5 - 8 January 2015
After another sleepless night in Sihanoukville...do I see a pattern here...we got on a bus for a 4 hour trip back to Phnom Penh. We only plan on spending one night in Phnom Penh and then we head north towards the Laos border. We have 8 days to get to Laos because our visa stamp for Cambodia expires on 13 January. Eight days should be plenty of time to cover the few more places we want to see before then.
Wait...did you feel that?!? It felt like we just ran over a speed bump. This isn't your ordinary speed bump. This is the "I don't feel well" speed bump. The kind of speed bump that can really freak someone out when you are in a foreign country with somewhat questionable medical care. The kind of speed bump that delays traveling for days. The kind of speed bump that might send you packing for home...luckily it didn't come to this. Let me explain.
We arrive in Phnom Penh and a really nice bus ride. The bus was a nice charter bus type and the road was actually pretty smooth. Our hotel is just over a 1 mile walk, so we planned on walking it and getting some exercise after spending 4 hours on a bus, but Tim didn't feel well so we took a tuk-tuk.
We arrived at the hotel and Tim was feeling better...just a little tired. We contributed his bad feelings to the sleepless night and the hours of traveling, but now we are in a comfortable room where we can relax until tomorrow when we head out.
As Tim napped I began researching 2-day, 1-night treks in Banlung where we were planning on going in a few days after a visit to Kratie. I emailed 2 trekking companies and was awaiting a reply when Tim woke up and said he didn't feel well and felt like he was going to pass out. As some of you know from reading our Pacific Crest Trail Blog, Tim did pass out, so I was familiar with the symptoms.
At this point I knew that he was dehydrated and we needed to go to a hospital to get an IV in him. I called the front desk and they said that a taxi was on the way, but I was worried if he sat or stood up he would pass out. Without an option, he had to go in the taxi. The entire hotel staff (4 people) came up to our room to help carry Tim down the 3 flights of stairs and into the taxi. I thought that he would be able to lie down in the back seat, but no...2 of the people that helped him down the stairs got in the backseat with him. I went in the front and told the driver to take us to the international hospital. He nodded.
We wound up at a local hospital, but they took us immediately...maybe because we were tourists? They rolled him into the emergency room and hooked him up to an IV. There were other gurneys all over the room with bloody people and old guy that was having trouble breathing. Tim then said he needed to use the bathroom, so I asked for a bedpan. They said something about me having to go outside. What...no...it is Tim, not me...and they kept saying outside. They then gave me an escort that took me outside across the parking lot to a pharmacy to buy the bedpan that cost me $3 USD. I went back to the emergency room and they were about to put us in a private room. I was surprised since there seemed to be people dying in the emergency room that should have been put in a private room...maybe because we are tourists?
And then, a woman came up to me and asked if I was OK. Who was this? She said that she was the owner of the hotel and that the staff called her and told her what was going on and that she was sorry it took so long for her to get to the hospital but there was a lot of traffic from her house. She then said that we had to leave this hospital and go to the international clinic. She helped me explain to the doctor that we were leaving and helped me pay the bill...$30 USD ! (she said that if we were local it would have cost $5 !!!)...and we got in her husband's car and drove the 10 minutes to the international clinic.
Anyway...to make a long story longer, her, her husband, and the security guard from the hotel stayed with us until the doctor diagnosed Tim and said that everything was going to be OK...this was around 10 PM. Oh yeah...Tim was diagnosed with Acute Gastroenteritis. He has a fever of 101, was dehydrated...the sunburn from snorkeling didn't help...and had a bacterial infection probably caused by something he ate, probably on the boat. After 2 liters of fluids he was released and we arrive back to the hotel at around 2:00 AM.
The next morning I saw 2 emails from the trekking companies and replied that we weren't going to make it. I was a bit disappointed, but there will be plenty of trekking opportunities in Laos. We spent the next 3 days in the hotel room with a regiment of tylenol, antibiotics, antidiarrheal, anti-nausea, and drinking electrolytes until Tim was finally ready to get out and walk a bit to test if he could travel in the morning. I found a Mexican place online that had free beer when you ordered a entree so we walked the 30 minutes there thinking that we would take a tuk-tuk back if Tim wasn't up to it. The burrito was really good and the free beer was even better...at least for me...Tim stuck to water:
Wait...did you feel that?!? It felt like we just ran over a speed bump. This isn't your ordinary speed bump. This is the "I don't feel well" speed bump. The kind of speed bump that can really freak someone out when you are in a foreign country with somewhat questionable medical care. The kind of speed bump that delays traveling for days. The kind of speed bump that might send you packing for home...luckily it didn't come to this. Let me explain.
We arrive in Phnom Penh and a really nice bus ride. The bus was a nice charter bus type and the road was actually pretty smooth. Our hotel is just over a 1 mile walk, so we planned on walking it and getting some exercise after spending 4 hours on a bus, but Tim didn't feel well so we took a tuk-tuk.
We arrived at the hotel and Tim was feeling better...just a little tired. We contributed his bad feelings to the sleepless night and the hours of traveling, but now we are in a comfortable room where we can relax until tomorrow when we head out.
As Tim napped I began researching 2-day, 1-night treks in Banlung where we were planning on going in a few days after a visit to Kratie. I emailed 2 trekking companies and was awaiting a reply when Tim woke up and said he didn't feel well and felt like he was going to pass out. As some of you know from reading our Pacific Crest Trail Blog, Tim did pass out, so I was familiar with the symptoms.
At this point I knew that he was dehydrated and we needed to go to a hospital to get an IV in him. I called the front desk and they said that a taxi was on the way, but I was worried if he sat or stood up he would pass out. Without an option, he had to go in the taxi. The entire hotel staff (4 people) came up to our room to help carry Tim down the 3 flights of stairs and into the taxi. I thought that he would be able to lie down in the back seat, but no...2 of the people that helped him down the stairs got in the backseat with him. I went in the front and told the driver to take us to the international hospital. He nodded.
We wound up at a local hospital, but they took us immediately...maybe because we were tourists? They rolled him into the emergency room and hooked him up to an IV. There were other gurneys all over the room with bloody people and old guy that was having trouble breathing. Tim then said he needed to use the bathroom, so I asked for a bedpan. They said something about me having to go outside. What...no...it is Tim, not me...and they kept saying outside. They then gave me an escort that took me outside across the parking lot to a pharmacy to buy the bedpan that cost me $3 USD. I went back to the emergency room and they were about to put us in a private room. I was surprised since there seemed to be people dying in the emergency room that should have been put in a private room...maybe because we are tourists?
And then, a woman came up to me and asked if I was OK. Who was this? She said that she was the owner of the hotel and that the staff called her and told her what was going on and that she was sorry it took so long for her to get to the hospital but there was a lot of traffic from her house. She then said that we had to leave this hospital and go to the international clinic. She helped me explain to the doctor that we were leaving and helped me pay the bill...$30 USD ! (she said that if we were local it would have cost $5 !!!)...and we got in her husband's car and drove the 10 minutes to the international clinic.
Anyway...to make a long story longer, her, her husband, and the security guard from the hotel stayed with us until the doctor diagnosed Tim and said that everything was going to be OK...this was around 10 PM. Oh yeah...Tim was diagnosed with Acute Gastroenteritis. He has a fever of 101, was dehydrated...the sunburn from snorkeling didn't help...and had a bacterial infection probably caused by something he ate, probably on the boat. After 2 liters of fluids he was released and we arrive back to the hotel at around 2:00 AM.
The next morning I saw 2 emails from the trekking companies and replied that we weren't going to make it. I was a bit disappointed, but there will be plenty of trekking opportunities in Laos. We spent the next 3 days in the hotel room with a regiment of tylenol, antibiotics, antidiarrheal, anti-nausea, and drinking electrolytes until Tim was finally ready to get out and walk a bit to test if he could travel in the morning. I found a Mexican place online that had free beer when you ordered a entree so we walked the 30 minutes there thinking that we would take a tuk-tuk back if Tim wasn't up to it. The burrito was really good and the free beer was even better...at least for me...Tim stuck to water:
Tim was feeling fine, so we walked back to the hotel. On the way back we stopped at the night market and bought 4 t-shirts for the 4 hotel staff that helped us out the night Tim got sick. They were very excited when we gave them the shirts.
Tomorrow we are finally out of here and off to Kratie to see the endangered Irrawaddy freshwater dolphin in the Mekong River.
Tomorrow we are finally out of here and off to Kratie to see the endangered Irrawaddy freshwater dolphin in the Mekong River.
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