Our travel experience from Thailand to Cambodia was as crazy as they come. For all of you out there curious or interested in what these days (yes plural) look like, keep reading.
Thursday, December 26
- Day after Christmas we all had to be packed and downstairs at our ministry location, Zion Café, by noon.
- Wait several hours for our tuk tuk to arrive.
- Drive to bus station and wait 2 hours
- Board bus to Bangkok at 9 pm and drive throughout the night
- Arrive in Bangkok at 6 am
- Grab taxis to a hostel
- Stayed in the hostel for 2 nights for mini debrief and team changes
Sunday, December 29
- Wake up at 5 am to finish packing
- Grab taxis and leave hostel at 6 am
- Get lost on our way to the bus station
- Wait 2 hours
- Board bus at 9:15 am
- Ride small, cramped, smelly bus for 6 hours
- Arrive at the Thailand/Cambodia border at 3 pm
- Get in line for exit customs, find out we need to pay a fee for overstaying our visa by a day
- Take an hour and a half getting through the line to pay the fees
- Walk across the border on foot in pairs
- Wait another hour in line to get through Cambodian entry customs
- Board the shuttle to the bus, and ride for 10 minutes
- Arrive to bus station and board bus to Siem Reap at 6 pm
- Ride for 4 hours
- Arrive at another bus station, board 3rd bus and ride for another two and a half hours
- Arrive in Siem Reap, grab 14 tuk tuks
- Take 20 minute tuk tuk ride to the hostel
- Arrive at hostel around 10 pm
- Find out our “confirmed hostel” is no longer in existence
- Spend 30 minutes trying to find a new hostel
- Arrive at new hostel through a crazy construction area and stay for 2 nights waiting to get bus reservations
Tuesday, December 31
- Wake up at 7 am to board shuttle van at 9:15 am
- Ride shuttle van for 10 minutes until we get to the bus station
- Wait to board our bus while they go through and kick off 3 people who do not have tickets
- Ride bus to Phnom Penh for 10 hours
- Arrive in Phnom Penh bus station at 7 pm
- Wait 30 minutes for our contacts to arrive, load into their van
- Grab KFC and eat for 30 minutes
- Drive an hour and a half to Kampot
- Arrive at our ministry site in Kampot an hour and a half before the New Year
- Pull in the New Year trying to stay awake for the worship session going on outside, but evidently falling asleep before midnight.
It’s the World Race.
Happy New Year! 🙂
