Day 39 Battambang, Cambodia to Bangkok, Thailand

Day 39 – His.

 

Today we left Cambodia and went to Thailand. I am almost tempted to stop there. The reason being the transfer was so long. We drove for something like 8 hours on a 12 seater mini-bus and I can assure you it is not the most comfortable of ways to travel. We left the hotel at 8 with more than half our group feeling a little worse for wear after last night’s party and arrived at the border at half ten.

Poi Pet is what I have come to expect of land border crossings. It was dusty, manic and had a lawless air about it. But, this was mostly from the frenetic activity of people hurrying across. Apparently a lot of Cambodians work just across the border, stay for the 15 day allowance, cross back into Cambodia then back over to Thailand to renew their stay allowance. The pattern seems to be that the Cambodians all cross early in the morning and the tourists all cross in the afternoon. So, that time between half ten and midday is a kind of quiet period and our drive up here had been a mad dash in order to get here in the middle of that window.

The exit from Cambodia was ridiculously easy. It was the crossing into Thailand that was the pain. It took them ages and it was 12 before we got through. Apparently if we got there after 12, three hours waiting is not uncommon. Thailand has really ‘grown up’ (if that is the phrase to use) in the last 25 years and their act is very slick. The roads are well-paved, the buildings well-built and the street stalls look hygienic as well as appetising.  We had lunch in a little restaurant in the border town and didn’t have to worry about what we ordering for just about the first time this trip. (Patti had a Pad Thai  that cost 80p.  Me, I had a chicken burger – complete with mayonnaise and western-style bap.)

We stopped at a rest stop – clearly used mainly by locals.  There was an amazing array of foods and a 7Eleven selling the Thai version of everything a Greenport local would expect.  It was cleaner than the food stalls area at Camden Market. The drivers and guides had lunch here.  If we hadn’t just had such a good lunch, we could have easily joined them for grilled chicken and fresh fruit for around 40p.

We arrived in Bangkok four hours later and went out for dinner as it was our last night with this group. Dinner and a walk around the area confirmed my opinion of Thailand in general and Bangkok in particular. It is a tourist town and really reminds me of just about every package holiday place I have been to.

 The streets were lined with bars advertising very strong cocktails, beer at 30p a pint and no IDs checked. Every third shop was a bar, restaurant or Thai massage parlour with tons of tacky stalls squeezed in between on the streets. A few street vendors did have fried crickets – and signs saying ‘Photo 10 baht’ – so we know where they really get their income.... The people here are predominantly 20 somethings, the boys have tattoos and the girls are blond and in short shorts. Seriously, we could be in one of a dozen places – but mostly places like Costa del sol or Ibiza.  It is truly horrible – thank god we are here for only a day. (Patti thinks I am being too harsh but she is seeing it through eyes of memory.)