Part 2 of this road trip picks up on the Thai side of the Ban Pakkad Border Checkpoint in Khlong Yai, Thailand, where 7-Eleven was the most notable thing of interest.

🏨 Good-Bye Phsar Prum 🛃

     Only one rushed picture before we darted out of our roadside room in a creepy alleyway, but we were surprised to find any affordable accommodation in a casino border town full of movers and shakers. Usually in places like this, as long as you don't look under the bed or basically anywhere too closely, it's "clean." We weren't sure about the Thai side of the border, so we decided to make the adventure a day trip, keeping our room on the Cambodian side of the border and stashing our tuk-tuk here as well.

🚪 Hello Thailand & 7-Eleven 🏪

     We did a wee bit of research about the Thai side of the border, but based on Google's street view, things looked kind of desolate. We saw 7-Eleven on the map and noticed it was within walking distance of the border gate, so we decided to buy a plastic bag full of random oddities and snacks. Note, we aren't even middle class by Cambodian standards, so a trip to 7-Eleven is actually very exotic for us, pretty sure it was the family's first time.

     I immediately noticed some strange Mentos, grabbed some of those, a Schweppes brand drink of some flavor I'd never seen, some baked goods, and so many more things I can't even remember. The Thai staff watched us with a bit of curiosity, obviously interested that we were interested in a simple 7-Eleven mart, and as I write this post I am suddenly reminded how simple our daily life is.

🥐 Easily Impressed 🍫

     Some people need to go to Pattaya, Phuket, a resort, plenty to do in Thailand, but for us searching for higher quality dish soap at a better price point than Cambodian sellers is an entertaining afternoon for us. I am not sure how much we spent in 7-Eleven, probably around $10 USD or more in total, but we are on "vacation" right, so you have to live large.

     As we sit outside the steps, we snacked on our foods while trying to figure out if we could add any more purpose to this border run other than restarting my visa and enjoying some foreign snacks. The family began to quickly notice what I have noticed in Thailand, that exploring non-touristic places is not very easy. Other than transportation to and from other towns, transportation and exploring within a town is not very easy, much like being a visitor to a small town in the USA.

🕵️‍♂️ Where's The People?

     As we ate our snacks we noticed there wasn't a single tuk-tuk, motodup, local taxi, or any kind of local public transport. In Thailand most people have their own wheels, so there isn't really a need for various forms of local small scale public transport like there is in Cambodia. Another big difference in Thailand is that the homes and businesses are far from the roads and there are very few stalls and kiosks along the sidewalks and road shoulder.

     In addition to this, people aren't as desperate to earn a few bucks as they are in Thailand, so as we explored nobody approached us or tried to sell us anything or take us anywhere. On the Khmer side of the border there are 30 tuk-tuks, several motodups, and any of them are capable of finding you a good meal, hotel, daytime adventure, or just about anything you want to do.

     Srey-Yuu was feeling sick too, so she wasn't really in the mood to walk around and explore, but we didn't want to simply visit 7-Eleven and leave. We decided to explore a bit, and it was quite fun to have conversations with the few Thais here and there that spoke very basic Khmer. We found a few small shops and bought some things that would otherwise cost more on our side of the border, and then continued on towards the Thai-Khmer market area.

😔 Thai-Cambodian Market Has Seen Better Times 👎

     When we reached the market it looked to be about 80 to 90% shuttered, kind of depressing, a sign of the current economic times. At this point we were simply trying to waste time so we could call it an adventure, and so we begam engaging people to see why everything was so sad looking. Much to our surprise, everyone not behind a closed door was Khmer, many of them living there 15 or 20 years with no chance of citizenship, but most of them with longterm visas of some kind.

     The Khmers told us that more or less, the Thais own everything, but the Khmers are the vendors, cooks, transporters, cleaners, etc. We sat with one family and chatted for around 20 minutes, and as a fluent Khmer speaker I am used to be an instant hit when we meet new folks while traveling in Cambodia, Well, the Khmers in Thailand are even more astonished and amazed that I speak fluent Khmer, so it was kind of cool to feel like a celebrity.

     Feeling kind of bored, we decided to head back to the Cambodian side and hope that I wouldn't have any visa issues. We decided to try a quick meal at one of the places nearby before leaving Thailand, but when ordering we realized our cook was Khmer, and then I began to worry about my fried rice. Of course, as usual, my veg fried rice was awful, sticky rice, nearly raw veggies, and zero flavor other than a couple pieces of fried garlic. I couldn't finish the food and the wife and kids couldn't finish their fried noodles because they were too salty.

     Strangely enough, years ago this place is where I had the best veg fried rice I've ever had in Cambodia, apparently the Khmer chefs on the Cambodian side of the border are better because they cater to Thai gamblers from the casinos, but the Khmer cooks on the Thai side seemingly cook for other Khmers. On my way back through the border we had several laughs because the Thai staff, mostly Khmer immigrants and Thais of mixed Khmer heritage, all remembered me and wanted to speak Khmer with me some more. This time around I was asked if I know any Thai, and all I could muster up was "I am a vegetarian. What!? Fart!!!" My vocabulary is kind of small in Thai, but it got a lot of laughs.

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