It's kinda like drinking poop

So Val and I went to the travel clinic to make sure we were both up to date on our shots etc. I am still good from my vaccinations for Africa but Val needed a one or two updates. While we were there, the nurse also told us about 'Dukoral' a vaccination for Traveller's Diarrhea. Apparently it protects against some of the nasties that cause the 'tourist trots' (cholera, some strains of E-coli). Since we are only going to be in Thailand for two weeks and several people we talked to have had 'issues' while in Thailand, we decided to take the Dukoral. Three + days stuck in a foreign bathroom when you only have 14 days to travel is not cool.

The vaccine is a two week endeavor. Each dose consists of some sort of sodium bicarb powder to mix with water. Then a little vial of 'raspberry' flavoured liquid to stir in, all to be drunk immediately. First, my wee mind keeps thinking about the fact the there are e-coli and cholera molecules floating around in that liquid, and then a mental jump to other liquids that contain cholera and e-coli (don't make me say it) and that I am about to consume said liquid. It is making me nauseous just to think about it again. blaaaak. But I drank it. And guess what, raspberry flavouring was not enough to cover up the fact, it tastes like CRAP too! One more dose to go. This better have been worth it. I will keep you posted.

Best part of this was googling 'dukoral'. their website is actually called 'travellersdiahrrea.com' which amused me. and then I found their 'Diarrhea Quiz' which amused me even more.

Stop Shopping and Start Packing

Well, things in Thailand seem to be remaining calm. Christmas is over and now our departure date is approaching fast. I just reread my packing list from the Africa blog and this one will be pretty much the same, although probably a bit pared down since the trip is only 2 weeks and this time I will have to lug my pack around on public transit and hotel hunting wander abouts. No one is prebooking our hotel rooms this time. Fortunately, I still have almost everything I need from the last time and Val bought me a couple of essential for Christmas so I don't think I need to buy anything more. I just need to find it all in my house and stuff it in a bag (which I also need to find - Lea says I don't need a new one, although Val bought a new bag at Capital Iron and I had to constrain myself. It didn't help that she found a 5 dollar bill in it with a Christmas sticker stuck to it once she got it home (Secret Santa goes a bit eccentric).

Val and I had a 'trip participant meeting' the other day (ok, we ducked into a Starbucks when it started bucketing rain while we were shopping, but we did discuss the trip). We came up with a rough outline of what we want to do where. Remember this is 'rough'. We land in Bangkok on Feb 15 at 11:30 pm. After two full days of travel we decided to book ourselves into a fancy hotel so that first night is taken care of. Then we are on our own. Things we hope to do in Bangkok are sightsee, go to the market, river tour, day trip to a nearby park for hiking and birding. Then we want to take the night train to Chang Mai up north. There we want to take a cooking class, visit an elephant sanctuary, visit the night market and sightsee. Then a quick flight to the south, some nice beachy area where we can recouperate and shop some more, find shore birds etc, low key stuff, take a boat tour of some of the islands and beaches, snorkel... Then back to Bangkok for our flight home on Feb 28.