Day 8, Tuesday 26th February - Bangkok

Siem Reap departure..... 6 am is just about right as I pack my things. I take a big breakfast: I hope I'm doing the right thing as the symptoms of diarrhea have been on and off since I've been here. This Cambodian tour has become an 8-day tour as I prepare to leave Siem Reap. I have to say I've been most comfortable at Ancient Angkor Villa. The staff have been wonderful, the service and facilities more than I would expect. A couple of other guests have stressed how hot it's been during the last few days. One apparently took on 3 liters of water during his tour of the Park. I'm more than satisfied with my decision to stay near the pool yesterday, but today is going to be another story. The service bus to the border doesn't have air conditioning.
I'm collected by tuk-tuk for the short trip to the bus stop. The bus is due to leave at 8 am. At 8.15 there seems to be a full complement of passengers, but there is a problem causing further delay and frustrating everyone onboard. What problem there is, isn't too clear, but the bus company staff is not happy with one of the passengers and his companion. The company relies on bookings taken from various sources and it's common to book your onward travel at your accommodation as I did. The company then collects the issued tickets in order to claim back the cost of travel. It's still not clear, but the passenger has either damaged, lost or refuses to give up his ticket to the company. To make matters worse there is a language problem. Tour company staff, and indeed most people working in the tourist industry here now, have basic English and I commend them for that. The problem is the passenger has limited English and the tour representatives use it in a most undiplomatic way. There is a stand-off. The passenger is asked to leave the bus and sort the problem out at the ticket office, not an unreasonable request but this elderly man refuses to do so. I try to establish his nationality from his accent and from another passenger on the bus who tries to reason with him. It's hard, but I think its northern European, possibly from one of the Baltic countries. The minutes tick by and other passengers are getting frustrated. In a sense I don't have a sense of urgency apart from my stomach problem. Others are more frustrated even asking for a whip-round to pay for new tickets. The cost would be $14 for two passengers, but that idea is not well-supported. The stand-off continues. Company staff threatens to call the police and continue with a measure of abuse in English and no doubt in their own language. It's getting farcical. Several passengers get off the bus. For these it's a godsend. They just want a 'fag'. 45 minutes late the bus eventually departs Siem Reap to the relief of all except 2. I hadn't actually noticed him leave the bus, but I saw the old man outside collecting his luggage. The whole episode is really no concern of mine, caused by one man's stubbornness, but my lasting impression is rather different: That of impressionable youth whose anger is quickly roused out of loyalty to a cause. In this case it's only a bus company. 37 years ago it was Pol Pot.
Uncomfortable..... With temperatures rising, the trip is getting uncomfortable. Its 144 kilometres to Poi Pet but despite better road conditions the delay and a normally unnecessary comfort break after only an hour means that arrival at the border will not be much before midday. Unfortunately, I do need to use the restroom and am in shock to find they ask more than you would pay at Victoria Coach Station, but I can do nothing about it. Back on the bus I try to get some sleep but wake up in a sweat. Concentrating on the landscape outside doesn't help. The arid land is almost featureless all the way to the border. The only thing that captures my attention is the presence of a railway line running parallel to the road. Is this the start of something I've been expecting? As with my journey from Phnom Penh I gaze at the barren landscape and consider it such a waste of productive land during this hot dry season. It seems to me that during those brutal years under the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot even managed to kill off diversification of agriculture that could have led to a sustainable food supply. It is known that he threw everything into rice production a lot of it for export to China leaving his people starving.
I try to establish how far it is to Poi Pet. Clearly the road has only recently been upgraded. Concrete distance markers are in place, but they haven't received the necessary detail as yet.
Poi Pet border crossing..... Finally, the bus arrives in Poi Pet and stops at the company's office. It's here apparently that those who have purchased through tickets for a destination in Thailand get their ID which as far as I can see consists of a red sticker placed on the upper body. I'm confused as to what I need to do as I haven't selected any final destination. I just need to get to the border. Eventually I find out that the bus will proceed to the border gate, so I must stay onboard. It's amazing really that for staff to be so vocal earlier, they now remain silent when it's necessary for passengers to receive instructions.
On entering the Cambodian border post I'm mindful that earlier I was told to expect long delays. Indeed, I'm offered a fast-track service by an official for a fee but in the end the delay is only 20 minutes. It is however very hot waiting in the queue. From there to the Thai border post is about a 10-minute walk in the searing heat, but the Thai border control is dead ahead, a purpose built air-conditioned building. It's like an oasis in the desert. By now, most entrants will have obtained a visa for Thailand owing to the fact that at land crossings only 15 days stay is permitted. This is fine. My current visit to south-east Asia ends in ten days time. I'm soon clear and arrive at the border market at Rong Krua. I'm now in more familiar territory having used this check-point for a Thai visit extension before. Actually, that experience prompts me to take a tuk-tuk into Aranyaprathet, 6 kilometres away to secure my onward travel. I hadn’t realised that I could have done that at the border, something I will remember for the next time. That has delayed my departure as does stopping for lunch. Another option that I had not considered is using the train. This service is infrequent, but there is an imminent departure to Bangkok: I could have caught it. I even stop to photograph its departure from near the bus station. However the buses depart frequently. The two usual destinations around Bangkok are Mochit Mai (Northern Bus Terminal) and Suvarnabhumi Airport. The former service soon departs, but my departure is further delayed as I select the latter. The airport bus terminal serves not only shuttle traffic to and from the airport but Bangkok traffic and up-country traffic as well. It is on the right side of the city for me and will avoid much of the evening traffic in Bangkok. By 2.40 pm I'm on my way.
On to Bangkok..... The government bus pulls out of Aranyaprathet and heads west through Sa Kaeo province then into Phrachin Buri province before heading for Chachoengsao. Initially, the landscape is also dry and parched. While taking lunch it was mentioned how unusually hot and dry it's been so far this year but Thailand has an answer for that. My stomach pains persist but in the relative comfort of this tour bus I get some sleep. Checking on progress so far I'm surprised to find I'm halfway to Survarnabhumi already. Now I gaze out of the window at a very different scene. Amidst a few barren fields used for rice production there are plantations or sugar cane, palm nuts, sweet potato (yams), rubber trees and if all else fails, eucalyptus which has obvious benefits and helps to prevent soil erosion by acting as windbreaks. This together with and advanced system of klongs (drainage channels), dykes and reservoirs keeps Thailand self-sufficient and industrious: A far cry from that existing just across the border.
As the tour bus approaches Chachoengsao it's clear that it will arrive at Survarnabhumi before 6 pm. After a brief stop in the town, it turns along a road unfamiliar to me. However I soon pick up signs to Lat Krabang which is a major industrial complex to the east of Bangkok. I know I'm not far from the airport now. After little more than three hours, the company bus pulls into Suvarnabhumi bus terminal. It's taken roughly the same time to travel some 80 kilometres more than from Siem Reap to Poi Pet. To make a comparison with the facilities at Suvarnabhumi to those in Phnom Penh would be pointless. More appropriate is the fact that this terminal surpasses just about every other in Thailand including the other major terminals in Bangkok for being spacious, clean, aesthetically pleasing and offering just about every comfort for waiting passengers including spotless toilets for free and comfortable modern seating. Incidentally in this respect it surpasses every bus terminal in the UK too that I'm aware of. As I expected a 554 bus is awaiting to depart. My journey is almost over.
I won't be eating much this evening, but it's necessary to get some medication to help clear the lingering effects of diarrhea. For the final few kilometres I need a taxi to get me through heavily congested streets. My backpack is heavy with spirits bought in Siem Reap, admittedly not of the best quality, and my trusty netbook and camera. Other than that I travel light with no more than a week's supply of T-shirts and boxer shorts with a couple of pairs of shorts to which I added on this occasion a pair of long jogging pants. I'm aware that at some locations I need to be more respectfully dressed.
The medication seems to be working and stomach pains ease overnight. In the morning I'm in for a nice surprise. The swimming pool at the back of the residents park where I stay is open again after a long period of refurbishment.
Conclusion..... Today I've travelled around 400 kilometres. It's not a record but as I reflect on the tour just concluded, I realise that I've travelled back in time as well: At least 1,000 years. The tour started with a glimpse into Cambodia's recent and tragic past. It ends with an insight into a civilization that existed for more than five centuries and went on to dominate lands in south-east Asia creating in the process magnificent temples and palaces including the biggest religious structure the world has ever known; Angkor Wat. What Cambodia has to offer the tourist today are glaring examples of the forces which are all around us; good and evil. The religious sites themselves were built in different styles but remind us that these forces were well understood in the Age of Angkor. They include the powers of destruction, of self-preservation of rebuilding and prosperity. As I've noticed in my travels there is clear evidence of turmoil and destruction there and not just in recent times. But also noticeable is the resilience of the people who refuse to let their culture die. In this lies the key to their success, but it is still early days after the turmoil of the 20th century.
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