Day 13: We're going, going, back, back, to Thailand, Thailand

For our parents who probably don't understand this title, it is a take on a popular Biggie song from our childhood.

Danny was unable to sleep all night, as he was stricken with fever and cold sweats, but felt mildly better in the morning. After learning of Danny's hardships, Ashwin said "I hope I don't get sick, too". Too late. A few hours later, both Danny and Ashwin were hit with serious Traveller's Sickness, and nearly lost the will to live. Given the time the sickness hit us, we are rather confident that it stemmed from a gigantic 50 cent coconut that we had eaten at lunch the day before. Luckily, our flight from Siem Reap, Cambodia to Phuket, Thailand was short and uneventful, but upon arriving at the airport, we both took a turn for the worse.

Having only eaten Ritz crackers and apple juice for the last 18 hours, we both were feeling quite cranky and lethargic. We bought minibus tickets to Patong, 30 minutes south of the airport, on the recommendation of our guidebook. As the minibuses don't leave until filled with 10 passengers, we were left waiting on the sidewalk at the airport. After 10 minutes waiting and no one showing up, Danny became very irritated and began arguing with the attendant, and was promised no more than 10 minutes wait (Danny actually started timing him). Six minutes later, the man tried selling us a taxi for an extra 10 USD, and this pushed Danny over the edge. After a few more minutes of intense argument, we were escorted to a waiting taxi, at no extra charge.

We were dropped off on the main tourist drag, and quickly found "Crown Hostel", which was recommended by our guidebook (we use it like a bible). The owner showed us a reasonably priced room with an A/C unit, and we asked to see that it worked before putting money down (a practice we have become accustomed to). At this, the man became very irritated, started backing down the hallway, and shouting in broken English "I don't like question. Make me feel bad. I am owner, run good business." When we persisted, he angrily told us to "Get out, get out!" Totally weirded out, we walked across the street and found an even better room (with an A/C the manager happily demonstrated for us) and set up camp.

We thought we had felt sick in the morning, but we had no idea what was coming for us. Having been unable to eat anything all day, we were amazed by the number of trips we made to the restroom. Neither of us remember having felt this sick. Our bodies ached everywhere, we were sick to our stomachs, and our heads were relentlessly pounding in pain. Even lifting a bottle of water to our mouths was almost more effort than we could give. We loaded up on drugs and tried to go to sleep at around 8 pm. Unfortunately, our hostel is located on top of a bar that was blasting terrible music until 4 am. Unless you've been sick as a dog and been forced to listen to UB40, Lenny Kravitz, and that song that goes "I am a man from down under" over and over again, you have no clue what hell is like.