So then I got all my bags down the stairs and across the
rocky driveway of my previous apartment and walked the 200 yards to the van
place. I paid my 360 baht and waited for the van. It didn’t get there til
around 12:20, but that’s expected in Thailand. The van looked empty from the
outside, but it was full on the inside! They put my huge bag in the first row
and put me next to it. I thought, “Well this is great! My own row!” We stopped
30 minutes later and picked up two more people. So now I was sitting in the
half a seat with my bag on one side and a rather large man on the other. I
thought the van was full, but we picked up 6 more people on our way to Bangkok.
It was like a clown car in there! I tried to sleep, but it was impossible.
Finally, we arrived at the bus station in Bangkok and I
finally got to stretch. Not being able to straighten my legs for 3 and a half
hours is like torture for me. Oh yeah, and it took 3 and a half hours to get
there, not the simple, easy 2. So I got my bags together and found a taxi to
take me to the hotel. The driver didn’t speak any English so I tried to call my
agent and he called someone else to translate. He got there first so I hung up.
I talked to this guy on the phone and told him where I needed to go. He said
800 baht. I was a little confused. All the taxis have meters and they told us
in training to never agree upon a price with a taxi driver. So I asked, what
about the meter? He said, “Ok 500.” I was still confused and I asked about the
meter again. He replied, “Ok 350.” At this point something amazing happened, my
brain moved faster than normal and I realized that the distance I was from the
hotel was certainly much more than 350 baht. So I agreed. See how the tables
were turned and I ripped off the taxi driver?? I felt so accomplished. Also,
this way, if the driver got lost, I didn’t have to pay for that too.
So after driving for about 30 minutes we made it to the
hotel. It was way off the main road and in a much more rural part of Bangkok.
The taxi dropped me off and I looked for anyone. There was no one at reception
and no one else anywhere else. So I waited. Finally a lady who spoke no English
started talking to me in Thai and I had no idea what she was saying. She went
and got the owner or manager or whatever. She was this old Thai lady who spoke
perfect English. Now that’s something you don’t normally see in Thailand. But
she got everything sorted out and took me to my room.
It was small, but I expected that. I sat on the bed. It was
like it was sitting on a rock. The plus side of rock hard mattresses is that
you can put drinks on it and they won’t fall over! But it took me forever to
fall asleep on it. I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom
and there was a good sized brown recluse just sitting next to the toilet. I
looked at the shower and it was pretty much falling apart. A hotel critic would
have had a field day at this place! The blankets at the end of the bed were
damp (gross) so I used my sheets I had in my bag. Thank goodness I brought those!
Finally, 3:30 came and I woke up, packed, and went down to get in my taxi. We
drove around what seemed like an airport maze to get to the departure gates. I
thought the airport would be empty at 4am, but it wasn’t! It was packed!
I waited in the check-in line for 30 minutes and when I
finally got there, my bag weighed too much. Of course. So I went off to the
side to put some of the heavier things in my carry on. And after I had
struggled for minutes in front of all these people to close my carry on, my
checked bag still weighed 4 kilos over the limit. I had no choice but to pay
the fee, which is a ridiculous 500 baht per kilo over. So I paid 2000 baht.
That was great. I still had to pay for the Cambodian visa and the hotel I had
booked in Cambodia until I found a more permanent place to live.
At immigration, the officer informed me that I had
overstayed my visa. I told him that’s why I’m at the airport right now leaving.
He told me there was a fee. Of course. 1000 baht. I’m pretty sure the fee is
less than that, but I wasn’t really in a position to argue with an immigration
officer. I moped over to my gate and waited for the plane.
Oh, my ticket said seat 2A and I hadn’t paid anything extra
so I thought maybe I was bumped to first class for some reason! No, this plane
didn’t have first class. It was coach all the way down. The only seats that
were remotely similar to first class were the front row seats and the exit row
seats. Oddly enough, they were also treated like first class—they got their
snacks first. It was fine though since the flight was only an hour. I had the
whole row to myself and I got a huge can of coke and took a nap.
We arrived at the Phnom Penh airport. I was anxious because I
only had Thai baht in my wallet and I had left my passport sized photo that I needed
for my visa in my checked bag. I literally had no idea what I would do because
I was arriving with many other people who were also getting a visa at the
airport and I always hate being that guy who’s unprepared and holding the line
up. My face lit up when I saw an ATM. I thought maybe I could eliminate one of
these visa problems by getting some good old USD. But that ATM didn’t understand
me, nor I it. So I was back where I started. There were a few men standing
around in their uniforms so I thought maybe they could somehow help me. I went
up to the first one and told showed him all my application forms and explained
that I only had Thai baht and that I didn’t have a photo. (I read online that
they scam people without photos and make them pay a lot of money to get them
taken at the airport, so I was a little nervous about that.) He looked at my
applications and asked for my money. I have him 1000 baht, or $30, and my
passport and he pointed at a bench in the corner and asked me to wait.
I waited for around 3 minutes and he came back with my
passport and opened it up to a page that had a huge sticker that said CAMDOBIA
on it. He said, “All good!” I looked at my passport and it was a visa! The man
pointed me in the direction of the passport control counter and I excitedly
went off to enter the Kingdom of Cambodia! Weird how turned what was supposed
to be the most nerve racking and stressful part of the trip into an easy, easy
transition. He is indeed good.
With $30 in hand, I found a tuk-tuk driver to take me to the
hotel that I had booked earlier. It was the same hotel that we stayed in when I
was here last June, so it felt comfortable. Even on the ride there, the cool
morning air sparked my memory of this place, and I felt like I was at home—somewhere
where I felt comfortable. I don’t know if it was the fact that there are gas
stations at every corner or that USD is a regular form of currency here, but it
felt like I was back home.
I got settled at the hotel and took a walk to our favorite
coffee place down the street where I got a delicious mango passion smoothie for
the very regular price of $3.75. I guess cheapness stays in Thailand. After
that amazingness, I thanked God for guiding my trip like I knew he would,
despite my doubts, and fell into a deep, relaxing sleep for the rest of the
day.
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