Departing from Koh Phangan Thailand by tuk-tuk, ferry, bus, train and then taxi...heading to Battambang Cambodia - all in 36 hours!

.....Can you believe it...we are truly truly here with Jerry & Wilma in  Cambodia!!!

It is so' neat everyone!  After all these years....now we are truly here....Thank you Lord!!!!!

Yes here we are...sitting with them in this darling restaurant - on a balcony overlooking downtown Battambang! 

For Real....how special is that!!!!!

Departing Koh Phangan July 19th ~ 

I'll share a little bit about our trip which was about 1000 km to come to them....

The trip took a  long 36 hr day leaving Friday from our hotel on the island traveling, tuk-tuk to the ferry terminal.

then Ferry boat....which would take people to the next island Koh Tao and then we would go on to Chumphon...

Picked up some fruit which I thought was a "fuji" apple....WRONG! It was an interesting tasting pear...yes looks like an apple...feels like an apple..is shaped as an apple ....But a pear! So what is the name???? 

....Good question! 

Two buses unloaded as well with people...and we all waited together....

It was a hot day...but the wind from the Gulf of Thailand helped a lot!

The ferry arrived...and passengers were coming off to go to this island...and this is a on going experience - I keep reminding myself it is Summer vacation for many people & countries.

Off we went ...1.55 minutes to the next island Koh Tao.

It seemed very cute there...smaller yet...and so many people got off the ferry and others got on to head onward to Chumphon like we were.

These quaint fishing boats are so colorful and neat to photograph!

It was quite busy there...ferries going in and out...backing up...Nick & I had to chuckle how it all happened...a few times I would want to yell out.." hey watch the other boat!!! "

We departed again... then another 2 hrs to the mainland and dock.  In the last 30 minutes of the boat ride...it began to rain....LIKE CRAZY ...so hard and then we came to the dock and it continued to rain ...man oh man did it rained...and here we are with suitcases, backpacks...and everyone is getting off ...and the PIER is very very very  long!  We were drenched by the time we got to the van that was there to take us to town.  We stepped into the van  that was part of the ticket/fee to get to the train station in downtown Chumphon.  

You know...with the weather being hot & humid we dried up pretty quick actually!  New experiences...all the time! 

 I can just see you all laughing...yes it is an adventure!

By this time it was around 5:30 and we had hoped to get on the Express Train to Bangkok - 2nd class.  First class was the sleeper train.  That too would of been fine...but guess what?  The Express Train was booked... there was a coach train (makes all the stops) and it only had the 3rd class seats available...Nick & I looked at each other....'what shall we do...go into a hotel for the night...or bear it and get on that next train?'  We both decided to go ahead and book that train at 7:30 pm...which would get us into the Bangkok at 5:10...well

 surprise surprise...the train was delayed because of  all that rain that fell...and so the train didn't get in till 9:15 pm ...well we pretty much left closer to 9:45...and 3rd class it was!  All the window's were down, no AC, people  e v e r y w h e r e .....laying on the floor...under the seats, babies, elderly, young old, just people everywhere!  Nick & I found our seats and they were straight up & down seats...another couple Ricardo & Kjesti from Portugal & Norway sat across from us

We were hot...and we had quite an experience....on that train...sitting up right all that time!  The train came into Bangkok at 6:30 am...it had been a very long night.

We were so' thankful to arrive in Bangkok and went outside to find the bus to the border...first we had to get from the train terminal to the bus station.  We hired a taxi to take us there.  It was very busy in Bangkok...saw lots of high rises...and lots of people...some sights here and there.  But our goal was to find a bus out. The bus station had so many people there we were amazed...Saturday morning 7:30 am - and loads of people everywhere.  We heard that it was  a 4 day holiday weekend...so families were traveling~

We got into the bus and knew we had about 500 miles to drive to the Cambodia border...and again the bus we had hoped to take was sold out! Yikes ...here we go again!

3rd class bus...stopping at every stop...we sat back against the bathroom toilet...

Nick & I were pretty beat by this time...up already 24 hrs..Around 5:30 pm we arrived at the border and we got side-tracked by some small office close by the bus terminal and we and another couple from San Diego were both escorted into this little office...we truly thought they were border workers....well not really...did we know?  They did get our visa's but we know now we had paid more then we should! Afterwards we realized that the locals walked onward to the actual border crossing and "we" foreigners were the only ones in this office...ding dong!!!!

Not to go into a whole lot of detail...we did end up getting them of course...but paid more then we should...that little office was not the official office to leave Thailand by and then enter into Cambodia...

Oh well....! It happens and we way trusting and were so tired.  The guy from San Diego had gone through the border before - just not this one!!!!

Finally we did get to the spot we should of been and we got our stamps in our passports! 

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was probably around 6:30 by this time and we could either take a bus to Batambang 3.5 hrs OR hire a taxi for just a little more and make that a 2 hr drive! NO QUESTION...IT WAS A TAXI! 

Driving along we came across these trucks with people on loud speakers sharing the person to vote for.a lot of promotion through the  little towns to Battambang. 

Oh by the way...we should tell you this!  First of all...Cambodia drives as we do...on the normal side! Anyway - this taxi driver who picked us up and was willing to drive us those 2 hours to Battambang...had an English driver seat...and so here he is driving on the right side - picture this.....yet trying to pass up cars & trucks..... he had to practically move way over to the center division line to even see ahead to pass!   Now what he did was get really close behind  a car or truck he wanted to pass...and then move way out in the center of the road....oh you guys...he move  into that oncoming lane so fast and we must honestly say that several times we thought we were going to be in someone front seat - in the oncoming traffic that is! 

Nick was so dead tired...he fell asleep and I just prayed...Lord get us there! Keep this guy alert and well...we were both so tired we didn't think straight anymore...drive on!

 Beep Beep!!!!! 

 We handed over to the taxi driver their address and phone # and so thankful he called them...Jerry luckily picked up the phone (they were just about to go out for a bite to eat...but had a feeling we were on our way into town!) 

You can imagine how happy we were when we saw Wilma and Jerry on the curb flagging us down...it was dark by this time 7:30 pm and we had finally arrived! 

...it is and continues to be an adventure dear friends and family!