Dengue Fever

As most of you probably know I was quite ill over Christmas and New Years. As it turned out I had Dengue Fever, a pretty common illness here in Southeast Asia that you contract from mosquitoes. There were several cases of it in Koh Tao, which is where I did my diving courses. When I wasn't under water I was constantly being bitten so I wouldn't be surprised if that's where I picked it up. 

Although it's common Dengue is far from pleasant. I don't think I'd ever felt so sick in my whole life. I had a really high fever that kept coming and going over the course of about a week, accompanied by crippling aches and pains that made a simple task like walking seem impossible. The best part is that not only is there no vaccination against Dengue, there's also no treatment, so you just have to ride it out (although some people do have to be hospitalized if it gets really bad - I came pretty close but was fortunate enough to skip that part!) Luckily I was surrounded by a group of lovely people and had a comfy hostel couch to hang out on, which made the whole thing much more bearable.

The whole thing lasted about two weeks; I've actually just began to feel normal again within the last few days. As I said before getting sick while traveling is far from fun but it definitely makes you stronger and is a small price to pay in the long run.

Being sick put a damper on my time in Thailand (sitting around while people ran off to a different party every night got pretty old) but I'm in Malaysia now and am thoroughly enjoying all that this country has to offer. Posts and photos to come!