Hi all,
More than 10 months on the road any many blogs further with bothering you with my travel adventures. And this is already the next one. Just to tell you that all is okay and I’m enjoying it. Cambodia & Vietnam were great to be there for the second time. This time not really the sights counted, but more the adventures around it. Oh yeah… and there is also Ecopod news letter #10 ready to read.
Then there is some good news about me and going to Autralia! I got my Working Holiday Visa and flight ticket! Whoehoe 🙂 On the 20th of January my plane touches Down Under. Before that I’ll travel through Indonesia, but leaving East Timor out of the itenary.
Tuk tuk = taxi drivers = scams = borders
How much more difference did I want? Staying two days on the island Koh Kong in Thailand where parts of the day only got disturbed by some rain showers and a taxi driver who wanted to have more money. The rest of the time chilling on the beach and watching wildlife which included monkeys, snakes, lizards, an iguana, and many insects. Curious what happened with the taxi driver? Reado on. Fixed prices for the transportation on the island, so no problems you would say. When I arrived at the National Park entrance the taxi driver wanted to have more money and hit me on my mouth. Not hard, but according to Buddhist believe you’re not allowed to touch the head. When he tried to kick me, I grabbed his leg, turt him around and pushed him in the water drainage of the road. By that time locals were just watching the scene and telling me just to pay more. The park rangers were clear: the taxi driver had to leave immediately or the police would have been called. Anyway, nothing more happened. the park visit was great and rewarding with so many wilde life observations.
As I wanted to do the Bangkok-South Cambodia–Mekong Delta-Siem Reap route in only 3 weeks I had to move on. After the relaxing period on Ko Chang arriving at the most scamful border crossing in my life was a huge change. Only payment in Bath was excepted (1200!) which I didn’t even have in the first place. My 20 dollar note got refused, the window closed, and me standing in front of it the result. Anoying touts told me that I could go back to Thailand to withdraw some Bath… yeah right. NO way. Back at the immigration I sadly told them, in the most crappy English, that my card got swallowed in an ATM and no bath is left and I’m going home soon. If I really didn’t have some Bath left… okay, I ask a “friend” to lend me some. 5 min. later with 20 dollars and 60 Bath they ultimately accepted this, wasting 45 min of hour time.
The second drama wouldn’t take long. With a German family we arrived together at the bus station in Koh Kong. Before I knew the woman of the family paid the bus: 600 Bath per person. Unaware and stupid! That means 4x the regular price which I could forget. It was cheaper to go the resort in Koh Kong and take the bus the next day. Again problems. The bus company was going to sent a tuk tuk to my hotel, which was included in the busfare. At the hotel a tuk tuk driver arrived and pretended to be from the bus company. Stupid me… when we arrived at the bus station I found out that he fouled me. I don’t like to be fould. After an argument which lasted for 30 min. I gave him $0,50. Don’t tell me that this is a small amount, but it’s matter of principles. The only thing the driver should have got was a nice punch on his eye.
After these nightmares, things were clearing up. I stayed a couple of days in the quiet bu very nice town, Kampot. Nice buildings, light traffic and a fantastic river side with many bars and restaurants. the day trip to Bokor National park could be called a success. Why? Gibbons! First I heard them then I saw them and then I was happy 🙂 Besides the gibbons there were many insects I had never seen before. A good end of South Cambodia.