then we walked through to the Thai border crossing and it
all started to get a bit much. It is
visa on arrival (valid for 15 days) so we had to complete forms and line up in
a very long queue which seemed to take forever.
It must have taken at least an hour by which time tempers were beginning
to fray. Lots of other buses seemed to have
arrived at the same time and there were also lots of local people going through
the border. It was organised chaos.
The situation didn’t improve once we had successfully passed
through passport control but didn’t know where our bus was, when it would
arrive, who to ask. We knew this was the
norm but it didn’t help at the time.
Everyone that had been on our bus to the border stuck
together but no-one seemed to know what to do and we hung around for about
another hour. Some poor guy wasn’t able
to produce a ticket for the Thai bus company because the bus driver in Cambodia
had taken his whole ticket (rather than tearing part of it off). We think he ended up hiring taxi to Bangkok. We considered this option as it would
definitely had been the easy one but we had a ticket so we thought we would
wait because we were sure that it would turn out OK eventually.
 |
| A random building |
During all this confusion, a random Thai bloke was trying to
take our tickets in exchange for a plain gold coloured sticker. Neither we, nor our fellow passengers from
Sihanoukville, were willing to relinquish our tickets as they were the only
proof that we had paid for the whole journey.
Nothing was explained, everyone was confused, and tempers were becoming
more frayed by the minute. And it was
getting hotter.
Eventually we were told by the Thai bloke that a minibus was
coming to collect us to take us to the big bus because the big bus couldn’t fit
down the road on which we were waiting.
This was clearly a lie because we saw numerous “big buses” passing down
to the passport control area.
Anyway, we did eventually board a minibus and we found ourselves deposited a short
distance away (we could have walked) at the end of the road at a café where we
were dumped for a further indefinite amount of time to wait for the bus to
Bangkok which was “coming soon”. No
definition of “soon” was provided and it was hardly surprising because, when we
did finally board a bus bound for Bangkok, the whole process from leaving Cambodian
soil to boarding the bus for the remainder of our journey to Bangkok had taken over
4 hours, in the midday heat, and I do believe that everyone at that point
simply wanted to weep with frustration.
We eventually arrived near the famous Khao San Road in
Bangkok central 26 hours after we had left Sihanoukville, frazzled, ragged around
the edges but very, very relieved to have finally arrived.
 |
| Another random building |
Then a tuk tuk took us to the wrong hotel (this ruse was
becoming boring) but the hotel staff at the wrong hotel kindly gave us a map
and directions to the hotel we had booked and eventually we arrived at the Banglampoo
Hotel (yes, really), a 10 minute walk from the mayhem that is Khao San
Road. The room was big, had a large
window (no view but we were past caring), a decent shower and air
conditioning. We were happy enough with
that.
Obviously, the first thing we needed after such a horrendous
journey, before a shower or anything remotely sensible like that, was a very
large and very cold beer, so off we went in search of one. There was no shortage of bars and restaurants
in the Khao San area but as we were soon to find out Thailand is not
cheap. Of course, it is cheap by western
standards but it was the most expensive destination we had visited in Asia so
far.
We were only here to get our visas and hoped that we
wouldn’t need to spend more than 4 days here but as it turned out it was Easter
so the Indonesian Embassy was shut for two days so we had to book flights to
Jakarta for 13th April.
Flight bookings needed to accompany our applicable but obviously we
needed to know we would have our visas by then so we ended up staying in
Bangkok for 8 days which was 7 days too many,
It was hot (it got as high as 40 degrees), humid, and there
were plenty of drunks (mainly English) at any hour of the day. Khao San Road is tourist central although
nowhere near as seedy as I had expected it to be (we’ve all read The Beach,
surely?). Nevertheless, it was expensive
and as Paul put it, he was bleeding money from the moment we arrived.
 |
| And another random building |
A lovely agent arranged for our visa, we booked flights to
Jakarta (sadly beginning our airborne travel which is unavoidable in Indonesia
with limited funds and a strict timetable given the appalling transport
infrastructure and unreliable and sporadic ferry services), and spent time planning
the final leg of our trip, deciding exactly where we wanted to visit. Whilst this obviously took any spontaneity
out of this last section of our long and amazing trip, we had a flight to Bali
that I could not miss because otherwise I would not validate my visa in time
and they accept no excuses.
We were also keen to visit places in Indonesia that to reach
would take some detailed planning, some luck, a lot of patience, and on occasion,
endurance. This is quite a test at this
stage of our trip. While we still have
the enthusiasm we are finding it increasingly tiring taking longer trips,
partly due to the heat and partly due to being constantly on the road for
almost 8 months. We don’t want to arrive
in Australia completely exhausted (and ready to divorce each other – anyone who
denies travelling tests any relationship is a big fat liar!).
However, part of the charm of the places we wanted to visit
was precisely the fact that they were not particularly easy to reach and therefore
we hoped would remain relatively unspoilt.
We simply agreed to limit our destinations in Indonesia, restricting our
exploration of this massive country to Borneo (including the Tanjung Putin
National Park to see orangutans) and Pulau Derawan for turtles), the Togean Islands in Sulawesi, and finally a
quiet spot in Bali where we would spent the last week sobbing before returning
to reality.
 |
| Khao San road stallholders |
One of our purchases was discarded fairly quickly. We bought a little cup warmer and a couple of metal camping mugs for making coffee but I these items lasted less than a fortnight. The small warming plate needed to be lugged in the night before in order to enjoy a lukewarm cup of coffee the following morning (I kid you not) and therefore we abandoned those items somewhere along the way in a hotel in Borneo.
I caught up with the blog and emails which I find
increasingly difficult to do since we have reached warmer climes. Usually we are too busy exploring our
surroundings, lazing on the beach, or visiting iconic temples to waste time sat
in a hotel room with a laptop.
 |
| The view from the restaurant where we had breakfast most mornings |
From my point of view, and something that only the female of
the species will fully appreciate, by far the most important accomplishment in
Bangkok was my visit to the hairdressers.
Paul frogmarched me into a hairdressers’ salon near the hotel in order
to have my hair coloured. I don’t recall
complaining too much that after 7 months of travelling my roots were now 4
inches long but I am sure Paul will beg to differ; I like to think that he was just showing his sensitive
side and it wasn’t just to shut me up!
I have never had my hair professionally coloured and the
stylist did a wonderful job, took 3 hours to complete the job (there was a lot
of work to do), couldn’t speak English (so none of this “where are you going on
holiday this year?” crap although a bit moot as I was an Englishwoman in
Thailand) and I was very happy with the result.
She didn’t cut very much off and that part of the service took less than
5 minutes, but I usually cut the ends off myself. It was about half the price as it would be UK
and in my view worth every Thai baht.
Spending 8 days in Bangkok did at least give us the
opportunity to take a breather although Paul hated the place, and in particular
hated Khao San Road but we both found the Thai people to be lovely, incredibly
helpful, polite and smiley, and not at all as cynical as you would expect in a
place like that.
We were however rather disappointed when we ordered 2
cocktails one evening from a guy with a stall near the restaurant we tended to
go to. We just fancied a change from
beer and they were very cheap. As we
were to find out they were cheap for a reason because there was not a whiff of
alcohol in either of them and certainly there was no Kahlua in my White Russian
which was just milk and lemonade, which, I can assure you, is not a pleasant
drink. A light hearted argument ensued
between Paul and the stallholder and we ended up not paying for the drinks,
something we never do.
 |
| The view down Khao San Road |
The following evening the same cocktail stallholder
presented us with a free cocktail (in which I did detect a smidgen of alcohol
although Paul wasn’t convinced). The
cocktail seller clearly realised he had been found out, and was good enough to
try to make amends. We even tried to pay
for the real(ish) cocktail but he wouldn’t hear of it. This experience was not
particularly unpleasant one but it’s just irritating.
Although we saw almost nothing of Thailand, and of course we
spent most of our time in the capital, we formed the distinct impression that
it is a country much richer than its neighbours. The city is very modern and was always very
clean (surprisingly so, bearing in mind the sheer number of tourists) and as we
travelled to the airport we saw a number of famous shopping malls making it a
paradise for shopaholics. The night
market is supposed to be amazing but there was no point us going as we aren’t
able to buy anything – most travellers stock up and send stuff home but at the
moment we are pretty much homeless!
We did come across beggars and we always gave something but Paul
did note that many Thais also gave to these people, and they were often quite
generous, giving more than the equivalent of a few pence.
Another notable fact we discovered was that Bangkok Airport
has the most expensive Burger King in the world. We both had a craving for crap fast food
which everyone seems to have from time to time and were gobsmacked when the
bill came to well over $20 for 2 standard meals. It seems that Thailand is not one of the
cheapest destinations it once was but of course we had come from China, Vietnam
and Cambodia which are.
After 8 days and with 60 day Indonesian visas safely planted
in our passports, we were more than ready to leave Bangkok and head to
Indonesia. We weren’t particularly
looking forward to the prospect of having to take flights because we had
enjoyed so much travelling overland.
This was partly because of the comfort element, partly the time it takes
out of a day to take a 3 hour hop, and also as the reputation of Indonesian
airlines is not one of the best, however it was a necessary evil and all
flights would be short.
So we headed off in a taxi through downtown Bangkok to the
impressive airport, where we ate our expensive Burger King, went through
security about 4 times, and boarded a flight to Jakarta where we would start
our journey through Indonesia.
No comments:
Post a Comment