Saturday 22 August 2009 - Randomness

So, the problem of lack of testosterone is a major one, and the solution therefore calls for a proportionately extreme measure.


What you do is walk briskly in the direction of an open manhole, with a flimsy piece of polystyrene over it. Then you fall down the manhole (through said polystyrene), cut your leg open, bleed a bit, actually quite a lot, and be forced to call upon men who will come to your aid, escort you to SOS clinic, wait with you whilst your leg is sewn up, deliver you chocolate to your door and call you to ask about your welfare. Very effective. Immediate male attention. Perhaps not something to repeat though.


This wholly random and very surreal event happened on Sunday night after I had been running near the Killing Fields and had been dropped off on Street 63, not far from home. I have since been to have a look at the offending hole and it has now been opened up - not sure whether they are looking to concrete it over but it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't. I won't be sporting my IPOD walking round PP anytime soon, and my eyes will be definitely focused.


My week has been dominated by my milking the effects of my sore leg. Hopefully when the stitches come out on Monday, I will be back on form. Maybe something randomly good will happen. Who knows. I managed to get back on a moto for the first time yesterday, so things are on the up. This week promises a return to the gym and maybe the Hash Harriers. Still thinking about the Angkor Wat half.


Inspite of the injury, which was more than a bit scary, Cambodia holds a firm appeal. In the first few weeks, I thought that I would be immune to its alleged charms and listened very skeptically to other volunteers talking about its effects on their emotional state and impact on them in general. I at least in part attributed this to the enthusiasm of being a gap year student. I also thought they had just swallowed all the available marketing blurb on Cambodia, which appears to be everywhere in the UK at the moment.


However, I do now have to concede, that I can increasingly relate to their impressions.



There is something very unique about dining on the river front and being offered a live tarantula as in enticement to buy a Rough Guide to Laos. Similarly, it is equally bizarre when on Monday you pop to the local shop near work to buy coffee only to find that on Tuesday the shop has completely disappeared. (I did check this with Soren, as I thought I might have just lost my sense of direction, but apparently I am right - it has just gone).


Likewise it is heart rending to hear a ten year old boy tell you that when you fly to the UK your plane will go down, because you have not bought a friendship bracelet from him. There are a numerous theories about when it is right to give and when it is not right to give and I may come back to this later. Everytime I think about this little boy, more and more questions spring into my mind, such as who taught him to use that language. I also think of his beautiful innocent face and the gulf between that and what he is saying, words which seem to come from a jaded old man, who has already lived a very hard life.

The novelty and nature of Cambodia definitely opens you up emotionally. My thinking left brain is taking a rest and I am in danger of becoming a gushing emotional drunk. Fortunately I don't drink much.