Week 6: Health

I mentioned in the previous blog that Lizzie was unwell and this is no understatement. The poor thing was bed bound for 4 days. Eventually, we enlisted the help of a doctor (with some help from our guesthouse receptionist as translator) and, after prescribing various medicines, Lizzie began to get better. This all occurred in Pakse. We ventured on to Si Phan Don (the four thousand islands) but by the time we got there (a few hours in a mini bus) Lizzie needed to return to her bed.

Thankfully Si Phan Don is a collection of beautifully laid back islands where travelers come to do not very much at all. It has been described as a backpacker's mecca; it has good food (including an Australian baker), sun, and every night after the bars close (all close by 11pm) all the tourists go down to the beach and have a bonfire.

After a day of laying in bed again Lizzie could venture down to the beach with me and generally felt a lot better.

In this time my body had defied all rules of logic and I got a cold. Unexpectedly, I had also severely sunburned my forearms and the back of my hands. On a serious note should you ever get sunburned anywhere do not, I repeat, do not get tiger balm on it. It does not feel good.

For those who can prize themselves off the beach, off the Island of Don Khon one can glimpse the rare Irrawaddy Dolphins. The done thing is to rent bikes and stop at a waterfall on the way to the Dolphins to cool down and refresh. Lizzie said she was feeling up to it so, on her first day of restored health, we set out.

We had been warned by other travelers that the path is a little rocky and so it is better to get a mountain bike. We had too very professional looking mountain bikes and it still was so bumpy it hurt. As far as our health is now concerned I'm not sure whether Lizzie or myself will ever be able to have children.

We crossed the old railway bridge and followed the path down to the waterfall. By the time we got there Lizzie was feeling a little worse for wear again and I was just really hot. We swam in a little alcove on a deserted beach next to the waterfall and cooled down. We then retreated back to the makeshift restaurants that lined the road to the waterfall. Lizzie almost instantly fell asleep in a hammock and I spent the following two hours reapplying sun-tan lotion to my arms.

When Lizzie woke up it was getting into the late afternoon. The perfect time to see the dolphins because it's cooler and the dolphins begin to surface.

We cycled down yet another bumpy path, so much so that we actually had to get off our bikes and push them, and to the dock.

We were guided into a long-tail boat (a long shallow boat something like a punt with with more pointed ends) and a young girl took us out of the rocky cove and into the even rockier waters.

Once we had overcome our fear of the boat capsizing or it sinking (the girl kept emptying it with a small bucket) we could enjoy the fantastic sunset behind us. The sun began to glow bright red before sinking right down behind the mountains. Truly amazing.

In this time we still had not seen the dolphins and we needed to cycle back before it got dark. Lizzie thinks she saw a tail emerge from the water but we think it might have just been a big fish.

We returned to the shore just as twilight was setting in. We rushed our bikes down the dirt track again but unfortunately the same problems occurred as before and we had to push our bikes for part of the way. The path on the way to the dolphins had been a rocky but shaded path through a small forest which, in the heat, was a welcome relief. Now as it was getting dark it was terrifying. It didn't help that we couldn't remember the way we'd come and that I have the direction of a goldfish.

It was at this point that I decided to venture the notion, "Doesn't this remind you of a horror film? Two girls stranded in the forest?" I can quite honestly say that this is the stupidest thing to say in that situation. Should you ever be cycling through an empty wood at night sing crappy pop songs at the top of your voice (lizzie's method of coping) do not compare your situation to a horror film.

We just managed to get back to the railway bridge as it was really dark and the path along the river was full of bumps and rickety bamboo bridges. We also still had about another three kilometers to go. Reluctantly, we got off our bikes and pushed them. We arrived back at the guesthouse about 2 1/2 hours later and collapsed on our beds. We were both exhausted and hurt everywhere. My arms also still felt like they were on fire.

While it was undoubtedly a beautiful day you really needed to be in full health to cope in the heat. And the horrifically bumpy roads. We were not and seemed to suffer for it. The next day we lay on the beach which we could see from our room. Well, we wouldn't want to over do it would we?