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 |  This is my blog & my hope, writing daily will help me see my progress and log supporters. |
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| Two nights ago I ordered a crab meat soup from the hotel restaurant. I asked for mild, but what is mild to a Thai chef? After one mouthful, I questioned how hot it would have been if I had ordered it spicy. Fast forward to last night. I picked up my new gold ring (with five tiny encrusted diamonds) that required resizing and returned to my hotel where I ordered what I thought was a normal spaghetti dish. In Thailand, normal isn't normal unless it has chillis in it, and after eating this meal, which was tasty but burned with every mouthful, I went to bed. At some point during the night, as I slept, my bowels quietly let me know what they thought of my new cuisine choices. Unfortunately, accidents do on occasion happen...even to the best to us (although, unlike Mwah, not many admit it). And the icing on the cake is these mostly unmentioned incidents seem to happen at the worst possible moments. Luckily, I have a kingsized bed at my hotel. After the obligatory clean-up of pyjama shorts, using hand soap under hot water in the sink and then a damp towel to wipe away the worst of the mess on the bedsheets, I took a very much appreciated hot shower. Finally, I went back to bed...obviously on the other side. As is the way with drastically changing one's lifesyle, by the time I drifted off to sleep (isn't it funny that we have a preferred side...and how this preference can change from when we are single, to when we meet a new partner and the decision of who gets which side must be negotiated...the first indication of who has the upper hand), it wasn't long before I felt the rumble no one wants to hear and made the fast dash back to the bathroom (luckily making it just in time). That was when I was forced to make a tactical decision. Instead of only wearing my spare pyjama bottoms, I also put on underwear as an extra layer of security. I also folded several sheets of toilet paper, strategically placed (I'll let you imagine exactly where the cheapest insurance policy I ever had was positioned) just in case the nighttime crisis worsened and my sprint speed lessened. Hence to say, the situation in the control room calmed to the level of simply being pissed each time I was awakened and had to go...and there were quite a few during a long night. Then, the questions came at some point as I sat contemplating exactly what the culprit was that was disturbing my intestinal fortitude. The obvious one was the chilli...but living in a third-world country, where waterborne gastroenteritis symptoms are not to be taken lightly, other causes began to trickle into my overtired brain (only the opposite was trickling OUT of the other end of my body). I have been brushing my teeth using bottled water to rinse my mouth, but stupidly had been rinsing the brush itself under tap water before a final rinse with bottled water. A mistake I will never repeat regardless of the outcome of this episode. While doing my research to see how long I have to live if it turns out to be more than an intolerance to chilli (which I can and will work on over the coming months), I was amazed to discover just how prevalent waterborne bacteria, parasites etc are in the third world. I love swimming, and my new apartment complex has a great pool. I was planning on using it every day for exercise but the risks associated with this pastime have me thinking twice about my exercise routine. And instead of the occasional Pina Colada, beer (from a bottle) will have to become my choice of beverage if out at a restaurant. Not that I drink much alcohol anyway, but this experience has taught me a valuable lesson. The symptoms have dissipated. I have no fever or any other indication of sickness. I deliberately haven't eaten much today and am feeling rather hungry. No chilli tonight though. Perhaps a pizza will suffice. I have an early flight in the morning and at least three hours in taxis before arriving at my new digs and I DON'T want any interruptions that are not just embarrassing for me but may make my fellow traveller's day much worse than they would want. |
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