Salty Meatballs and Leeches

Phnom Phen
Originally uploaded by An Smith.

I don't know when it is exactly that you cross the line from a girl who likes to look pretty and then suddenly fall into the dirty grubby backpacker category, but I know we have jumped in head first and have successfully arrived.

Our finger nails are dirty, our feet are disgusting all the time (I'll get back to them in a minute), Denise has stopped brushing her hair (she is aiming to brush it again when we get back home). I only brush mine after I wash it, which is three times a week or so. We try to shower everyday but if there is no time we just use double deodorant and change our undies. As a rule we still shave our legs, paint our toenails (it helps to cover the dirt) and sometimes we put on mascara when we go out at night. You will also be glad to know that brushing our teeth is also still in effect.

I'm sort of scared of my new look (besides the dirt) because I'm suddenly wearing thai pants and a head band and I think I'm a few days away from dreads (kidding!). I think. I would more likely just shave the damn hair off.. because of the heat.

Anyway, back to being grubby. The thing is that it isn't exactly hygiene that makes you 'grubby'. It's your entire new lifestyle. Things don't bother you anymore. Stuff like bugs, hair in your food and dirty washrooms become normal. Bad smells, black feet, hairs on the pillow, dead mozzies on the sheets. It is next to impossible to keep your feet clean. You are always in flips, the roads are dusty, you are sweaty all the time..my feet stay clean for a duration of approximately sixty seconds and when I shower the water is black and sand coloured. It's sick...

So this is the routine.. we arrive in a dusty city hot and tired from a death defying bus ride and are immediately surrounded by ladies and children selling fruit and tuk tuk drivers offering to take us to a guest house. We try (unsuccessfully) to keep some sort of personal space between us and them and figure out the plan, toss our bags into the Tuk Tuk and drive to guesthouse #1. One of us stays and watches the bags and the other checks out the room. We look for one thing and one thing only. Foot boards. Denise can't sleep in a bed with foot boards because she has giant long legs (lucky her). We will walk into any guesthouse and the walls are super grubby (usually water stains and dirt), there are wire things hanging from the walls that look scary, the sheets are clean-ish and there are buggies in the washroom. Sometimes there is toilet paper and sometimes (ha hem all the time) the washroom smells like mould.
"It's really nice! and only $2 each..". Denise wisely wondered yesterday when in our normal lives that would that be considered "nice'. She has a good point. We have transitioned.