Did you ever read those choose-your-own-adventure books? Basically, you read a few paragraphs of a story, then it gives you some plot lines that could happen next, you choose one, and turn to the page that continues with that plot line. Sometimes I would purposefully choose all the bad options to see how awful the story would turn out. The last 48 hours of my life were a real life version of how I used to read choose-your-own-adventure books. It’s like I thought, “What is the worst possible thing I could choose to do next? Okay, do that one.” After over three months of traveling pretty smart and safely, I seemed to have stockpiled all my bad decisions to come out in the last two days. This is how I’ve ended up bagless in Saigon, ripped off $40 (2 days worth of my budget), and feeling like a total schmuck. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start off 48 hours ago…Two days ago I woke up for the third morning in a row on a gorgeous island with the sunrise shining into our open-faced dormitory. As the light slowly grew stronger, I made my way to the beach to watch the sun rise up higher into the sky. Then I continued to the restaurant/bar hut to have coffee and breakfast while chatting with my hostel mates and staff. To continue this story, choose one of the following options: A) Stay on the island forever waking up to the sunrise every morning, beautiful people and conversation every day, and the best woodfired pizzas this side of the world has ever tasted. You live happily ever after. The end. B) You have to catch a night bus to Saigon by 7 PM. Take the morning ferry from the island to the nearest town to wait for the bus, giving yourself ample time not to be late. C) You have to catch a night bus to Saigon by 7 PM. Take the evening party boat that’s returning to the nearest town so you can wait on the island instead of a crappy townie bar and hope they get there with enough time to spare. Klarrisa has chosen Option C. Please continue. After laying around the island all day reading “The Beach” and having one last delicious pizza, it was 5 PM and time to rally the party boat attendees to head back to town. This might have been easier if one of them wasn’t severely overweight and tripping on acid. He eventually made it onto the small boat, but because he decided to sit right on the bow for the entire trip we were moving a lot slower than we should have been. We took almost two hours to get back when it should have been a little more than an hour. I still had to take a motorbike taxi to the hostel where the bus was going to pick me up. A) You can’t find a motorbike taxi and they say you should let a tuk tuk take you to the bus station instead of the hostel. You agree and pay $5 to go to the bus station. You wait patiently for the bus to arrive. B) You can’t find a motorbike taxi and they say you should let a tuk tuk take you to the bus station instead of the hostel. You get into the tuk tuk but decide they should take you to the hostel instead. You arrive at the hostel to find that the bus has already left and that you need to take a motorbike taxi to get to the bus station. You now paid $5 for the tuk tuk and $10 to a motorbike taxi (that was clearly ripping you off because it was only a couple kilometers and they know you’re in a rush). Klarrisa has chosen Option B. Please continue I finally arrived at the bus station and waited patiently for my bus to arrive. I wasn’t looking forward to the bus ride because I had already had a pretty nasty night bus ride experience from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville. I was mentally pumping myself up for the next 12-15 hours (nobody knows how long anything takes here). The bus ride wouldn’t have been that bad except for the fat man spilling over into my “bed” seat, the kid behind me banging on my headrest for my attention, and someone within smelling distance eating dried fish and durian candy (a deathly combination). We were stopping midway in Phnom Penh where I would switch buses to continue on to Saigon. After five hours on that bus, we finally arrived in Phnom Penh around 1 AM. I was exhausted and could already hear the taxi drivers and hotel people clamoring for business outside of our bus. I just wanted to be left alone and find my way to the next bus. A) Take a deep breath, get off the bus, and kindly refuse any offers for taxis or hotels. Patiently wait for someone to get your bag beneath the bus and then walk to the bus for Saigon. B) Groggily get off the bus, brush past all the vendors annoyed, and head straight to the bus for Saigon. The bus you left leaves for Siem Reap. Klarrisa has chosen Option B. Please continue I picked out a bed seat towards the back of the bus. We had a few hours of a layover on the bus in Phnom Penh so I started playing on my phone after being without a connection for a few days on the island. That’s when it hit me. I forgot my backpack on the bus that had continued onto Siem Reap. I ran off the bus and into the bus office. The worker had to wake someone up who could speak English and they asked me what I wanted to do. A) Stay overnight 1-2 days in Phnom Penh, forfeit the room deposit for your place in Saigon and know that you can have full contact with the workers here and be able to check in every day on your bag. B) Decide you’ll continue onto Saigon because it’s late and you just want to leave. The guy shakes your hand as a “promise” that he’ll get your bag onto the bus to Saigon as soon as possible. He has your contact information and you have the bus’ business card that only has phone numbers. Klarrisa has chosen Option B. Please continue. Sitting on the bus, I started messaging and emailing friends back home who have contacts in Phnom Penh. While it was daytime in America, all of this was happening at 3 AM so no one here was able to do anything until the morning. When I started to have second thoughts about staying in Phnom Penh, my fate was decided for me when the bus started up and began the 8-hour journey to Saigon. The bus journey was filled with little sleep, silent sobbing at my stupidity, and sweet bus mates who tried to lift my spirits with their own travel mishaps. Eventually, we pulled up to the curb at 11 AM in Saigon. A) You are exhausted and should go to the hostel. You’ve stayed there before and you trust them. They can call the number for the Saigon office and find out where it is. Then you can take one of the two trusted taxi companies to the office and talk to them. B) You ask the bus driver where the office is and he just points in a direction and yells something in Vietnamese/Cambodian. One of the eager taxi drivers nearby says he knows where it is and can take you. Klarrisa has chosen Option B. Please continue. |