Bangkok and Cambodia TRAVEL TRAUMA!

When we left the Grand Palace complex we

traveled by TAXI.  The plan was to go back

to the Renaissance Hotel, get our bags and jump

in the van we had scheduled to take us to the 

Thailand/Cambodia border.

The TRAVEL TRAUMA began when we

were having difficulty getting a taxi driver who

would use his meter.  Taxi drivers in Thailand 

are known for ripping foreigners off by not using

their meter and charging WAY too much.

Since there were 7 of us traveling we

required TWO taxis.  We were short on time 

(our van would pick us up at the hotel at 1:00PM

and it was 12:15PM) and patience by the time we

pinned down two taxis.  In a RUSH Fred, Joel Hiatt

and I jumped in one taxi and the kids and 

Linda Hiatt jumped in the other.

A perfect set-up for TRAVEL TRAUMA.

After a two minute drive the driver in front,

whom had the kids and Linda in his car,

stopped, got out and came to CONSPIRE with

our driver.  We could tell they did not have our

best interest in mind.  Fred kept saying 

"Go back to your car and get us to our hotel."

After a couple minutes the driver went back to his

car and our ride resumed. 

Fred told our driver "You need to go FAST!  We have 

another ride to catch in 30 minutes."  With that, the

driver pulled over and refused to go any further.

Driver: "Because you tell me 'go fast' I will not drive."

Fred: "You WILL go and you will go NOW!

Those are my children in that other taxi!"

ME: - MOTHER BEAR instincts kicked in

and I yelled "Those are my CHILDREN go NOW!"

It must of snapped the taxi driver to his senses.

Not only did he get moving, he picked up the pace.

I WAS NOT HAPPY - we lost the other taxi.

I WAS SCARED!!  Where were they?  Why didn't

we pay more attention and make sure we had one MAN

per taxi?  After 5 minutes (which seemed like 5 hours)

of playing catch up we saw them.  NEVER has 

a green and yellow vehicle looked more 

BEAUTIFUL to me.

Our journey from the Renaissance to the

Thailand/Cambodia border was long

(FOUR HOURS) but uneventful.

TRAVEL TRAUMA resumed as we stepped out

of the car to walk over the border into Cambodia.

Men, like pesky little GNATS, swarmed around

us telling us to "go here" and "go there" and 

"you need to buy visa here", "you no cross border

without visa".  We knew what they were telling us

was wrong.  We had been told - cross the border

and go to the border control office to get your visa,  so we

ignored the gnats and continued on our journey.

When we got to the border control office,

we were issued Cambodia visas, cleared immigration

and took a bus to an abandoned travel station.

We were told we would be able to get

a ride to Siem Reap there. It was a RAT RACE.

To make a VERY LONG story short

Fred worked out a deal with two couples

from Italy and a mini van driver for the

12 of us to travel together.  As we opened the

back hatch to load our luggage the driver

pulled out an already stored pallet and

pilled the bags on it.  He proceeded to  tie

the bags down with rope, covered them with a tarp

and closed the hatch as far as it would go.

Linda kept checking the bags throughout the

ride to make sure they were still there.

The two hour ride was LONG, CRAMPED and DARK

(you could see fires burning in the fields along the way)

but we made it to Siem Reap.

Once there, we transferred to two tuk tuks

for a 20 minute ride to the hotel.

VERY tired and annoyed I was seriously

wondering if all of the TRAVEL TRAUMA

would be worth it.

After a good nights sleep we will see what 

tomorrow brings.