TUESDAY 23 MAY
Set off on the gruelling journey from Siem Reap to Poipet (on the Cambodia -Thai border) early in
the morning. The pick-up, being the only option, cost a whooping USD9 for the 170km journey that
took 9 hours! But I wasn't really worried about the cost, the duration or comfort. I was solely
concerned with getting to the border in one piece!
It was so dangerous, both the roads and the bridges. Needless to say the roads weren't paved but
more than that the mud roads were heavily broken with huge dug-outs almost everywhere. It was
often easier to go on the paddy rice fields than to drive along the 'road'. The bridges were
worse. They were all steel bridges but with only the frame present. All but one had two wooden
planks for the two sets of wheels. But there was one which even didn't have these planks. They
had to place small pieces of wood on the frame to cross. These pieces would fall off or get out of
place and would be repositioned after each vehicle croosed over. It was absolutely crazy.
As if the roads and bridges weren't dangerous enough, our pick-up truck's breaks failed at one
point. Thankfully the driver realiezed this at a point when we were hardly moving and managed to
fix it.
Arrived in Poipet at about 4pm and for the first time (in SE Asia, anyway) I had absolutely no
problems at a border crossing!
This world is full of contrasts and one of the biggest is that between the respective
infrastructures of Cambodia and Thailand. The journey of more than 300km from the border to
Bangkok, on a luxury firts class bus, via boring but safe motorways and bridges, cost only USD4
and took less than 4 hours. Contrast this with the Siem Reap to Poipet journey!
Arrived at the Khao San road travellers centre of Bangkok just before 9pm. Went straight for
e-mail to find that Mustafa had arrived a few hours earlier. Went to the guesthouse he was at but
he'd gone out. Was heading back when I met him on the street! I had a great time travelling alone
but it was great to meet up with him also. I'm sure there'll be plenty of other opportunities to
travel solo on this trip. For one, Mustafa is thinking of ending it all in Venezuela, missing out
on Trinidad & Tobago, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba and the East coast of the States.
WEDNESDAY 24 MAY
I'm having to think about this day before writing about it for it was pretty uneventful. Mustafa
and I stayed at different guesthouses - no room at the one he'd already booked-in at. He was meant
to come to my place for breakfast but was recovering jet-lag. I spent the time catching up on
postcards. We met up for brunch at about 11am.
After brunch he went to see the city and I moved my things to the guesthouse he stayed at and
then, after Zuhr, went out to a clothes market. But I didn't find what I was looking for. I will
definitely have to get it tailor made, in Indonesia maybe.
Collected my main backpack from the train station and returned to the guesthouse before Maghrib.
Spent the evening just eating, writing, reflecting and chatting - bumped in to an Australian
couple I met in Cambodia.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I lost my third sunhat and sunglasses of the SE Asian tour! I think I
left them at the train station.
THURSDAY 25 MAY
I'd planned on doing very little this day - I'd seen enough of Bangkok previously - and we ended
up doing virtually nothing! Came out for brunch at about 11am. At lunch we met the first muslim
traveler on this tour - a Pakistani sister from Carshalton, Surrey. She'd travelled for about 4
months in India, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. She was as surprised to meet other Muslims as
we were to meet her. We spent the whole afternoon talking - she was supposed to go to Ayuthya, we
were supposed to ship some extra baggage back to London, but neither got done. We talked, prayed,
ate and then it was time for Mustafa and I to leave for Phucket.
When I bought the ticket I was told that, leaving at 6pm, the bus would arrive in Phucket at 6am
the next morning. Just before leaving the bus's arrival time changed to 11am. Worst was still to
come...
PS: Jamal (Dr Nasir), what's the phone number of the restaurant that your wedding reception will
be held at?
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