Goodbye New Zealand, Hello Thailand

The trip from Auckland to Bangkok via Sydney wasn't as cool as we originally hoped. We intentionally chose a flight with a 10 hour layover in Sydney in hopes of walking around the harbour for a few hours. Unfortunately, my slight fever that started the night we stayed at John's had progressed into 104.8F. I was fluctuating between violent chills at about 101 to feeling slightly cold at the upper temperature. The cycle would last about four hours. I felt okay when we landed, though, so we decided to go into the city anyways. We did a little walking around, but I had to take a break and sit down every few minutes. We took a cruise of the harbor that was beautiful and interesting, but I slept through most of it.

Feeling exhausted, we chose to go back to the airport early and just wait for the plane. It was Nicole's vigilance of my temperature during this period that we knew my temperature was so high. At that point she convinced me to go see a doctor. He didn't really say anything profound, but gave us a prescription for Tylenol. There really wasn't much he could do other than advise us not to fly to Bangkok that day. We thought about it for probably two seconds and chose to fly anyway. I slept for the remaining couple of hours before the flight and went through about two more cycles before the fever completely went away. Unfortunately, it was at this point that the extremely painful gastrointestinal issues started. I think I spent the majority of the 8 hour flight in the bathroom. It was easily the worst flight of my life and I'm sure it was rough for Nicole, too.

The travel day started at 2AM New Zealand time, and we finally landed in Bangkok at 11PM. Chris met us at the airport - with a fever of his own - and we took a cab into the city. He had prearranged a room in a guest house (essentially a hostel) and we crashed into bed. The GI pain and associated bathroom visits lasted all night. The total travel day lasted about 26 hours.

We then spent a day hanging out at the guest house and wandered into the city for a massage and a little shopping. Tuesday we flew to Krabi and then took a taxi, truck, and boat ride to Railey Beach. We've been here for the last couple days, hanging out on the beach, hiking, kayaking, and relaxing.

Before we left Bangkok Chris visited his Peace Corps doctor and picked up recommendation for medication (prescriptions are not required in Thailand). I have been taking antibiotics for the last couple days and am doing much better. Chris' fever appears to have subsided. Nicole is doing well, but her knee is still sore. We're hanging in there and trying to make this a relaxing trip. I have to comment that Chris' doctor was impressed with my immune system having broken a 105F fever while travelling.

Nicole has really enjoyed the beach time and the outdoor activities. She especially enjoyed the fresh pineapple and coconut we ate while sitting on the beach - delicious. We've also hiked through a few caves and did a couple hours of sea kayaking earlier today. Thailand is a beautiful country and the area we are in know is just as impressive as New Zealand.

It's also been really fun for us to get a chance to hang out with Chris and hear about his experience. He speaks Thai extremely well and it's been awesome to hear him interact with Thais. They love talking to him and the ladies all flight with him and ask him if he has a Thai girlfriend yet. We'll be here, in Railey, for a couple more days before heading towards Chris' village.