Friday, September 19, 2014

Just Another Day in Cambodia



 A couple of years ago I went to Cambodia to do some office work in a non-profit organization there called Cambodian Children’s Fund (www.cambodianchildrensfund.org.) I was the only American in the office and during the day there was no one to turn to and say… Did that really just happen? So at the end of the day I would shoot off an email to my friends and family so they could share in the “fun.” This is just one of the many adventures from those two trips. Enjoy!

May 26, 2011
I took a TukTuk home again tonight and it was raining pretty hard. When I got back to my hotel room all I wanted to do was pee and shower. As is my usual, I got my key from the front desk guy and headed up 3 flights of stairs to my room. Now on the way to my room I pass #28, 18, 16, and 20 (in that order) before I get to 26 - my room which is on the third floor. I open the door. Put the key in the special slot so I can activate the electricity. Walk thru the kitchenette area to the bedroom so I can turn on the A/C cause it’s 104. Drop my bags. Take off my shoes and head for the bathroom. This is the part where I discover that the previously cracked and leaking bathtub IS MISSING!!!!!!  Yes, you read that correctly. A construction guy came by today without my knowledge and removed the broken bathtub.  Apparently he didn’t have time to put in the new on though. (The new one is sitting in the lobby by the way. I walked by it on my way in.)

Soooooooooo I take a deep breath, walk back downstairs and explain to the kid at the desk that I have NO BATHTUB! He asks me if I am sure and he asks me to to show him...... um... cause maybe I’ve just misplaced it? This is when the manager walks out of his apartment (#28 on the first floor) and I begin to explain to him that my bathtub is missing.

They suggest that I use the shower in the room above me which is empty. OK.... Are you moving me to that room? No. Just use the shower until we get your bathtub put in. When will that bad? We think tomorrow.

Why not just move to the other room permanently? Someone else is moving in to that room tomorrow. So you want me to go up another flight of stairs, take a shower and then go back to my room? I'm going to lug all my bathing items and clean clothes up one floor and then take it all back down with me when I'm done. You want me to do this tonight and again tomorrow morning. Um...... no that won't work. I have no intention of walking around this place in my pajamas. But there is a language barrier. I'm exhausted and I REALLY just want to get out of my soaking wet clothes. This conversation is going nowhere fast.

Sigh..... I just took a shower without a bathtub or a shower stall. Please see attached picture and feel free to laugh and hold your sides in pain at my expense. Cause I would be laughing my ass off if this happened to one of you. 


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