This Is REALLY Not My Year :-(

I finally fulfilled my wish of going to Siem Reap, took 700+ shots, feeling really good abt it. It was so far a good outing till my 2nd last day when I went to Kbal Spean which is abt an hr's drive fr Siem Reap. The 2nd half of the journey was on potholed, red soiled roads. It didn't help that it rained the night before, so the roads were turned into puddles of red mud. I told myself the place had better be worth the trip...

Kbal Spean is famed for its 11th-13th century stone carvings on river banks & the river bed located near a small waterfall. What I wasn't told was that everyone had to do a 30-45 min hike up a hilly area. Sure, I'm in perfect physical condition to do so, but hiking is not exactly my cup of tea. Going uphill was as usual a breeze, but coming down was a different story, as I've got a bit of a vertigo problem n have this feeling that i may fall easily...

Got to the waterfall, sweaty n all, hoping to get some really good shots but the some of the carvings were heavily eroded n it took my frens quite some time to identify them. The noon sun was shining thru the jungle foliage n created specks of light on some of the carvings, so the pics didn't turn out as well as I hoped.

Well...you win some, you lose some, I thought. So we were making our way back to our van when I stepped on a wet tree root, slipped n landed my right ankle in an awkward position, lost my balance n fell on my tush.

The first few seconds was excruciatingly painful but being the trooper that I am, I made the rest of the downhill climb with little help from my friends.

My ankle now looks like a swollen blue-black glob. I could've attached a pic of it here but wouldn't wanna be sued for causing distress haha.

Seeking traditional Chinese treatment...not that I don't respect Western medicine, but in the case of sprains n strains trad treatment is better as it focuses on the source n not the symptom of the problem. Western docs would probably give you a jab n pills to ease the pain, but those things do practically nothing for misaligned muscles/ligaments which need to moved back to their original positions. Sounds like moments in hell (and feels like it too) but if that's not done it'll be easy for the same problem to recur the future. This girl has had enough sprains to know.

Doc said treat ankle first, then back. Okie dokes. Commented that the ligaments n muscles have stiffened up, so he happily stuck 5 acupuncture needles on my foot, left them there for 15 mins n then declared that the muscles have relaxed somewhat. Sent me home with 3 courses of herbs n a strict diet (no cold food, nothing sour or spicy, no crabs, prawns, squid...bananas?).

Strange things these Chinese medicine...break the diet n it's back to square one...you'll have to start the entire course all over again. Good ol' doc can't be cheated...one check of your pulse n he'll know if you've sneaked in the odd bowl of assam laksa or ice cream.

It's pretty fascinating to watch the workers at the clinic assemble the herbs. Using a small handheld dacing they'll measure x taels of root, bark n what not. I watched them closely in case they put in some dried bees or bugs. Hey...I need to know what I'll be drinking.

bark, bark n more wood. confirmed bee/bug free...

..everything goes into the pot...

...5 ricebowls of water, simmer till there's only 1 bowl left. how to know when it's already down to 1 bowl? experience la...

...boil n bubble, no more toil n trouble???...

...ok...at least it doesn't smell as bad as it looks...

...trust me. this is the only thing on earth that will get rid of the aftertaste...

...*ack* *gag* 1 down 2 to go....from Course #1

With the injury, that'll mean that I'll be missing salsa n gym for at least a month *SNIFF*

With the strict diet, that'll mean no ice-cream, jellies, watermelon, teas, roti tisu, lamb varuval, ikan bakar, marmite crabs, sambal...so much for my coming birthday celebration *SNIFF*

BUT...I'll escape the ragging by my salsa posse as I'll miss my bday dance wahoooo.....