Happy New Year!
It has certainly been awhile since my blog juices were
last flowing. What a disgusting sentence.
Anyway, it has been rather quiet on the Grumbler front as since my last post
we have had family, Christmas and a holiday getting in the way.
I did write a post just before Christmas in the form of a letter to Santa but
it was so depressing that my internal critic shelved it. I am sure in
about twenty years when I have finally become THE most famous Hollywood actress in the
world, died in mysterious circumstances and the FBI rifle through my
belongings, they will find that particular blog post, it will win the Noble
prize for blogging and you will then get to see it “when I was at my most
vulnerable and unfetlocked" or whatever such nonsense used by reviewers at
Booker and Nobel prize time.
So, this blog post is about medicine.
Medicine was a small part of the
reason for our colossal funk prior to Christmas. We were not feeling very
Christmassy, the six month homesickness had kicked in and then the hard core
osteoporosis and collapsed spleen curing drugs that my other half and I were
prescribed to help a backache and a mild infection finished us off. The
results in both cases were the most horrific side effects that left my dear
husband with two weeks of stomach cramps and the runs over Christmas and me
with nausea and stomach cramps too. When my daughter was diagnosed with a
verucca and the recommendation was amputation of her big toe I walked out.
Needless to say, the next time I see a GP in Singapore will be after I am
dead, cremated and my ashes thrown overboard as I am quite happy to suffer with
minor symptoms than help pad the coffers of the GPs here who prescribe five
different types of medicine for a cold and cough or to translate, screw your
private medical insurance.
I do miss the NHS. Okay, maybe it could not afford to prescribe five
medicines you don't really need but I do believe patient care was still at its
heart.
Anyway, where Singapore GPs prescribe the worst medicine, the best meds to
relieve the blues are holidays and we had a cracker. We packed our
knapsacks and got a cheapy airways flight to Siem Reap in Cambodia to see the
magnificent Temples of Angkor, which were spectacular. I am not going to
warble on about the wonders of Angkor as this is not a travel blog but what I
will say is where Singapore was beginning to annoy us, Cambodia was the
antithesis and a welcome relief.
After arriving at our hotel we headed out for the early evening in a tuk
tuk, flying along by the seat of our pants and all around us was rubbish, dogs
with rabies, noise and just the right amount of mayhem. It was a snapshot
of a real country with a pumping heart.
Even walking past the tragic victims of the Khmer Rouge rendered
me excited as these poor people were part of the landscape of a country that
has a deep albeit volatile history and culture.
Being a fathead tourist I am sure those poor men, women and children hobbling
around with one arm and half a leg listening to me shout about how wonderful
Cambodia was would have given anything to swap lives with us in Singapore with
all its lack of soul, because they would be able to afford to get a decent
prosthetic leg.
After all my guffawing at the fabulousness of travelling somewhere with such
a rich culture, history and palate, I did leave Siem Reap feeling sad. It is
certainly one of those places where you leave desperately wanting to do
something to help the charming people, but as usual with me, get back home and
think, "Ahhh can't be bothered. Bit
busy”
Our slightly politically partisan guide talked endlessly about how even the
temples are managed by outside investors, the Cambodian government are puppets
to the "evil" Vietnamese, a couple of the ruling triumvirate
are former Khmer Rouge and none of the money made by these world famous sights
stays in Cambodia. I could believe this to a degree given between each
grotesque opulent monstrosity of a giant hotel, one of which we stayed in by accident, were
local properties of little wealth and tiny businesses, not getting much
business.
That said, while it is sad if it is true that the money being made through
the temples is not staying in Siem Reap, certainly Angkor and my lesbian
fantasy Ms Jolie have contributed to the growth of the tourist industry in Siem
Reap and that has to be a good thing for at the very least, local employment.
Either way, we came back from that holiday refreshed, the kids can recite
the names of all the Angkor temples, our wanderlust was reaffirmed and we have
a more positive view on how we will spend our time in Singapore. Use it,
abuse it, enjoy it, ignore it, don't get ill and travel, travel, travel.
It is the best cure for the grumps.
