The next day I decided to get the bus out of Cambodia to Bangkok. Not least because there were rats in the place I was staying and you could hear them in the night scratching on the walls. I only paid eight dollars so I suppose you get what you pay for!! I had been told the bus trip was a rough journey. But I thought it cannot be that bad. If only I had listened !!!!It was horrendous. The road is not made, it is literally a dirt track for most of the way. Apparently the airline pays the government not to finish it so that more people use planes.
I got up at six but the bus was late in picking me up from the hotel. They just kept saying "no problem, no problem it will come" and just when I had given up hope it did arrive. But it was not roadworthy! I was squashed into the front seat with another tourist and the back was already packed with people.How it made it to the bus terminal I will never know. But that should have been an indication as to the quality of the company I had booked with.
The bus at the terminal did not look any better. It was ancient! There were also lots more waiting to get on it. I could not work out how they would fit us all on with the luggage. Well it was a lesson in packing sardines into a tin!! They put all the luggage on first ,INSIDE the bus! then they invited us to pack outselves in among the suitcases! and rucksacs. And if that was not enough they bought on a few red plastic chairs to put in the isle for some local fellas to sit on! and another one stood by the bus door.
We were all looking at one another with anxious expressions.Then one German lady said "look the driver wants to get back safely to his family so he is not going to take risks" and with that we all settled down to the journey.
It was like being on a bus with square wheels! we were bounced all over the place on the seven hour journey to the border with Thailand. It was really hot and dusty and there was no room to move. But saying that it was fascinating seeing the small villages and rice fields along the way. There is so much poverty and corruption in Cambodia. It is heartbreaking to see how some people live. It really does make one realise how lucky we are in our lives.
I thought we were packed in tightly but when we got to the Thai border I was amazed to see how much they had packed onto lorries.The back wheels on this one were literally buckling under the weight. I dread to think how it managed on the potholed road in Cambodia. All the tourists were taking pictures of it!
When we got to the Thai border I was just so thrilled to get there in one piece I hopped off the bus and made my way through passport control(which took ages with us standing in the heat with all our luggage!)it was not until I was in Thailand that I realised that I had left my fleece jacket on the bus and there was no chance of getting it back. The irony was I had been lugging it about in the hot areas of Thailand because I needed it now when I go trekking. I will have to get another in the Chang Mai markets.
The bus to Bangkok was luxury compared to the Cambodian one. There were only 20 of us on a 40 seater coach with airconditioning. It took five hours to Bangkok and I slept a lot of the way. I had been recommended a guesthouse, but when I got there at nearly ten o clock at night it was full. The old lady who ran it was so apologetic that it was full. And she took pity on me and took me to another place to get a room and stayed until she saw that I had a place to sleep.
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