culture shock

Sol: 180 by the time we landed in the fifth country.

We travelled through five countries in five days. Like many a parenting moments I’ve had over the last eight months, I never thought I’d say that statement.

This is a log of our adventure inlike I thought we’d ever take. We travelled through five countries in five days. These are our adventures. I document the countries visited, modes of transportation taken, jet lag experienced, sustainance obtained and currencies used. I start on day one of movement on our journey and continues through six days.

Day One, Tuesday: We woke up in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. We had been staying at a nicer hotel as we had been traveling hard for a while. We decided to let ourselves stay in a place a bit nicer than our normal choices. Meaning, we had predictable hot water and the beds were blessedly soft and fluffed with clean duvets. We had some more room and there were not as many unpredictable bugs visiting us.

We had a late check out and lounged around outside on the warm grass and I read Harry Potter The Goblet of Fire aloud to the boys as we drank in the warm sunshine, not really knowing it would be nearly the last of our tropical weather. We got a ride in a van to the bus terminal which doubled as a cafe’ on the side of the road. Our bus was leaving from Sihanoukville at 8:30pm. The sun was down as we climbed onboard our overnight bus to Siem Reap.

Our bus, called the Giant Ibis, was actually very comfortable as we were able to lay down in little slots the size of a full bed. The bus had a toilet, plugs for electronics, a bottle of water for each of us and WiFi. For about $25 a person it was not a bad way to travel North through Cambodia in the dead of night.

Day Two, Wednesday: We arrived in Siem Reap, Cambodia around 6am passing the ghostly outlines of Angkor Wat near the bus station. As the fog lifted we sorted a Tuk Tuk to the next bus station and we met our friend from our earlier stay in Siem Reap.

At this bus station Kelvin sought out a cup of coffee, an a pile of bananas for less than a dollar on that dusty road. We stayed in the station which was likley someone’s house in the not too distant past waiting for the bus to be ready for departure as the staff washed themselves in the station bathroom.

We departed at 8:30am for Bangkok, Thailand. This bus goes through the notorious Poi Pot border crossing from Cambodia into Thailand. The border crossing is a bit easier this way as we didn’t have to get a visa before going through passport control. However, it is still an assault on the senses and having sensory sensitive kids it was especially so.

Oakley does not do well with struggles of being too close to people he does not know, things being too loud, too odorous, too touchy and people really wanting to know more about him and us.

It was hard, sweaty and dusty but, we did it. Each stop from passport control to the next is outside in the city along camps of people with outstretched hands offering or asking us many things.

In the end, we adjusted through to the border to Thailand. We dug out our the Thai Baht we had saved and bought fresh snacks. We were coming in on 19 hours of travel. The bus driver dropped us not far from the hotel we booked in Bangkok near the airport.

We tried to get an Uber ride but, it is illegal in Thailand so struggled with some of the limitiations. We eventually found a ride in the complimentarly hotel van we didn’t know was an option.

We arrived at the hotel at around 5pm. We took hot showers and some of us a hot soak as we had a bathtub! A luxury! We dropped to sleep after getting some food sent in from the hotel after Kelvin wandered around the neighborhood for a 7/11, the best place for supplies.

Day Three, Thursday: A rest day in Thailand. A good friend from back home Grace came to hang out with us for the afternoon. This is after Kelvin ended up cooking our eggs and breakfast for us at the restaurant as they were, seemingly, short on staff.

Grace is a Vietnamese American who has her incredible own story of how she came to the US as a five-year old via a refugee camp on a boat in the dark of night. Her story is not mine to tell but, she taught us a lot in our afternoon together. She was also the first person we knew that we have seen in months.

It was the start of the Lunar New Year so many fireworks exploded through the night as we tried to sleep.

Day Four, Friday: We woke EARLY at 4am to get to the Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok, Thailand. This was going to be the big push day. After spending the last of our baht on over priced coffees, we lined up for security at our gate.

We flew from Bangkok, Thailand to Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates in seven hours on Etihad Airlines.Video from Airline Cameras

I count the United Arab Emirates which may be a stretch but, we were there! The desert stretching out to the end of the sea as we watched from the airplane cameras. 

The airport had a few snack options, a chance to sit on a bronze camel and a long security check on every single electronic item we possessed. All wiped down with tissues seeking nafarious substances. We had a short layover and then took off for London. Another seven hours in the air.

It was a truly round the world experience watching the map on the plane plot our course though time and space. I felt I should tune into Stephen Hawking a bit more.

Video from Airplane cameras

The plane has these amazing cameras that show live footage from the bottom, the tail and front of the plane. An other worldly experience that had us marveling at how one to can go so far in such a span of time.

Our plane held 496 passengers and 22 staff. Our row was ten seats across with two aisles and was a double-decker with a staircase and business class in what I read were actual beds. When we landed it felt like a barely a bump.

We landed in London, England. Scrambled for food, sim cards and British pounds. We took an Uber to our friend’s house and had the sticker shock of being back in one of the most expensive counties.

Our ride from the airport cost more than seven days of accommodation in Cambodia. Jet lagged and chilly we counted the hours we were awake (24) and fell into the comfy and clean beds of our friends house was we were nuzzled by their two kitties.

Day Five, Saturday: We rested in London, England as we adapted to the time change as well as the weather. We were ill-equipped for the chilly winds blowing through the city although, we were delighted for a change.

We ended up going out for breakfast which was tasty yet, a shocking zap to our budget. We then wandered through charity shops looking for long pants, fleeces, gloves and other adjustments to our wardrobe.

I took the Tube across town to have lunch with some friends while the boys played Legos with our friend’s collection. We had to have a traditional fish and chips for dinner while continuing to adjust our heads and sleep schedules.

Day Six, Saturday: We woke up before the sun to gather our belongs one more time and shuttled off to Luton Airport. We had an interesting ride through the fog gazing out at the hills reaching for green as we wheeled past.

At Luton, it was another exercise in airport check-ins as we eyed the automatic weapons of the police staff that patrolled the walkways.

Wandering stores after check in, we bought sandwiches, trashy newspapers, chocolate, coffees and bags of crisps for our trip. Completly enjoying having options in English for the first time five months.

After boarding a Ryan Jet flight by trudging up the stairs in the icy wind from the tarmac we bid goodbye to Britain for a while. We winged our way to Copenhagen, Denmark. We found our way to the train connections to bring us to the Danish village we were going to  stay.

We sorted the change in platforms after witnessing someone lingering too long as the efficient Danish train door closed exactly when it said it would on a passenger’s leg effectively shutting down the entire train for a while as emergency workers came to extract the passenger from their painful fate.

Wincing, we found our alternative train and trundled towards our destiny on the Island of Fyn to the town to Nyborg where our host was patiently waiting for us as we disembarked some nearly two hours later.

After nearly six months on the road and five months since we stayed with people that we knew beforehand, we were welcomed into the warm embrace of our Danish hosts in the village of Vestrup. We were truely treated like family.

The evening felt like a homecoming even though none of us had met before. A large welcoming meal and several glasses of wine later I snuggled in an extra cozy duvet surrounded by our boys on the second floor of this 140 year old farm-house. It was lovely, calming and blissfully welcoming.

What followed was an amazing Danish farm experience. That will be documented on my next post.

As I drifted off, I could scarcely believe that we had, indeed, touched soil in six countries in six days ending up in another place to practice our round the world journey and world schooling for the boys.

As always, thanks for reading. Please share if you like!