Siem Reap: medical advice

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Hello there!

We're back home now, but I thought I'd offer a word of advice to travelers who are going to Cambodia (particularly to Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor).

We managed to get a very bad case of food poisioning while in Siem Reap. We're not sure where we ate the bad food (our guess was at a lunch stop at an outdoor place outside of Banetay Srei). Let's just say that the food poisoning was so bad, Mark was unable to fly out of Cambodia on the 4th, so we spent an extra night there and came home a day late.

We had an outstanding experience at the Naga International Clinic in Siem Reap. The doctor there was just fantastic. Not only did she take very good care of Mark medically, she also helped us to change our flights, she helped us get a hotel, and had a friend drive Mark and me to it. She even came by the hotel the next morning to see how we were doing. She was probably the most helpful and friendly person we met in Cambodia.

So, travelers to Cambodia, here is a bit of advice for you:

1. Before you go to Cambodia, take some preventive measures. Food handling in Cambodia just doesn't seem to be as good as in neighboring Thailand. Every single person we met who traveled in Siem Reap got a moderate to acute case of food poisoning within 2 days. You should talk with your doctor about taking some Cipro with you just in case you get ill(women: also take medication for yeast infections with you, too). Consider the "Pepto Bismol" preventive technique: the CDC says that if you take 2 Pepto tablets four times a day before you go and while you're there, you may prevent a bad case of food poisoning from affecting you much. Down side: your tongue may turn black temporarily. Check here for more detailed information.

2. If you start to get sick, and you do not get any better within 4 hours, go to a doctor right away. Don't assume you'll get it out of your system and get better (that's what we did, and we both just kept getting worse). And don't put off taking the medicine because you think you'll get over this illness quickly. I don't know how many Pepto tablets I ate before I finally started taking the Cipro, and the Cipro is what really took care of this bug.

3. If you're in or near Siem Reap, go to the Naga International Clinic. It is very professional, very clean, affiliated with Bangkok Hospital, and you'll be happy you went!

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Comments

[tim]

Safe trip
We are all so glad you made it back safely! Sounds like it was a great trip. It was good you chose safe places like Thailand and Cambodia rather than risky places like London.

[Maria Flurry]

What an adventure!
Thank you so much for creating your travel blog. It was great fun to see images from across the world. It certainly whets my appetite for travel!! Welcome home! Maria