Today is going to be tough. I can feel it. Travel days are typically tough. But, today we have a boat, a couple of busses and a border crossing. It won’t be easy. All I can guarantee, sorta, is when we go to sleep tonight we will be in Siem Reap Cambodia, I hope.
 |
| The first leg: boat to the mainland. |
Typical start to the day. Up early. Breakfast. Wait for the first pick up. We hoof it down to the river and pile into the long boat. There are five of us at this pick up. As is to be expected, we dart around the island doing pick ups until the boat is full. I can’t count how many times we thought the boat was going to tip over with each new pick up. More people. More luggage. Add on top of that we don’t have the most experienced ‘captain.’ He is pretty young. We finally get back to the mainland and it takes him about 10 minutes just to put the boat up on shore. He managed to run into a few boats in the process. Get me off of this thing!!
 |
| The 'dock'. |
On shore we check in to our transport service and fill in all of our exit papers and prep everything to get our Cambodian visa. I’ll give Patton some credit here. He had all of the forms printed, filled in, money paper clipped to the forms, folded, in an envelope, in a plastic bag, sealed and rubber banded. The only thing that I didn’t like about this process was we had to give our passports to the ‘guide.’ I didn’t have a bad vibe about the guy or the service, I’m just not a fan of relinquishing my passport at any time. Plus, the guy was going to keep the passports for the duration of the ride and handle the visa processing. That is a long time to be without my passport. But, there were about 30 other people doing the same thing. Oh well.
With paperwork complete, a luxurious open-air tuk-tuk is waiting to carry us down the long dusty road to the main bus. There’s a nice layer of dirt for you. As usual, mom is working the tuk-tuk. She’s unstoppable.
 |
| The Laos VIP bus. |
Transfer to the main bus. Settle in for a bit. We’re at the border in 30 minutes. Beyond not liking the fact that I didn’t have our passports on me, I felt cheated that we didn’t get to handle the process ourselves. I wanted to go through the process of customs leaving Laos and immigration coming into Cambodia. I’ll admit, it was easy, we didn’t have to do anything. Just sat there as the bus drove across the border and then wait for them to return our passports.
While we waited, a Cambodian official came on the bus. One by one he would aim a gun looking object at our cheek, click a button and then give us a piece of paper. We think he was taking our temperature. I guess that means I have no disease and can come into Cambodia? The sheet of paper is something I have to hand to my doctor in the states if I get sick. It explains that I have been to Cambodia and all of the things I have been exposed to. Maybe this process is helpful, but it was by no means thorough and seemed pointless.
 |
| Waiting for the passports. |
Once medically cleared, we get off of the bus and buy food and drink and relax until our passports are ready. Of course, mom has already met several people on the bus. Two girls approach me and ask, “Are you really teaching your parents how to backpack? There is no way my parents would even think about doing that. “ I’ve been getting that reaction a lot. I have yet to hear anyone, before we left or while on the trip, who said their parents would be down with this. This is definitely a really cool experience. Speaking of, where are the kids? Oh great! Mom is wondering back towards the Laos border and could likely end up back on the other side and create a problem. A parent’s job is never done. Must maintain focus and visual contact on the kids at all times.
Visas done. Back on the bus. Passports returned. Half of the people on the bus are going to Siem Reap and the other half are going to Phnom Penh. We’re going to Siem Reap, which sucks for us because where the road splits, the people going to Siem Reap have to get off and get on a new bus.
As we pull up to the split, I see a small mini-bus. No way that is our bus. We bought tickets for the VIP bus. Yep, that is our bus. Our VIP bus. There are seats for 13 people in the bus. We are cramming 17 people, plus one baby in there. Plus all of the huge backpacks. This is hands down the worst leg of all of the travels days thus far. I get one of the seats that face backwards. Every piece of the luggage is stuffed between my row of seats and the fronts seat. So much luggage that my row of seats wont lean back properly. I’m not even sitting up straight. I’m leaning forward a little and going backwards. Six hours like this. Add on top of that that our ‘guide’ has no place to sit and is standing up next to us and selling us on his tuk-tuk service and hotel. I don’t know how many times he has given us his pitch. My legs are going numb and I can’t think straight. You would think this can’t get worse, but it did. The lady sitting to my right is holding the baby. More specifically, she is breastfeeding the baby. While the baby enjoys his dinner, he reaches back and pulls out my arm hair. One by one. Sslloowwllllyy. I can’t move my arm. No room.
 |
| Who's hungry? |
Back in the bus. Three more hours. The ‘guide’ won’t shut about his hotel. None of us plan to go there. Several people have asked how much longer the trip is. Patton included. The ‘guide’ shrugs his shoulder, “Don’t know.” At one point we had to slow down for a police checkpoint. This bus service doesn’t seem on the up and up. I think there was a loaded handshake and we slid on through.
 |
| I am as miserable as I look. |
Towards the end of the six-hour ride we all realized the scam. Now that we are close, they pulled over for a ‘forest break’ and the guide gets in the front and for the first time they actually drove fast. They took forever to get us to the bus station so it would be closed. They couldn’t take us into town because they had filled the bus beyond capacity and would likely have to pay off a cop. They stop just outside of town where an army of tuk-tuks, friends and relatives, were waiting to take us into town for a small additional fee. All of the other people in the bus are livid. It isn’t about the money. It is about principle, which none of these transport companies seem to have. Right now, I have a headache, not principle. I not gonna to argue over a dollar. We get the first tuk-tuk and off we go. Straight to our hotel. We get the last room. Right about the time we head up to our room, some of the other backpackers show up looking for a room. Their principle got them a dollar. My headache got us a room.
Laos is done. Cambodia begins.
Principly yours,
The VIP
www.kevinarmstrongphotography.com
www.facebook.com/kevinarmstrongphotography
www.kevinarmstrongphotography.com
www.facebook.com/kevinarmstrongphotography
And I thought our bus rides in Costa Rica were bad...
ReplyDeleteI think I prefer the beach settings.
ReplyDelete