Selfie Sunday- Backpacker pants

This is today’s picture:

Showing off my ugly pants;-).

And here is the story behind it.

Backpacker fashion

What image forms in your head, when you think of the backpacking crowd and how they dress and look?

Me, I see a lot of boho-hippie-beach style before my eyes.

Trousers with low crutches. And I mean VERY low crutches.

Sandals, tats (real and temporary), long sun-bleached hair, colorful friendship bracelets.

Blue, purple or other unusual hair color.

Beards when the guys are not just backpackers but in fact ‘Hipster Backpackers’.

Colorful pareos that are multi-purpose and super handy for your average backpacker: a cover-up for legs, arms, to act as a skirt, dress, sheet, towel, table cloth and what not.

The ugliest pants in the universe

The ugliest pants in the universe? Okay, I may be exaggerating here. But I really dislike the pants that I saw everywhere around me when I was traveling in Cambodia. I don’t think they flatter anybody. And there, around Siem Reap, heaps of tourists wore the same pants. Many of them even wore the same version in a black and white pattern. You might as well stamp ‘MASS TOURISM’ on your forehead.

They were sold everywhere and cost almost nothing. I would not even wanna be found dead in them, so I sure as h*ll was NOT going to buy one. No, no backpacker pants for me!

What I wore while exploring Angkor Wat in 40 C

It was so extremely hot when we we walking around in Angkor Wat. So sickening hot. And there wasn’t a whole lotta shade everywhere.

At one point I really felt sick and I think I had a light sunstroke.

So I walked around in a short skirt, a lightweight loose top and sneakers.

How (not) to cover up for the temples

Being the preparing type, I of course was aware, that there were a few places in the temples where you would have to cover up.

No worries, I carried not just one, but two enormous pareos with me. I could cover myself up from head to toe, if needed. Twice.

I came armed with pareos in my bag;-).

So when we arrived at one of these places, I queued up, and wrapped my pareo around me three times. From my waist down to my sneakers.

The queue was long. The sun was burning on our heads. It took about 25 minutes. When I arrived, the guard looked at me and said: “No. That’s not a skirt.” I could not believe it, but she meant business. My husband, in shorts and a T-shirt could go up, but I could not.

I got furious. I have traveled the world and never before had a problem like this. There was no logic and that’s what made me white hot with anger.

Why I told my husband to ‘talk to the hand’

My husband didn’t give it a second thought and started climbing up the many, steep steps, to the top of this temple. Taking our water and the money with him. Leaving me behind in the burning sun. “Move away, lady. Your holding up the queue.”

Steam came out of my ears. Never a good thing, especially not when you’re already burning up.

I resented my husband for not showing solidarity with me. Reasonable of me? Probably not. Smart of him to go up there? Probably yes. But I was anything but reasonable at that moment. I had no water and no money, so I basically could not go anywhere. The only thing I could do was to find a spot with a bit of shade and stick around for him to come down.

When he did, about 25 minutes later, already meters before he was near me, I gave him The Hand. I said: “Not A Word. I don’t want to hear anything about how it was up there and I don’t want to see any picture of it. Don’t even talk to me. You don’t exist.”

Yes, I can be unreasonable and childish like that. For realz.

It took me about 45 minutes to cool down. Mood-wise, that is. Because with that temperature there was not a whole lot of cooling down going on any time soon, body-wise.

Poor guy…. a woman’s scorn and all…

How I ended up buying The Ugly Pants I tried to avoid

So once I got back to normal, I decided that it would be best to avoid similar situations during the coming days and buy one of those stupid, silly, ugly pants. I thought it best to go overboard right away and buy one in yellow, turquoise and with huge suns and circles.

In case you plan to visit Angkor Wat, you are warned!;-)