Boogacres: Siem Reep Cambodia

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Sorry for going dark. I've been in China, where the government controls the internet. My website was blocked. FaceTime and Instagram are also forbidden. I'm finally out of China and can get caught up on posts.

Welcome to Cambodia. Angkor Watt is the only destination on the itinerary that I have visited before. Jacqueline and I came here in 2012 during spring break of her junior year at Brown University. The only change I've noticed since our last visit ... more hotels. Angkor Watt is still standing proudly. By the way, interesting fact, since it's inception, Angkor Watt is the oldest "active" temple in the world, still in use today.

Since I've already been to Angkor Watt, I signed up for the optional side trip, about an hour's drive away, to Being Mealea and Roluos Temples. Jacqueline and I were scheduled to visit these two temples the second day of our visit when we were here in 2012. However, another thing about Siem Reep that has definitely NOT changed, and certainly is not mentioned in the travel brochure, is the heat and humidity. After spending the day visiting Angkor Watt, Angkor Tom, Bayon and Ta Prohm, Jac and I were "Templed" OUT and the next morning, caught the first plane out of Cambodia returning to Thailand. So this visit, I was looking forward to seeing the places that I missed last time.

TukTuk ride to the restaurant.

Tonight, we were scheduled for a "dine around" allowing us to experience the local cuisine. Bruce 2, (another Bruce on the trip) found a little Cambodian restaurant through Trip Advisor called Touich.

TukTuk to Touich.

The TukTuk ride to the restaurant was a bit hair-raising because we weren't sure the driver knew where he was going and the dirty alleys and glares from the locals weren't all that reassuring. We weren't sure if we were going to a restaurant or down some dark alley to get robbed.

New friends, Yvette and Bruce 2.

But we finally pulled up to Touich, an adorable little Cambodian place with about 10 tables (all full of round eyes) decorated with beautiful statues covered with flowers and a thatch roof that rounded out the truly Cambodian atmosphere. Our TukTuk driver promised to return for us by 8:30. By the

Gail & Bruce in the TukTuk

way, a TukTuk is a motorbike with a small trailer attached to haul passengers. Three can ride comfortably. Four can ride like sardines.

We went into the restaurant and started ordering food. Our meal was delicious. Not sure what kind of meats we were eating, but they were delicious. We were just finishing our meal when a short Cambodian gent appeared at the table asking how we enjoyed our dinner. Gail thought he was the TukTuk driver and told him we would b

TukTuk ride to Dinner.

e out momentarily. He turned out to the the owner of the restaurant. Color us embarrassed. But they all kind of look alike! I hope that doesn't offend my Cambodian readers. Oh wait ... I don't have any. Anyway, he stayed and visited with us for a few minutes while we paid our bill, which was dinner for 6 people including three bottles of wine and more food than we could eat and the cost ... $150.00 including tip. Great job with the restaurant, Bruce 2. I'll have to check our Trip Advisor sometime.

Side note. After I disembarked the aircraft following the long 10 hour flight from SAMoa to Australia, I felt a severe cramp like pain in the back of my left calf. Typical me ... I powered through it and continued on with the visit to Australia. It kind of hurt a bit off and on while we were in Australia.

Dinner at Touich. Bruce, Bruce 2, Pat, Julie, Gail and Yvette.

When we got back to the hotel, after dinner at Touich, my calf was hurting a LOT more and it was swollen, warm and painful to the touch. I FaceTimed with Jess, back in California, and he suggested I call the NatGeo Doctor. I hated to wake Dr. Nelson, but Jess was clearly worried, which worried me.

Dr. Nelson arrived in my room around 11:00 p.m., took one look, asked me a bunch of doctor questions and then rather gently suggested that we go directly to the hospital. Ok, so now I'm really worried. We're in a third world country people!! If I wasn't sick when I arrived, I certainly would be when I left! Dengue Fever? Malaria? I imagined all sorts of diseases lurking in the air waiting to latch on to my body as I walked in. I envisioned cows brushing flies away with their tails standing in dirt floor halls and perhaps monkeys hanging from a thatch roof ceiling. But the doctor wasn't taking no for an answer and away we went.

We arrived at the Angkor Watt International Hospital around midnight to a deserted Emergency Room. That was encouraging to me. No cows, flies, nor a dirt floor. But I hadn't erased the thought of someone coughing on me spreading Ebola or something equally as devastating. The admission nurse, a Cambodian fellow, who spoke some English, managed to get my name, date of birth and other pertinent information and then wanted to know why I was there. Before he would let me see the doctor, he needed to explain how much all of this would cost and he wanted to know how I intended to pay - or if I COULD pay. The charges were $120.00 for a consultation with a doctor and an additional $10.00 for hospital service. I told him I thought I could handle that and to bring on the doc. The sooner the better. I wanted to get out of there FAST.

Unscheduled visit to Angkor Watt International Hospital.

The ER doctor was from Thailand, who understood English way better than he could speak it. After telling him my symptoms, he concurred with Dr. Nelson's suspicion ... a deep vein thrombosis. This is a blood clot, kids!! OK. So now he's got my undivided attention and I'm almost in panic mode. Did I forget to mention that I'm in a third world country?? DVT is a pretty serious problem no matter where you are! But here! No! This cannot be.

So now the tests begin. Dr. Nelson was impressed with the hospital. They had an ultrasound machine from this century and the ability to perform D-Dimer blood test to verify the diagnosis. The blood test came back positive for a blood clot. When the doctor performed the Ultrasound, he found a clot in the back of my calf ... strangely ... located right where it was hurting when I got off the airplane in Australia. The good news was, it was diagnosed as a "Superficial Thrombosis", not nearly as serious as a DVT. Whew!! It sounded to me like I was in the clear. But that's when another doctor, the specialist, came in and reviewed the reports. He said treatment should begin immediately and would consist of injections in my stomach three times per day, oral blood thinning drugs and close monitoring during my three day hospital stay. The ER nurse was putting a band on my wrist and was asking me to gather my things to move in to the hospital room where I'd be living for the next THREE days ... in a third world country!! This is about the time I was getting ready to put the B&R package on them (that's "bolt and run.") It's also about the time that Dr. Nelson stepped in and suggested a less aggressive plan - yay Doc! But the specialist insisted that I be moved to a room in the hospital immediately. Dr. Nelson asked the specialist to let him speak to me in private. That's when he called a specialist in the U.S. for a third opinion. The verdict ... since the Thrombosis was below the knee, they felt certain that it had little chance of developing into a DVT and could probably be treated outside the hospital with Aspirin, Advil, Compression stockings and elevation of the leg and rest. This sounded like a much better option to me. Besides, we were scheduled to leave Cambodia in 36 hours.

The specialist still disagreed, but if I insisted on leaving the hospital, I needed to sign a form refusing treatment. I whipped out my pen in warp speed, signed, paid and ran. Whew! Dodged a bullet this time. Thank you God that it wasn't a Deep Vein Thrombosis. I would truly have had no choice but to stay in that hospital in Cambodia until the D-Dimer test came back negative. Oh, did I forget to mention the part about this being a third world country??? Incidentally, the cost for seeing two doctors, an ultrasound and blood test with lab work ran up a tab of $342.00. Would have cost WAY more than that in the US.

We made it back to the hotel 4:30 a.m. The sunrise photo shoot over Angkor Watt was scheduled to leave the hotel at 5:15. Totally exhausted, with no sleep at all, a Superficial Thrombosis and doctor's orders to stay in bed with my leg elevated, I passed on the sunrise photo shoot and the tours. I'd already had my tour for the trip - the Angkor Watt International Hospital.

I got a few hours sleep before the phone rang and texts starting pinging my phone. So I sat up in bed, wrote a few postcards and started writing on the blog. By 10:00, I was bored out of my mind and hungry, so I grabbed a green colored tangerine from a fruit tray in my room that was full of seeds, walked out on the balcony and entertained myself by spitting the seeds off the balcony, trying to hit the umbrella 4 stories below, which I did with great success. Don't freak out on me. Nobody was down there getting pelted with seeds. It was too hot to be sitting outside. When I ran out of seeds, I returned to my retreat trying to think of what to do next.

A few hours later, starving, I went downstairs for lunch with Bruce

Dried meats at the market in Siem Reep.

and Gail. Then we took a TukTuk ride to the outdoor market where we saw everything from pottery to whole freshly plucked chickens.

Chickens at the market.

The food part of the market was very interesting. I wouldn't want to eat anything they were selling, but it was truly interesting. Meats, clams, eels and even live fish swimming in a tub (that's what I call fresh) were all available. There was also a section with dried fish and sausages hanging from the awnings. Yum! Probably what I would have been served at the hospital!!

Another TukTuk ride to the market.

We didn't stay long. After all, I was supposed to be in bed with my leg elevated. And it was hotter than hell outside anyway. So we TukTuk'd back to the Raffles Hotel, which, by the way, was lovely. Very French West Indies looking. Lots of white paint and dark woods. And amazing service with lots of bowing. Very nice.

I stayed in the "rest mode" for a few more hours until it was time for another feeding. We had a fabulous dinner with food stations featuring all kinds of Cambodian specialities, followed by a show of Cambodian dancers dressed in colorful outfits. They had such graceful and calculated moves. Very entertaining.

Our TukTuk driver drops us off at the Raffles Hotel.

Time to re-organize the suitcases. Tomorrow, we leave for China, where it will be the coldest climate of the trip. High in the 70's in some areas, but in Tibet, the highs will be in the 40's and lows can be in the teens. Burrrrr! I'm going to be layered with everything I have.

I had no trouble sleeping as I had hardly any sleep the night before.

All in all, the visit to Cambodia was a wash. I enjoyed one dinner