|
|
|
|
To recap, we left Bangkok around 8 am and it is now 6pm. 5 hours of driving to the border, 5 hours of standing in lines getting through the border. Now we’re crammed into a small “bus,” like an airport shuttle bus, and we start driving down a road that is unbelievably poor. It had downpoured a few times through the day so it was a big mess of mud and giant potholes.
|
|
|
|
The road was seriously just barely navigable. We drove all over it back and forth to get through, all while working around other cars, both oncoming and not. We were averaging about 25 km/h and it felt hairy at times even going that slow. We drove for an hour and a half in this mess, 7:30pm and it’s pitch black. Richard (it sounded like that anyway) then got us off the bus and told us to only follow him because there are bandits who may try to lead us away.
|
|
|
|
So it’s pitch black and there are bandits and we have to try and follow Richard who we can barely see and there’s about 20 of us. And we’re in Cambodia to boot. IT WAS SO SWEET! I was seriously stoked. Danica was slightly afraid but she’s tough and of course I was there so what’s to worry? We set off and Danica and I were at the very back. But it was fend for yourself and people were already lagging and we weren’t about to part of that.
|
|
|
|
So we passed everyone and got directly behind Richard, not because we were scared but because we were smart. We kept having to ask Richard to stop and wait for laggers and he wasn’t too keen on that. If Richard didn’t want to stop, we knew there had to be a reason. Amazingly enough everyone showed up in the end and no incidents. But we passed a man carrying an AK-47 on his back and tons of guys milling around.
|
|
|
|
I should have said earlier the reason we had to hike is because the road was too bad so during this hike there were trucks and cars lined up the whole way stuck until the road could be fixed enough for them to pass, which seriously may be weeks I think. So this whole time we hiked we were alongside vehicles with dark figures hanging around them, watching us go by. And the road was of course muddy and rocky to walk on. But we made it to the other side of the blocked cars where another bus was waiting for us to cart us off to Siem Reap. Whew! Once again, it was so so rad.
I really need to stop writing now and leave so I’ll pick up on the rest of the story here later. Read Danica’s blog for a preview of what I’ll write about if you want. Life over here rocks, we really really love Cambodia, the people here are awesome and it’s way fun. If each day gets better and better I won’t know what to do but be in awe the rest of my life. Later dudes and dudettes.
This is incredible!! I am speechless…guess riding over the Shipes at Snowline gave you some good practice. Read Danica’s story of the floating village…amazing!!! Glad you are safe…keep us posted. Love mom
Cynde mom | April 9th, 2007 at 3:26 pm |