There is the usual confusion in the morning. Some people have bought tickets from the hostel and some have bought from outside. So you have a Cambodian man running over to you checking your ticket and then speaking Cambodian to some other bloke, while you just stand there. After some backwards and forwards of my ticket I get on this bus outside the hostel. It's a large bus, but it is old and the AC is pathetic. It's ok I think to myself, at least this bus is only as far as the station, where I'll be getting on a nice new bus with some cold air blasting. No! All the way to the boarder in this thing! At least I have a seat to myself. This was of little consolation as I was sitting in my own sweat! I have discovered that I have a unique ability when it comes to buses. I always pick the side that has the sun streaming in. Brilliant! There is an older Israeli man on the bus, who is not afraid of voicing his distain, not that it makes a difference. I have developed an additional, significantly more useful ability, to be able to sleep anywhere. Even in these hot and wet conditions I'm kipping away. Shortly before we get to the boarder we stop for a toilet break. Our tickets are checked and we are given a white sticker. So, we get left at the boarded, check out of Cambodia, check in to Thailand and then a man will be looking for our white stickers to put us on a bus at the other side, sounds easy!
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This boarder is much busier than any of the other ones I have been to. People everywhere. I join one of the lines, it is slow moving but I get to the window an hand over my passport. The guy just hands it back, motioning that I haven't filled out the departure card! God dammit! I have to go off to the side and fill it in as I am not allowed to do it at the window. I don't even know why they need you to fill these cards in, seems stupid to me. It contains all the same information that is on my passport, just a pointless paperwork exercise if you ask me! I get back to the same guy, after another wait, I smile with glee as I hand home my passport. I don't think he is capable of smiling. I have to go through the same fingerprint scanning that I did when I entered and then I am released. I'm slightly concerned that I am the last person from our group and so I walk with purpose. I needn't have concerned myself, I join another queue. I fill in my arrival card and wait. This queue moves about 10ft in 40mins. I'm about 60ft away from the door in to the unknown. I pass the time speaking to an English guy who is beside me. He is pretty boring, but better than no talking, though only marginally. When we get inside, surprise, surprise more queues. Luckily I pick the right line and it moves quickly and I get my stamp and move on. Shove my bags through a scanner and then outside, where, true enough, a guy spots my sticker, takes my ticket and writes number 3 on it. I walk a little further down and see two other people from my bus, 1 and 2. How am I the third one here? Never worry, I'm here now and that's all that matters. By the thine everyone gets out I think we have spent over 3 hours in the boarder area. What a joke!
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Next thing I see the bus! Some we mini bus, where we have to take up the front row of seats with our luggage. Israel isn't happy, though this keeps me amused. I am fully aware that the tour operators lie to you and tell you that you will travel in luxury, the reality is always so different, but what can you do? It's not as if your going to go back to shout at them, and that wouldn't change anything anyway, we are in Asia. I keep my expectations low, then sometimes I am surprised. Ha ha ha. Not very often. So we all cram in to this minibus and off we go, at least the AC works better, but then a fart in to jelly would have produced more draught than this mornings bus! I am crammed in the corner, I convinced that I am receiving minimal AC! First thing I notice is the quality of the roads. Proper Tarmac roads, and highways. Our driver is easily pumping along at 100kph, though the discovery of this statistic does not leave my awash with confidence. At least they drive on the correct side of the road here, the left, so at least they do something right. We eventually arrive in Bangkok, but the traffic is so bad that it takes us a further hour to get to Ko Shan Road, well, near Ko Shan Road, the bus drops us. The Israeli pipes up again, ha! I have to ask 2 or 3 people for directions as I bundle along with all my gear. I end up trying 4 or 5 hostels down the road and they are all booked. I come across a hotel, brand new, it's expensive, but I am tired and don't want to look anymore so I check in and go to see the surrounding area.
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I am 5mins for Ko Shan Road, a tourist mecha! A street lined with pubs and stalls, with street food karts up the centre and more white people than Thai. My dinner consists of some skewered kebabs and nan kebabs. Great stuff. You can tell that this place is not real Thailand, so touristy it is unbelievable. I head home, noting a Starbucks for my morning coffee, maybe they will have gingerbread latte.