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After two weeks spent in the Gili Islands, we arrived back in Bali to a place called Sanur on the south east coast, where we had planned to spend a couple of nights before flying to Singapore. Vinny was not feeling very well however, so when we got there, he had to cancel his plans to do a free diving course and spent the two days in bed. I felt great, completely over the food poisoning for the first time in two weeks! It was shortlived however, as the following morning, the 14th of February, I woke up with a terrible headache and felt awful. We had to drag ourselves to the airport that evening and took the short flight to Singapore where we went to check into our hostel, only to discover that it was a tiny windowless room under the stairs that had just been painted. We would have just stayed there had it not been for the unbearable headaches and the fumes from the paint. Instead, we traipsed through the streets of Singapore, going from hotel to hotel trying to find somewhere to sleep for the night! Everywhere seemed to be booked up. We finally found a nice
hotel with availability and crashed there for the night.
The next morning, we decided to just get out of Singapore because it was very expensive and we were in no state to enjoy it, so we got a bus to Melakka in Malaysia, where we had planned to spend the next few days anyway. After a long four hour bus ride, we checked into our hostel on the river. The hostel owner took one look at us and offered to bring us to the medical clinic the following morning. That evening he brought us to a nearby restaurant where we managed to get some soup into us, but it was a struggle.
The next morning, after a visit to the clinic, we were admitted to hospital with suspected Dengue Fever. It was confirmed later that day that we had both contracted it. We were put in different wards on the same floor and each attached to an I.V. and told to drink a lot of coke! After three days, I was discharged and thankfully, Vinny was the following day. I won't go into it (as Vinny did a previous blog on the experience) but it was a tough
few days and when we were discharged, the doctor advised us it would be up to a month before we felt better.
The night I got out of hospital, I headed down to Chinatown a few streets away where all the market stalls are, and had some food and took some pictures. To give a little background into Melakka, its a beautiful historic town with Portugese, Dutch and British influence and was made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2008. It is easy to see why. Some of the beautiful architecture strikes you as being very European, while the decor, restaurants and cafes are all of a variety of Asian influences. The river runs right through the town and our hostel, located in old Melakka, was right on the river, so you could take your coffee outside in the morning and watch the boats go by. As sick as we were, we still managed to appreciate how beautiful it was during our time there. There is a church in the middle of the town, St Paul's, which was founded by St. Francis Xavier, a Spanish missionary who spread catholicism throughout Asia and who was buried in this church briefly,
before being moved to Goa, India. Myself and Vinny actually visited the church where he now lies in Goa a few years ago so I had hoped to visit this church as well, but unfortunately the Dengue put paid to that. I believe its worth a visit though.
The morning after Vinny was discharged from hospital, we ordered a taxi to take us to Singapore airport!! I know, very 'flashpacky' to get a taxi to bring us to what is effectively a different country but we were too sick to be dealing with buses and border control! We were brought to a place near the border, where we switched cars and were driven the rest of the way by a Singaporean who brought us all the way to Departures at the airport!
I suppose I should mention that while we were out of hospital and on the mend, we were still very sick and very weak. We had eaten very little over the past few days and had no appetite. In Singapore airport, we stopped by the pharmacy to pick up some tablets to boost our immunity before boarding a long flight to Brisbane. The lady working in
the pharmacy gave us colostrum pills and told Vinny that he would become "strong like bull" with them! On our plane when we advised the air hostess that we were not well, she moved us to really nice seats and gave us a few extra luxuries!
Upon arrival in Brisbane at 2am, we had to sleep in a departure lounge for the night before boarding an 8am flight to Auckland to begin our New Zealand leg of the journey.
The Asian experience was officially behind us and while we were not well leaving, it would be unfair to look back on our time there in anything but a positive light. From trekking the Great Wall of China and the jungles of Chiang Mai, to snorkelling and diving in some of the most pristine waters of Indonesia and Thailand and taking in the spectacular Ankor temples in Cambodia, it was an unforgettable experience and I hope that throughout this blog, we have managed to do it justice.
We were however, looking forward to some of the western type comforts that New Zealand would provide after four months of Asia and were very excited to be embarking on a
24 day whirlwind trip of one of the most beautiful countries in the world.
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