Advertisement
Published: February 7th 2013
Edit Blog Post
Waiting, we are always waiting for something when we travel. We wait for buses, trains, planes and boats, we wait at airports, trains stations, bus terminals and boat docks, we wait for our food, we wait to check in to our hotel, we wait for our friends or fellow travel mates, we wait at a stall, we wait at a bank, we wait for a drink, we wait at the supermarket counter, at the travel agent, we wait for our visa’s and then at the borders, in short, half the time we travel we spend waiting. Waiting is what brings balance to our travelling, because as we all know, life is about checks and balances, ups and downs, yin and yang.
I have been doing a lot of waiting lately. In this particular case I have been waiting to recover from a bout of food poisoning. It took five days of waiting to achieve the desired result, which was that I could move again.
How did I get into this position? Well, as always it was my own fault. In fact, as I was eating the food that would eventually be identified as the culprit, I knew there was
Kota Kinabalu
Fishing boats at the harbour a fairly good chance that it would backfire on me. You see, I had gone out for dinner at a time when most restaurants were either closed or closing. Now looking back on it, I should have either gone to the supermarket or even to one of those dreaded twenty four hour KFC joints. But, I didn’t, instead I found a place that was about to shut shop and pointed at some cold rice and dodgy looking chicken; the left-overs of the day or perhaps even the week. The proprietor was all too happy with this strange request, or else he would have to find a way to get rid of it the next morning, no easy task, I am sure.
I was tired and hungry, a bad combination, just like my cold rice and rubbery chicken would turn out to be. I looked at it, my brain protested that this was a very bad idea, but my body was on auto-pilot and ignored all warning signals. Hands moved, a mouth went open, food was shoved in, and the rest, as they say, is history.
For three days, I battled fever, diarrhea and stomach cramps that had me
Kota Kinabalu
Fisherman to be wriggling in pain on my bed. I lived of dry toast, even drier crackers, some bananas, a whole lot of water mixed with rehydration salts, and those curious tablets that contain activated charcoal. It worked, on day four the cramps subsided and the toilet bowl which had become my best friend, became more of a distant relative. On day five, I ventured out of the hostel for the first time and went in search of something that might have some taste to it. It was time to test my belly and see if it could take a more diversified cuisine than what I had been eating the previous days.
I started out with a simple fried rice. I waited, no reaction. No news is good news they say. So, on to my next meal. For dinner, I had white rice with some kind of sea-weed and a fish. Again, no discernible activity in my tummy, as far as I could tell that is. Finally, I decided to put my stomach through the toughest test of them all, one which always has me rushing to the facilities within half an hour of eating it. I went to the Golden Arches
and got myself a Big Mac Menu! I positively loathe this meal, and yet, every now and again I have it, just as a reminder of how bad things can be.
So, I patiently waited in the queue to order this toxic mix of fat and American magic. I strategically placed myself at the nearest toilet and took a bite, and another one and soon there was nothing left on my tray except that piece of paper extolling the virtues of eating at said establishment. Half an hour later… No reaction! I was impressed, even my healthy stomach rejects this stuff faster than I can shove it in, but not the new and improved one. It must be as they claim, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
And with that ended my five days of waiting. The next day, I got a bus to Mt. Kinabalu. Obviously I had to wait for the bus to fill up. I went to the mountain, not with the intention of climbing it, because I simply refuse to pay what I consider a ridiculous amount of money for scaling a large lump of dirt and rock. What riles me is that
Kota Kinabalu
I wonder who Henry the Hitchhiker is? most of that money goes into the pockets of the one company that has a monopoly on all accommodation in the park. So actually you are not paying that much for the climb itself, you are paying it for overpriced beds. They charge you a hundred euros for a filthy dorm bed half way up the mountain, in a crumbling hut. And every year, they put up the price. Why? Because they can!
Well, you won’t see me up there. Instead, I hiked one of the trails in the National Park surrounding the mountain, thus avoiding the excessive fees. After that I sat and waited for a ride out. I found one pretty quickly, however it turned out the bus wasn’t actually going to my destination, despite what the driver had told me. They dropped me off at the junction fifty two kilometers from Sandakan, where, to their limited credit, they at least made sure I was put on another bus. And so I waited yet again, this time for this bus to fill up, and then I waited every time it stopped to pick up passengers and drop them off, this happened every minute or so. It was
a long fifty two kilometers, but eventually I arrived in Sandakan.
And now that I have arrived here you may venture a guess as to what I am doing. Yes, waiting. Waiting for another backpacker to come here, with whom I can share the costs of going on a river cruise to see some wildlife. He is supposed to come at midnight, little does he know that he will not be dropped off in Sandakan but at the same junction as I was dropped off, only it will be midnight and he will be stuck there! I have no way of contacting him so he will just have to bear it and wait till the morning. That is travelling for you.
And do we mind all this waiting? No, not really, it is part of the adventure. Who would have thought waiting could be so adventurous. So get out there and start waiting!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.064s; Tpl: 0.018s; cc: 14; qc: 25; dbt: 0.0376s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Dancing Dave
David Hooper
YOU MUST HAVE BEEN DELIRIOUS
Mate...you must have been so sick...wow...made you delirious...thinking that Maccas makes you feel better...talk about delirious. So much waiting...you've got a lot of catching up to do. Reckon the waiting was to see if you got sponsorship from Ronald McDonald...dreaming!