Indochina Day 28, Bangkok for the 4th Time!

Friday June 24^th

We started out this morning at 8:30 for the final day and final bus ride of the tour. We drove two and a half hours through the Cambodian countryside, watching the activity as we went. When we arrived at the border, a group of porters met our bus and took our luggage across on trolleys, while we lined up to be checked out of Cambodia and then walked across a very busy no man's land to the Thai border. I was amazed at how many large carts were being pushed or pulled across the border by people. This is a busy entry point and it must be chaotic or corrupt in the way they check the goods. This was the fourth time I got a thirty day visa for Thailand.

After that we boarded two mini vans for the four hour drive to Bangkok. As soon as we crossed the border you could feel the difference between the two countries. For one thing, we were back on the left side of the road. Traffic drove faster, there were more cars and there was more population. Our bus drove faster than any bus we had been on the whole trip and the road wasn't the smoothest. We got caught in some traffic in the very busy, modern city of Bangkok. I spent my time typing a couple of days of the blog, as I had gotten behind.

We checked into the Bangkok Central Hotel where we stayed on the first night of the tour. We had an hour and a half of free time, so I went to the cafe next door and caught up on blogging and e-mails. Then we reconvened in the lobby and we took a bunch of taxis to Khoa San Road for our final dinner. Khoa San is the main tourist area for backpackers. It is lined with shops, restaurants and bars and is a pedestrian road. We went to a little joint just off the road and had a couple of drinks and dinner. It was James birthday, so Richard bought him a chocolate banana pancake, and two people bought him t-shirts. Then Richard said his goodbyes, and I spoke for the group and thanked him for all his efforts. He was a great tour guide and it was great to have a Western man and one my age. Everyone else in the group was less than half my age. After that some people went shopping, or looking for travel agents as the wanted to go to the islands, and Richard and I went for a few drinks. I had a good time and will miss him and hopefully keep in touch. Got back to the hotel about 1am.