Crocodile barbecue in Thailand and Cambodia went a step further.
Dried snakes, worms, frogs and so many unknown species have been kept in each of the food baskets.
Day 26: 16th October 2019
The human mind is very funny and got hit by the same feeling when your holiday gets over and when you have returned to your base. Even though I still have 2 weeks of the journey to be completed and don’t have any reporting deadline (except to her highness and the 2 little cuties at home), any ending of a good thing is a sad feeling and I am still a normal human being. But this is just the end of another journey and still have lots of things to do and kept my mind focused on the return journey. Not going to rush things and going to take it easy and try to reach “Amchi Mumbai” safely and ensure the “Raavan (some of my friends call me with this title)” is seen by all again. Given our re-entry visa to Thailand had been declined, we knew that it would take a couple of hours at the immigration office and left at 7 am.
Our Cambodian host packed the breakfast (to be consumed on the way) and said goodbye (for the time being) to this lovely city called Siam Reap. Saw the only a couple of places and am aware of missing out on many and another detailed trip or visit is going to happen soon and with her highness in the near future. Peaceful drive and full tank (paid in Thai Baht but converted into USD) and petrol seems to be costlier than Thailand. (mind is not ready to do the mathematics and might work on it when I return to the base). We stopped at a crossroad and near some food stalls (village huts) for our breakfast. One of the hut gave us space and we all sat down (literally on the ground covered by bamboos) and got to see the “unbelievable”.
Saw pictures (taken by Rohit) of crocodile barbecue in Thailand and Cambodians went a step further. Dried snakes, worms, frogs and so many unknown species have been kept in each of the food baskets and the look of those itself gave me some weird feeling. Cannot complain and it’s their habit but stuck to my regulars (excellent coffee at a nearby shop). We wanted to reach the border before 11 am and accomplished that successfully. Not having many stops during the ride gives you space to do things as per the plan and that’s a big lesson learned during this ride. Our Cambodian exit formalities happened again smoothly and without seeing any officials or visiting any government office and finally saw my passport again.
Felt relieved (actually forgot about it) and thanked the Cambodian host and promised them a visit again soon. Captured the moments of crossing the Cambodian Thailand border (Poipet) and it’s interesting to move from right side to left side driving or riding. Signed lots of papers (pre-filled by our Thailand host) and entered the immigration office. Nobody speaks English and went and stood behind a long queue. After 40 minutes, one of the locals told us to go to another place for “Visa on arrival” and this queue is for those who have visas already. The other queue was literally empty and happy that the process would be completed quickly and we can get out of the “No man’s land”.
Thai immigration officials were dressed neatly (dark coffee color uniform) and behaved professionally. Collected all the documents from us and asked us to wait. They kept giving back our papers and asked us to make relevant changes and we complied with that and didn’t want to live in a place that doesn’t belong to any country. Finally hammered with a question “which hotel stay you” and we didn’t know that. They wanted hotel confirmation and we got them connected with Khun Tom and started acting as a messenger between them. Khun Tom cannot come to the place where we were standing or sitting (I behaved like a foreigner and sat on the floor) and got up once in a while to hand over the call or mobile to the Immigration office.
They spoke quick Thai and I got a repeated response “Ta Ta Ta & go sit and wait”. After close to 4 hours, we received the hotel confirmation copy from Khu Tom (someplace called Ang Thong) and waited again after submission of the same to the Immigration officers and post receiving the “Ta Ta Ta” response. Meanwhile googled to know the distance from the “No man’s land” to Ang Thong and it's around 270+ km and might take 5 hours to reach. Not worried because of the excellent road conditions and finally got cleared by Immigration and came down for the bike clearance. Some more operational issues and took another hour to get this cleared (we entered Thailand and had some quick lunch).
Good to go and filled the tank again (not required but got it done to avoid any issues in between) and started strangling the throttle again. Riding a mechanical vehicle keeps you on your toes always and you never know what can go wrong. Manish bike stand had some issues and we got delayed further at a welding shop to get it ready and this consumed more time. Nevertheless, we were determined to reach the destination and had to ride again in the dark. I don’t personally prefer to ride or drive post-sunset but that can be managed when you do it alone. Being in a group has positive and negative aspects and sometimes you need to do certain things even though it is against your will.
Will write more about these when I complete this journey. Excellent roads and decent speed maintenance brought us to the destination for the day and it looked like a remote resort sort of accommodation. Post parking and a quick shower, I joined others at the dining area but my “eternal adversaries” were waiting for my arrival and started their attack. I went back to the room and applied the armor I bought at Sukhothai but had to retreat back to the room carrying my dinner immediately. A second defeat in less than a week and my confidence level is close to zero and don’t want another fight or face off for few more weeks.
Saw some intruders in my room, applied more armor and covered myself inside a blanket, and protected myself from any further attacks. Getting up and leaving early for the past couple of days and the good news of a late start on day 27 was well received by my body and mind. Finished the cold dinner, darkened the space and stretched my back by placing it on the cushioned surface and went into meditation mode immediately.
Given the long ride and delay at the Immigration didn’t allow me to capture the desired number of pictures or videos (even though those moments at the Immigration office would have spoken more than the words and missed capturing it) but our return journey has begun well. Didn’t want to continue this travelog but a request from many (who won’t remember me post this journey) made me “go back on my words”. Let's see how we make progress and promise to share what I experience even though it may not be very interesting.
Originally published at https://bikermonks.com on October 16, 2019.
