Vaccinations

Malaria zones in India

Rabies, Japanese Encephalitis, Polio, Malaria, Dengue Fever, Typhoid, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Tetanus and Measles are just some of the illnesses that the Indian sub-continent boasts. Crocodiles, spiders, leopards and snakes, including the infamous King Cobra and Viper, are just some of the deadly animals that inhabit the area. Will someone remind me why we’re going again?

After a pretty average day we were on the way to our appointment  with a doctor who specialises in travel vaccinations when my shoe broke. So after walking the rest of the way barefoot (quite fitting considering the name of this blog) and copping a few strange looks we entered the most unorganised doctor’s surgery we had ever seen ready to be vaccinated against whatever we could.

It was a love-hate relationship that developed between us and our doctor. While he somehow managed to lose a syringe as we sat there, and while he had a mini oven in the corner of the room, bandaids on the floor and the rest of his belongings strewn, with all of his doctor things, in a haphazard manner across the room, he recognised that I love a bargain. And so our relationship flourished. The rabies vaccine is usually 1mL administered intramuscularly at $115 a pop, three times over three weeks. However, if you have a with-it doctor, you can split the 1mL vaccine between two people and have it administered intradermally (between the layers of the skin), which requires only half the standard dose, and hence splits the $115 cost each time. Every dollar counts! And I can now pat all the rabies-infected monkeys and dogs that I like. Well...maybe.

The doctor was even kind enough to use a more gentlre botox needle for me as he knew I wasn’t a fan of needles, and tried his hardest to ‘confuse the nerves in our spinal cords’ and hence decreasing the pain by scratching the skin prior to injection. What a guy!

Hepatitis A and B as well as tetanus are extremely important vaccines to have and both Chris and I were up to date with these thanks to previous pre-travel jabs and we are both covered for measles thanks to childhood vaccinations. Chris needed typhoid, we both got our rabies shots and at the moment we’re tossing up whether we can protect ourselves from Japanese Encephalitis with deet-based repellent or whether getting the $180 vaccine is a better idea. As for the rest of the illnesses...there hasn't been a case of polio in some time and the risk of dengue fever can be limited by preventing mosquitto bites.

As for malaria, we’ll get one box of Mefloquine (the weekly tablet to prevent it) between us and buy the rest in Sri Lanka where it’s cheaper. We also grabbed some Diamox which is said to prevent altitude sickness and if necessary we'll buy more of that over there too. 

Visas

Sri Lanka:
1 month, single entry, tourist visa: $20 USD
Never has a visa application been simpler or quicker. It all happens online and within 
five minutes we had received email confirmation of an approved visa. Simply print the receipt and present it on arrival. Easy.

India:
6 months, single entry, tourist visa: $95 AUD

The Indian government wants to know everything. From the town where your parents were born, to whether your grandparents were Pakistani nationals and what visible markings you have. Fill in the application form online, print it, stick a passport photo on it, take the form and your passport to the visa services centre in the CBD and pick it up five business days later. 

Note: India being India, your application requires a passport 
sized photo that is unlike many others: 5cm x 5cm

Nepal:
1 month, single entry, tourist visa: $40 USD
Our plan is to get a visa on arrival in Nepal. As they are valid from date of issue, our visit to Nepal is too far in advance for us to apply while in Australia. We have however downloaded and filled in the visa application form and we plan to have our $40 ready and waiting as to speed up the process when we arrive in Kathmandu.