All in asia
If Americans citizens have an international reputation for being rude, oblivious, ostentatious boors, the Chinese are viewed much the same way. They travel in large groups, dressed in gaudy new-money fashions, don’t speak the language or follow the local customs—and their government/military is easily the most formidable in the region.
She was a short, pretty woman with glasses, and despite the dusty, traffic-choked road behind us and the murky legality of what we were doing—although this is apparently very normal in Cambodia—I felt like I was in good hands. This lady looked proud, professional even, as she spread the boxes of pills out before us. She may have even been wearing a white coat.
Allison started tapping me and mouthing something I couldn’t understand. She was staring at the front seat with eyes that looked like they were about to roll out of her head.
As Allison looked again at the shoddy over-Xeroxed map our hotel had provided us, which didn’t indicate any streets except the most major ones, tears began to well up in her eyes.
I was wondering if this was all part of some elaborate plan—like perhaps the driver had called ahead and informed the hotel owner he had a couple of American yokels on the line.
We've been using the word "dire" a lot lately. The other night we saw a dog literally eating rubble. The street had been torn up and there was a mutt standing in the nearby debris munching away. The next afternoon, as the sun beat down, I saw a a dog emerge from the sewer though an opening in the oversized sidewalk curb, halfheartedly chase a pigeon, then slink back into his hole. Better to wait until sundown and eat rocks.
