Crossing the border between Cambodia and Thailand at Poi Pet is always memorable, for better or for worse. This time, it was the occasion of one of the most bizarre coincidences we’ve ever encountered.

First Back to Battambang

After we’d finished volunteering in Phnom Sampov, our favorite tuk-tuk driver, Pao, (this time driving a shiny white car in stead of a tuk-tuk) dropped us in Battambang at the Airbnb where we’d stayed before. If we’re ever back in the area, he’ll be our go-to driver when we need to get around.

Our “Go-To” AirBnB in Battambang

After we’d settled in, we met some new guests who just arrived, a couple from Germany. Then we took a walk into town to get groceries for dinner, and to just get a feel for Battambang, as we hadn’t really spent much time there. One thing we’d hoped to do was attend a performance of Phare, the Cambodian National Circus, which has its headquarters in Battambang. But the schedule didn’t work out, so we just had to hope that we’d be able to catch a show at some point in the future. (Spoiler alert: we did. But not in Battambang.)

Little touches like the color changing light delight us at AirBnBs.

One of the most arresting, and disturbing, things we saw was some kids playing a park. What was disturbing about that? Well, one of the boys had a toy gun that looked uncomfortably realistic. This was a bit of a shock to us Americans who are accustomed to seeing only toy guns that are made to look obviously fake, courtesy of a few tragic incidents in which fake guns were mistaken for the real thing. Let’s hope that Cambodia won’t need the same kind of tragedies to prompt changes in toy gun manufacture.

As we walked around town, Kimberly’s ever-hungry camera feasted itself quite a bit.

The next morning, we had breakfast provided by the host. The last time we stayed here, breakfast had been a western-style meal, with omelets and toast. This time, it was more native, consisting largely of noodles. The German couple joined us at the breakfast table in the foyer, and we learned that he also works in education — essentially a school superintendent. His wife ultimately decided that the breakfast offered too many noodles for so early in the day, and turned it over to her husband to finish.

After packing up and saying goodbye to the hospitable family that ran the Airbnb, we caught another ride to the bus terminal where we’d begin our trip to Thailand. The attendant at the terminal spoke pretty good English, but he was unfamiliar with certain Americanisms, including “bathroom”. It was only when we translated it to “toilet” that he understand and said yes, indeed there was one.

Crossing Paths: A Serendipitous Encounter from San Francisco

The transport to Bangkok was a van, carrying a total of about 10 passengers. One of them was a young man who caught our attention because he was wearing a baseball cap with the Toronto Bluejays logo. (Dennis’ sister once lived in Toronto.) When we inquired about it, he said that, yes, he had lived in Toronto, but also had lived in the U.S. Where in the U.S.? California. (So did we.) Where in California? San Francisco. (So did we.) Where in San Francisco? Polk Gulch. (So did Kimberly, at the time we met.) Where in Polk Gulch? The intersection of Polk and Geary. (So did she.) Where at this intersection? An apartment building at 990 Geary. (Um….. So did she.)

It turned out that in fact they not only had occupied the very same apartment building, but the very same studio apartment, but 28 years apart. Kimberly had vacated it because it was damaged in a fire in 1989 — or more accurately, it was damaged by firemen chopping a hole in the ceiling to control a fire in another part of the building. Evidently, the damage was long since repaired. What are the odds that we would encounter him on the other side of the world, in a small van headed from Cambodia to Thailand? Doesn’t get much more eerie than that.

His girlfriend was also on the trip, and she was Vietnamese, which caused a delay at the border. It seems the Thai authorities are a bit paranoid about Vietnamese people coming to get jobs, so they took her aside and grilled her for about half an hour. Altogether, crossing the Thai border took us about an hour, after spending 45 minutes in line getting out of Cambodia. Neither of which is unusual at the very popular Poi Pet crossing.

After the van from Battambang dropped us off, someone delivered our bags across the border, where we were reunited with them to board another van going to Bangkok. As we waited to board this van, Dennis was sitting there eating a package of snack food when a little boy, perhaps 3 years old, waiting with his elders, came up and took some of the food right out of the package too. So adorably bold.

Finally, we boarded the second van and headed toward Bangkok, where we arrived about 3 hours behind schedule. The driver dropped us off at the most convenient point for us along the itinerary to the bus terminal, but it really wasn’t that convenient for us at all. We still had to get a tuk-tuk (it’s actually called something else in Thailand, and is a little different from tuk-tuks in other countries) to take us the 3 miles or so to our new Airbnb. And, as you probably can guess, the driver gouged us.

Welcome to Bangkok, Thailand

By the time we checked in, it was close to 9:00 p.m., and we had nothing for dinner. So after dropping our gear we started walking around the neighborhood looking for a store, any kind of store, where we could buy something. There was none nearby, but we did come upon a little restaurant that was doing a hopping business, and looked promising. So we decided that would be the option for the evening’s dining.

This was a traditional Thai style restaurant, where you cook your own food right at your table. Thais are really big on meat, so there weren’t really vegetarian options on the menu. But we were able to communicate to the waiter that we wanted a particular dish with the meat omitted. So out came vegetables and eggs and seasonings, and we put them onto the little circular grill (or whatever you call it), and waited patiently while our food simmered and hissed until at last it was finished and we could fill our rumbling bellies with the scrumptious product of our own culinary art.

Only later did we realize that on top of the cooking dish was what appeared to be a slab of fat (probably of animal origin) that melted and dripped down into our food. So maybe it wasn’t 100 percent vegetarian. But still.

More contented now that we’d been fed, we headed back to our room to get a night’s rest before spending a couple of more days in Bangkok.

2/17-19/2023