Cambodia's leaving present

So it's been a long time since I've blogged, that in part is because of rushing around and also because Cambodia didn't agree with me - LITERALLY. Everything about that country, just seemed to rub me up the wrong way, but I tried I tried really hard to look for the best side of it. On the last day, I decided to try a traditional Khmer curry, when it came it was not red as advertised, but more a creamy green colour which at the time I thought was just because they must have put a little bit more coconut milk and coriander in, but now think it's because it was covered in mold and burst fungal pustules, but I ate it anyway because of my need to be open to all Cambodia had to offer and my understanding that the khmer people might not have my western aesthetism for food. Big mistake, for the next 24 hours all the organs in my body scrambled to try to exit my body through whichever orifice they might ooze or projectile spew from. I spent the night in Sarah's bed just so that someone would be there if I vomited up my spleen or lower intestine. The vomiting continued all the way onto the plane from phnom penh to bangkok. Suddenly as we hit the tarmac, everything in my body started to relax, it was as if my body knew it was somewhere safe, where there are 7elevens and no livestock like sheep and goat wandering about in the capital. The relief was just too much, I relaxed too much, and before I could even get to the toilet!!! And then I became a social pariah, of the worst kind. I didn't realise as an adult that could happen unless you were very very old or very very sick, like with cancer or something deadly, or if you were crazy - and the only one I could think I was, is the last. It was the ultimate humiliation that befell me, Cambodia's last laugh, the last tuk tuk driver to say fuck you, the last child to bully me to tears, the last spit in my eye. Cambodia you are cruel oh so cruel. So then I spent the rest of the day in a state of shock sitting in a dark alley off khao San Road shivering and shaking with goose bumps in thirty seven degree heat, smelling every sewage element, every cigarettes, all the westerners dowsed in stale beer, while maya shopped.

But everything about bangkok then seemed so sedate and everyone so chilled out and kind and friendly. I've never been so happy to be in a place.

We decided to go down to Ko Phangan an island in the Gulf of Thailand. We thought considering my fragile state we shouldn't risk the night bus so we pushed the boat out and took the night train. It was the best night's sleep I've had since I've been away. The seats folded out into cots and then you watched as the conductor made your bed with crisp white sheets and the motion of the train gently swaying rocked you to sleep as the rhythm of the engine whispered you to sleep. So soothing, I slept for 12 hours.

Since we've been on the island, I've been recooperating using floatation therapy, not necessarily the most taxing exercise but one that requires much concentration and inner searching. Just go into the warm ocean close yours eyes and spread your limbs out like a star fish.

It is really beautiful here, though it's not the most beautiful tropical place I've been to, it just has a lovely atmosphere. We're staying on a little strip facing Ko Samui, that looks so close you can see the nightlife and bright lights and cars go by, while here there's nothing but coconut trees in the sand with half their thousands of thin stringy roots sticking out. At low tide the water is so shallow that a sand bar appears about half a mile out and all the locals go fishing at sunset in the little pools. The sunsets are so big and the horizon is so low that all you can see is the giant red white globe shining and shimmering. My bungalow is one of the oldest and is on stilts, there's a little stone step to hop onto to hop up to the porch and inside there's a bed and enough space for 4 floor bald boards that squeak. I have a wooden window that opens directly out to a view of the ocean and the next door neighbour's fishing boat, and when I'm in the room the noise of the ocean is so loud it feels like I'm in it. So right now, everything is tranquil and serene and perfect. I am eating as much food as I possibly can before India. They sell miniature mars bars here and I eat about 5 a bar. For breakfast I have a crepe with papaya, then I go to the sauna at the buddhist temple, where they scent it with lemongrass and eucalyptus and sometimes cardamon and it makes me think of curry so I get hungry again, then I float and that's pretty much my day. But India looms....