The past four months, I have felt like I am living in a bad dream in what feels like another lifetime… A lifetime of sadness, a lifetime of emotions, a lifetime of pain and loss and a lifetime of experiences, a lifetime of memories…
And also a time for love, a time for forgiveness, a time for compassion, a time for strength, a time for healing, a time for growth, a time for reconnecting, a time for family, loved ones and friends.
These past few months have taught me that we need to grow by experiencing polar opposites. We cannot know true happiness until we have experienced deep sadness.
After receiving that call that changed me to my core and changed my life forever, in a cloak of disbelief and numbness, I traveled back from our holiday in Kep, to our home in Siem Reap. On autopilot, visas were renewed and travel arrangements made. In what felt like a different reality in another dimension, we planned, packed our things and traveled to Phnom Pehn for COVID tests before we finally flew to Cape Town to meet with a reality that I would have preferred to have run away from. A reality, no one would ever choose in any lifetime!
The first few weeks in Cape Town are a blur in my memory, like someone had wiped their hand across a painting of my life while it was still wet, not waiting for the paint to dry. Staying strong and doing what I knew needed to be done, I couldn’t allow myself to feel as I needed to get through it all. I had learnt from a very early age how to to box my emotions and feelings, so I did what came naturally (or was it unnatural?). Let’s call it survival. I needed to honour my son’s life and be there for my daughter and that’s what kept me going.
I did what needed to be done but as our return flight to Cambodia took off from the runway at Cape Town International, all those feelings and emotions finally pushed their way out of the confines of that box and the lid flew wide open! I felt like I was leaving something so precious behind me, something that I would never find again!
Finally we were back in Cambodia and I felt comforted by the fact that I would be going home soon. Once I was in my own familiar space, I would be able to process everything that had happened and hopefully come to terms with what still feels so surreal!
Our traveling back to Cambodia was by no means easy with all the current COVID restrictions in place but after 4 long flights, we finally arrived at the quarantine hotel in the capital city of Phnom Pehn, Cambodia.
The 14 days in quarantine went by smoothly but on the day before our final COVID test, there were rumblings of the provincial borders closing and Phnom Pehn, (the capital of Cambodia), implementing their 1st LOCKDOWN!
On the final day of quarantine, with the official LOCKDOWN announcement, we had to accept that we would not be able to travel home. The quarantine hotel issued us with our negative test results and released us, but also informed us that we would be stranded in the hotel foyer, as they could not transport us to our next destination, as travel was restricted!
Luckily we had found a Guesthouse in the area willing to send their Tuk Tuk driver to collect us and 3 young South African TEFL students, who were also stranded. We booked into the Guesthouse until 21st April 2021 when we were told the provincial borders would be open for travel.
Then, the day after booking into the Guesthouse, we heard further rumblings of our hometown Siem Reap also going into LOCKDOWN! And yes, that’s exactly what happened!
So here we are, stuck in Phnom Penh in LOCKDOWN unable to travel FOR NOW, until 29th April 2021 when we are hoping we will finally be able to get back to our home!
Everyone keeps saying, well at least you can work remotely but really!
Digital nomads we definitely are…. From when we left Kep, travelling back to our home in Siem Reap before leaving for Phnom Pehn and then finally flying to Cape Town, we have stayed in Edgemead by my daughter Nicole, stayed by my friend Jean in Bothasig before renting a home for a month in Milnerton and then on that house being sold having to move to a Guesthouse in Panorama, taking 4 flights back to Cambodia and being put into quarantine for 14 days in a hotel (not of our choice) and locked in a hotel room and now having to spend the remainder of April 2021 in LOCKDOWN in a Guesthouse…..enough now!
All I want is to just get home and back to some form of normality! Talk about being tested!!! How am I to learn anything, when I am running on empty!
OK enough about me…
Although I am so thankful to each and every one of you for being there for me when I needed you the most, this blog is about sharing our journey and travels with you and and I hope that you will continue to follow our journey…
So today, I decided instead of feeling sorry for myself, to put my energy into blogging again and sharing more of Cambodia, our home for now, with our readers.
I took a walk around the guesthouse today and spent some time admiring our surroundings, (Richard enjoying a swim in the pool) and the local artwork and decor that makes this French Colonial Guesthouse so special.
On the walls inside there is an array of local artwork. The front entrance is adorned with sculptures of Cambodian warriors and Apsara dancers. There is also an old cycle rickshaw (these are no longer a form of passenger transport in Cambodia) and has been replaced by the more modern motorized Tuk Tuk (also parked out front).
Let me share a few of these of these treasures and the empty street (due to LOCKDOWN) outside this magnificent French Colonial, with you…
I will endeavour to try and share a daily experience with our readers and take you all along with us on our journey.
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