Phnom Penh

More photos of Phnom Penh can be found at: http://picasaweb.google.com/robyou/PhnomPenhCambodia7227262010?feat=directlink

We were bracing ourselves for a hard stretch in Phnom Penh after hearing mixed reviews from other travelers, but we found the city a pleasant contrast to Vietnam with its wide sidewalks (that aren't blocked by street vendors), cleaner streets, and quieter traffic (the horn is not used to communicate everything from "I'm passing you", "Get out of my way", or "You've just run over my chicken!"). Unfortunately, we didn't get to see much of this city as Steve fell ill the day we arrived...he literally "fell" as he fainted on the street while walking back to our hotel from lunch. Fortunately, there were a bunch of tuk tuk drivers (6 of them) loitering on the street who helped carry him the 50 meters to our hotel. Although he received a few cuts and scrapes on his face, what really scared the living daylights out of me was the treatment that the hotel staff administered to him to revive him from his unconsciousness. They performed a treatment called cao gio, also called coin rubbing or coining, which essentially involves applying tiger balm to the body and rubbing it repeatedly over the surface of the skin with a coin or spoon until blood appears. Good ol' wikipedia tells me that it is used by SE Asians to relieve a variety of illnesses such as aches, pains, fevers, colds, cough, nausea, abdominal pain, chills and symptoms related to changes in the weather. What we got was a very beat up looking Steve who literally earned some "tiger stripes" for enduring this treatment!

After a trip to a private hospital, Steve felt much better with 2 bags of IV in him, some antibiotics, and a clean bill of health (tested negative for malaria, dengue fever). We were very pleased with the care he received at the SOS Medical clinic after reading about how abysmal and medieval the medical care in Cambodia is. Although it was fairly expensive, even by Western standards, it was well worth it. I think we just broke even on our travel insurance policy premium!