Tuesday, January 5, 2010

fingerprinting documents


5 January 2010, Phnomh Penh
What a day I had! This morning, waiting for my bus to take me up north, I realized my wallet (containing my passport, creditcard and pincard) was not where it was supposed to be. My stomach turned and I started to panic a bit, I could feel the tears well up. I looked everywhere, but to no avail. What am I going to do?? I had no money and without a passport: I can't get money at the bank. With no money, I can't buy a new passport! I hate this vicious circle!

I called Laen (he's still up at these hours) I needed someone to calm me down. Luckily he did and he gave me some suggestions what to do. After I hung up I started racing around town to get things done: Blocking bankcards, Immigration police (they even took my fingerprints), British Embassy (the closest Dutch Embassy is in Bangkok), passport foto's, Local police (the chief was away till 3pm, napping I'm guessing). I had to fill in several forms (some had to be translated to Khmer which takes forever because the Khmer handwriting is so elaborate) and the Dutch Embassy in Bangkok was already canceling my passport and was waiting on my police report.

Waiting for the chief to wake up, I went back to my hostel. And over my first plate of food that day, the cleaning lady came down.... and you can guess it, she found my wallet somewhere between the wall and the bed (although I'm SURE I looked there). AAAAAAAAH! All that for nothing!! But I was so happy in the end that I started tipping like crazy and probably spent almost as much as I would have traveling to Bangkok.

Oh well, all's well that ends well I guess... Although I was a bit disappointed, I was kind of looking forward to the hassle and trouble it would take to get the money, the new passport and the visas in Thailand, all part of the adventure right?

1 comment:

  1. Hoi Saffie!

    Alles goed met je?

    In december-januari ben ik natuurlijk ook in Laos, Cambodja en Thailand geweest. Kom nu je blog weer tegen en ben nu wel nieuwsgierig of we elkaar nog ergens hadden kunnen treffen ;-)

    Dit was ongeveer onze route:
    10-12 t/m 13-12: zaten wij in Bangkok.
    14-12 t/m 17-12: Gibbon Experience (Laos)
    18-12 t/m 24-12: slowboat + Luang Prabang
    25-12: Vang Vieng
    26-12: Vientiane
    27-12 t/m 29-12: Siem Reap
    30-12 t/m 01-01: Phnom Penh
    02-01 t/m 07-01: Koh Chang

    Het was weer een geweldige backpackreis. Terugkomst in Nederland was een groot temperatuurverschil....van 35 graden naar -10. Brrrrrrrrr. Nu nog steeds zo koud en wit hier. Je mist niets!!

    Liefs Fleur
    fvanparidon@hotmail.com

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