Leaving Southeast Asia

I can’t say that I was very productive during my last days in Cambodia and Thailand. After I voted I sat and had lunch on a floating deck/restaurant by the lake in Phnom Penh. It’s not much of a lake but seems important to a large population of people who live on its banks and fish its waters. Islands of vegetation float around, propelled by the wind and boats. The government plans to fill it in next year and build high rises on it, regardless of the impact on the people who will be displaced. As I had my lunch the skies opened up with a rain the likes of which I hadn’t seen since Thailand 2006. I had a fabulous vantage point to watch the water boil under the deluge and the lightening rip the sky.

The following day I flew back to Bangkok where I didn’t do much of anything. I was feeling a bit off and suspect that my lunch by the lake may have been a bit dodgy. It wasn’t too bad, it just affected my appetite and made me somewhat uncomfortable. The following day I managed to get over to a Mexican restaurant on the other side of town that Warren had recommended. Nepal doesn’t offer a lot in the way of nachos and salsa, so I thought I’d get my fill while I could. The nachos were fabulous, the environment not so much. I was in Patpong, the infamous sex-trade part of town which can be both fascinating and gut-wrenching. The more I see of it, the more it leans towards the latter. The restaurant itself was upscale and very Western, with the waitresses decked out in denim and cowboy hats. The prices were similar to those at home (i.e. astronomical by Thai standards) so the clientele was made up of expats and Western vacationers. I didn’t stay long – the Aussie expat chatting me up was particularly irritating and I didn’t relish an entire evening of listening to him singing his own praises.

I had an uneventful trip to Kathamandu. (I’m hoping this is a new trend – if you need reminding, check my blogs describing me getting to and from Kathmandu in 2007 – it wasn’t pretty.) I ended up having to pay a fee for my overweight luggage, but a quick calculation revealed that the fee was less than the cost of one of the dozen or so books I was carrying from home, so I figured it was a worthwhile expense. I also had some extra baht I had to get rid of so it actually worked out pretty well.

I had lots of time to spare at the airport and after browsing the duty free shops came to the realisation that a pair of sunglasses had been stolen from me along with my credit card, cash and battery charger during my first transit through Bangkok. There’s no problem getting a battery charger in Nepal, but decent sunglasses just aren’t to be had. Virtually everything for sale in that country that isn’t manufactured there is fake. That’s okay when it comes to CDs, fleece jackets and designer t-shirts, but not so good when it comes to decent eyewear. I decided to bite the bullet and get some good polarised sunglasses at the airport while I could. It was a nice little treat.