The Joke

Hello Everyone,

Well, readers, it looks like the joke is on me this week. I was supposed to be spending the weekend in Thailand on an island with beautiful beaches, a waterfall and most of the people who will be headed to China with me after the program is complete. I boarded a bus this morning at eight for a five-hour ride to the border where we were to switch buses and continue for another hour or so to the beach. Upon reaching the border, however, I realized that I had committed the ultimate travelers mistake…I had forgotten my passport. I couldn’t believe it. I actually felt physically ill from my stupidity. That’s like arriving to the music festival and realizing you have left the ticket on the fridge at home (anyone?). The only difference is that at the festival if you have a cute enough smile you can get them to print you out another ticket…not so with a passport.

Having no other option I quickly hired a taxi for the five-hour trip back. My only comfort was that I would not be crammed into a bus seat, but instead have a whole back seat to myself to spread out on. Wishful thinking. Here again the joke was on me. I had the privilege of sharing the taxi with not one, not two, but six other people. Now, any of you who can do some quick math will realize that eight of us, including the driver, in a four-door sedan resulted in pretty cramped quarters. Out of the kindness of their hearts, or because no one wanted to be in so close proximity to me, they let me have the passenger seat to myself. This meant that there were five crammed into the back and two in the driver seat. That’s right, you read correctly, there were two drivers. Really, the driver propped himself in the middle on the emergency-break while one of the passengers road along crammed between the driver and the door. This made for some interesting maneuvering because the driver did not have a view of the road that he was accustomed to.

To my great relief we made it home safely and without incident, though we did come close to clipping a couple of cows as they crossed the road. I was so happy to get out of the cramped quarters that I forgot to grab my book from the place where I had stored it for the ride. So, that makes two things in one day that I forgot. I do hope that this is not becoming a trend. To counter the two incidents I have resigned to lock myself away in my room for the weekend and study. So, instead of spending a nice relaxing time sunning myself on a beach somewhere in Thailand I will be sitting alone in a small, hot, stuffy room in Cambodia studying Chinese. I guess the joke really is on me this time.

Thanks for checking in. I hope that next time I will have something a little more positive to be writing about.

-Henry (Hank) Young