When you take a picture of a revered figure, and a guard politely, and with a smile, tells you no pictures.
When you accidentally knock a beer out of a local's hand, and he not only doesn't destroy your soul, he smiles, shakes your hand and accepts your apology.
When one notices the lost expression on your face and graciously points you the right direction.
Not most Bangkok tuk-tuk drivers.
So my current bout of food poisoning not withstanding, I'll be on a bus tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. for the Cambodian border. With lots of luck, I won't be vomiting and will arrive in Siem Reap around 2 - 3 local time.
In addition to the vomiting, I wasted an afternoon meant for relaxing trying to find the bus station needed to buy my ticket. I forgot to take my city and bus maps with me, wound up buying a second bus map to try and get back to Khao San, and out of frustration and nausea, wound up taking a taxi back to Khao San anyway. The vomiting thing waited until I was in my room, which is good, but it would've made a funny story down the road. Although based on how I'm feeling now, round 2 may not be far away and I'm downstairs so we'll see what kind of trouble I can summon.
But such is life. You live, get ripped off by a tuk-tuk driver your first full day, meet plenty of great people, local and fellow traveler alike, see great sights, break your budget every day whether or not you intended to, make both good and very bad decisions, vomiting, enjoying great local cuisine, having another twenty minutes before vomiting again if you're lucky....good times.
Wish my stomach and I a safe and happy journey tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment