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Well, I've not blogged much lately, so here goes...
Last I wrote I was in the hill-station called Hsipaw. On the bus ride there, I realized that I been bitten by bed bugs the night before. I counted just over 20 bites. The bites swell up and each is quite itchy for about 2 days which is pretty aggravating.
On the second day in Hsipaw, I was out in the countryside seeing some great sites when I coughed a few times. I got that feeling of inevitableness that you get when you know that a flu or cold is coming your way in the next few hours or days. So, I saw as much as I could that day, and sure enough, for the next two days I was pretty much layed flat with the flu. The good news was that Hsipaw is really laidback and it was a great place for waiting that out. By the third day I was feeling energetic enough to get on a train down to Pywin L Win. My bites were also not itching anymore so things were looking up. After spending the night there, I once again got attacked by bed bugs, with at least another 25 bites, only on my legs because I was wearing a longsleeve shirt up top. Funny thing is, the first time I was just lying on the bed, but this second time I was sleeping inside my sleep sheet - which I hadn't used since sometime in Thailand and I had no problems there. So, did the bugs get into my luggage during that attack the first time and then infest my sleep sheet inside? Or were they in the second room as well and did they crawl in the sleepsheet from the top near my neck and crawl down to my legs? Or are they small enough to crawl through the fabric while I was sleeping? This is the tough part, because I don't know if I've left the bugs behind now that I've left the hotel or if they are indeed in my luggage. All I can do is wait and see. If anyone feels like reseaching and letting me know, that's nice! Anyhow, so to try and do my best, I washed the sheet in soapy water - but I wasn't able to use hot water - after searching it for any bugs and finding none... hopefully it was just bad luck with 2 infected rooms and they are not with me or the soapy water has done them in.
Anyhow... then I noticed that I have this fungus on one toe... it's bascially as if you take a knife and cut the web of skin between two of your toes. Nasty. Anyhow, I knew immediately what it was and how to deal with it because I got in in the Middle East last trip. Five minutes and .30 cents later I had the medication I needed to begin dealing with that.
So, it's been VERY trying thus far... annoying, frustrating, itchy, snotty, somewhat painful. Hopefully the holes in the boat are patched and I can keep things afloat for the next 3 weeks. Fortunately the really big stops are still ahead and I can enjoy them in relative peace.
Now for a funny story... I got a phone call in Hsipaw minutes after arriving! It was my guesthouse in Mandalay, they were calling all 3 places in Hsipaw trying to find me. Apparently I'd skipped without paying!
Let me explain... when checking out of my guesthouse in Mandalay, I had the key in my hand and the guy by the door asked for it as I approached and then opened the door for me. I just assumed I'd already paid and off I went... sometimes you pay when you check in, sometimes when you leave.
Anyhow, I guest I hadn't paid! No, big deal as I was returning through Mandalay. Ironically, this was also the place where I got the first bug attack.
Last night I had a bug-bite free night and my spirits are on the upswing... tonight I'm off to Bagan...
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