Folks, I am just going to have to stay put here in Penang for the time being. It would be massively stupid for me to put a 25 kilo backpack on, get on a bus and head off for a several hour bus ride to the Highlands at this point. I just don't have it in me, my ribs hurt too badly. And yes, for those motherly types out there (and I am not being condescending, I appreciate you concerns) I have been to the doctor twice and had two x-rays. So, I'm going to stay put and relax. Now, if I could just find a hotel that wasn't infested with rats (at least they aren't as huge as the ones in Medan, hell, they were bigger than the cats there and would probably eat them if they could, and mosquitoes I might be a bit more comfortable. Alas, I also have to stay on budget. Sigh.
On a side note: both Firefox and Gmail really suck here in Asia. Just thought you'd like to know that. For some reason Safari works great, however and I haven't tried Google's Chrome, as I don't think they have a Mac version yet.
Update: So I way wimped out and moved hotels. Same price, different location, no creepy crawlies and a nicer toilet. Usually that stuff doesn't phase me, but right now I'm just so not in the mood. I imagine after three months of pretty intense travel, and after the emotional let down of leaving Toba I need a little oasis of peace. Not to mention I have a 2,000 word travel article due in 24 hours.
Update 2: Ok, so I went and got a third opinion and a third x-ray. Nothing is broken. I guess the thing which really scared me was the bruising showed up yesterday. Ten days for bruising to show up? I asked the doctor about this and he said, while not normal, it wasn't abnormal. Barring an MRI, which I am not going to pay for, everything looks and sounds (as in no punctured or torn lungs, et etc. . . ) fine. The doctor was very thorough and complete and gave me a serious once over. I have no fever, which means no internal injuries, as I'd pretty much be septic at this point if I did, anyway, or dead. And how much did all this cost? $25. What would all that have cost back home?
Anyhow, enough editorializing, I'm going to hang in Penang for two or three nights more and then move on to the Cameron Highlands. Just thought all the moms out there would want to know.
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Comments: 34
Good luck.
Rats bigger than cats, man, that would really suck, big time.
Sucky Firefox and Gmail. That is almost as bad as giant rats big enough to eat the cats.
At least you don't have plague there. As far as you know.
What do you have to entertain yourself with while you are laid up?
Do they bring in any entertainment for you?
No dancing girls? At the very least?
Featured in the Triple Name Club.
Enjoy your nicer toilet.
Be safe and be impressed with everything, as a seasoned, professional traveler, I know that being impressed with things keeps them in the memory more vididly.
Namaste,
I don't envy you in a distant country and less medical care. If they missed my ribs in one of our best hospitals, it may be good for you to get a bone scan as it shows where the bones are leaking from the breaks. Don't know what that would require where you are.
By the way, I can feel for you and the rats. In Tawian in 1960's I would eat at one of the best restruants in the city when I had a break from my plant start-up work. This was a large all concrete building with eating in the basement, intertainment on the first floor, and dancing on the second.
I had to wait for my food to come down to the basement by dumb waiter and when they opened the shaft door, the rats would run out and dash accross the bar. They would then bring what was left of the meal to me to eat. One gets hardened to many things when traveling over seas so I would eat it like all the other guests.
Must say that it bothered me some when a woman with young children sitting next to me would hold the child out from her table to do it's duty on the floor. Glad we don't do that in this super clean country.
Wonder why we are so clean in United States? It didn't just happen, we poisoned ourself for years with chemicals that killed off most of the pests and things that caused farmers problems. It just happens that I just read a 2008 book titled, "The War On Bugs", by Will Allen. Now reading the book, titled "Poison Pills/ The Untold Story of the Vioxx Drug Scandal" Most enjoyable for me as I worked in the chemical field most of my career.
Be sure and take it easy before you leave where you are. A bus ride would not be good for those ribs even if not broken.