Blogs from Kampot, South, Cambodia, Asia - page 20

Part 15 February 16 Siem Reap It is not hard to get off the tourist track here. Simply crossing the river (a muddy brown little meander) gets us to a ruddy dirt road and the last sighting of any Caucasians. We cycle along past waterwheels, fish drying, schools, wats, and all the other "regular" life sights of shops and homes and kareoke halls that make up life here. Soon we come upon fields of corn, and after that rice that grows in what is the outskirts of Tonle Sap Lake when it is high during rainy season. Overlooking the rice fields, there are a string of hammock restaurants--as far as we can tell, you place your order and kick back in one of the 14 or so hammocks hanging in two rows, shaded by a bamboo ... read more

Have you ever been in a small saloon car with 7 other fully grown adults eating spiders, whilst travelling at about 120km per hour (well that is what one can assume you are travelling at considering the speedometer has no needle)?.............we have! After braving the aircon VIP bus which was neither aircon nor VIP (surprised..not us) we travelled from Siem Reap 7 hours to Phnom Penh where it was decided that we would get a "share taxi" to Kampot in South Eastern Cambodia. The trips between places in Cambodia have been my favourite yet. As well as travelling on local transport with few westerners you travel through some of the most rural areas we have seen. Tiny village settlements line the roads. Old fashioned machinery works the FLAT landscape. It also gave us invaluable insight into ... read more

Cambodia is, without a doubt, one of the most emotionally-rivetting places I've ever been. Traveling here over the last two weeks has been a roller coaster of highs and lows, hurtling me from one to another with only moments in between. There are moments of delight in face of the beautiful scenery - lush vistas of green grass, red earth, blue sky, mirrored waters, and simple but beautiful thatched homes, surrounded by the idyllic figures of farmers and their beautiful children (for Cambodian children are everywhere, and they truly are amongt the most beautiful people I've seen), followed just as quickly by pity, pain, and, I'm ashamed to admit it, repugnance at "cities"of shacks, garbage, open sewers, and the people forced to try to scratch out an existance in them. Times of total bliss, sharing a ... read more

What’s Hot in Kep -the weather -30-60 min morning motorbike commute -4 inch wide paths between rice paddies -emaciated feral dogs running loose -bullocks, dogs, chickens and pigs in the middle of the road -free brown highlighted hair due to malnutrition -open-air air-conditioning with topnotes of eau de manure -people 5’6” and under -rice, rice, rice, and more rice -being first in line to diagnose TB, typhoid and acromegaly What’s Not in Kep -snow -8 min morning walk to MSB, the UofT meds’ dungeon -4 lane wide highways -leashed licensed dogs eating caviar in Yorkville -concrete median dividers in the middle of the road -$200 professionally highlighted brown hair -impersonally filtered air conditioned air with topnotes of Kenny G -people 5’6” and over -french fries -being last in line to diagnose LOL’s in NAD* and GOMERs** ... read more

Cambodia's sure full of surprises. And creepy crawlies. So far in and around the house, there have been sightings of: 2 scorpions, innumerable geckos and ants, 1 spider, and a large lizard who's taken up residence in one of my colleague's rooms. All in the span of 2 days. But the real surprise was the rather unexpected clinical experience us three meddies received the other night. It was a good thing we ended the year with brain and behaviour topics, because we had to manage a 45 minute generalized tonic-clonic epileptic seizure with clonus down the entire left side. Our supervisor started seizing in the car and we put the whole sequence into action: stabilized airway and breathing and circulation, assessed GCS, assessed pupillary reflexes, monitored vitals, wished for iv abilities to put in saline and ... read more