Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat

Top, Pants, UNIQLO. Brogues, Aldo. Bag, Dad's.

Can I please get brownie points for the most hardworking outfit photo of 2012? A lot of blood (mosquito bites), toil (the climbing), sweat (from wearing pants and a long sleeved shirt in a tropical climate) and tears (eyes watery to the dust) was poured to climb the steps of the near thousand year old Baphuon (which wasn't illegal no worries). Who knew I had the monkey in me? Anyway, since Dad misread the weather report (how nice to blame someone else for everything), the clothes I packed were more suitable for temperatures a few important degrees lower. I ended up also taking the words of the guide book literally when it said 'wear modest clothing at temples' by covering my self entirely. I was worried that the exposing my knees by wearing my ONE pair of shorts that I packed would be a little too scandalous for the monks to handle. It turns out that the (one or two) monks that were around the grounds could not give a damn, suggested by their indifferent looks as they gazed absentmindedly upon some pasty Europeans in their tanks and shorts, huffing and puffing their way up and down the temple stairs. I don't know why I so worried over this as my pair of shorts were of the more the Bermuda-y conservative kind anyway, which was what I wore everyday afterwards until we left Siem Reap. Apologies for my belated since who knew my internet connection in Cambodia would be better than the one in Singapore (at least in my hotel)? So my advice is to try to be respectful as possible but wearing such long layers in such a hot place can be a serious overkill for the unadjusted (me as Exhibit A, who had long since acclimated to the much cooler and drier temperatures of New England). Thank god for coconuts bigger than the size of my head to quench and soothe the dehydrated and overheated self.