angkor wat is phenomenal. i just wrote about a thousand postcards to a lot of you saying just that (and if you don't get one it means i don't have your address and i'm a terrible person and i need you to give me your address so i can shower you in asian goodness), but i like the instant gratification of sharing it with you on the internet, too.
i should really be showing you pictures with this, too. ahhhh coulda, shoulda, woulda.
anyway, i woke up at 4:20 am (har har) on thursday so i could see the sunrise. lucky, the trusty guy who drove lexa and maddy and co. around the temples in the earlier days, arrived in front of my hostel at 5 am, ready to whisk me away to the khmer temples...on his motorbike. you all remember that terrible motorbike incident i had. i've been gun shy ever since, but it was 5 am and i really wanted to go and lucky's a nice guy so i decided to trust him and hop on the back of his motorbike.
i haven't made a better decision in ages. there's nothing like waking up and going for a motorbike ride through the dark, relatively cool siem reap morning. lucky dropped me off and told me to have fun, take my time.
a quick note on the layout of angkor wat. the big main one with three pointy things sticking up--the one you've probably seen pictures of--is the actual angkor wat. there are bunches of other temples that are part of the angkor wat temple zone, and those are all what take so much time to see. they're up to 50k apart, i think, and it can take an hour to drive to some of the farther away ones. it's a sort of complicated, oversized disneyland for temples.
angkor wat is the famous one for the sunrise. i ran into a woman the night before who'd said she wasn't that impressed, so i tried to keep my hopes down.
that woman was really super wrong. as i walked down the causeway to angkor wat, i popped out to see the most gorgeous sunrise of my whole life. THIS IS NOT AN EXAGGERATION. the sky was hot pink with tinges of purple blending into a bright orange, lit up against the dark silhouette of angkor wat. just...you need to see it some time. (i tried to replicate it this morning, but the sky wasn't working with me.)
lucky took me to angkor thom next, which is actually a huge complex of lots of temples where people used to actually live. the main temple in the middle, bayon, has 216 faces that look precisely like the guy from "legends of the hidden temple" (the big face, not the awkward, terrible host).
after that i was hot and freaking tired and hungry (still not feeling 100% after the dengue), plus it was 10 am and it was SO EFFING HOT that i wanted an ice cream and then to lie down in an ice bath, so lucky drove me home.
at 4 pm, after a nap and a much needed recharge in the a/c, lucky came back over to the hostel and took me to ta phrom, which might look familiar cuz lara croft was totally there. (seriously--parts of "legends of the hidden temple" were filmed in and around angkor wat.) i had bought a scarf for myself the day before and wrapped it around my head when i was walking around the temples cuz it made me feel like a badass tomb raider.
the temples close at 5:30 pm, and by the time i got out everything else was closing down, so lucky drove me home. oh, then i went out to eat by myself on a busy street, which is always a weird thing but i really enjoy it. i'm reading vampire diaries cuz i'm about 14 years old, so i get a lot of time to read when i eat. cool story, huh.
aaaaaaaaaaaanyway, i went ahead and woke up early again this morning cuz it's not like i stayed out drinking by myself last night (reading at the bar has this creeper ring to it), but i was super tired and i never really woke up. my body was still exhausted from the day before, and every temple i saw today felt like something i'd already seen. around 9 am, i asked lucky (of course lucky took me again...we're bffs) to take me home. "how sure are you?" 97% sure, lucky. so he drove past another temple, i looked at it with 3% of my effort, and home we went.
today i've just been wandering around town...i ate a delish salad, had a sorbet, read my book a lot, lamented the heat to myself, then came here on the computer. now imma splurge on a plane ticket back to bangkok (i love flying--one last flight for the summer) then get back to home sweet home, suphan tomorrow!
8.5.10
6.5.10
escaping the hospital
i got tired of that place so i was just like "PEACE OUT, BITCHES!" and ran away.
no i didn't. my platelet count was better today and the fever stayed away, so as promised, i was released this morning! i'm still supposed to be careful cuz my platelet count is still lower then normal, so if i fall down or something i might bleed internally. (i already hit my head on the cieling in the guesthouse...oops.) after a minor debacle with insurance--because insurance can never go smoothly--i filled out a customer service paper, got my meds in this cute goodie bag, and went on my way. lexa and maddy stuck around to help me get out of the hospital and check into mandalay inn in siem reap. this is a cute little place. i've got two beds for no reason, a tv with english channels, a/c, and my own bathroom. livin it up.
oh, i'm by myself cuz lexa and maddy are off to vietnam. lexa's dad is over here for one last asian hurray, so since maddy'd already seen angkor and that's all i'm planning on doing with the rest of my trip, she figured she might as well join lexa.
i'm thrilled to explore angkor by myself tomorrow and the next day. it seems like the kind of place where i'll wanna get lost staring at stuff, and i'm not gonna wanna worry about holding people back. so this should be great.
unfortunately, this means no laos this time. maybe that's just fate's way of saying one week wasn't enough anyway, come back when you have more time.
i should go to bed soon...sunrise at angkor wat tomorrow morning :-)
but first, THANK YOU all for your well wishes and good thoughts while i was holed up there in the hospital. <3
no i didn't. my platelet count was better today and the fever stayed away, so as promised, i was released this morning! i'm still supposed to be careful cuz my platelet count is still lower then normal, so if i fall down or something i might bleed internally. (i already hit my head on the cieling in the guesthouse...oops.) after a minor debacle with insurance--because insurance can never go smoothly--i filled out a customer service paper, got my meds in this cute goodie bag, and went on my way. lexa and maddy stuck around to help me get out of the hospital and check into mandalay inn in siem reap. this is a cute little place. i've got two beds for no reason, a tv with english channels, a/c, and my own bathroom. livin it up.
oh, i'm by myself cuz lexa and maddy are off to vietnam. lexa's dad is over here for one last asian hurray, so since maddy'd already seen angkor and that's all i'm planning on doing with the rest of my trip, she figured she might as well join lexa.
i'm thrilled to explore angkor by myself tomorrow and the next day. it seems like the kind of place where i'll wanna get lost staring at stuff, and i'm not gonna wanna worry about holding people back. so this should be great.
unfortunately, this means no laos this time. maybe that's just fate's way of saying one week wasn't enough anyway, come back when you have more time.
i should go to bed soon...sunrise at angkor wat tomorrow morning :-)
but first, THANK YOU all for your well wishes and good thoughts while i was holed up there in the hospital. <3
5.5.10
no more needles in my skin!
my doctor came in again to check up on me and reassure me that i'd be out tomorrow if my platelet count was up and my fever down.
"anything else?" he asked.
"um...when can i get this out?" pointing to this annoying iv stuck in my hand
"oh, you want it out?"
yes, very sweet doctor, i would like this very annoying needle-bob-thingy out of the vein in my hand, thank you.
three minutes later, the nurse came back, peeled it off, and i'm free!
ALSO, you guys, we totally missed celebrating my 100th post. i think it was that one about sextuplets.
"anything else?" he asked.
"um...when can i get this out?" pointing to this annoying iv stuck in my hand
"oh, you want it out?"
yes, very sweet doctor, i would like this very annoying needle-bob-thingy out of the vein in my hand, thank you.
three minutes later, the nurse came back, peeled it off, and i'm free!
ALSO, you guys, we totally missed celebrating my 100th post. i think it was that one about sextuplets.
tentative good news!
my rash came today! i have no idea why this rash means good things, but the doctor told me it does and i believe everything worapoj says. i haven't had a fever since yesterday, and my appetite's coming back. i even wanted to eat some of the chocolate cake lexa bought for "me" (but she's really just put it in the fridge for herself to eat every time she comes). my platelet count (which was low as of yesterday) is either going down much more slowly today or is stable or something, i forget what he said, but it was def good news.
so...if i still don't get a fever...and my platelet count goes up...i can leave tomorrowwwww! *does a jig*
not to jinx it or anything.
so...if i still don't get a fever...and my platelet count goes up...i can leave tomorrowwwww! *does a jig*
not to jinx it or anything.
sextuplets
this morning, when one of the nurses came in to take a blood sample, i was watching this show about these parents raising sextuplets. it wasn't jon and kate plus 8. it was some other show literally called "raising sextuplets," which i thought was weird cuz hello, don't you remember jon and kate plus 8 and what a disaster that turned out to be?
anyway, so i'm watching this show and the kids are all 16 months old. cute babies transcend international differences, so the nurse immediately goes, "awww!" and sort of giggles.
"she had six babies at once," i explained, "like a dog." the nurse laughed and asked a bunch of medical things--how did she hold all of them in her belly, did she have a natural birth, blah blah. so we talked about them for a while and laughed a bunch about this couple who had six babies.
"where is she from?" nurse asked
"the usa."
then i tried to explain that the reason these people had six children at once was cuz of fertility drugs. she looked at me confused, so i tried explaining again but with different words. no luck.
"in cambodia, people only have two or three babies at a time, never six."
it's probably a safe bet to say fertility drugs have yet to reach developing countries.
anyway, so i'm watching this show and the kids are all 16 months old. cute babies transcend international differences, so the nurse immediately goes, "awww!" and sort of giggles.
"she had six babies at once," i explained, "like a dog." the nurse laughed and asked a bunch of medical things--how did she hold all of them in her belly, did she have a natural birth, blah blah. so we talked about them for a while and laughed a bunch about this couple who had six babies.
"where is she from?" nurse asked
"the usa."
then i tried to explain that the reason these people had six children at once was cuz of fertility drugs. she looked at me confused, so i tried explaining again but with different words. no luck.
"in cambodia, people only have two or three babies at a time, never six."
it's probably a safe bet to say fertility drugs have yet to reach developing countries.
4.5.10
how many times have you gone pee pee?
hospital, day three. well, sort of day three...i didn't check in until like 5 pm on sunday, so that doesn't really count as a full day...whatever.
i'm feeling really good right now, but i also took four pills to help my body about an hour and a half ago, so that might have something to do with it.
they took the iv out of me this morning cuz the doctor says i can eat and drink well enough on my own. actually, my ability to hydrate myself has proven a bit shocking to everyone here. my fever was pretty bad one day and the nurse was like "drink more water and your fever will go down." and i was like "MAN anything to get rid of this crap!"
brb, medicine time.
oooh, when they flush out the iv with saline its weird. i guess i still get some form of iv medicine cuz the nurse just hooked it up. this whole iv business is real bizarre and i dunno if i can ever eat at iv drip anymore.
anyway, so i've been drinking a lot of fluids, and the nurses keep asking how many bottles i've had. my favorite nurse, trey, asked me last night how many times i'd gone "pee pee." like a thousand, friend. my main activities right now are sleeping, drinking water/juice, peeing, and dreading the next time i have to eat. i have almost zero appetite usually, but i need sodium and everything in your body works better when you have food, so i have to force it down. but they bring me this gross looking food from the hotel and i can't stomach it. actually, the food's prob not so bad to a person without dengue fever, but i can't do strongly flavored food right now. bleh. i want american food.
the angle my wrist is at is bad for the iv, so i better go. more updates soon.
3.5.10
so i'm in the hospital
i have dysentery and dengue fever.
the dystentery's almost gone (so much easier to take care of nowadays than when i was back on the oregon trail) cuz i'm hooked up to an iv and on antibiotics for that.
dengue fever, however, has no cure but time. it made my sodium low and made me dehydrated, so i've also got myself plugged into this iv for those things. dengue just takes time--about a week--and i'm only on day for, so i'll prob be here a few more days.
"here," btw, is in the royal angkor international hospital in siem reap, cambodia.
"OH MYGOD, nicki, cambodia?! you must be getting hundreds more diseases just being there!"
false. this is one of the fanciest hospitals i've ever been in--impeccably clean, super sweet doctors and nurses, flat screen tv with a bunch of english channels...not a bad place to be.
so this illness is why i've been MIA from the blog for a few days. oops. now i'm feeling kind of sleepy so imma go watch some movie and take a rest and close my eyes.
the dystentery's almost gone (so much easier to take care of nowadays than when i was back on the oregon trail) cuz i'm hooked up to an iv and on antibiotics for that.
dengue fever, however, has no cure but time. it made my sodium low and made me dehydrated, so i've also got myself plugged into this iv for those things. dengue just takes time--about a week--and i'm only on day for, so i'll prob be here a few more days.
"here," btw, is in the royal angkor international hospital in siem reap, cambodia.
"OH MYGOD, nicki, cambodia?! you must be getting hundreds more diseases just being there!"
false. this is one of the fanciest hospitals i've ever been in--impeccably clean, super sweet doctors and nurses, flat screen tv with a bunch of english channels...not a bad place to be.
so this illness is why i've been MIA from the blog for a few days. oops. now i'm feeling kind of sleepy so imma go watch some movie and take a rest and close my eyes.
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