Fevertron

Being ill when alone in a foreign land is not too pleasant an experience. I've dealt with the odd stomach upset (who doesn't?) and a day or 2 of mild fever but the last few days were something else. Starting in Vang ViengＩgot a terrible fever... I felt like I was burning from the inside, and I wasn't hungry. At some point I started to feel very weird - delirious. Now I'd always equated that word with happiness but I know better now. My mind reeled from elation to sadness, from excitement to dullness. Many thanks to Josh & Tina who were online at the time and whose conversations (my part may have been all over the place) helped me stay sane.

The next day I felt mildly better and went to Vientiane. Upon arrival however I felt faint and very sick. My body ached all over, I could barely move and wasn't hungry yet knew I should eat. Forcing food down my gullet was painful - that night I watched movies with terrible sound problems and slept the sleep of the dead. Next day - to the clinic at the Australian Embassy. What would be wrong with me? Having all the symptoms of malaria (and most of dengue: I read up on them on the Internet and we all know that makes you an expert), which exotic illness would I be diagnosed with? It seems I escaped with the onset of pneumonia and some virus. "What if I've been misdiagnosed!" my worrying, ever-over-thinking mind screamed into the darkness.

In my febrile wanderings around Laos' capital (Vientiane has some pretty little streets with romantic French restaurants but is not a touch on Luang Prabang for atmosphere), I was lucky enough to see some of the Bun Bang Fai (Rocket Festival), where people fire homemade rockets into the sky, sing, dance and drink to bring the monsoon season. Smoky projectiles screeched, fizzled and sped their way over the Mekong. The people long for rain; I am trying to escape it, although I know I can't for long.