No worse for ....
The sinus infection fog has begun to clear. I beleive that I had a simple cold when this whole thing started, but due to some poor circumstances, it evolved into an intense sinus infection. At the worst of it, I couldn't taste, smell, think, or even really move. Anyways, its been a week and I'm finally to the point where focusing on writing something more than a paragraph doesn't seem like an insurmountable task. I'll fill you in from way back when I first arrived in Thailand.
I flew into Thailand and after a little work met up with Sara and Noah (my cousins). We were all a little destroyed from traveling and so it was decided that we would rest a day or two in Bangkok before we went exploring. The couple of days stretched out to be a little longer for a number of reasons. One was the absolutely amazing shopping here. I'm not one driven by shopping, so its a pretty big deal for me to say I was compeled to explore and buy a number of things here. One complex was all electronics, illegal DVDs/software, and everything else evenly remotely related to the tech industry. Sara and I almost lost Noah there, and by the time we had found him he had purchased a digital camera. Soon afterwards Noah and I lost Sara at the weekend clothes market which was a spralling cluster of stalls that seemed to go on forever. the clothes were hip, artistic, and packed in so tightly that I imagine you could spend a month there and not see everything.
After the shopping had been confronted we started to make plans to head out to Ko Chang, which is the largest island of the coast of Thailand and extremely close to the Cambodian border. We also celebrated Christmas Eve and Noah's birthday. This included a surreal experience in which Noah read the night before Christmas, we sang happy birthday, ate a donald duck cake with an unlit candle in it, and opened some small presents in our hotel room. The next day, before we left for Ko Chang, Noah alerted us to some discomfort he had been experiencing. It worried him enough to go to the hospital. Sara and I accompanied him there and were all in complete shock at what we found. The hospital we went to was the nicest medical facility I've ever seen. Everybody was extremely nice, and it felt more like we were in an exspensive hotel rather than a hospital. Even that weird hospital smell wasn't there. Its difficult to describe because I don't think there is really anything like it in the US. Noah said the experience was quick and pleasant... except for the fact it turned out he had shingles. Sara and I had both had chicken poxs so we weren't in danger of catching anything. This was also when Noah was coming down with a cold. He assured us he was still up to going to Ko Chang so no plans were changed. That night Sara and I went to a Thai drag show which was fun, but not the most amazing thing I've ever seen.
Ko Chang was good, but not fantastic. The lonely planet guide seemed to be pretty off. It described where we were headed as secluded, with only a couple of small hotels. This was not in fact the case. We all rented scooters to move around the island and found that the entire area was very developed with 7-11s and internet cafes everywhere. Noah started to get better, and I started to get sick. We had a bad nights sleep in a co-co hut, and then when we left the island we traveled more than I think I should have. By the time we got back to the hotel in Bangkok I was feeling pretty messed up. The next day and a half before Sara and Noah left is kind of a blur because I slept a lot and was falling into the deeper parts of the sinus infection. I missed New Years, and was just barely able to find a hotel for myself the next day before I collapsed. Everyday since I've been trying to pull myself back together. I beleive that by the time I get back to the US I'll be 100% better, or close enough. I've lost too much time to illness to really travel around, and Bangkok is starting to get really boring. I'm back to reading a lot and counting the days until I get home.
I still don't know why dogs wear t-shirts and jerseys here, but I promise to dig deeper.
I flew into Thailand and after a little work met up with Sara and Noah (my cousins). We were all a little destroyed from traveling and so it was decided that we would rest a day or two in Bangkok before we went exploring. The couple of days stretched out to be a little longer for a number of reasons. One was the absolutely amazing shopping here. I'm not one driven by shopping, so its a pretty big deal for me to say I was compeled to explore and buy a number of things here. One complex was all electronics, illegal DVDs/software, and everything else evenly remotely related to the tech industry. Sara and I almost lost Noah there, and by the time we had found him he had purchased a digital camera. Soon afterwards Noah and I lost Sara at the weekend clothes market which was a spralling cluster of stalls that seemed to go on forever. the clothes were hip, artistic, and packed in so tightly that I imagine you could spend a month there and not see everything.
After the shopping had been confronted we started to make plans to head out to Ko Chang, which is the largest island of the coast of Thailand and extremely close to the Cambodian border. We also celebrated Christmas Eve and Noah's birthday. This included a surreal experience in which Noah read the night before Christmas, we sang happy birthday, ate a donald duck cake with an unlit candle in it, and opened some small presents in our hotel room. The next day, before we left for Ko Chang, Noah alerted us to some discomfort he had been experiencing. It worried him enough to go to the hospital. Sara and I accompanied him there and were all in complete shock at what we found. The hospital we went to was the nicest medical facility I've ever seen. Everybody was extremely nice, and it felt more like we were in an exspensive hotel rather than a hospital. Even that weird hospital smell wasn't there. Its difficult to describe because I don't think there is really anything like it in the US. Noah said the experience was quick and pleasant... except for the fact it turned out he had shingles. Sara and I had both had chicken poxs so we weren't in danger of catching anything. This was also when Noah was coming down with a cold. He assured us he was still up to going to Ko Chang so no plans were changed. That night Sara and I went to a Thai drag show which was fun, but not the most amazing thing I've ever seen.
Ko Chang was good, but not fantastic. The lonely planet guide seemed to be pretty off. It described where we were headed as secluded, with only a couple of small hotels. This was not in fact the case. We all rented scooters to move around the island and found that the entire area was very developed with 7-11s and internet cafes everywhere. Noah started to get better, and I started to get sick. We had a bad nights sleep in a co-co hut, and then when we left the island we traveled more than I think I should have. By the time we got back to the hotel in Bangkok I was feeling pretty messed up. The next day and a half before Sara and Noah left is kind of a blur because I slept a lot and was falling into the deeper parts of the sinus infection. I missed New Years, and was just barely able to find a hotel for myself the next day before I collapsed. Everyday since I've been trying to pull myself back together. I beleive that by the time I get back to the US I'll be 100% better, or close enough. I've lost too much time to illness to really travel around, and Bangkok is starting to get really boring. I'm back to reading a lot and counting the days until I get home.
I still don't know why dogs wear t-shirts and jerseys here, but I promise to dig deeper.
posted by Robert at 1/09/2006 04:49:00 AM
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