Lots of things

Lots of things have happened in the last few days. Things always seem to just happen here. Not like at home.

For one, we randomly ended up at this crazy, lavish, over-the-top party, hosted by a couple business men from Cameroon. For reasons beyond my comprehension, one of them “took a liking to me” and I got treated like a princess all night long: with a snap of his fingers, wait staff would scurry out from behind a velvet curtain, nervous faces, eager to please. At one point, I was smoking a cigarette and found there was no ashtray on the table. When he saw me scanning the room, the manager ran over and offered his very own hand for me to ash in! WTF?! I would never do such a thing to another human! And all this despite the fact we had arrived in our adventurer clothes: khakis reinforced at the knee and sweaty cotton t-shirts. It is unsettling that the colour of my skin seems to shine as bright as diamonds or gold in these elite circles.

Also, I shaved! Everything. EVERYTHING. It took quite some time and afterwards I threw out my razor. It is a very strange thing to go from hairy to hairless, though one is not necessarily better than the other. Let me tell you: I enjoyed standing by the mirror, full frontal, feeling mature-like, earth mother-esque, natural, fertile, whole. But also, smooth buttery legs make me feel feminine, svelte, pure. In sum, this was a worthwhile experiment. I know how interested you are, so best stay tuned for next week when I will follow a hot tip and get waxed.

Over the weekend, we managed to fit in a visit to Sonargon, a sleepy village mostly known for its folk art museum. It was peaceful there and I tried to learn Bangla from happy children who brought us flowers and lychee fruit for no reason at all.

We met a cute British man who was staying in our hotel. It was interesting to compare experiences. Turns out much of the attention we receive is not simply because we are foreigners but because we are FEMALE foreigners. He could not commiserate with the staring/swarming we face day after day.

I guess that is all. Oh, well, I had an allergic reaction to something I ate and threw up a lot. Then I was so hungry I finished an entire package of stroompwaffles – my last one from Holland. Le sigh. We are going to Srimangal on Thursday to visit tea plantations and rainforest. Maybe the cute British man will join but who knows. So much can happen in a day or two.