1. “I have Dengue fever”
2. “I flew Malaysia Airlines two weeks before one of their planes mysteriously disappeared”
3. There’s probably a third one, but after #’s 1 and 2 I think I’ll actually keep it to myself. It probably has something to do with flying to Malaysia on a bit of a whim and staying with two people I’d never met before. Worked out fine, really. Definitely not as bad as #’s 1 and 2. It’s not as though I hitchhiked, for goodness sake.
I don’t know where I got Dengue. It may have been the organic farm north of Kuala Lumpur where I camped one night with the new friends I was staying with, and helped out the next morning by picking calamansi limes. I guess I should also not tell people I love that I saw a giant snake slither away right after one of the farm volunteers told a girl I was with not to worry about snakes because she’d been here for months and hadn’t seen one yet…
Or the Dengue may have been from Ton Sai, though it’s rare there. More likely it was Penang, with its humidity and dirt. Don’t stay in Georgetown, wherein Chinatown and Little India are all dust and ants and cockroaches. Great dosa, though. And a good cooking class from Pickles and Spices.
It knocks you out, though, Dengue. I’ve now slept through three days in the last two weeks. My family doesn’t need to know this either, but I was lucky, really, so far. Unlucky in that I got Dengue, but lucky that it was so mild.
“Don’t get malaria,” was the one thing my mom asked of me upon leaving North America. Well, so far so good. Mosquitos really seem to like me, though, despite my complete avoidance of bananas.
I’ve taken more drugs this trip than I have in years: Motrin, Advil, Tylenol, Pepto Bismol, grapefruit seed extract, oil of oregano, Polysporin—you know, the hard stuff. Now I add to that some fun herbal remedies like senna for digestion, and the woman in Penang who sold me the limes and nutmeg preserved i sugar gave me something with camphor oil in it for the mosquito bites. Maybe that’s what kept my Dengue so mild? As there are no markings on the box, I think I’ll have to throw it out before traveling to Vietnam next week. If I don’t have Dengue again by then I’ll think about turning the throwing out of the mystery medicine into some kind of ritual.
At least I didn’t go to a Full Moon Party on Koh Phi Phi, where giant jump ropes of fire burn drunk tourists monthly.
At least I didn’t rent a motorbike in Bangkok and drive around through the crazy traffic. That would be really unsafe. See mom? You put a head on my shoulders.
At least I walked away from the fruit smoothie vendor who washed the blender out with tap water, avoiding yet another bout of stomach sickness.
At least my immune system has manned up. I’m pretty sure I’ve thrown everything from Dengue to e.coli to some other tropical parasites its way and, all in all, it’s done pretty okay. Could be better, it’s true, but I didn’t help my poor stomach any the night I ate too much fried catfish under cabbage. And coconut sticky rice sure helps re-pack on the pounds after a few days of fever-induced fasting. Apricot sake and dried salted squid jerky also help. I think I’ve had enough of all those, though; I’ll stick to the organic miso with natto I found in an organic Japanese grocery tore called Sustaina by BTS Phrom Phong in Bangkok.
You may have given me a respectable head, parents, but my stomach leaves something to be desired. I am in the land of Buddhists, however, so with reincarnation and all, you may yet have a chance to get it right. Better luck next time, I guess.
Leave a Reply