I woke up early the next morning in Battambang, (my final morning in Cambodia), to get ready for the impending 8-hour bus ride to Bangkok, Thailand. I still had yet to schedule my flight to Chiang Mai from Bangkok, but decided to deal with that once in Bangkok, not really sure of what I wanted to do, or how much longer to stay in Thailand.
Packed all of my stuff up, went down to the lobby where I said my final goodbyes to Molly and Lucila, got some breakfast and take-away food at the restaurant across the street, and was running to the mini-van that was picking me up to take me to the bus. The mini-van dropped a bunch of us travelers off at a bus-pick-up office, and we waited for a fair while, trying to stay out of the heat, and buying fruit from local street-vendors while waiting.
Finally, we got picked up by our first bus. The details are all blurry now, but we may have driven for an hour or two before reaching the border. We were dropped off with all of our stuff, with no directions given about where to go, so I just followed the crowd of bus passengers that somehow seemed to know where to go. We walked for about 5 minutes from the bus to the Cambodian border crossing office, where we got our passports stamped out. Then we walked 5-10 minutes in the blaring sun and humidity (with all of our stuff on our backs, me with my huge heavy backpack with large Buddha statue for parents, plus a medium backpack, with my left arm quite painfully scraped and inflamed from the previous day's motorbike crash, very difficult to put backpack on and take off with this poor arm, my dominant arm no less!) to the Thai border crossing, where we waited in line for about 20 minutes to get stamped into the country.
When I got to the front of the line, the Thai officer told me that my passport wasn't stamped out by the Cambodian office (what??) so I would have to go back and get it stamped. I tried to explain that I had just been there, and that it must have been stamped, but, alas, it was not. I didn't realize just how tired I had become on this trip- having fun with the girls the past few days was so much fun, but now that I was on my own, I could feel my own exhaustion, not to mention feeling rather trashed by the motorbike crash, and now, I was hot, tired, and carrying tons of heavy luggage, and was supposed to 'go back' to the Cambodian office where I had already waited in line and walked from? Through a voice choking back tears, I said to the officer only this "But, I have so much stuff!"
He took pity on me, and told me I could keep my luggage behind his post, and go back to the Cambodian office. I ran as fast as I could, as, at this point, I didn't even know what time the NEXT connecting bus was picking us up, or, WHERE it was picking us up . .I would find out when I finally made it out of the Thailand office .. .
So, I ran in the heat, sweating my butt off, to the Cambodian office, got my stamp, ran back to the Thai office, waited in line for another 10 or 15 minutes, and though it was air-conditioned, now I was sweating due to anxiety and fear of missing my bus to Bangkok. Finally, I got through, got my stuff (painfully), and walked outside. I looked all around for my bus, but no sign of the company that was supposed to pick me up. I started asking around, and got pointed in a number of directions (incorrect ones) and wandered around a large parking lot also in the blaring sun, carrying all of my stuff, until finally I asked yet another person where I could find my bus, and this guy used his cell phone to call the company and ask where they were. They were less than a block away, and this kind Thai guy walked me to the bus, which, turned out to be a minivan in the end.
When I got on board, packed in butt-to-butt with about 15 other passengers, luggage loaded on our laps and all, I thought this was just a minivan to yet another bus, but, as it turns out, it was the final ride to Bangkok, so the next 3 hours were spent packed in and incredibly uncomfortable in this little mini-van, with one angry woman in the front of the van yelling at the minivan driver because a piece of luggage kept falling on her and she didn't have a whole seat as a result. She kept yelling at him "YOU sit here! I should sit up front! YOU sit here!" as I sat in the way back, holding back my urge to tell her to stop being so disrespectful. It was a long ride. :)
Finally, we made it to Bangkok around 4:30pm, and got dropped off somewhere in the city, not too far from my favorite and standby guesthouse The Shanti Lodge. I bargained with a few tuk-tuk drivers before I was able to find what I knew to be a (relatively) fair price. Had to walk away from one guy for the ridiculous price he was offering. These guys kept trying to tell me how far I was from my guesthouse, but I knew better. I'd been here before! :)
I got to Shanti Lodge, and dropped my stuff off. Showered, ate some good food, booked a massage at the hotel- the ladies there are great. At this point, I was still planning on going to Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand, either for a few days, or as much as 10 more days to take a Thai Massage Course. I was stressing out about it, however. I knew I was tired. I knew I was done. I knew I probably didn't have 10 more days in me, and in fact, I didn't know if I had even 3 more! But, this had been my plan since the very beginning of my trip- to go to Chiang Mai! To take a Thai Massage Course! To see my friend Manuel who I had met in Bangkok 4 months earlier at the beginning of the trip! And I had a strong feeling that I was going to resonate with N. Thailand more than the South- the South being so very touristy and partying oriented and all. I had a one-way flight to Chiang Mai from Bangkok that I had postponed a few weeks earlier .. .so I called the airline, and made it for the next night. I felt like it was too much as I was doing it, but the ticket was about to expire, so I felt like I should re-book it as soon as possible, as well as go there as soon as possible so I could come home as soon as possible, and get myself ready for my new job, and rest and regain energy. Either way, I would see how I felt in the morning. :)
The next morning, I woke up, and made a few Skype phone calls to the U.S., and through some excellent support from a couple of people close to me, I determined that I should just waste the Chiang Mai ticket, and fly home. It was not what I thought I wanted, but it was what I needed. I truly depleted my energy/adrenal reserves over the past month or two in particular, and it was time to go home. Chiang Mai would have to happen some other time in the future.
So, I booked a flight for 4 days later, giving myself 3 whole days to just relax in Bangkok (something that few people would think possible), and to contemplate the fact that I was returning home after 4 months in SE Asia. Transition time. Integration time. Rest time. Catching up on Blog time. Time to sleep, eat good food, and get as many cheap and amazing Thai massages as possible before returning home!
And, that is what I did. Bangkok is a loud, busy place, but, the Shanti Lodge is an oasis of peace, chillness, and relaxation. Over the next 3 days, I wrote blogs, ate food from the Shanti restaurant which is SUPER tasty, got one massage per day from the ladies there (an hour and a half each time) and on my final day/night, I got TWO massages! Holy self-indulgence! But, for $8 each, how could I resist?
I didn't tell many people that I was coming back- just my friends who I was moving in with (many of you know Marco, Jamie, and Cassidy), and a few people from Boulder who I had been in touch with regularly while gone. It felt like a big deal to be leaving, and I needed some space and quiet around the experience for myself- I would tell everyone else I was back once I got back.
I arranged a taxi for 3 or 4 in the morning to go to the airport for my early flight. Shared the cab with a talkative American who was also returning home. After going through the whole airport and grabbing food and going through security together, we parted ways, and the next 21 hours consisted of 3 flights back to the states- from Bangkok to Tokyo to Salt Lake City, to Denver. I only slept on the first flight to Tokyo- the rest of the time I was awake and watching movies- I watched at least 5 movies. I recommend 'Win Win' and 'Jane Eyre', and 'Somewhere.' :)
I was quite delirious when I arrived in Denver, but surprisingly cognizant. My teacher and mentor Miriam graciously drove to pick me up at the airport to make my arrival home smooth and easy. We chatted a bit on the ride home, but mostly I was just taking in the reality of being back in the states. She dropped me off at my new house, I thanked her, and we hugged goodbye and parted ways at the door. To my joy and surprise, there was Cassidy, brilliant and beautiful 14 year old daughter of Marco and Jamie. We hugged and giggled and talked, and hung out in my room for an hour or so, going through my stuff and showing her things and catching up.
During that time, I was emailing with my friend Bill Giebler who had so kindly kept my car in his driveway for 4 months, and he told me to come over, and have dinner, so, I did! Bill was there with his 13-year old Simon, and the two of them had just spent many weeks in India, so we all just shared stories of being out east, and while we had been in entirely different countries, we had a lot of commonalities and could not stop talking and sharing! After dinner, we rode our bikes off to a nearby ice cream and gelato shop, and got our fix. It was a super fun return.
When I got home around 9 or 10pm, Jamie came home, and it was a happy reunion. We caught up for an hour in my room, when Marco came home! Then we all hung out in my room that consisted of a futon mattress on the ground, and my piano, and luggage. It was a very happy and exciting welcome, and we caught up for at least another hour. We all remarked at how awake and alert and present I was, for all of the travel and lack of sleep, and how crazy it was. I was surprised as well. That night, however, I slept for 13 hours! It was glorious! Welcome home, Rachel! And from there, began my first weeks back in the states after 4 months in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.
