This morning I awoke early and boarded a minibus (little Asian van) at my hotel and spent two and a half hours going to the ferry, a journey which I could have completed in about twenty minutes on a scooter, but hey, who's in a hurry? A ferry ride, three minibuses and a good bit of confusion later I was roused from my sleep to be thrown head first into a real cluster, a absolute shark-orgy of Cambodian con men vying for my money mobbed me before I was even out of the bus. It was one of those maddening situations where you don't speak a word of the language and there's a million guys that all look the same acting like they are THE GUY that was sent to save you but you have no idea of who's who and what is going on. I received no primer and no vouchers before I climbed into the first minibus this morning and at no point did anybody tell me what to expect or what was going on. Everything worked more or less as promised until I got dumped out at the border. Can I trust this guy with my bus ticket, or this guy? Why is everyone asking for it? Should I really hand my passport over to this character? Does he work for the government? The bus operator? is this kid about to make a dash with my bag that he grabbed out of the van before I even had a chance to stop him. The little hustler had the nerve to demand 200 bhat (average pay for a full day of full grown man-labor) for his unsolicited, unwanted and unnecessary services. Some guy that I at first thought was my bus driver ended up with my passport filling out my paperwork. I tried to smile and stay cool while not getting completely raped. I wanted to scream ''get the hell away from me,'' launch a few wild swings and run away very fast, but I suppose its best not to get shot and not to make too many enemies before you even set foot into a country. I finally made it through and my bus transfer to the hotel ended up being a dude on a scooter. We rode in the rain and he tried to hustle me for a toll and tried to convince me to go change some money with some friends of his so I could get ripped off and he could get a nice kick back but I held my ground and at last I made to my hotel/inn/place where desperate people spend the night. A full day of traveling and I managed to cover about 25 miles and still be no where.
The town I'm in is a little border town called something like Koh-Krong. The nicest thing Lonely planet could muster about it was it was a town most people don't take the time to get to know, but once you get past the smugglers and prostitutes that comprise the population, "the locals are real friendly. Its a real turbo-shit hole and my room is a bonified Cambodia hell-hole. A real flea pit. There was a big pile of something on my greasy, burned stained bedsheets tht looked like either insect droppings or insect eggs so I sprayed it with 100% DEET, covered it with a towel and threw a beach mat on top of that so I could sit on the bed.
Mystery substance. Eggs? Turds? Something else?
I will MOST DEFINITELY be sleeping inside of my bug tent tonight. I can't believe I second guessed my judgment. Preparation has payed off again. Of course I could have done without the tent tonight but that would have meant I would have to find my own alternative lodging tonight and make arrangements to get back to the flea-pit hotel for the bus in the morning. There's no way I'm sleeping on a mattress like that as long as I've got money and a choice. I suppose it could be liberating to just say screw it, throw all of my fancy back-packing gear in the river and lay my head where ever I happen to find myself, but I'm not that zen yet and I don't think its worth the risk of me waking up covered in bed bug whelps or with some crazy parasite burrowed into my ear/skin/genitals/eye/etc.
I hope Sihanoukville is nicer.
Perhaps doctors looking for the next wonder drug antibiotic should examine this petri-mat.
MEDICAL UPDATE: I took the stitches out of my arm myself last night and it was easy and painless. Don't worry doctors, I'm still keeping the area covered and sterile. I think one more day and it will be back to business as usual for my arm.
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