(Daniel) This morning my hopes for a 24 hour bug were proven to be in vain, as I woke up in a pool of sweat, my temperature was through the roof.  Nii brought wet towels and laid them on me, while I struggled to get some food in my body.  I managed a small amount of rice and some milk before laying back in the only position that didn’t bring on immediate nausea.  My efforts at comfort were thwarted every ten minutes by the uncontrollable urge to go the toilet.

In order to get over the sickness as fast as possible I decided to stay in bed until I had the thing  beaten.  Several hours and around 20 toilet trips later however, it became apparent that we had no money left after paying Mr Yet.  Nii asked around the hotel about ATMs, the closest one would either be in Thailand, or Sihanoukville.  We had fuel in the reserve tanks, and some English money in my bag that could be changed on Monday for dollars.  But I didn’t know how much longer this illness would keep me here, and everything from the Hotel to the laundry needed paying now. 

I climbed out of bed and got dressed, the Wolf was parked outside, filthy dirty and still in need of the handbrake being fixed where something had been knocked out of place during the off roading in the jungle yesterday.  Nii and I set out to check the local area for hotels that would take a VISA card.  Our friends at Kat’s Guesthouse, that had pointed us in the direction of Mr Yet, told us that the only way to get money was to cross over the bridge, and head to Thailand where there was an ATM, they also mentioned the Casino, which sat just outside the border crossing, and was there for the specific use of Thai people wishing to get around Thailands anti gambling laws.

I had little energy to waste, so we said our thanks to the ex-pats, and crossed over the bridge in the Wolf, paying the toll with a few baht that we found in the cubby box.  The Casino seemed like the best bet, as I could not go back into Thailand having stamped in and out three times already.  We pulled up outside the huge building with it’s pretentious statues of angels hovering over the great doors. Men inside seemed sure that I could go up to the Counter and get cash from my VISA card, but made me change out of my Sandals into shoes, which I had in the Wolf.

As I walked upstairs, I passed a huge statue of General Kwan on an altar in his honour.  The Chinese God of prosperity in business dealings amongst other things obviously held no small importance with the visitors as each of them that passed the altar held their hands up in prayer to him.  Inside the Casino was packed, despite the early hour.  I could hear everyone speaking in Thai, and addressed the cashier at the window in my best Bangkok Dialect as I asked for money.  He told me that this club was only for Thai people, and that as my VISA card was not a Thai VISA card, I could not use their facility. It seemed insane to me, there was the machine, I could almost touch it, but this smiling suited man who didn’t even need to check with anyone, instantly refused me.  I walked back down the stairs to where Nii was waiting.  It seemed that the only way would be to cross into Thailand, but I couldn’t do that, and Nii would have to pay again to make a second VISA.  I decided to call it a day, and return to the safety of the room. 

We drove back across the bridge, stopping at the ex-pats again to explain our woes.  They told us that if we bribed the gatemen, they would turn a blind eye to our crossing into Thailand but at the Thai side we would have to talk our way around the gurads to use the machine, which was only 10 metres from the guardhouse.  Whatever the case, I was not in any mood to drive the 17kms back again and try today.  I decided instead to drive to the mechanics and see if he could fix the Handbrake for me.  First I went back to the room, for a lie down and a visit to the loo, then climbed back in the Wolf to go and see the jolly mechanic.

At the workshop, the boys started to disassemble the unit, but the light failed, meaning that we had to abandon the work until tomorrow.  I agreed to return in the morning, then went back to see Nii.  She was pretty pissed at me for taking so long, but calmed down when I agreed to go and get some food.  We drove out to Ottos, a restaurant and guesthouse in Koh Kong.  Not much to look at, but the food was pretty good, with a european home cooking feel.

After dinner, we returned to the Hotel, I stayed up for a while looking at the amazing videos which we had shot of the Jungle trip, The pictures were good, but I can’t wait till I get the videos back to the UK, and on the net!

PREVIOUS |  NEXT