Learning Thai

Cambodia border
We did our first Visa run yesterday- doesn't that sound all illegal and clandestine? Actually, it was an extrememly well planned and scheduled trip to the border of Thailand and Cambodia. Essentially, we just had to leave Thailand and have our visas stamped for another 90 day visit upon our return. As I mentioned, the trip was highly timed. We left on the dot of 9:30 in a nice air-con bus with lots of leg room. In exactly two hours we each got an allotment of toilet paper and stopped for a bathroom break. When we got back on the bus, fried rice was waiting, etc, etc. We even watched four movies, timed down to within minutes of each break and stop. The stop at the border was a little anticlimatic. We just stood in line for a few mintues for the stamp of approval and walked across the dusty bridge over "antifreeze looking water" (quote from Joe the intern who went with us) to stand in Cambodia for five minutes before re-boarding and heading back. For the first time in my life, I could identify with immigrants and asking for permission to live in a country.
For me the highlight of the trip was the natural beauty out the bus window. After almost three months in Bangkok, we are anxious to see more of our new home county. I saw rice fields being harvested, houses on stilts, all kinds of trees and palms, gray water buffalos standing with long legged white birds, and lots of lush greenery and rivers. Although we dreaded the long day on the bus with the girls (we left home at 8 am and returned home at 8 pm), they behaved well and Claire actually enjoyed the trip, eating strawberry popcorn and watching Dora the Explorer on the i-pod. We're glad to have the trip over with and that we don't have to do it again for 90 days!
-Candice