"Rest" Day in Siem Reap

Yesterday we had cycled around the majority of the Angkor complex, which meant that today, there were significantly fewer places of significane to see. We could go and see some more of the complex. We could do nothing. But we has rented our bikes for two days, and today was the second day, and we were damn well going to make use of those bicycles.

Given the limited amount of time that Courtney has been able to spend in the gym recently, that was certainly a plus for her mental wellbeing. That being said, despite the intended cycle today, Courtney still made the decision to go for a run at the hotel gym anyway.

After a mediocre breakfast at the Regency Angkor, we headed out into the Cambodian day. At first we explored Siem Reap. Done in five minutes. And then we headed to Chong Kinneas, a town on the Tonle Sap, a large lake in central and western Cambodia. Chong Kinneas is described in the travelling literature as a cesspit, and open sewer, but as we were templed out, and wanted to do something active, this was our choice.

Unfortunately, things did no go to plan, and Courtney started to feel a bit faint, so we aborted our plans to cycle, and instead went for haircuts. By this stage, Courtney was looking pale, and not her best, which was only exasperated, when the Cambodian lady cutting her hair cut off a lot more than Courtney had instructed. However, once the first cut was done, there was no going back. Mens haircuts are bit more forgiving, though that didn't stop the lady from being a bit too gung-ho with her scissors. Courtney did manage a smile for a photo (below), but this was the calm before the storm and unbeknownst to both of us, her body was already in the throes of revolting against her.

Somehow we survived our haircut ordeal, and managed to get ourselves delicious smoothes to help. For Courtney, it was more for survival, as she struggled with the after effects of the day before and this mornings run at the gym. We found a nice vegetarian restaurant for lunch, and made sure the Courtney had her fill. Her body needed the energy to fight what was happening to it. At this point, things were bad for Courtney, but not catastrophic. That would come later.

Making our way by bike, back to the bus station we had arrived at the day before, we attempted to reacquire Courtney's wet gym clothes that had fallen out of her bag, and into the luggage well of the bus. Alas, they were still MIA. Though they have been found, supposedly, neither of us holds much hope of seeing them again. Though quite what someone would want to do with wet gym gear is beyond me.

Arriving back at the hotel, it was now clear, that Courtney's day was well and truely over. Her head was exploding, and her stomach was indicating, it wasn't so ironclad. And so we settled on the medicine of time immemorial - sleep. And while Courtney did that, I made a failed attempt to take back both bikes to the hire centre at once, by riding one, and pushing the other along side. I remember doing it often as a child, cycling away with a friends bike, and forcing them to chase after on foot.

This many years distant from my childhood, and with ridiculous Cambodian traffic on the road, I made the cautious decision after a few goes, to bundle everything into a tuk-tuk, and live through this exercise. On my way back, I picked up some water, some lemonade (Sprite, not Beyonce's album), and some ice cream for Courtney, in the hope that she would be okay later on, and would be able to have something. This was far from the case.

Courtney was now in the throes of extreme heat stroke. Her body, while dealing with hot and cold sweats, was forcibly trying to expel any and all liquids it could, from her digestive tract, Her headache had progressed to migraine standards, and truth be told, in that moment, Courtney would probably have embraced the peace of death if she could. It would be a horrible night of showers to regulate body temperature, stomach convultions, body aches and vomiting every half and hour, and a throbbing head that felt like someone was assaultng her brain with a baseball bat from the inside. The amount Courtney was writhing around in pain, it felt like I was sharing the bed with a snake.

Tomorrow is not going to be pretty.Leia mais