Man Fever

Overcast Kandy Lake

Rain rain go away, come again another day.

The weather today matched our mood. While Chris felt momentarily better this morning, prompting us to set off on the bike in the rain for a day out, it didn't last long. His fever returned so we grabbed some supplies and headed back to our guesthouse.

As I scoured the Internet for advice on managing fevers, and tried desperately to contact my Mum for advice only mothers can give, Chris battled to keep his temperature down. All day. I tried my best to play nurse but realised I am a much better patient that I am nurse. I cry too much with worry. I gathered myself enough to continue reading Into Thin Air to the patient as the rains persisted outside. Oh, and I'm pretty good at wetting the corner of a towel and putting it on a forehead or neck.

Lauren's mates, Kandy Lake

In the afternoon I left Chris to sleep and went out on a hunt for the basics...money and toilet paper. I got a bit carried away and also went all out with a purchase of yoghurt and bananas. I'm pretty sure the only dairy we've had since leaving Australia has been the milk in our tea. Not the most balanced diet over here. Way too many carbohydrates (think potato curry on rice, scooped up with bread) and not enough of anything else.

On my way a man asked if he could have a photo with me. I agreed on the terms that I could take a photo of him and his friends in their snazzy outfits. Done deal. I also met a teacher from the Buddhist Monastery who pointed out a poisonous water snake to me that was hunting fish in the lake. He also informed me that tonight, the Sri Lankan prime minister was in town along with seven baby elephants and fire-walkers and insisted that I should attend the celebrations. Apparently it was advertised in the newspaper. Pete was right, it does pay to check the local paper. That's twice today we should have listened to parents. Mum told me to take Chris to the doctor this morning. I didn't. And when I returned from my outing he had woken from a sleep much worse than I had left him so off to the doctor we had to go. Mothers are always right.

I dragged a feverish Chris down to the Lakeside Adventist Hospital, on the advice of a kid at our guesthouse, his grandmother and the Lonely Planet, where after only a short wait we got to see an English speaking doctor. He found that Chris had a temperature of 40 degrees celsius, prescribed amoxicillan antibiotics, strepsil throat lozenges, antihistamines and panadeine. We dosed Chris up and put him back to bed.

I ventured out once more to get fluids for the sick one from the local store. Not only did I get three litres of water, I was also offered the "best ganja in Kandy." I guess that's what happens when you wear your Bob Marley shirt.

With the drugs (prescription drugs, I mean) having kicked in, we decided a good feed would do us both good. As we left our room the owner of the guesthouse checked we were doing ok. Word had got back to her that we were in search of a doctor earlier. It's nice to know they care.

As we wandered the city centre we were on the lookout for any food that wasn't Sri Lankan or Indian and which might taste somewhat familiar, making Chris more able to stomach it. We settled on 'The Pub.' Although Lonely Planet had described the food as "uninspired and overpriced" we figured that tonight we would prefer an average western meal to a cheap, tasty Sri Lankan meal.

Western style dinner at The Pub, Kandy

We settled on a table inside, away from the diesel fumes wafting up to the balcony and the cigarette smoke that permeated the air. It's like the tourists are aware that smoking in restaurants is banned in their own country for very good reason yet still take advantage of the fact that its legal here, despite knowing how bad it is for those around them. Anyway, both Chris and I enjoyed some fish, chips and veggies and washed it all down with a freshly squeezed orange juice and a chocolate milkshake. It seems Kandy's ganja salesman was on the hunt for more potential clients as we saw him stalking tourists at The Pub. Satisfied, we returned home (after dodging the puddles of the footpath around the lake in darkness) to our padlocked room. As the owners of our guesthouse watched us, we removed the padlock and pushed on the door only to find that the lock that didn't lock had somehow locked and, for once, we had left the key inside. Thankfully, there was a spare and we made it back to our sanctuary ready to spend the night watching Quantum of Solace (thank goodness for the iPad) before bed. Fingers and toes crossed that Chris' man-fever has buggered off by the morning.