My Time in Hong Kong: Back to Bangkok and on Vietnam

We got back into Bangkok from Siem Reap in the mid afternoon on Saturday. It was a long day of traveling (on the 1970's bus) and my stomach began acting up. It got progressively worse throughout the evening and peaked on Sunday. I awoke to really bad stomach pains and frequent trips to the bathroom. They bound me to the hotel room for the entire day Unfortunately, I had to miss out on visiting the Bangkok temples with Nancy and Jo. Nancy also had a touch of the same bug I had, but she also had aches and pains too. She was able to leave the hotel room though and see some of the sights. I'm not sure where we got sick. It could have been any number of things- the water, raw fruits or raw vegetables. The only positive of being stuck in my hotel room was I got a couple of blogs written and published

Unfortunately, Monday's travel plans didn't help my condition. We took an early morning flight to Hanoi, Vietnam. My stomach was a bit better, but I only got a few hours of sleep. In addition to being dehydrated from the stomach bug, I was now also fatigued. In Hanoi, our plan was to hang out for the day in order to catch an overnight train to Sa Pa, Vietnam. Our mistake was we did not have a place to stay during the day. Most of the places in Hanoi didn't have air conditioning (except some of the Western stores) so we were outside in the heat and humidity most of the day. By the time, we got to the train station, I was overheated, dehydrated and exhausted. I tried drank a lot of water, but it didn't seem to matter. Maybe it was because I was sick, but I was not a fan of Hanoi. It had a French influence (which was cool), but I saw it as run-down and dirty.

In Hanoi. You can't tell, but I feel awful here

St. Joseph Cathedral, Hanoi

The overnight train from Hanoi to Sa Pa didn't help the situation. The bed was hard, the air conditioning didn't work very well and our cabin mate decided to let a "visitor" stay in her bunk with her. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep and had a hard time cooling off. In the middle of the night, I started to get the cold sweats and started feeling achy. When we finally made it to Sa Pa at 6 am, I was delirious. I was dizzy, nauseous and ready to pass out. To make matters worse, the driver of the shuttle bus took us to the wrong hotel and then refused to take us to the correct hotel. I was about ready to kill him (or puke on him). Luckily, our hotel wasn't too far away and we were able to check in. Jo and Nancy went on a tour that first day, but I stayed back in the hotel room to get rest.

For the next two days, I skipped all of the tours and hung out at our hotel, the Holiday Hotel Sa Pa. Now normally, it would drive me crazy not to leave the hotel in such a beautiful location, but I really needed the down time. Luckily, the hotel was really nice and the view from our room was amazing. I read, watched TV and let my body heal. It took three days to fully recover.

As you can see from the pictures below, Sa Pa was gorgeous. I wish I could have seen more of the countryside, but resting in the hotel was the smarter option.