This morning was pretty standard (including the roosers at 4am which seem to be following me), I got up after my first night at the Lisu house, took a doxycycline for malaria and went to eat a breakfast of pineapple and papaya, enough to feed a small army.

After breakfast, we set off to someone else's house in the village, and all piled into the back of their pickup truck to go to the fields, in the mountains above. I was sitting between a small engine and a bucket. And soon to be holding on for dear life. We left the paved road and were soon on a tiny little non-path, the drived ploughing through bushes and narrowly avoiding a tumble down a steep drop.

We arrived and started carrying stuff up, and sat down for a rest when I noticed my elbows and knees were really itchy. I assumed the mosquitoes had eaten me alive because of the state my mosquito net was in (giant holes). But it got worse, and I rolled up my sleeves and trouser legs to see a huge ITCHY rash all over... My elbows and knees looked like they were covered in one giant mosquito bite.

I started feeling really faint, so told Susanan and she rubbed tiger balm all over me, and then when that didn't work, we walked back home. I took a shower and still no relief so we took the motorbike to the hospital down in Soppong.

There were tons of people at the emergency room... I filled in a form in English and was told to wait over there on the stairs. So I waited and waited, someone took my blood pressure, waited more... Then a lady doctor saw me, looked at the rash (which had gotten much better by this time) and told me I had an allergy to something and gave me antihistamine cream for soothing.

As I was waiting at the pharmacy counter for the cream, I fainted! It was so weird and never happened to me before... I couldn't see anything and then someone wheeled me into the emergency room again (I managed to sit in a wheelchair that was conveniently located right next to me at that precise moment in time). The doc said I was allergic to the malaria medication and they wanted to keep me in the hospy for a few hours because my blood pressure was very low. They even stuck in an IV so I felt like a real sickie, getting wheeled up to the ward with a drip in my hand!

I slept for most of the time, despite the slamming doors and screaming babies. You would think someone would notice that bringing a screaming baby into a ward where people are clearly sleeping would be somewhat disruptive... but apparently not. Woke up and amused myself by distupting a trail of ants on my bedside table with cups and watching them run amok... then the boredom set in! I had nothing to do or read and just tossed for a few hours. They kept taking my blood pressure and temperature. My IV tube filled up with blood. At one point a nurse wearing a white mask came up and asked me some questions which made me think Ah crap I have something contagious and dangerous!

But then doctor man shows up, who spoke reasonable English, and told me I could go home! Yay!

So that was my adventure.

I had papayas again for breakfast the next day, and got a similar rash and my throat got all tight, so I think it was actually the papayas and not the medicine. But I don't really want to put that theory to the test just yet. Let's hope I don't get malaria now!

Evil papayas.