I thought it was a little strange that this guesthouse offered Internet only between 7PM and 7AM. After I used the password I “borrowed” to get into the guesthouse router, I edited the settings so I could use it during the day. It was fine for a while but then I noticed someone changed the password on the router and I couldn’t get in anymore. I also found out they are charging 12 cents per MB during the day in Cambodia–maybe the most expensive in the world. When I checked out the owner asked me exactly when I was using the Internet and he was notified that his account has 700MB of usage and he needs to pay $84. I know I didn’t download that much during the day; I told him I maybe used a few MB. He didn’t make me pay for all of that, but I did give tell him to keep the change when I checked out. I wasn’t feeling very good at this point.
I looked around for another place to stay. I saw one had a free dorm room, but I had to draw the line there. There were bunk beds squeezed tight together and it looked dark and dirty. It was about time to leave the city, but my travel partners wouldn’t be to the capital of Cambodia for another 5 days or so. Things weren’t going that great here and I didn’t feel too comfortable traveling alone here, so I decided to go back to Thailand for a little while and then hopefully meet-up with my travel partners.
I asked a “moto” driver to take me to the bus station. However, I missed the bus and they said come back tomorrow. They also said the boat is leaving in 15 minutes. I got another driver to take me to the “boat.” He didn’t understand English though so he took me to another place. I said boat again and he asked some other people for a translation and they told him to hurry in that direction! As we got closer, it became obvious he didn’t know where it was. Maybe he was a new driver. He tried dropping me off where there are some boats, but not the main ferry boat. After asking a few people I made it there 10 minutes late. Luckily, the ferry boat was still there and I rushed down the old dock with my backpacking getting unzipped and camera almost falling out. I got on the boat and departed a few minutes later.
After the boat, I got another motorcycle to take me to the border. Everyone else from the boat and bus was getting in line at the border. I decided to wait in the shade a bit, but then another 25 people got ahead of me! It took about an hour to get through the border, about the longest anywhere. Back on the Thai side, I waited for a minibus to take me to Trat. After a while I made it there and then had to wait for another bus to Chanthaburi.
No one knew for sure I was coming back to the school there for sure so it was a surprise for the whole family. I was lucky to get back because this week was a Shrimp Festival in the city. There were people there grilling shrimp for free or eating at food vendors. As we were eating there was a beauty pageant. It was surprising to see that three of the contestants were “ladyboys.” I think my stomach shrunk while I was in Cambodia since I don’t remember feeling that full for a long time.