I am Back
I used to think that wanting to shit and wanting to vomit and yet, being unable to shit and vomit was the worst pain in life. You sit on the toilet bowl and try to shit and then you kneel in front of the toilet bowl and try to vomit but everything that had went into your system earlier simply refuses to see light. So you alternate between sitting and kneeling until you gave up and simply lie on the floor in the toilet. You finally break into cold sweat, and thus wet the floor, found the last bit of strength left in your body, sit on the toilet bowl and 'it' starts to flow.
On 15 Jun 2007, Friday, 2 days after Connie appeared on the top page of LeChye, I experienced another type of pain on par with the pain described above. I woke up that fateful morning and everything that was not supposed to move was moving. Everything from cupboards and underwear to laptop and moisturizer. I had a terrible headache and I thought it was induced by food poisoning because I had eaten some chicken the day before that seemed to had developed some black spots on the skin and was one day from expiry but I was later told by the doctor that the pain was probably caused by some infection in my ear and carries with it the name 'Vertigo'.
I took panadols and tried to sleep through the headache after spending 20minutes typing a really short email to my professor to inform him that I would not be going into office that day. I took that long for the email because it felt like I was on a boat in a rough sea and I had to frequently return to my bed in the hope that the pain would subside if I kept my eyes closed. For maybe an hour, I wanted to tell no one about my illness because I thought being sick and having no one around was all part of an overseas miserable experience that I should not miss out on. But the pain got so bad that I finally succumbed to calling Yeejia and Lida.
Cutting a long story less long, I was eventually brought to a hospital by 3 firemen on an ambulance. Thinking back, that should have been the highlight of my Vertigo experience but I was in such pain that I cannot recall much of the ride now except that I always had a plastic bag in front of my mouth just in case I puked on the way to the hospital. I waited from 2 pm to 6 pm before a nurse eventually attended to me - she gave me some hospital attire to change into, the type that is airy below - even though I kept trying to make myself seem as if I was going to die the next second unless I get medical attention immediately. However, since Kuan Yew's wife also had to wait quite some time before she saw a doctor when she was in a UK hospital, I guess I cannot complain either.
It was an Indian doctor who attended to me and diagnosed me with Vertigo even though I was quite adamant that I had food poisoning. She had me on drips, which did not really helped to ease the pain. I was, however, keen not to spend a night at the hospital and be bankrupted by the hospital bills, thus the pain level (she asked me to rate the level of pain I was feeling, 0 no pain to 10 the can die kind of pain) I told her kept decreasing. I was eventually discharged around 11pm - even though things that were not supposed to move were still moving - with a prescription of panadols that I was supposed to buy at a pharmacy the next day. That made me wonder why I had bothered to be taken to the hospital when I had panadols in abundance at home...could probably have panadol-ed myself to recovery. I took a cab home for 50 euros that night. Until now, I have yet to receive the hospital bill and I hope I will never see one else I'll probably need to return to the hospital - this time for heart attack.
It took me about 2 weeks to feel healthy again. I wouldn't use the word 'recover' because somehow, after one vertigo, you're never sure if you will ever vertigo again. However, being sick meant I got the chance to be taken care of and though I really hate to be mushy and sentimental, I thank Yeejia for cooking me the top-notch Teochew fish porridge and the Tiong Bahru porridge wannabe the weekend I was down with Vertigo and Lida for feeding me when I couldn't even lift a spoon.
My internship ended on 13 July and on the 15th, Yeejia and I headed south to Spain and crossed the Gibraltar Straits to Morocco. I read most of your birthday greetings on the road and spent my birthday in a little Andalusian village called Catajima (pronounced Catahima like José Mourinho is pronounced Hosé Mourinho), where the owner of the hostel is an English man who grows marijuana on the roof-top.
Some things are best shared spoken rather than written and this trip is one of them. I will, however, leave you guys with some photos until I can tell you guys more about Yeejia's and my best trip to date in person.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Barcelona (our first destination)
Possibly the most expensive construction site to visit in the world. A cathedral designed by Antonio Gaudi, the architect who designed most of the famous buildings in Barcelona. Most of his designs are inspired by Nature. Made me wonder if Kaiyuan would have been gaudish if he had taken up archi...
Chimneys from another Gaudi building, Casa Milia.
Not heeding the advice.
Jumping after me.
To jeff and tat.
Could have been taken anywhere in the world.
Us at Park Guell, another work of Gaudi. Do you see her?
Sentosa anytime.
Frenchie selling donuts at the Barcelona beach.
Granada (in southern Spain, where Reyes - the smart man who left Arsenal - hailed from)
In a Moorish castle called Alhambra, one of the finalists in the recently concluded poll of 7 Wonders of the World.
Mingwei sits and ponders.
Yeejia's balancing act at Sacramonte, a cave district in Ronda. We did not see any caves.
Ronda (town perched around a gorge)
On the sand of one of the oldest bullring in Spain.
We trekked for more than 2km to look for a cave church only to find it close. Still keeping the spirits high though.
Still trekking.
No cave church but we got a splendid view of Ronda.
Catajima (where they grow marijuana...)
And has farmers walking around with donkey.
And goats.
And 'the public swimming pool with the best view in the world', I quote the owner of the hostel.
On the rooftop of our hostel. Remark: Photo taken with flash...we were not superimposed.
Gibraltar (English colony at the southern tip of Spain)
Crossing border to Gibraltar requires walking across an airport runway.
Us at the top of Gibraltar Rock.
Are you the monkey who snatched our plastic bag of chocolates from Yeejia?
Bird. With Atlas Mountain in Africa vaguely behind.
At Europa point, which I wrongly mistaken for the most southern point of Europe.
Tangier (north of Morocco)
Barbecue that produces a lot of smoke produces delicious barbecued fish.
Entrance to a Tangier souk (market in Arab).
Marakkech (44 degrees Celsius - jin1 sio1)
In front of the Koutoubia Tower, said to be to Morocco as Eiffel Tower is to Paris. Nothing spectacular though.
Walked into wall...
Walked parallel to wall as I had requested=)
Famous night market of Marakkech with must-try mutton burger dipped in Argan oil. Hao chi!
Drinking Moroccan whisky (aka mint tea) prepared by our French hostel owner on the rooftop.
Great photo potential wasted by me.
Madrid (where my pocket almost got picked)
Yeejia sleeps in front of the Madrid Palace.
Some ang-me busker performing wayang near Puerta del Sol.
Man making poster.
Thumbs down to the Santiago Bernabau where I almost got pick-pocketed.
Empty lane and she bird-gazes.
Bull fight.
Blind-folded horse and the piccador.
Fighter dropped his cloth.
Matador ready to poke his bull, who had been poked by quite a few darts already.
Toledo (day trip from Madrid)
Us with Don Quixote.
Byebye Toledo, byebye trip.
--------------------------------------------------------------
I am glad to be back.
On 15 Jun 2007, Friday, 2 days after Connie appeared on the top page of LeChye, I experienced another type of pain on par with the pain described above. I woke up that fateful morning and everything that was not supposed to move was moving. Everything from cupboards and underwear to laptop and moisturizer. I had a terrible headache and I thought it was induced by food poisoning because I had eaten some chicken the day before that seemed to had developed some black spots on the skin and was one day from expiry but I was later told by the doctor that the pain was probably caused by some infection in my ear and carries with it the name 'Vertigo'.
I took panadols and tried to sleep through the headache after spending 20minutes typing a really short email to my professor to inform him that I would not be going into office that day. I took that long for the email because it felt like I was on a boat in a rough sea and I had to frequently return to my bed in the hope that the pain would subside if I kept my eyes closed. For maybe an hour, I wanted to tell no one about my illness because I thought being sick and having no one around was all part of an overseas miserable experience that I should not miss out on. But the pain got so bad that I finally succumbed to calling Yeejia and Lida.
Cutting a long story less long, I was eventually brought to a hospital by 3 firemen on an ambulance. Thinking back, that should have been the highlight of my Vertigo experience but I was in such pain that I cannot recall much of the ride now except that I always had a plastic bag in front of my mouth just in case I puked on the way to the hospital. I waited from 2 pm to 6 pm before a nurse eventually attended to me - she gave me some hospital attire to change into, the type that is airy below - even though I kept trying to make myself seem as if I was going to die the next second unless I get medical attention immediately. However, since Kuan Yew's wife also had to wait quite some time before she saw a doctor when she was in a UK hospital, I guess I cannot complain either.
It was an Indian doctor who attended to me and diagnosed me with Vertigo even though I was quite adamant that I had food poisoning. She had me on drips, which did not really helped to ease the pain. I was, however, keen not to spend a night at the hospital and be bankrupted by the hospital bills, thus the pain level (she asked me to rate the level of pain I was feeling, 0 no pain to 10 the can die kind of pain) I told her kept decreasing. I was eventually discharged around 11pm - even though things that were not supposed to move were still moving - with a prescription of panadols that I was supposed to buy at a pharmacy the next day. That made me wonder why I had bothered to be taken to the hospital when I had panadols in abundance at home...could probably have panadol-ed myself to recovery. I took a cab home for 50 euros that night. Until now, I have yet to receive the hospital bill and I hope I will never see one else I'll probably need to return to the hospital - this time for heart attack.
It took me about 2 weeks to feel healthy again. I wouldn't use the word 'recover' because somehow, after one vertigo, you're never sure if you will ever vertigo again. However, being sick meant I got the chance to be taken care of and though I really hate to be mushy and sentimental, I thank Yeejia for cooking me the top-notch Teochew fish porridge and the Tiong Bahru porridge wannabe the weekend I was down with Vertigo and Lida for feeding me when I couldn't even lift a spoon.
My internship ended on 13 July and on the 15th, Yeejia and I headed south to Spain and crossed the Gibraltar Straits to Morocco. I read most of your birthday greetings on the road and spent my birthday in a little Andalusian village called Catajima (pronounced Catahima like José Mourinho is pronounced Hosé Mourinho), where the owner of the hostel is an English man who grows marijuana on the roof-top.
Some things are best shared spoken rather than written and this trip is one of them. I will, however, leave you guys with some photos until I can tell you guys more about Yeejia's and my best trip to date in person.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Barcelona (our first destination)
Possibly the most expensive construction site to visit in the world. A cathedral designed by Antonio Gaudi, the architect who designed most of the famous buildings in Barcelona. Most of his designs are inspired by Nature. Made me wonder if Kaiyuan would have been gaudish if he had taken up archi...
Chimneys from another Gaudi building, Casa Milia.
Not heeding the advice.
Jumping after me.
To jeff and tat.
Could have been taken anywhere in the world.
Us at Park Guell, another work of Gaudi. Do you see her?
Sentosa anytime.
Frenchie selling donuts at the Barcelona beach.
Granada (in southern Spain, where Reyes - the smart man who left Arsenal - hailed from)
In a Moorish castle called Alhambra, one of the finalists in the recently concluded poll of 7 Wonders of the World.
Mingwei sits and ponders.
Yeejia's balancing act at Sacramonte, a cave district in Ronda. We did not see any caves.
Ronda (town perched around a gorge)
On the sand of one of the oldest bullring in Spain.
We trekked for more than 2km to look for a cave church only to find it close. Still keeping the spirits high though.
Still trekking.
No cave church but we got a splendid view of Ronda.
Catajima (where they grow marijuana...)
And has farmers walking around with donkey.
And goats.
And 'the public swimming pool with the best view in the world', I quote the owner of the hostel.
On the rooftop of our hostel. Remark: Photo taken with flash...we were not superimposed.
Gibraltar (English colony at the southern tip of Spain)
Crossing border to Gibraltar requires walking across an airport runway.
Us at the top of Gibraltar Rock.
Are you the monkey who snatched our plastic bag of chocolates from Yeejia?
Bird. With Atlas Mountain in Africa vaguely behind.
At Europa point, which I wrongly mistaken for the most southern point of Europe.
Tangier (north of Morocco)
Barbecue that produces a lot of smoke produces delicious barbecued fish.
Entrance to a Tangier souk (market in Arab).
Marakkech (44 degrees Celsius - jin1 sio1)
In front of the Koutoubia Tower, said to be to Morocco as Eiffel Tower is to Paris. Nothing spectacular though.
Walked into wall...
Walked parallel to wall as I had requested=)
Famous night market of Marakkech with must-try mutton burger dipped in Argan oil. Hao chi!
Drinking Moroccan whisky (aka mint tea) prepared by our French hostel owner on the rooftop.
Great photo potential wasted by me.
Madrid (where my pocket almost got picked)
Yeejia sleeps in front of the Madrid Palace.
Some ang-me busker performing wayang near Puerta del Sol.
Man making poster.
Thumbs down to the Santiago Bernabau where I almost got pick-pocketed.
Empty lane and she bird-gazes.
Bull fight.
Blind-folded horse and the piccador.
Fighter dropped his cloth.
Matador ready to poke his bull, who had been poked by quite a few darts already.
Toledo (day trip from Madrid)
Us with Don Quixote.
Byebye Toledo, byebye trip.
--------------------------------------------------------------
I am glad to be back.
posted by le chye at
9:27 AM
1 Comments:
reyes is not from arsenal! anyway nice jumping photos, but mine is still the best... greatful to you though... awesome shot.
By
iNspIrAtionAl , at 8:50 AM
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