Second thoughts?
on Oly's Cambodia Blog (Cambodia), 20/Oct/2009 14:56, 34 days ago
Good news– in a sudden and unsignalled turnaround of which even Phnom Penn tuktuks would be proud, I’m now the most popular member of the party. Bad news is it came at a cost.I am sharing a bedroom above the head office, which I now discover is the infamous‘room A4’, usually reserved for volunteers who get sick. Conformist as ever, I now have a nasty chesty coughy cold thing.Luckily the volunteers are a great bunch, drawn from a diverse range of countries– and all were touchingly attentive in their support for their new invalid.The UK view was to drink water and take paracetamol, the Dutch to apply lashings of Vic-type paste. The Indians advised avoidance of phlegm-inducing bananas and any citrus fruits– plus a sneaky cigarette - as the recommended route to recovery.Our Kenyan contingent suggested hot drinks and unspecified herbs may help. Unfortunately I didn’t get to consult the Philippinos. Aussies prescribe beer.But I’m here to learn from my Cambodian hosts, so on today’s cycle-taxi tour of Phnom Penn I visited the big temple at Phnom Wat, and took care to splash myself liberally with monk-approved holy water.This make me damper than usual, but I figured it exempted me from the alternative local approach, which seems to involve degrees of self-harm– either scratching my chest repeatedly with a coin, or 'cupping' the rim of a heated glass onto my back, burning the skin and producing a strong vacuum. This would probably work of course - the pain and discomfort would no doubt distract me from whinging about a mere runny nose.So much choice– so much attention! But losing face is a big deal here so I couldn't favour one approach over another.By 9pm I was tucked up in bed with a Lemsip.