I ran into an old friend the other day - Roshani, who lived for a whiles here in Indianapolis - and we got talking about everything and nothing. I told her about my trials and tribulations (which I won't go into here), and she talked a lot about the past few years of her life, mainly her ten months in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, which is where she was most recently. Anyways, she had what sounded like a pretty awesome time out there.
The people are amazing, she said, especially considering everything they've been through there in the last century or so, and she was made to feel welcome wherever she went. She was teaching a little out there, but she'd saved up enough cash back in Indiana to keep her going out there for a long time, mainly because the exchange rate is so low. So she taught english, a little French (which I did not know she could speak!) and some other bits and pieces, but mainly she just lived there, building up friendships, settling down a little. Some of the people she's met she'll be friends with for life, was how she put it.
Anyways, there was one particular story stuck out for me, probably because I've been thinking of doing a little travelling in the not so distant future. She'd got a nippy little vehicle from some car hire place out there - nothing fancy, just something to be able to take the odd trip outside the city and go see some of the amazing ruins in the countryside there. So, in her last month there, she decided to travel a little further afield, see some pretty rare sights, get to know the country that little better. One night, she's driving back to the house she's staying in - with a family about 100 km north of Phnom Penh - and out of nowhere an elephant comes lumbering out of the brush and into the middle of the road! She swerves at the last minute, and goes smashing into some trees. The car was totalled, and she needed treatment for whiplash and some minor cuts at the local hospital. Her travel insurance covered it but, still! How cool is that! - How did you get that scar? I nearly crashed into an elephant! Wow!
She says she regrets nothing. Glad it happened. Just for the story and the sight of an elephant in her headlights. She never knew what happened to that elephant, but she's happy enough that she didn't hit it. I tell you one thing, hearing that gives me itchy feet! Maybe I'll do some travelling myself soon…