WAKE UP

Anthony woke me up at 8:30 and as soon as my eyes opened, I knew something was horrendously wrong. My head felt like it had been sledgehammered the entire night and my stomach felt even worse than that. Anthony invited me to go up another mountain with him to visit a temple, but I declined and buried my face into my pillow, hoping that any additional sleep that I might catch before I had to leave Chang Mai might take away the pain in my skull. But, once awoken, my stomach decided that sleep was not in the cards for me. Over the next three hours before I had to drag myself out of my room I was between the bathroom and my bed, throwing up horrendously and struggling to understand what the hell had happened to me. I knew that I needed to get myself in shape and get packing, so I tried my best to put aside how I felt and pack up my things and get out of the room. While packing, I kept forgetting what I was doing, losing my train of thought. I was incredibly, incredibly tired and it was hard to focus my eyes on any one thing for a long period of time.

Finally, I got the good sense to check the painkillers. My eyes instantly found the "overdose" section and, despite following the instructions to the letter, somehow I had had an adverse reaction to the painkillers and was now suffering from an overdose on them, or at least a very bad reaction. I somehow managed (in between throwing up any stomach acid that my body dared accumulate in my stomach) to get myself up and out the door. I handed in the key, walked down the street to the store where I bought some water and crackers, and headed to the Chang Mai airport. I sat on a bench with my eyes closed, trying not to look at any person, place, or thing for very long because it gave me an incredibly sick stomach if I did. Anthony finally arrived and I explained my horrid condition to him and he did his best to, once again, take care of me.

We used my leg injury as an excuse to get on the plane before the long line of people that had been standing waiting before us. I finally got some of the sleep my body so desperately craved. I got off the airport and after a long hobble, we got a taxi. I slept through the ride in an effort to not throw up in it, but mostly, it was a semi-conscious blur.

By the time I got back, I felt a little better. Good enough at least to go put some food in my stomach. I realized how thirsty and hungry I was when I ate, but I took it easy to make sure it stayed down. By the end of the night, I felt at about 70%. My knee hurt, my head hurt, and my stomach hurt after an abusive weekend, but I realized how significantly better I felt than in the morning and greatly appreciated that feeling.

I woke up Monday morning still feeling a little out of it, so I took the day and slept for most of it. By the time I got to moving again, I felt alert, awake, and recovered. Ready to take on the world again.

And thus, this concludes my journey to Chang Mai.