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Tuesday 22 January 2013

Round the world: Siem Reap, Cambodia



Where we were

The city adjacent to Angor Wat and its surrounding temples.  I'm ashamed to say I hadn't heard of it till we decided to go see the famous site and realised that was where we'd have to fly into and stay.

Cambodia had not been on our itinerary, but once we realised that the original plan would have had us in Bangkok for the triple whammy of Christmas and New Year's Full Moon Parties we took the lovely Ashley of Our Dear Lady Expatriate's advice and booked the flights.

Unfortunately for me and our joyful Christmas in luxury plans I got on the train in Penang feeling a little headachey and got off eight hours later with a raging fever that only grew as we slept in the hideous airport hotel in Kuala Lumpur.  Having been horribly sick on the plane (I'm so sorry, man in 12C) and fearing I'd be quarantined, we arrived at the hotel just in time for me to curl up whimpering on the lobby sofa while Greg got reception to call their Doctor.  I had somehow contracted Typhoid.  Merry Christmas, me!

Where we stayed

The Ree Hotel, a 4 1/2 * of faded opulence a few kilometres outside the city centre that we got as a bargain deal through Agoda.

The bargain got even more bargainous as, having been lambasted by Doctor Ly for leaving me in the lobby for 30 minutes as our room was not ready, the abashed staff led us to a ginormous corner suite room complete with lounge, bedroom and two bathrooms.

It made the fact I didn't leave the hotel for 5 days a little easier to bear at least and the staff were beyond accommodating from this point on.

What I read

Nothing at all. That's how ill I was.

What I listened to

See above

What I consumed

Lots of nice soups via room service.  Tiny bread rolls.  Plantains to get my potassium levels back up.  6 litres of fluid via a drip.  Enormous amounts of IV antibiotics, sleeping pills and painkillers.  A little tiny bit of the Christmas Eve Gala Dinner that the hotel kindly brought up to our room since we couldn't attend.

What I did

Slept, whimpered, needlessly apologised to Greg, slept some more.

Had my first ever blood test.  Was not quite as horrendous as I'd imagined largely due to the Doctor taking advantage of the language barrier to lie to me about whether a needle was involved until it was too late for me to complain.

Called home and worried everyone.

Called home when the fever was down and reassured everyone.


And a few days later...

Saw Angkor Wat and many other temples, best of which was the Indiana Jones style Ta Prohm, on a days tuktuk tour.   They did all start to blend into one after the first few hours, but the sheer size of Angkor Wat really staggered me.  It really was a whole town back in the day.

Wandered very slowly around the night markets and through the restaurants of Pub Street buying gifts for friends back home.

Rejoiced, weakly, that if nothing else at least I'd lost the 5lbs I gained in America.  Yay.








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