So I've spent the last few days in Phnom Penh feeling ill. The dodgy stomach has gotten worse, or I've been eating to keep my strength up which has been making my stomach worse. I decided that with the stomach, faintness and other such problems, including the strange rash that seems to be taking over my body, I should probably make a visit to the doctor.
The consultation was $30, and after thoroughly checking me over; blood pressure, breathing, heart rate, as well as the usuall questions, he said that it was probably the most common problem; a viral infection, but I should give a stool sample just to see.
I thought hey, what am I in a new country for, if not for trying new things! So in came a nurse with a little plastic bag, containing a spatula and a pot, and off I went, returning shortly after with the filled pot! What a fun new experience for only $28! Ha!
I had to come back again the following day to get the results. I expected it to be clear, but was surprised to be informed that I had a new friend (or more like a foe) living inside of me, a parasite called Entamoeba Histolytica. I was a bit excited to have something I'd heard about from the Lonely Planet guidebook inside me, and to have something relavent to our M+I coursework, although I don't think we've studied this particular organism.
I was given, at a charge of $17, two sets of drugs, amounting to 6 and then 8 tablets a day, fun fun.
I'd already stopped taking all the other drugs I should be on, as I hate taking medications when I've got a dodgy stomach. I think that they are causing the problems or probably aren't being absorbed anyway, so would make no difference. I'm probably wrong, and only doing myself more harm than good, I just seem to be unable to take drugs for more than 2 months without getting bored of them.
On the day I went to the doctors for the second time, to the Naga Clinic, I'd made it all the way down the stairs from my 3rd floor room in bare feet, before realising that I'd gone up the stairs in shoes, and now was shoeless. I couldn't be bothered exhausting myself going all the way up again so ventured out onto a moto in my bare feet! It was quite fun! Although I was a bit scared of people thinking I'd gone a bit insane, although I felt rather free and more at home walking around in bare feet. The ground on the pavements tends to be smoother here than some other areas so it's quite pleasant. On my travels there was a random chicken on the busy pavement beside an even busier road, right in the centre of Phnom Penh, not sure where she'd escaped from!
I wandered back, not really sure which direction I should head in from the internet cafe, but just knowing that eventually I'd have to ask someone for a moto ride back to the hotel. I came across a vegan restaurant, in which I had some very sour lime juice, which I had to put quite a bit of sugar in to make it taste nice, and also a soup that was apparently Carrot and Corriander, but tasted more like Carrot and Nutmeg, but with more Nutmeg than Carrot. It was edible, vaguely. I didn't really have much of an appetite anyway. A nice find anyway, the vegan cafe.
I am sat in an internet cafe for what must be the millionth day in a row, entertaining myself as to have a break from lying in bed watching TV, or just slowing making my way through a small portion of chips and a cup of hot tea, whilst watching the news on the TV in the hotel's restaurant. I am enjoying just listening to Classic FM, it is a nice treat, and a shame that I cannot listen to such music in my hotel room. There seems to be just the awful local music available, except from the occasional Lady GaGa track that may appear on the US channels.
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