Wednesday, January 1
9:00am- Post yoga class mental exclamation, "Oh no! I have to do my visa run this weekend."
9:07am- Head Instructor Ashton explains, "Nikki, you can cross by land but you will only get 15 days, same same at the Samui consulate. So why not fly back in from Malaysia or Cambodia and then you can get the full 30 days rather then doing two border runs?"
9:09am- "Ok, I'll look into it."
3:30pm- After two hours of thorough internet research checking on a consulate trip to Samui, overland routes that include multiple vans and boats to Malaysia and Cambodia my head is dizzy. "Maybe I should just ask the travel agent," I finally conceed.
4:45pm- I purchase the only necessary flight from Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Bangkok, Thailand. This allows for a new 30 day visa yet it is only a small leg of the trip. So I purchase a travel package from Pha Ngan to Phnom Pehn.
Thursday, January 2
9:30am- After morning yoga class, I tell teachers I will depart today.
11:05am- Leave anatomy class on alignment.
11:45am- Arrive by taxi to Tong Sala Pier and wait for the boat in a monsooning rain. Picture 130 plus sweating tourists with heavy hiking packs crammed beneath a six foot by three foot awning.
3:13pm-Realize this boat was only the first of two I must take to get to the mainland.
3:15pm- Step outside the VIP room (aka a sauna of a room that has actual seats to sit down upon) to catch some Thailand rays, yet I promptly return when throngs of more tourists board the vessel.
3:27pm- Fake Ray-Bans bite the dust, yet this sorrowful moment is quicky wisked away after seeing a cute old tourist and his wife reading their large map with a magnifying glass. This is only half of my internal laughter because in the same moment this is happening a Thai tourguide is harrassing two Chinese girls about taking a dive trip. Quite a normal scene yet I couldn't help but laugh when they finally admitted they had no interest since they cannot swim.
5:38pm- "I spy land."
6:50pm- Spill the last third of my pad thai all over my shirt and jeans. Perfect.
7:37pm- First bus to Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand. Maybe we will arrive at 5am?
Friday, January 3
3:30am- Wake up from a heavy slumber to the bus driver shouting, "Bangkok, Bangkok, Bangkok."
3:39am- After haggling with a tuk tuk driver I climb in and we speed off to Khao San Road where the last of the sleezy bar dwellers are offering up their insides to the city sewers.
3:49am- Convince two hotel front desk ladies to let me use a vacant room to shower in.
4:45am-I have to mentally justify the terrible thing I will now do. "May I have a hot coffee and a large fry please," I cowardly ask the McDonald's staff. (Listen, it is the ONLY place open 24 hours, save for the convience store and they didn't have chairs! And I did use that time to write my first yoga class outline.)
7:17am-After two failed attempts at finding my bus stop, a quick pop into the internet cafe and a lovely chat with a German yogi, I find my next ride.
8:07am- Having curls pays off, or maybe not, cause I get to sit next to the driver. Yes, he is picking his nose and eating it, but at least this seat has air conditioning and arm room.
8:40am- Smile and laugh as my driver turns a two land road into a three land road to pass an accident. Nothing new to see here.
9:12am-Stop for petrol and coffee. See orange clad monks chain smoking cigarettes and chatting hurridly away on their cell phones.
9:17am-Remember to buckle up as the driver accelerates to breakneck speeds. "I'm the first to go," I think.
9:30am- Recognize the picture on thai signs flying by as betta fish (aka Siamese fighting fish which are indigenous to Thai rice paddies).
12:12pm- Arrive at the Thailand/Cambodia border, well nearly there. I must hop on a moto then cross by foot, only after buying a sketchy visa from two Thai guys that speak to me in a mix of French and English. 12:45pm Wait to immigrate to Kampuchea.
1:42pm-Last to arrive on the bus bound (fingers crossed) to Phnom Pehn. Thankfully they wait for the white people.
2:50pm-See a pony pulling a cart.
8:00pm- Dillusion is beginning to set in from cramping legs, arms, wrists, butt, etc... Each lighted roadside stand is one more dashed hope that the city is impending.
8:13pm- Teach the 28-year old Cambodian father of two next to me wrist stretches. Then we discuss yoga and meditation and the benefits of both.
8:45pm-View the family photos of my new friend.
9:37pm-Arrive in the city!
10:03pm- Bus finally stops and I must push back the tuk-tuk drivers with verbal shouts of "moment moment".
10:07pm-My tuk-tuk driver gets lost. I can't help but laugh, this would happen.
10:18pm- Yell to the unassuming balcony I pray to God my friends live in.
10:19pm- Heads appear a few stories up. "Finally!" I exclaim.
10:37pm-Crash into a deep sleep.
Crap girl, now i am more worried. I hate you doing these solo adventures, and you wonder why i have no hair left.
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