Reset

Reset-

The day my ATM card arrived in Laos I woke up in a cold sweat and feeling like someone was pinning my shoulders to the bed. My head was cloudy, I had an intense side cramp, boiling fever and every bone was sending my brain messages that I just finished a marathon. As a cruel twist of fate, after waiting 8 days for my ATM card to arrive, I was too sick to pick it up. Priding myself in never getting sick I immediately began to assess the possible cause. Because of the symptoms and exposure to tons of mosquitos my best guess was the debilitating and dreaded Dengue Fever. I was vaccinated for everything else (Typhoid, Yellow Fever etc) and I was taking the top of the line Malaria pills so being as bad as it was I figured Dengue Fever, the only mosquito borne illness of it’s kind without a vaccination, was it. I slept 18 hours that day. The next morning I felt slightly better and just well enough to leave my room. With new card in hand I stop by the health clinic and thankfully test negative for dengue fever. The doctor loads me up with medication and gives me a green light to travel. I was on a plane to Cambodia that night.

Still like a solid 7 on the sick scale I couldn’t fathom a hostel dorm so I searched out a hotel and my own room. I ordered a BLT from the attached restaurant and before taking my first bite handed back the plate and pointed out about a dozen tiny ants crawling around. I told them I was no longer hungry and retired to my room. On the way back through reception I see an obvious hooker walking in an obvious John into the hotel. She gave the manager a little nod, he handed each of them a towel and they went upstairs. Apparently my BLT+Ant serving hotel also doubled as a hourly room renting brothel. I do a close inspection of my sheets, go to bed fully clothed and check out in the morning.

By now I’m beginning to shake off my illness and check back into a traditional hostel to meet some people. I’m in a 6 person room with no AC and the other 5 beds are taken by 5 French guys traveling as a group. They spoke no English and had their own weird little French thing going on. I had a hot and uncomfortable night (few hours) of sleep and the next day switched to a different room that had AC. The upside here was that instead of 5 French dudes, this time I shared the room with 5 Dutch girls. The downside is that, generally speaking, girls don’t like it as cold as guys. This proved to be the case and when I went to bed after a long day/night the AC, though on, was turned on way low and the ceiling fan, who’s wall controls were hidden behind one of the girls beds, was turned off. I was better off the previous night with fan on high and no AC.

The recent sequence of losing my ATM, becoming sick, bad food, renting a room in a hooker den, uncomfortable nights in dorm rooms etc etc combined with the unrelenting salespeople, begging kids and the countless angles SE Asia’s locals work on travelers has me annoyed and all but traveled out. Still off my game a bit and not feeling 100% I’ve been thinking about my big ass bed in Vegas, how icy cold I keep my house and how much I miss my dogs. I’m leaving Siem Reap, one of SE Asia’s backpacker mainstays, after only 3 days and head to Cambodia’s capital city of Phnom Penh, where I have some big plans; Find a nice hotel with a gym, spa, room service, on demand movies and a powerful AC unit where I can hide myself away for a few days and hit the reset button.

Bob