Rest, Recuperation and illness

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Believe it or not a week spent in huge bustling and sprawling Bangkok was preferable to a day in Phnom Penh. Bangkok is huge and busy but we actually enjoyed relaxing and staying in one place for more than 2 nights. After a few days sightseeing at the floating market, reclining Buddha and the palace, where they made us both wear skirts, -photos included as proof- we soon got into the habit of lazing in until late in the morning and then going out and returning to spend the evening watching T.V till the early hours. During this time we became addicted to watching Ultimate Fight Challenge so we decided to book a trip to watch Muay Thai. It was fantastic fun we watched about 10 bouts starting with 10 year olds boys and finishing with the proper fighters. Before each fight an intricate ritual is followed by each fighter who is dressed in fancy head gear with ribbons hanging from their arms. They kind of dance/prance around the ring bowing their heads at each judge and each corner and then a live band begins to play and the fighters tap their feet in time with the music and it sort of gets them into the rhythm to begin fighting they almost look like a puppet on a string. Kicking and punching are allowed but no wrestling. One of the matches resulted in a Knock Out after about 1min.

After ignoring those Tuk Tuk and taxi drivers who were charging extortionate prices to get back to our hotel we finally found a good price and settled back to relax in the comforts of an air conditioned cab and then we looked at our driver and noticed that he had the longest fingernails we had seen yet. In Asia it is not uncommon to see long finger nails on the little finger of men. In fact I ought to say that it is actually very popular and so we would often secretly point out to each other the length of the taxi drivers’ finger nails but this driver had the longest finger nails we had ever seen. Now you might think this is an odd thing to write about but it is an Asian phenomenon so much so that after asking different travellers we met along the way if they knew what it meant we finally resorted to good old Google. They are lots of different explanations but basically the main one seems to be that it is a sign to people that they do not do manual labour which in turn makes them of a higher class or standard because it means that they are not poor. It looks absolutely vile and I would love to say that I had a photo to show you, which could justify why I have felt the need to write an entire paragraph on finger nails, but as you can imagine it’s a little tricky. The women in Asia also like to show that they don’t work outside or do physical labour by covering every inch of their bodies from the sun. They wear face masks, hats, gloves, socks and flip flops as well as long trousers and shirts and then they work all day outside but never tan. Dark skin is not something they want. Even in Japan and Korea the women cover from the sun by using umbrellas, face masks and arm protectors.

The shopping malls here were huge and much more like I imagined the malls in Japan to be. They had ice rinks, cinemas, art galleries, Karaoke and always some event or display going on and massive outdoor beer areas as well as amazing food courts. We had already decided we would see Harry Potter and so on the day it was released we were in the queue. It was showing in all screens at all times and so our cinema was quite empty. We sat and watched the trailers safe in the knowledge that we knew what to expect and so we could just sit back and relax but oh no!! First came the regal music and the audience around us sprang to their feet. On the screen in front of us was the King of Thailand and as the National Anthem blared out we watched clips of the King going about his duties. We were sat near 2 English speaking girls and so we just copied them and tried to look as if this was a totally normal thing that we were doing. After paying respects to the very popular Thai King we settled down to watch Harry Potter.

Only on one occasion did we go out for an evening drink and we ended up in a street bar where it was the staff’s job to flirt outrageously with all customers and I must say the Lady Boy made a very good job of flirting with the men and prancing around in his skirt, which seemed to miraculously change length from long to very short and back to long. It was all very entertaining. People always say that you can get anything in Bangkok and maybe you can but we weren’t impressed with the cheap counter fit clothing that filled the streets and markets. The Indians and Russians, who were in Bangkok in their millions, seemed very taken with the clothes. They basically sold some Adidas track suit bottoms and t-shirts and a few Gucci and Burberry men’s shirts but otherwise the clothes seemed to be really unfashionable. We have sent loads of stuff home, mainly things we have bought and gifts for home but also stuff we packed that we don’t want but still the weight in our rucksacks doesn’t seem to be getting any lighter.

8 days passed in a flash and we were soon ready to head for Australia. It just so happened that we both began to feel a little ill during our last day and Night in Thailand. We were shivery and had a temperature. The night before we left Jack was feeling bad but I was fine by the morning Jacks was feeling loads better and I was feeling bad. We travelled to the airport and on arriving there I was sick. We then had to queue at passport control and it was heaving with people and the queues were going very slowly and the room was boiling hot and my temperature was rising. I needed a seat but there were none. I resorted to sitting on the floor in the queue looking like a board teenager. When the queue moved I would get up and move along and then sit again but this was proving hard and I was feeling weak and dizzy. We were very close to the desk now and I needed to stand up to give my passport over. I leaned on Jacks and she held me up but vision was going and I was saying to her that I couldn’t see and she was telling me that I’d be ok and that we next in the queue. I slumped up to the desk and leaned on it for support. All I remember after that was Jacks holding me up and other people rushing to me and dragging me off to the other side of the desk. Somebody rubbed something under my nose and on my temples.

Meanwhile Jacks was still at passport control and they would not let her through until they has done all of the usual checks. They called the airport doctor who came with about 4 other medical people and they bought a stretcher and a wheelchair. Jacks said I was ashen white and my eyes were rolling all over the place and I wasn’t coherent (no change there then). They hooked me up to oxygen and wheeled us through baggage check and security, with Jacks in tow carrying everything. Then an airport golf buggy picked us up and took us to the medical room. They checked my blood pressure, sugar levels and heart rate which were fine. They then gave me tablets which they later billed us for. Which meant Jacks had to race around the airport trying to get some Thai baht has we had used all of ours only to find we were now in arrivals and not departures. They wouldn’t let her back into departures to the cash machines so she had to exchange money using her credit card which meant taking 5000 Baht out for a 2000 Baht bill and then they wouldn’t accept her credit card because her name said Jackie and her passport has her full name on it. A few kind words were exchanged and she got the money out and changed the remainder to AU$. Finally the bill was paid and I was assessed as being fit to fly and was handed my letter to present to the staff at the plane explaining that I could fly. They did however wheel me all the way to the door of the plane and even this did not get us an upgrade. A horrid 8 hour flight followed with me feeling achy and full of flu and Jacks slowly developing a chest infection from hell. We landed in Sydney and got ready for our connection to Cairns. By this time we were both feeling awful again. I had a bad bought of diarrhoea and Jacks had a bronchitis like chest infection. So officially this was the worst flight /s we had ever taken.

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Comments

[Kit Kat]

Feel better soon
Sounds absolutely dreadful to have been sick in the airport and then flying. Hope the land of Oz brings you health and warmth. Any plans to see old camp friends? Take care.