As a student living in Thailand my visa requires me to leave the country every 90 days…why this is I’m not quite sure. All of the students/interns have left the country to vacation or intern, except for Nikki, Beth, and I. We are currently on holiday near the island of Koh Chang (very close to Cambodia), so rather than planning a separate weekend to go get our visa stamped, we decided to go today.
Streaks of rain and the blurs of green raced past my window as I enjoyed an hour with my i-pod, my eyes slowly blinking until they shut out the light completely. When I opened them again we were at the border. The man behind the window stamped, stapled, and signed my little leather bound travel album, passing me off to a few Cambodian guys.
We were hustled down the road, past the ocean, and through the gate to the immigration office. They took our passports and told us to sit down. Ten minutes later the guy in the white shirt is telling me that we need to pay 1,200 ($36), so I look to Beth and Nikki for the money…Crap! We forgot the money with Adisara, who is back at the van. One of the guys told us it was okay to walk back to the borderline, but we couldn’t leave. They tell us to hurry because, apparently it’s going to rain soon…yes, it was cloudy, but how did they know it was going to rain…we’d be fine.
We arrived back by the gate and couldn’t see our van so I suggested we call Adisara…Nikki and I are both out of airtime minutes, and Beth’s phone doesn’t work at all. Crap, again! Our eyes are peeled for Adisara. Nothing. Going back to Thailand cannot happen until we have the proper stamps and paperwork and entering Cambodia is not possible until we have the right amount of cash. We are stuck in between two countries; we are stuck in no man’s land.
Then, by some chance, I spot our driver walking back to the van and we ask him to call Ai. In the mean time it begins to drizzle. He says that she’s at lunch and will be over soon. So we wait. A drizzle becomes a steady rain, which turns into a torrential downpour. We all huddle under the immigration roof telling ourselves it will stop raining soon…it rains harder. Finally after about 30+ minutes the rain slows back to a drizzle and we see the beautiful Adisara walking to the van. After calling her name a few times she sees us, and we get 4,000 baht to cover us all.
It’s dejavu all over again as we walk down the road, past the ocean, and through the gate to the immigration office. Passports are stamped and photographs are taken, we are in Cambodia!...and there’s absolutely nothing around. The people seem abrasive and I’m already homesick for Thailand. Fifteen minutes later and we’re back at the immigration office…they lose my yellow immunization card and look confused when I show them Beth’s copy of it. We give up trying to get it back and I happily cross the border into Thailand. HOME ATLAST! I never thought I’d be so happy to see the smiling faces of the Thai people. It was good to be back.
As my love for Thailand continues to flourish the idea of moving back to Chicago becomes less and less appealing. The beauty of the land and the people is something I’m not looking forward to giving up…I absolutely love everything Thai.
the whole thing with the visa confuses me, i've never been exposed to that. is it a confusing process? are there written guidelines that are easy to understand?
ReplyDeletealso, wow, that you are falling in love with thailand. most people always want to come home, that's so special that you feel less and less like coming home. as much as i miss you, i say follow your heart and do what feels most natural.