Sleeping with the Cockies

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I am on my overnight train heading up North to Chiang Mai. The day was spent in ‘touristville’ in Bangkok. This included the Royal Palace and boat rides along the canal. It was hot… very hot. The entire group was sweating, especially that we had to cover our knees and shoulders at the temples. OYE. Most of the boys were wearing jeans and it was tough to look at. After leaving the area, we went on a private boat where we stopped to feed catfish. It was weird, but neat I guess.

Following our morning, we had a few hours free time before we had to head to our overnight train. I had lunch with the other 3 Americans on my tour and a Swiss guy. I left once I was done to go to the international clinic. I had what I assumed were 2 more mosquito bites on my arm but within 2 days, I had small bumps and the bites never swelled up but spread on my skin and the color started looking odd. My Aussie tour guide, Dean looked at it and insisted I go to the doctor. Anyhow, I go to the doctor and they said not to waste my time and just got to a pharmacist. So I go to 1 pharmacist and she insists I have a bacteria infection and I need to take internal and external drugs! I looked at the pills to swallow and there wasn’t even a safety cap! They could have been anything. I said I wanted to research the drugs and she said to use her computer. I said I would be right back as she was seriously pushing these dam drugs! I head to another pharmacy where I am told I simply had an allergic reaction to the insect bites. He couldn’t identify what bit me, but simply gave me an antihistamine. Thank g-d that is all that happened here in Thailand as people joke they smoke cigarettes while performing open heart surgery!

So as I am a tad itchy (1/2 my left arm)… like really itchy (more than the 18 mosquito bites I got on 1 leg in Puerto Rico which resulted in me sleeping in a closet as I didn’t want to keep up my friend Sheri any longer than I already had as itching was my only option). I am still fighting this cold. I will not give in! That all being said, I dined and I am now lying in a pod on a train surrounded by cockroaches. Of all things, I HATE cockies! They are repulsive. I can kill spiders, daddy long legs and other bugs… just not cockroaches. I have been screaming like a bitch as they are everywhere. Then there was a dead one when they turned my chair into a bed (mind you we are all in one open car, so I am lying behind a curtain surrounded by 30 strangers! I realize I have 2 weeks left of travel. If I can get through tonight, I can survive what is going to be the roughest of my travels – through Laos and Cambodia. The heat, the local culture and the random ass animals is what I am super psyched to experience. Last is Hong Kong and then NYC. I can’t believe I started planning my trip almost a year ago and now the journey is almost done. I am so sad that this adventure is coming to end; however I am craving normalcy, a schedule, having the option to eat healthier than I have been since APRIL! Yes, my bad habits started on the road in the United States in April and have continued until today. Of course I am going to dive into the local foods for the rest of my time… I did get my Hepatitis shots for this reason.

Well off to sleep in a bit. It is only 10pm, but they wake us up around 5am or so when they start getting the train ready for arrivals (somewhere between 7am and 10am) – welcome to Egypt all over… the only differences are is that Brie isn’t here, I don’t have any privacy, I have ear plugs in, I am freaking out about cockroaches and I have an itchy ass arm! OYE. I am cracking myself up as its all part of the experience!

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