Reminiscing

I've spent the last 30 minutes or so reading over some of my old posts. I could almost taste the curry in Siem Riep, feel the bites of the bed bugs in Phnom Penh and see the smiles of my friends as we lounged at Amok. A long night of laying on a wooden mat contrasts sharply with the luxurious bed that I will sleep in tonight. Dreams of 50 cent noodle plates and glasses of Angkor beer give way to $10 burgers and $4 pints.

A 90 dollar CT for a dying child and a 180 dollar coat for an outdoor enthusiast.

A day of mending deformed faces and a day of listening to the mechanisms of the intrinsic clotting pathway.

A 3 hour bus ride to a fishing village to work in a clinic and a morning listening to a patient tell her story.

An endless day by the bedside of my best friend and an endless night absorbing pages upon pages.

Life measured by constant surprises and unknown horizons and life predictable, yet imposing.

Undecipherable foreign jabber and complex guarded conversation.

The green, the stone, the sea and the green, the clouds, the buildings.

Dust blown in my face by the countless sea of motos and wind blown in my face as I navigate the city.

Poverty at every turn and the homeless with their empty stares.

Clambering orphans with incessant chatter and the people of cell phones, oblivious to the world.

A seat on a bus, bound for the horizon and a seat on a bus, bound for downtown.

A borrowed computer, barely responsive and borrowed internet, efficient and impatient.

Captures of a life lived. Parades of the past and possibilities for the future.

Sentiments of sacrifice. Joy at the return to haphazard paradise.