Thai Water Borne Illnesses

After living and eating my little heart out here in Thailand, it was only fate that the two-headed monster known as the Thai water borne illness would attack me. And attack me it has, arriving right in time for vacation. How nice of him! After I ran out of bottled water several days ago, I started brushing my teeth with sink water. Thai sink water. Now, many foreigners in the country do this with no problem but not me. I have never felt so sick in recent memory - I mean, this morning at breakfast, I didn't even feel like eating. Holly Anne Whittlef, not feeling like eating, that is a first ladies and gentleman.

So, I am trying to take it easy and let this Thai monster work it's way out of my system. Until then, me and my new best friend, "Lonely Planet Southeast Asia on a Shoestring," have been enjoying romantic evenings lounging in bed, sipping tea and learning all there is about Laos and Vietnam, since we do leave in 1 day! 1 day people!

We start our journey tomorrow on a night train from Bangkok, leaving at 6pm to Vientiane - the capital of Laos (actually pronounced "Lao"- the French, who colonized the country, added the "s" later). Then we are going to bum around Vientiane before heading north to some smaller villages. From there, we are going to head over the border to Vietnam, where we hope the flooding from the recent typhoons is improving (we have been checking The Weather Channel online quite frequently), starting in Hanoi then working our way down to Ho Chi Minh City (a.k.a. Saigon), stopping at several cities in between.

Based on the advice of some fellow teachers, we have decided not to go to Phnom Penh. Pretty much the story is that there are no rules in the capital of Cambodia and fully grown, well-traveled men here felt unsafe. Therefore Lauren and I decided two girls from the West would probably benefit by skipping the capital and heading to Angkor Wat (the famous Khmer temples several hours from Phnom Penh) over a long weekend.

So...this girl is going to lay down and drink only bottled water, eat bananas, rice, apples and toast (Mama taught me that is always best for an upset stomach!) and get ready for an adventure! Hope all is well back at home and look for some interesting updates as I tear through Southeast Asia! I hope they realize what they are in for...