View our location map in Krabi
The following day from when we wrote the last post, we spoke to our Cambodian border guard guy and he assured us that he could stamp us through the border and get us a taxi to Siem Reap, and he said it would be safe. However contrary to this, we found out on the internet that the border was officially closed, as ordered by the Thai army, (although a few border guards were still working there to make money from tourists and ex-pats doing border runs!) and the 15,000 people living in the area near the border had been evacuated. Not a good sign. Then, we found out on an ex-pat forum, that someone who lives in Surin had crossed the border the day before, and could hear bombs going off in the distance! We also got told that the Poipet border (the main one between Cambodia and Thailand) had been closed briefly also… all of this lead to the realisation that there was no way we could go to Cambodia just now. We were so sad because our entire journey since leaving Laos up to this point was to get to Cambodia. The second choice was to go into southern Laos, but this would mean either backtracking to where we are now to leave Laos, or see if we could get to Cambodia from there. We just didn’t have enough time to be backtracking when we have to be in Singapore so soon, so we took the only option left, and travelled further down Thailand.
We have to say, that originally when we left Chiang Rai the only reason we got the bus was because all flights were fully booked for the following 2 days. So it was going to be quicker on the bus. We didn’t realise how amazing the first class buses are here – they are way more comfortable than the trains and planes, you get food, have a ‘bus hostess’ who brings you drinks and blankets and pillows, plus most of them have in seat massage functions… very impressive. So when we were leaving Surin, we went to check the train times and also the buses, and immediately decided on the bus – it’s faster, more luxurious, and includes food! The Thai roads are so smooth and well maintained that this option just made the most sense.
So we have now arrived in Krabi, en-route to Singapore. Today we are off to Koh Lanta in the hope that it’s not just a tourist town like Krabi is, in any case a few days or a week in a bungalow on the beach will be good (and much needed after all the travelling to get to Cambodia and now here) before we head further south.