Our travel to Thialand

February 3-8
Sunday-Friday

Katrina and I decided to leave Cambodia during our week off. We’re planning on going to Thailand to visit Phil and see the country. Prior to this trip we couldn’t decide if we wanted to go to Vietnam or Thailand because Katrina has been to Thailand. So, we ran into some problems on where to go. How ever we came to a conclusion, Thailand.
On the 3rd we headed to the bus station at 7:30 am and traveled to Sihanoukville. Upon arriving we got really confused where to buy fairy tickets.
All the moto drivers as usual were all in our faces trying to be “helpful”. I really hate it when I’m crowed with people who don’t let me think (thinking before acting is a great idea). Because what happens is you get all confused and end up going to the wrong place. Yes, that is what happened! Katrina and I were originally planning on going to Koh Chang; islands outside of Thailand, but got pushed into going to Koh Kong. You know how you know the answer to a question, but when the questionnaire asks, all your knowledge gets jumbled together. Well that kind of happened when the moto drivers answered our question to, “Where is the fairy that goes to Koh Chang?” With the language barrier they thought we said Koh Kong, and would not let Katrina and I think for at least 5 seconds. I was getting really pissed off with this one moto driver who was mocking us because we (Katrina and I) were trying to figure things out. At one point he said, “Do you understand English?”
(What a little bastard) So, after we bought the fairy tickets we found a place to sleep, and chilled at the beach for the rest of the day.


On the 4th we traveled to Koh Kong by boat. I didn’t know what to expect upon arriving. For all I knew we would be riding on the back/top of a shipment boat. Thankfully it was not like that, but quite nice. As we boarded, Katrina wanted to sit on top of the boat (no seats on top. Just sit Indian style and hold on for life). I really didn’t want to because I was in skirt and didn’t feel like climbing on top of a boat, but gave in and was happy in the end except for the sun burn I got (I should have thought about bring sun screen). The boat ride was pretty nice, we got lots of wind, sun and the view of all the little islands; very pretty! Oh! I heard French spoken for the first time in real life. I was totally thinking of the Wilkins family the whole time and how they could chat up a storm with them. I personally was intimidated by them, not sure why. Maybe because French people don’t like American to much, so as you can imagine I kept my talking to a minimum. Our boat ride was about four hours. When we arrived in Koh Kong we had no idea of where to go, so we got into a taxi that took us to the Thailand border. Getting in to Thailand was pretty easy, because we are American citizens we didn’t have to pay for an entry fee.
Our taxi man was trying to rip us off and said we had to pay three dollars each, when at the dock (where he picked us up) he said two dollars. I was not happy with him and refused to pay him the extra dollar and walked away. He kept trying to push the money back at us while saying, “You no pay!” but I just ignored him and hoped he would leave us alone. So finally we got on to a bus that was going to take us to Pattaya. A place Ben and Kim went for their honeymoon. The bus ticket costs eight hundred baht, which comes to a whopping twenty-five dollars. May not sound like much to you Americans whom make more than me, but I only had one hundred and twenty dollars to spend on this trip and had to take the cheapest routes. Anyway, our bus ride was five hours and was quite comfortable. There were two other Americans who live in Thailand and as I quote, “because I’m a dirty old man.” There was also a man from London who could speak pretty good English.
So after five hours in the bus we finally arrived in Pattaya. Katrina and I had no idea of what the hell to do. So I quickly said a pray and asked God to send us a helper. Not even five minutes after my pray the Americans (who live in Thailand) asked us what were planning on doing. The conversation ended with him helping us out. He recommended an area which was cheap and safe. One of the Americans got really pissed of with the taxi driver because he didn’t know his way around Pattaya and ended up getting kicked off the bus. Katrina and I were a little worried because we didn’t know what to do with out him helping us. So he told the taxi driver to take us to this area.
Out of nowhere the taxi driver demanded more money, fifty baht, and we didn’t want to pay for that. So, we got dumped off the bus with the guy from London. He was an older man and asked us if we wanted to get a drink before finding a place to stay. I immediately played the really tired role and just wanted to find a place to sleep. He understood and we continued to find this area, but in the commotion of everything we got separated from him because he didn’t want to pay the taxi driver the price he wanted. Katrina and I just wanted to find a place to relax and it was about eight or so by now. The taxi driver took us to a guest house called the Utid Court and costs five hundred baht a night. The guest house is ok; it’s equipped with a T.V., bathroom, fridge, closet and bed for one. There is however no window, but who cares. The price is perfect for us and it’s actually pretty nice.
The 5th we had nothing on the agenda because we came to the wrong place. If we had a chance to think before we acted back in Sihanoukville we would not be in this situation. Never the less Katrina and I were fine. We are the kind of people who can make do with what is thrown. I just laugh at us sometimes because we really are laid back and who knows if that will gets us into trouble someday.
All we did that day was go to Mike’s mall and look around. Oh, and also Katrina got a tattoo. She was planning on doing this sometime and decided to do it here in Pattaya. So we spent an hour or so at the tattoo place. The tattoo artist was so funny. His name was Jo and he gave Katrina a discount because she was part Pilipino. Katrina designed the tattoo of North and South America with ‘have’ on North and ‘hope’ on South America. Really cute and it fits her personality.

I would have gotten one too, but didn’t because I don’t want to have to wear pants all year long to cover up my ankle.
After that we went down to the beach and got fruit from the street vendors and chilled out there. We also chilled at Starbucks for awhile, and ironically enough we saw the French man drive by on a moto looking really lost and confused; we laughed at this. That evening we didn’t want to spend much money so we bought a half chicken and rice from another street vendor, and spent the rest of the night chilling in the room watching Eva Almighty. We are planning on going to Bangkok tomorrow to visit Phil.
Alright finally I have caught up on my blog (Jan 6th). So, today we left from Pattaya at 9:30 a.m. which will put us in Bangkok around 11:30 a.m. While on the bus I really had to pee the whole time, and would have gone if I would pull myself to get up and go. You see the first time I tried to go (on the bus) I didn’t think the door could open any farther than already opened. I knew I couldn’t fit in through little space so I just went and sat back down, but quickly hoped I hadn’t. I also gave a disgusted face to the others sitting by me which gestured to, no way in hell! So, as I sat their in agony one person after another went to the bathroom and pulled the door open all the way. “If I only had pulled the door open more, than I wouldn’t be in this situation”, I thought. None the less I couldn’t pull myself to get back up and go to the bathroom. I didn’t want people thinking, “Oh well now she really has to go.” Stupid I know!

We were supposed to call Phil when we arrived, but ended up having trouble getting the pay phones to work. I finally gave in and asked someone; I’m such a man sometimes. After Phil took us to his humble-abode I was really overwhelmed with the city. Phil and Katrina were laughing at me because I wasn’t talking and looked perplexed. Truthfully I hate cities and get really uncomfortable with so many people. That afternoon Phil took us to one of many malls. I was blown away with Bangkok. At the mall you have Gucci, Dolce and Gabbana, and crazy food prices. I wanted the cheapest thing I could find and figured it would be fruit; how I was wrong. A freaking guava costs me thirty five baht; ridiculous! I could have gotten that from a street vendor for maybe ten baht. Also in the mall they had an aquarium on the bottom floor. I couldn’t pass this up. Katrina didn’t want to go because she has been to this kind of thing before and me, whom lives in Montana has only gone one other time; eight grade year in Seattle. I felt weird being in there all alone among couples and parents, but figured I can’t do everything with people. I need to things I want to do even if that means doing it by myself. Oh! You should be proud because I held my first snake. It was called the corn snake (I think). I would look it up, but I don’t have internet right now and it’s not that big of a deal to me. All I care about is that I held a snake! So exciting! The people were laughing at me

because I looked so scared. The picture tells it all. For the first time I got to walk in an underwater tunnel. It was so cool. I also got to ride in a glass boat, which is a boat with glass on the bottom so you can see all the fish; saw lots of sharks. After touring the aquarium I got to see a 4-D show. It was really cool because the seats moved and puffed air in our faces. After leaving the mall Katrina and I had to head back to the apartment to see Phil off. He has to travel to Chang Mia to renew his visa. He was kind enough to let us stay in his place. Anyway, on the way back we got lost. Phil told us to take the 71 bus, and after two over head walk ways to count to ten then push the bottom to stop the bus. We ended up counting to fast and got totally lost. I don’t know how many times we walked up and down the streets before we figured it out. It was comical.

Dinner we walked down the street where Phil showed us earlier to the street vendors. Our dinner consisted of chicken, fish, rice, and some kind of papaya, but with a twist. Just think our dinner cost 95 baht and a latte at Starbucks would be 145 baht. You see what I mean by the street vendors are really cheap and really really good. So far this trip was been anything but boring. I love it and only hope for the next two day it will be just as good.

On the seventh we had nothing really planned. So the night before we stayed up until two or three o’clock in the morning figuring things out or just taking the opportunity of wireless. Anyway, we finally figured out we would go see some museums, go to the park, and at night we would go see Jeanie (our SM coordinator from WWU). Jeanie was in Bangkok for some meeting with other SM coordinators from SDA colleges.

We finally got out of the room around nine-tenish. We took the sky train to Limpini Park. This was one of the bigger parks in Bangkok. Katrina and I decided to spend our time there because we don’t have parks in Phnom Penh, and were broke. After getting off the sky train we crossed a street and made our way into the park. I really wanted something to eat and was looking forward towards the street vendors, but nothing was there. So, I settled for an ice coffee.

Sitting by the big pond, which stretched throughout the park, we notice duck boats on the water and wondered if we could rent one. I really wanted to do it so we walked over and paid eighty baht. If we returned the duck boat on time (half an hour) than we would get our forty baht back. At the time there were fountains in the water and I got the bright idea to get wet. Approaching the fountain I realized I didn’t want to get that wet, but it was already too late. Katrina freaked out and stopped peddling which turned the duck around and got me soaking wet. There was a security man on the shore with his hands on his hips grinning at us. I couldn’t help but laugh at him. It was really funny! We got our butts soaking wet, which didn’t dry until we left the park. While flaunting about on the water we saw these really huge lizard looking like things; Komodo dragon (?). One was right on the shore of the water and I didn’t realize how close we got to it until Katrina said something because I was looking through my camera. After returning the duck we walked over to the playground. The security man blew his whistle while we were swinging (They use whistle for everything here. Like at the Sky train, if so much as your sleeve crosses the yellow line he will blow his whistle. Everyone looks at you like, didn’t you know; stupid foreigners.). I guess in Thailand older people can’t play on the toys.

We left the park about twoish and headed out to the museums. Since Katrina and I didn’t know how to speak Thai and their language is mostly tonal it was really hard to get around other than the Sky train. So for the most part we stuck to the places the Sky train took us to. Our first stop was the Thai Culture Design Center (TCDC). It was located in one of the many malls on the 6^th floor. After locating the elevator we noticed there was not a 6^th floor. So we got off on the 5^th floor and asked someone where the TCDC was. She looked at me like, you are on the 5^th floor you need to go one more floor up. But I responded, “There is no 6^th floor. So do you know where the TCDC is?” She said we were in the wrong part of the building. How the hell was I suppose to know there was two parts to this mall. None the less she said to go to the ground floor and we could find our way from there. We did find the building and the elevator, but when we got into the elevator which was suppose to take us up to the 6^th floor we didn’t see 6^th floor on the button thingy. So we waited until the next person got into the elevator to ask where the TCDC was. After pushing the button to our destination he said, “Not very well designed, huh?” He was totally right. Who would have ever thought the 6^th floor button said TCDC. I felt so stupid and irritated. The TCDC was pretty nice. Not very many exhibits to see, but it was something to do for free. We didn’t get to see the other museum I wanted to see because we could find it. So we decided to go check out movie times. After that it was time to go see Jeanie. She provided free dinner so we decided not to eat all day so we could save some money. On our way to the Sky train we got to see a mini show of Chinese New Year celebration. I have never seen a big dragon before, so I was really excited.

Our last night in Thailand we decided to see a movie. We orginally wanted to see Beowulf but thetiming never worked out, so we watched American Gangsters. It was really good. But as always the movie theater was freezing. On our way home we had to take taxi because the Sky train closes at midnight. Just to let you know it’s safer in Thailand than in Cambodia so we could be outside at this time of night. When we got into the taxi I said where to go from the paper Phil gave to us. I didn’t know if I told him right because I thought we were going the wrong way the whole time. Katrina and I got mad at each other because I was freaking out. Understandable, I was freaking out and not doing anything, but I didn’t know what to do; I don’t speak Thai. It turned out I must have said it right enough for the taxi driver because he took us to the right place. Phil was supposed to arrive back from Chang Mia that morning so, I cleaned up our stuff a little bit.
Our last morning in Thailand; we thought. It turned out that if we left that morning to Koh Kong we would have to spend the night there until the bus left the next morning. So we decided to say one more day so we could save the little money we had left. That final day we went on a boat tour with Jeanie and whole bunch of other SM coordinators. We got to see some temples and mini museums filled with old battle boats. They were pretty cool. Sadly I don’t have pictures because we had to pay extra money. After the boat tour we went to one of the malls and Jeanie treated us to lunch. It was really good. Once we parted with Jeanie Phil, Katrina, and I all decided to go to a park and chill. No money is a bummer. This park was not nearly as big as the one Katrina and I went to, but it didn’t matter because we just sat on a bench for a couple of hours and talked. It was about 5is before we left the park and headed to the bus station to see when the buses leave. Looking at the times, we decided to leave at eleven thirty. This way we would not have to wait at the border for so long before it opened at seven.
Leaving was stressful because our taxi driver was as slow as molasses. We figured a taxi would be faster than the sky train; how wrong we were. It took us almost thirty minutes to drive three to four miles. Our taxi driver was so relaxed listening to his radio while Katrina and I were freaking out in the back seat. We only had five minutes before the bus left and not an end in sight. We were seriously thinking of getting out of the taxi and running to the bus station, only problem we didn’t know where we were. Needless to say we made it to the bus station with a few minutes to spare. Getting on the bus we had assigned seats. It was a quit comfortable bus. We both fell asleep. Trat was our next destination. The travelers guide said there was a bus to Hat Lek to Koh Kong which left at four thirty in the morning. Our bus from Bangkok arrived at Trat around fourish. Just enough time to figure our next step.
I left Katrina with all the luggage while I left to figure things out. I figured out where are bus was and how much it was. Thank goodness there was an English speaker near our bus, without her we’d still be in Trat. There were about ten people in the van. We would be in this bus for about an hour. Once we arrived at the boarder it was still dark and things were looking a little familiar. At the boarder we had to wait for about an other hour before it opened. So, we just cuddled up in a blanket and read our books. After crossing the boarder we saw the same man who tried to rip us off at the beginning of our trip. I just laughed at him because he was glaring at us. Thankfully we found a good English speaker who understood that we didn’t have much money. He took us to Koh Kong for one hundred baht. We asked him about a bus to Phnom Penh and he said since it was Chinese New Year everything was full. We were really freaking out because we didn’t have enough money to stay somewhere and got home. So the whole moto ride I just prayed that God find us a way home. I didn’t care if we had to ride in the back of a truck with the animals; I just wanted to get home. The first bus station was full and I was really worried, but the moto driver said we have one more place to check, but was not sure. As we drove to the next one I really prayed that God get us home. I all of a sudden heard something say, “My child have faith.” It kind of freaked me out, but I knew we were in God’s hands and that he was going to provide. Sure enough He did find us a ride home. The last bus that left for Phnom Penh and it only had room for two more. The van was completely full of Khmer people (15) and all were staring at me, but I didn’t care. I was just happy to be on a bus home. The ride home was about six hours. On our last stretch home we were extremely tired so we just slept. This older woman was sitting behind me and pulled my hair and yelled at me in Khmer because my head was bobbing while I was sleeping. I was a little pissed, but to tired to do anything about it. Also in the bus this man behind me kept playing with my hair; creepy.
Arriving home I asked the drive to drop us off near Toul Kok. This is the area we live. I was so happy to be home! The trip to Thailand was really fun but I think next time I want to plan it out more. It was my fault for not helping Katrina with the planning, but I know if we go anywhere anymore I will surly help out.