FOOD Poisoning AhHhH

My first encounter with Thai medicine happened to fall on a Buddhist holiday of all days, when nearly all doctor's offices, schools, and government buildings were closed. The Thai government decided to stimulate the economy by encouraging tourism, so the usually minor holiday this year turned into an all out bonanza. Well, for most people.

As for me, I enjoyed a nice breakfast of duck soup (guay dtieow pet) with Pai, Neung, and Ricker. I went to this place once before and I don't think duck soup is commonplace on the Thai breakfast scene, but it should be. This is basically chicken noodle soup with a different bird. After eating, we stopped at a convenience store and I picked up a glass of chocolate milk. It was pretty rainy, so there wasn't much to do outside that day, also nobody felt like venturing much outside the apartment complex. Ricker and I headed over to Pai and Neung's to hang out, but then after an hour or so I felt queasy. I went back to my apartment and saw Matt, my other roommate, and then immidiately vomited. It wasn't pretty and then it lasted for awhile, I ended up having a mild case of food poisoning. The eruption ceased and so I asked Neung to take me to the doctor. He took me after the rain died down a bit. We got in a cab, but I didn't feel so well, so I had to make a pit stop at the university which we happened to be passing on the road to go to the bathroom. The university turned off all the water and electricity for the holiday so I broke through the chained gates and somehow accessed some door that never locks. I made it in time. I got back in the cab and then we somehow found the one doctor's office open on the holiday. That was relieving. Although I wouldn't have probably gone to the doctor in the US, I wanted to be sure of my health in Thailand and get some medicine. He spoke really good english and gave me some medicine, told me I would probably be better after a day or so. I ate some plain steamed rice and fell asleep for 15 hours. Since I woke up, I have felt pretty much back to normal.

The next days were pretty rainy too, so we didn't make it to the national park, mostly because I got sick and I don't think anyone else wanted to orchestrate such a trip. I read a lot since I was sick. Actually over the whole trip I have already read 5 of the 7 books I brought. Fortunately, all the UNC students brought several books so we can trade amongst ourselves.

I had class today about photovoltaic technology, which is interesting, but pretty crazy. The process to create pure silicon creates a byproduct of toxic carbon monoxide, but I think in my LCA class I will try to determine the net carbon monoxide emitted into the ambient air from solar cells and how much perhaps is saved by extracting pure silicon than running a coal-fired power plant.

School so far hasn't been very hard, but we have a midterm coming up in Environmental Chemistry in 10 days. Hopefully the test won't be too difficult although much of the material we had to learn on our own.


Farewell
Noah