This is the life

Back in Bangkok

Time for a visa run : 6 June 2004

Not much has been going on in the last month...just hanging out on Koh Chang island, reading and relaxing while Smedge 3 is in the works, thanks to Robin. Unfortunately, our Visas had expired so we had to do a run for the border. We figured this would be a good time to head over to Cambodia for a few days, back to Sihanoukville. Back to yet another beautiful beach. Our trip over was interesting to say the least. It started at the border where we had problems with my passport. All the border guys where discussing my passports as they passed it amongst themselves. My passport, as we know is valid, it's just a little hard to read that, with it being washed with the laundry and all.....yeah, I know, we're stupid. Anyway, I think we looked pretty innocent so they let us go. Phew. From here we were "supposed" to be picked up by a mini bus and taken to Sihanoukville but instead we were picked up by motorcycles and dropped of at Koh Kong (nowhere near Sihanoukville). We were given the choice to either spend the night here and catch the next bus to Sihanoukville in the morning or hire a taxi to drive us that afternoon. Seeing that it was only 11:30 am, we decided to get a taxi. We figured we could get to Sihanoukville by sunset. HA! The drive was beautiful. The road was incredibly bumpy and muddy, but the lush surroundings were amazing. We passed through three separate little villages that sat on the river banks. We would drive to the edge of the river and wait for a little three car barge to take us across. Are we there yet? The barges themselves where basically some planks of wood that lay on top of three parallel river boats. We would drive onto this and hope for the best. And off course, this would involve the whole village. The kids are great, but they are relentless when it comes to selling stuff. The trip was long, we where prepared for a solid 6 or so hours, but this turned into about 11 hours. It was starting to get dark, it was raining and we where in the middle of nowhere, this is obviously the perfect place to break down. Totally stranded. There was no way this car was going to drive anymore. I'm not sure what the actual problem was but I do know that the car made this awful, wrenching noise whenever our driver put it in gear. We didn't need to understand Khmer to know that this was bad. Soon enough we became the interest of everyone that passed by. People would stop and just hung out and watch, basically they were watching nothing, nothing was happening. We were all just standing in the rain looking at the dead car. It really doesn't take much to get a crowd going in the remote parts of Cambodia. About an hour later a guy showed up in a car with some rope. He towed us across the bumpy, muddy road into the next town. We were sitting in the car being towed..hmmmmm? At this point Robin and I have no idea what time it is or how far or close we are to our destination. Our driver spoke NO english AT ALL. Whatever, we figured we would get there eventually. We pulled into a little shack, this was the service station. After alot of chatter and laughter amongst them, we realized that they where going to try to fix the car right there and then, after they ate, off course. From behind a waterfall Robin and I waited patiently, along with the twenty thousand mosquitoes that hung out around the lighbulb above our heads. After about another hour or so we where off again. I felt bad for our driver. He was not having a very good day. On top of everything he was lost. Thank God Robin remembered the area a bit from the last time we drove in. I sure didn't. It was dark and raining, I could barely see nevermind recognize anything. In any case, we made it. It was actually really fun. I don't think our driver felt the same. The next day was awesome. We started of the day at the Kbal Chhay Waterfall. We climbed around the rocks and falls and took pictures of the local people. There where no other tourists to be found which was great but we do think it might have been the local place to do laundry..and I think that it was laundry day. From here we drove along the coast to a beautiful stretch of beach called Ream Beach. It was absolutely beautiful. The epitomy of Paradise. We hung out in a little thatched open hut on the sand about 10 ft from the crystal clear blue green water. We swayed in hammocks as we watched the sandcrabs digging holes in the sand. There where no hotels or crowds to be found. Just a row of huts on the sand. Tara (our driver) asked if we wanted some lunch, maybe some chicken and rice? We figured we wouldn't be moving for a while so why not have lunch. I couldn't think of a better location. "Sounds good, as long as it's not that chicken" I said jokingly as I pointed at the cute little chicken that was hanging out near us. Ha ha. Hanging out at Ream Beach But no sooner had we joked about it than we saw the woman grabbing the chicken. I tried not to think about it. Robin heard the chicken cry out, I was still trying to act like it wasn't really happening....But I couldn't help it, I had to look. I looked just in time to see her holding the now headless chicken and a hatchet. I didn't really know how to feel about this, so I went swimming. (Good answer - huh) About an hour or so later, which is about the average waiting time for food in Cambodia, we had a feast island style. A mat was layed out in the hut with all the food placed in the middle. The centerpiece being the whole cooked chicken. We sat on the floor and picked chicken off the bone with our fingers. It was actually incredibly tasty. Poor chicken. Oh well. We plan to hang out in Cambodia for a few more days then we are heading back to Thailand. We plan to go to Bangkok for a few days so we can re check in our luggage for another few months then back to our beautiful little resort on Koh Chang. We just can't stay away.