Emily's Travel Injuries (Part I)

Hi Everyone,

This is Bill with a guest posting, the main purpose of which is to provide a list of Emily's travel injuries to date. In chronological order they are:
-Bruised back and elbow, from trying to water slide down the steps of a Buddhist Temple in Bangkok (or, as she claims, slipping).
-Sliced toe, from a wet rock on Ko Samet that looked at her wrong.
-Multiple blisters, from a vicious combination of sandals, water and sand.
-Mysterious cut on thumb, possibly a result of bad karma.
-Ant bites. This might be the worst one. Seriously. There are some absolutely terrifying red ants here. One of them somehow managed to climb up my clothes and lodge his pincer or whatever in my chest, and he hung on for dear life. I won't get into the details of the fight, but it was messy.

The net result of all this is that we are rapidly running out of bandaids and moleskin, and Emily has developed an acute phobia of little red things (including the ants, red dirt, and the red threads on a blanket at the guesthouse).

But other than that things are great. Today's temples were pretty incredible, including a couple that are nearly overgrown with giant trees and one with some of the most amazing carvings I've ever seen in my life (not an exaggeration, google Banteay Srei). Our experience with children beggars/vendors was also a little more positive, though we didn't go downtown today, which is where it seems like most of the worse-off hang out. Emily ended up making friends with a bunch of little girls, including one who told us her name was "Thoi" which means butt in Khmer, and I was quizzing a little crew on world capitals (apparently one of their tricks is to ask where you're from and then tell you what the capital of your country is. They were particularly strong on Western Europe and other wealthy regions, but weren't quite as lucky with African countries for some reason). All the kids seem to have the same little lines they use and games they try to play with tourists. It gets old after a little while, but they're usually pretty cute so it's ok, except for the one guy who followed us around for ten minutes and then got pissed at me when I wouldn't buy anything. He was less fun.

It has been a little tough at times though, especially when you walk by landmine victims. The guesthouse has a huge list of organizations we can donate to after we get back (and it would be incredibly hard not to if you spent even a day here), but having to say no to a crowd of ten people begging you for money or to buy their bracelets is pretty heartwrenching.

I will let Emily tell you about the Khmer Cultural Dancing show we went to tonight. By far the most expensive meal we've had on the trip, and most likely the worst food, but the dancing, and the Japanese tourists, made it all worth it. Tomorrow we're probably going to check out a couple more temples, maybe hang around the town market a bit, and then we have a 8:00 flight to Hanoi to meet up with her friend Alex for a bit before heading up to the mountains (on a ten hour train ride).

Bill