Chicken Leg caught a flat tire on the way to the hospital. It was a sad sad day for the road warrior…

I had been eyeing it for awhile. Walking down the streets in Thailand, you see people with their legs knee deep in huge fish tanks. The sight looks like something out of a horror flick, but apparently this is their rendition of a spa. My curiosity for the weird never fails me. I knew I’d do this, I just never knew when.

After a glass of wine, on Pub Street, I gave my feet over to the fish in Siem Reap, Cambodia. They eat the dead skin off of your feet. It feels crazy and is so much more psychological than, I think, it is physical.

Insane!

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Desperate times call for artful measures.

So I thought I did everything right. Then one delayed flight, some seriously dumb-ass bankers, and one month later, I’m broke.

• Total loss of savings: $800.00

• Total loss of hope: Zero

So I’ve launched the “Photos for Food” campaign, using my passion for photography to lift me up. It’s simple: Buy a photo, feed an artist. I may not be teaching English to orphans, but hey, it’s a contribution. Hopefully one that will yield some monetary contributions… from you. Or someone you know? (Read: please re-post!)

Get a taste of Thailand without leaving home… and give me a taste of noodle soup. Everybody wins! Maybe I’ll even get out of this country when the time comes. (Read: news of an impending Thai civil war not all that encouraging.)

X’s and o’s ladies and vagabonds! Thanks for the support.

Cambodia ignited more life into this experience than I had ever felt prior to crossing that border. There are definitely notable days in Thailand (i.e. waterfall as a group), but there was something alive in me while traveling to another country I’d wanted to for so long. Something organic. Something special. Something real…something that I connected to with the people on my journey.

On this journey, the life of a traveler, you come into contact with so many people within the places you see. So many people leave imprints on your life, for the rest of your life and I find myself wanting to hold onto many of them. But they are a part of the ebb and flow of the life of a nomad. These are a few gems I met along the way to and from Cambodia.

“Are you singer?”- Polin

“No, I’m a writer. I work in television in New York.”- Me

“Are you single?“- Polin

“Oh, am I single? Oh, no. I have a boyfriend. And you? Do you have any family, children?” -Me

“Yes, I have one daughter.”- Polin

“Congratulations! Are you married?”- Me

“Of course. No wife, no daughter.”- Polin

Polin was my guide and driver throughout all of Ta Prohm, Angkor Thom, and Angkor Wat. He shuttled me around in his tuk tuk through a horrid downpour and sunshine to make sure I saw everything I wanted to, and those I didn’t know I wanted to. He was sweet. There was a genuine innocence to him that really struck me as kind. After getting lost for twenty minutes in Ta Prohm, I needed to eat before continuing the journey. I’d already decided that I would pay for Polin’s lunch before he even sat down. I had no idea how frequently his income came,or how plentiful it was. I had to make sure he ate well. Our conversation webbed into talk of other countries he’d love to visit, as well as the fact that I was his first customer all month. It was September 29th. He spoke a lot about different salaries people could make in varying countries doing different types of work, especially in New York. His fee was $10 to drive me around the ruins from 1pm until close, and back to my hostel. I slipped him a tip him, as he slipped me a piece of paper with  all of his contact information (in perfect English), in case I needed a ride the next day.

While eating with Polin, I couldn’t help but meet eyes with Vahtaa (I apologize if the name is spelled wrong), a young man with the most beautiful eyes and chiseled face I’d seen in Cambodia. He smiled when all the children came up asking for me to buy something off of them. Not because of the rush, but because they would all stop and stare at me. He told me that they had never seen a foreigner with a feather earring like mine. They liked it.

“Are you from South Africa?”- Vahtaa

“No, America. I’m from New York.”- Me

“Oh because I am studying South African culture in school and you look like their style.” -Vahtaa

His English was impeccable. We spoke about how he was working in Ta Prohm when they shot Tomb Raider. His tales of Angelina Jolie and them shutting the site down for a time were entertaining. I was really captured by him, as he was so young and intelligent. I gave him my card with the link to the website on it, telling him it could help with his English reading. I really hope he stops by. More than that, I hope his future is as bright as his smile.

In the midst of my painful bowel before the Cambodian border, I hadn’t really noticed that Yalan had been one of the many people on the bus. From China, she’s traveling around and we ended up having only one person sit between us in the minivan ride from the Thai border back into Bangkok. It was in this ride we realized we were going the same way, to Chiang Mai. We now had a traveling partner in each other. We left Khao San Road, journeyed to Hua Lampong station to acquire tickets for the overnight train to Chiang Mai. Downtown, we ate dinner and got to know each other better. She is an amazing artist and allowed me into the world that is the pages of her personal journal. Though in Mandarin, it read like a comic book. She had little illustrations that depicted what she was talking about in words…well, characters. We were together from Cambodia all the way up to Chiang Mai, the next morning. I couldn’t have asked for better company.

Honorable mentions in this blog are:

Anthony, Georgia, and their Mom who I teamed up with in order to get Cambodian visas (sketchy) and make it across the border in one piece.

Also Ms. Jo Peeps, who was my right hand woman the entire time I was in Siem Reap. We shared a room, and the fish spa!

You all mean more than you know. Thank you.

Getting better…but damn.

So I got back into Thailand, from Cambodia, yesterday. Most of my documentation of the trip is going to be going there and while there, coming back was crazy. I caught a virus on my last morning there. Or at least that’s what the Thai doctor said here, at the hospital.

All I know is that I didn’t think I was going to make it back over the border. I felt like they were going to see me, quarentine me, and try to keep me in Cambodia.  Which would have been no bueno, as it’s said by rule of thumb that if you need medical assistance in Cambodia, the best thing to do is get to Thailand asap. I had to pull out my biggest acting to date.

I still don’t know what it was. It could have been the fish curry that I had the night before leaving. It was in a liquid sauce and may not have been cooked to boil. It also could have been the juice/fruit from the hostel’s breakfast on my last morning. Say they washed the fruit in tap water. Who knows? All I know is that true to form, my body reacts quickly when there is something in it that needs to come out.

It hit like the tundra. I got dizzy and my stomach started bubbling at the rest stop literally two minutes from the border. Thursday morning, I left half of my insides on one said of the border, and the other half on the Thailand side of the border. It was not pretty. Thankfullly, one of the women riding with me was armed with instant Imodium. It got me through the three and a half hour trek from the border to Bangkok.

After the ten hour trek on the train, to Chiang Mai, I got home and eventually made it to the hospital yesterday afternoon. No fever. Good blood pressure. No more loose bowels. Ya know, all the good stuff. I was left with a sore throat, that which has since subsided. Now I just have a bit of fatigue, sneezing, and an apparent sinus headache which makes my eyes hurt a bit. I feel like I have allergies.

I looked the doctor in the eye,”So, no malaria?”

He laughed. “No malaria, just virus. Drink a lot of water, rest, and I will prescribe dehydration packets for you.”

330 bhat later= $11 I had paid to see the doctor and got my prescription.

Thank you so everyone sending me well wishes. You guys rock for real. Love you all and I will keep you updated on the progress.

The other day we hit 1,500 followers on Facebook.  We know there are a lot more of you out there, but it still means a lot to us to see the audience grow and hear from all of you.  As a little thank you for your support of the show we wanted to give everyone a change to grab stuff in the store at 30% off. 

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