Siem Riep to Bangkok: In Trouble with the Law

Very early in the morning, after three glorious days in Siem Riep at our wonderful hotel, we prepared to board a bus to the border. Lonely Planet loves to remind you of "Scam Buses" in the area- since the drive to Bangkok is only around six hours, many buses will take you to a border further South, making the six hour trip a twelve hour trip, dropping you in front of their partner guesthouse and assuming that you will be too tired after the journey to look elsewhere.

OR there's a bus that will offer to take care of your Thai visa, so they will charge you the "visa fee" and run your passport through immigration. There is no visa fee, it's always free to enter Thailand, so some people get tricked that way.

We thought we did pretty well when we booked our bus. We made sure it went through the right border and made sure we got the visas ourselves. The plan was: pay for a ticket directly to Bangkok but switch buses at the border. Foolproof, right?

Well, yes. Sort of.

First of all, this guy comes in his car to pick us up at our hotel. Strange, but we've seen strange and weren't put off by it. Another Japanese couple were already in the car.

Second, when we arrived to the bus... not to sound snobbish, but I was just surprised... it was really run down and dumpy looking. We usually paid ten bucks and got a really nice air con bus, so to pay twelve and get this was an unpleasant surprise... more for Pat than me, who has issues with leg room at the best of times. But still! No problem, we're on our way to Bangkok. Nothing will stop us now!

We got on the bus to find throngs of foreigners- only foreigners- already loaded onto the bus with all of our bags piled in the back. Interesting. One always becomes a bit suspicious when they look around and can't find a local. It makes you think that there are much better ways to get where you're going. But even that didn't bother us and we found a seat.

After the bus was filled (over)capacity, we finally got on the dusty road to the border. LP says the road is full of potholes, but it has been fixed since they printed their last guide so it was one of the smoother rides we had. We continued on, having a nice conversation with the last guy to board the bus, who therefore had to sit on the floor by the bus driver. Among the crowd there were some rowdy Dutch who kept the whole bus laughing, a haughty wannabe hippy who spent most of the time on her cellphone talking (loudly) about the great yoga detox she was going to do when she got to Bali, and two women- one with a videocamera who kept filming the every move of her travel buddy, which we thought was strange.

We made our first stop after about two hours, and the driver immediately got out and started eating with the people who owned the place. The Dutch said "Probably extended family".

We hung out for about 30 minutes as children did their rounds, asking everyone for their foreign coins. I haven't quite figured out why they wanted foreign coins, but I was happy to see that they weren't begging and they were actually quite cute. So yeah, I gave them some Thai Baht. One of the older kids ran over to me and tied a piece of coloured string around my wrist as a thank you. Then we were on our way again.

About 15 minutes later, we stopped again. Huh? Why would we stop after only 15 minutes?

"Lunch time" said the bus driver.

It was 10 AM.

The entire bus of foreigners became mutinous.

"We don't want to eat lunch, we want to get to the border!"

"How much longer until we get to the border?"

"We just #%%^&& stopped!"

"We aren't going to spend any money here."

And so on.

The bus driver said, "I don't care if you think it's too early. In Cambodia, it's lunchtime. We are stopping for 30 minutes".

And that was that.

The bus was in an uproar. The wannabe hippy girl suggested we all stay on the bus as a show of solidarity. That lasted for about 5 minutes, when the smokers decided to go out to smoke and everyone else decided to stretch their legs. Ever the "hippy", the girl stubbornly stayed put the entire time. The only person on the bus.

After a time we did, eventually, get to the border. And the crossing was fine, and we waited on the other side for our new bus, thinking "this is Thailnd, no more crappy buses!".

Then, instead of being loaded on a big, air con bus we were shown to two minibuses. OK, whatever. Air con, at least.

However, they never thought about room. They overloaded the bus in Siem Riep, and now there weren't enough seats for all the passengers. After some fiddling around, Pat and I were wedged tightly next to the luggage. Great. Very comfortable.

We were driving for about 20 minutes when our driver got a call on his cellphone.

"Janine MacLean? Canada?"

"Yes...", I said.

"Ah." The driver said something into his cellphone and turned the minibus around, taking us back towrds the border. I was petrified. The driver couldn't speak any English so he just pointed at a passport and made an X with his arms. Something wrong with my passport? Had I been accused of some crime that I didn't do? Did something happen to my family back home? A million things ran through my mind as I mentally prepared to freak out. Pat was looking extremely concerned, the Dutch guy was cracking jokes about me being a terrorist, and the woman (who we found out was filming a documentary about her friend who is very rich and lives in LA and never travelled anything but first class) was videotaping every second of my agony.

We passed by an Army Base where they had all the soldiers out, marching. The Dutch guy said "My God, what did you do?!"

I was very pale. I was terrified. I thought I was going to jail where I would be beaten and, eventually, executed.

We arrived and the stern looking official who stamped my passport looked in the bus and said "Janine MacLean?"

I timidly said "Yes?"

"I need to talk to you. Step outside, please"

My legs were shaking so badly I could barely walk. I made Pat come with me for support. That man was scary.

As I got outside, he broke out into a huge smile.

"Ahhh! Sorry, sorry! I made mistake with your passport! I would be given large penalty for mistake! Thank you for understanding!"

I was torn between hugging him and punching him in the face. That was one of the scariest ordeals of my life. And for nothing! Apparently, he had given me a 60 day visa by accident, when I was technically only allowed in the country for 14 days.

He said, "I understand you are leaving in two days, but I needed to make sure to fix my mistake. Thank you for understanding and I hope you visit our country again".

Wow! Hilarious. First of all, how did he know I was leaving? Maybe he called the airport to ask when my departure date was? Who knows. Second of all, he would have been in serious trouble if I had overstayed my 14 day allowance. So ends the terror and so ends my last real adventure on the trip.

We arrived in Bangkok early that evening, and got ourselves a hotel. We did some shopping on Khao San Rd., and the next day we went to the fancy business and shopping centre of the city, where we though Pat might find some shows that actually fit him (nonexistent in Korea).

We arrived at the airport right on schedule, I took some valium to quell my fears, and before we could blink we were back in Korea. Our trip was over. So, so sad.

Our Journey Through The "Danger Zone"

We spent Wednesday night in Kota Bahru. This time we found a great, newly opened little guesthouse. I mean, it was ok. The owner was really nice and helpful and there were all kinds of DVD's to watch, which means I got some real relaxation time on the couch. And that hasn't happened in a long time, so I was happy.

The guy at the guesthouse asked us where we were headed. We said Thailand. Kota Bahru is really close to one of the Malaysia/Thai borders (there are three altogether) so it was much easier for us to cross over at this border after spending time in the Perhentians. That being said, Southern Thailand has been in a state of emergency for some time. We were fully aware of this and had discussed the border crossing with every backpacker we met who had gone that way. Every backpacker said the same thing: lots of soldiers with guns, and no problems whatsoever.

I remained unconvinced. Lonely Planet had warnings about the area in their guidebook and the Canadian government website (which one should never read if they ever want to travel ANYWHERE because there are warnings about every country) said that travel through the area should be avoided at all costs. The supposed "terrorists" (really, they are Muslim separatists who have a huge beef with Thai Buddhists) have never directly targetted tourists as they have no problems with them, but being in the wrong place at the wrong time has seen a few Canadians shot in past years. The same goes for Halifax, or Toronto. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time can really suck.

So, taking the word of allll the other backpackers who have crossed the border here already (and because we really had no other choice in the matter), we got up early Thursday morning, had a quick breakfast and boarded a bus to the border- about an hours drive away.

You can tell you're reaching the border immediately, simply due to the army's presence- on both sides of the border. There have been problems at this particular border in the past and both sides were heavily guarded as a result. As we got off the bus, we sudden;y heard all kinds of sirens. Later, Pat would tell me he cursed under his breath as soon as he heard them, because he knew I would be difficult enough to get across the border. As we watched all the "Bomba Squad" trucks race past, I stood firmly and told Pat we were NOT going across this border today. No way.

Well, Pat put his foot down and practically dragged me across the border. And I was glad he did. It was only a drill, and there was noone threatening our safety. As we crossed over into Thailand, the number of men in khaki with large guns drastically increased. We got through the border with no problem and made our way to the train station. The number of soldiers with large guns increased even more! The train was full, so we found a minibus to take us to the city of Hat Yai, where we could get another minibus to Krabi and out of the conflict zone. I was still nervous but I didn't have to be.

About every few kilometres there were blockades set up to slow vehicles down as soldiers checked inside (with very large guns). After awhile I began to feel very well protected, and of course we made it to Krabi without even a scratch. The food here is amazing.

The "conflict" in Southern Thailand is rarely brought up on the news, but over 2000 people have been killed- both by these "terrorists" on the Muslim side and by Thai soldiers. While the separatists have never targetted innocent civilians in the past, when the military coup happened a few years ago the government took a verrrry heavy handed approch to the conflict- which included brutally killing over a hundred young men found with machetes and strangling another 70 soon after. Thing escalated after this, and the separatists began more indiscriminate acts of violence, stating that "they would kill all Thai Buddhists".

It's a very sad situation. And it's taking place in a very beautiful part of Thailand, which rich culture. I hope some peace comes to the area someday. I'm glad we went through there, even if we weren't really supposed to.

Dolphin Watching in Lovina

In light of my last post, I would like to say that I went to the doctor today and he gave me some xanax. Which has been nothing short of wonderful. Actually, I was worried to go to the doctor here because everyone's always going on about the "level of healthcare", yadda yadda yadda. The doctor was almost exactly the same as my doctor back home. He did a physical test and then confessed to me that even he suffers from hypochondria. Apparently, when he is alone with his thoughts, he is obsessed that something is wrong with his heart and compulsively checks his pulse. It's kinda funny that I had to come all the way across the world, to a third world country, to find a doctor who understands me. Interesting!

Anyway, this morning (after spending a *free* night at a guesthouse because we used their transport since arriving in Bali) at 6 AM, we stumbled out of our little room to go to the beach and meet a man who said he would take us dolphin watching for a few hours. When we arrived we met our sole boatmate, a Swiss girl named Sandra, which also happened to be the name of our boat. Again, interesting, no?

The guy took us out in Lovina Bay and immediately we could see that we were not the only tourists up early to catch a glimpse of the little rascals. There must have been twenty dolphin watching boats in the harbour, so our guy told us to wait patiently and we would soon have the place to ourselves. We watched with interest as he led a long string with a bell attached to the end of it into the water. I thought maybe it was a way to call the dolphins... yes, I'm lame. Actually, it was a fishing line, and it had about 30 or 40 hooks attached to it. We cruised around in the boat for maybe five minutes, and he stopped and excitedly pulled his line in, one hook at a time. He got a pretty good catch- all herring!

When more of the boats cleared out and headed for home, he took us out a little further into the harbour. Not five minutes later we saw the first of the dolphins! They were all jumping and doing crazy flips and having a great time! I would have been pleased with this alone, but by the end of the hour our boat was literally surrounded by an enormous amount of dolphins. It was a beautiful morning!

After dolphin watching, things got a little strange. He took us to a beautiful place in the water where it was clear all the way down to the bottom with hundreds of beautiful, colourful fish and said we could snorkel if we wanted. Pat and I didn't know that snorkeling was included in the deal, but Sandra seemed to be in the know, and she was a little confused that we didn't know anything about it. Oh well, if he is offering snorkeling, no problem. It was a beautiful spot so we jumped in the water (it was sooo warm) and even fed the fish little pieces of bread. They were totally unafraid of us and the entire time they would brush past my arm or leg and freak me out a bit.

After the snorkeling, he took us home and told us we owed him 10 bucks for snorkeling. Um... I don't think so! We got angry at him and told him he tricked us. Which he did. By the end of the day, he was still trying to get us back in his boat. We ignored him. Way to ruin a perfect morning, buddy.




They look so pretty in the early morning light!



Show off.



They were surrounding us.


Beautiful Lovina as seen from the harbour.



Where we went snorkeling.

In Lovina... Goodbye Ubud!

Well, I guess for everyone, traveling has it's ups and it's downs, and it's been a bad couple of days for me. I am still reveling in the lush beauty that is Bali, but at the moment it is difficult for me to think about anything but home, and how, at home, I don't have to worry about getting sick from fruit or mosquitoes.

Yes, readers, I am a self professed (not to mention clinical!) hypochondriac. I have always had OCD, but never really worried about my health until I moved to Korea. About a year ago, around Christmastime, I had a sudden panic attack about my situation. What if I get in an accident before I can go home and see my family again? What if I have some hidden cancer or neurological disease lying dormant just waiting to rear it's ugly head? What if I have to go through all kinds of horrible medical procedures while away from home? What if I never make it home?

It became an obsession, first taking the form of ALS, and when I didn't feel so twitchy (also, after seeing the movie PS: I Love You) I became thoroughly convinced that I had a brain tumour. Indeed, I would get a headache every day after seeing the movie and I was actually certain that I had one, and that every Korean doctor I would see was having trouble with the language barrier. That was not a good time for me, and I'm not even sure how I managed to get through it without chickening out and going home. I guess it helped that I met Patrick and suddenly wasn't alone anymore. Yoga also helped. But it never really goes away. I'm always worrying about some part of my body.

Sooo, travelling with this affliction (let's call it an affliction) isn't the easiest thing in the world. Especially in Southeast Asia, where, it seems, illness is just waiting for you to come visit. The last few days have been very difficult for me and it's all Patrick can do to try and talk some sense into me. All I want to do is see a doctor every day. Also, I simply want to cut and run home when the anxiety is bad. But then I think about all the planning and excitement that I've put into this trip and how I need to follow through with it and that keeps me somewhat afloat. I just hate having to deal with all this anxiety, and even if I got reassurance from a doctor every day, it still would not make the anxiety go away. And, indeed, simply beng anxious all the time makes me 100 times more sick than I would be without anxiety. Headaches, nausea, trembling- everything is associated with anxiety. Which also kind of sucks, because what if, for once, it isn't simply anxiety? There's never any way to tell, and the uncertainty of my situation makes me all the more worried.

Sorry, no happy stories today- although we had a great time at our cooking class yesterday and I will certainly post pictures soon. Don't worry, I just needed to vent. More tomorrow :) xo