Blogging Pubbitch

We left Siem Reap to return to Phnom Penh for a little while, since our tour of the country was planned as a star shape to each of the corners, returning each time to the capital to make traveling easier. The most noteworthy thing about this brief stay was that we were sharing the hostel with someone who had contracted dengue fever. At Siem Reap. Where there was an outbreak going on. We'd heard about it just before going there and had decided to play the law of averages, heavily weighting the dice with DEET and by not going to the affected areas (the temples were meant to be safe enough to visit, it was just some of the outlying areas that were ropey) We were both fine.

As a sure-fire way to ruin any trip, dengue fever is a winner. It basically renders you almost unable to move, making it painful to flex your limbs and causing the muscles to cramp up to such an extent it feels as if your bones might snap, hence the rather descriptive alternative name for this affliction. Better still, there's no vaccine for it, it can be fatal if you're not properly fed or watered (the sweating it induces can lead to dehydration) and the only way to avoid infection is not to get bitten by a mosquito; a nearly impossible goal.

The girl who had it in our hostel was being cared for by her friend, Helen, who had remained untouched by the disease. Helen informed us that the victim felt that she might have dislocated her left shoulder because of the pain it caused her. As a happy ending to this otherwise somewhat bleak entry, I should say that Helen's friend was over the worst of it, and was now able to sit up in bed without it hurting intolerably.