Heroine confirms Helminth!!!

Stardate 7/31/04: Heroine sees possible worm. About 2 inches long and white. Father refuses to inspect.

Yet more from the annals (anals?) of Helminth Detection Quarterly

Stardate 7/28/04: Heroine talks to actual physician. Dr. X grudgingly agrees to another stool sample. Alas, our heroine has no time as she is leaving the next day.

More from the annals (anals?) of Helminth Detection Quarterly

Stardate 7/27/04: Heroine observes eggs. Leaves messages at XX for PA, first one not returned. Call six hours later reveals PA wasn't in that day. So polite of the staff to let me know that from the get-go, was it not? Bastards!!

More from the annals (anals?) of Helminth Detection Quarterly

Stardate 7/23/04: After much struggle and about 5 feet of saran wrap and two pairs of chopsticks (chopsticks are better than the little spoons provided), sample is dropped off.

From the annals (anals?) of Helminth Detection Quarterly

Stardate 7/22/04: Our heroine presents at XX Medical Associates (names are being disguised but these docs really SUCK!!!) with cough and possible helminth infection. As usually, the PA at XX prescibes many meds. Mebendazole for helminths, cough syrup with codeine (what is the street value on that? i have 2 prescriptions that I haven't placed from previous coughs), and an expectorant/decongestant. Orders are given heroine to go for stool sample.

More from the AIDS Conference

Stardate 7/13/04, Bangkok Thailand: Our heroine sends an email back to her physicians in New York, requesting an immediate appoint when she returns to the US. Tapioca/pearl things are mor frequent now.

Report from the AIDS Conference

Stardate 7/11/04, Bangkok Thailand: Our heroine has registered for the AIDS conference. She thinks she may have picked up an intestinal worm, which physician friends here at the AIDS conferenceseem to think also. She passing pearl or tapioca looking things in her bowel movements.

From the Annals of Traveller's Diarrhea

Stardate 7/8/04, Siem Reap Cambodia: After 9 days of travelling, out heroine has been struck by an apparent case of Ho Chi Minh's revenge. Yes, the dreaded trots. But she weathers the storm and makes it to the temples.

From the annals Ho Chi Minh's Revenge

Stardate 7/7/04, Hanoi Vietnam: We first meet our heroine the day before she leaves Hanoi. Her stomach is bubbling. Is it Ho Chi Minh's revenge? Or just nervous energy?

Halong Bay

Our travellers were up at the crack of dawn to pack for an overnight trip north. Travelling with Handspan (http://www.handspan.com/), a local tour operator, the travellers hopped in a passenger van to begin the 3.5 hour journey to Halong Bay.

On the way up, they stopped at a "Humanity Center." The Center was basically a tourist shop where young girls were making needlepoint pictures. The girls were described to be victims of the war. The needlepoint was beautiful and our heroin could not resist - as usual.

Once they arrived in Halong City, our travellers hopped into a boat that took us to our Chinese Junk - home for the next 24 hours.

After lunch and a brief rest, we headed with the rest of the tour group to the "Amazing Cave." The cave was studded with stalagtites and stalagmited and was about 20-30 degrees cooler than the Bay.

C and our heroine awoke at 530 AM, suffering from the jetlag. They enjoyed basking in the sun while looking at the karst islands that dotted the landscape.

A little about Halong Bay:

Halong Bay is A UNESCO World Heritage Site situated in the Gulk of Tonkin. It has approximately 3000 islands of limestone or karst. Ha Long means 'where the dragon descended into the sea', and refers to a legend about a dragon who created the bay and islands with its flailing tail.



Again with the exotic food, our heroine was able to try dragonfruit. Dragonfruit is the fruit of a cactus. It is magenta in color and tastes a bit like a watered down kiwi. Kind of enremarkable in taste but has a striking appearance.

Welcome to Hanoi

After an hour Thai massage in the hotel, C and our heroine head back to the airport for a brief flight to Hanoi. They arrived at a clean and well-organized airport in the middle of a bunch of rice paddies. C was starving, and so they ate their first meal in Vietnam at the airport restaurant - not faboo but not bad either.

They were going to be staying with a close friend of our heroine, H, who had lived in Vietnam for the past 4 years working for the Hanoi School of Public Health, consulting for various NGOs and working on her dissertation. So the two hopped in a cab (and paid too much for it) and went to H's house.

H lived in a beautiful Frnech colonial house that had been subdivided into apartments. The doors were tall and narrow. The ceilings we high, and the decor was comfortable, with a few antiques scattered throughout.

After a brief rest, C, H and our heroine were off to the Old Quarter for some window shopping and then a fabulous dinner with some of H's ex-pat friends. The dinner was great. A fan of exotic food, our heroine has a banana blossom salad. Quite good, akin to a vinegar based cole slaw, but better. They went to bed a little earlier, as they were heading north the next day.

Halfway around the world she goes

Our heroine left with her friend C on June 30th as they began their 3 week trip to SE Asia for the AIDS conference and some well-deserved down time. The journey to Bangkok was filled with new, and cute, acquaitences.

On the flight between NYC and Tokyo, our heroine met a flight attendant from Hawaii. K was a charming man from Hawaii Kai on Oahu. He moved a cople of non-English speakers from their exit road seats so that our heroine and K could be more comfortable. He hooked them up with 1st class goodie bags, extra water and lots of vodka.

In Tokyo, C was in crisis. A migraine had hit and it was a bit touch and go. Our heroine, as her usually bubbly self, made freinds with a couple from California who were in the waiting area. This couple was going to Northern Thailand with Habitat for Humanity to build houses. Our heroine managed to secure half an Ambien for C from the wife. This resulted in five to six hours of good sleep for C and the elimation of the Migraine.

When they for to Bangkok, our heroin saw an old school chum from graduate school on the bus between the plane and the terminal. He had been in Hawaii for a conference and was now heading home to Bangkok to catch up on work and prepare for the AIDS Conference. They exchanged details and a promise to catch up at the conference.