Note: when confirming your alarm setting on your blackberry, also confirm your time setting. I missed my 6 a.m. bus to Cambodia this morning. Brilliant.

It actually wasn’t all that horrible, and worked out in the end — just 3 hours past schedule. Here’s how I got to the end point. From Central Bangkok, I took a taxi to Mo Chit bus station (long), then a bus from said station to Aryana Pathet (loud), where I took a moto-taxi (it’s what you might think) to the visa office, even though I said I already had my visa (drivers get commission for new applicants). Disappointed driver in tow, I then arrived at immigration. Upon approval, I literally walked across the border into Cambodia.

As soon as I was across, I found Andrew, my in-country contact at the school at which I’m teaching; he greeted me at the border with fruits and bread, sustenance for the nearly 2-hour taxi ride to Battambang. And it was an interesting ride.  We often stopped for no apparent reason (except for the driver to hang out with friends), and at various times, we had 4 people riding shotgun, a couple of guys in the trunk and one guy sitting upright on the back of the vehicle with his legs in the trunk. This is all the usual. When a cop pulled the car over, the driver paid him off. This is all the usual, too.

I spent the evening getting a tour of the town via motorbike, made much more interesting than one might imagine because there are no stoplights here and, quite possibly, no real driving lanes. No one seems to mind this. Dinner was with Andrew and Jenny, the school teachers, and included coconut-based Cambodian curry. Aside from being full of spicy goodness, I’m pretty tired tonight. Good thing I have a $20 luxury room this evening, which means A/C and hot water. Because that’s how I roll.