Day: July 11, 2012

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Rampaging stroppy tourist!

We had our first minor hiccup today. Susie ran a very high temperature all day slept most of it away.  At about 5pm we decided she was getting worse rather than better so we asked the hotel about options to visit a doctor.  We were told a boat would take us to the island clinic staffed by a nurse.  Susie and i duely set off, passports in hand…..

 

The boat driver was very kind and took us into the clinic.  Whatever he said seemed to work as rather embarrassingly I think we queue jumped horribly.  The nurse took Susies temperature (39.9) and asked me to undress her.  He then shoved two large paracetemol doses up her bum with no warning.  He hadn’t bothered to ask, but we had given her paracetemol not half  an hour before.  The nurse was all set to send us home at this point, but, not being the retiring type I insisted that he look in her ears first as she had been complaining that they hurt.  Oh yes, she did have an ear infection!  He tried to give me ear drops but I went into full on stroppy western tourist mode and insisted on oral antibiotics. I don’t think he’s speaking to me anymore…….

 

We made the boat trip back and the driver was an absolute star, even refusing to take any payment for his service.  Back at the hotel, and one paniced call to our doctor friend (thanks Kate!) to check the paracetemol dose wouldn’t cause a problem and panic over.  Susie has felt well enough to watch a film and eat two biscuits – a significant improvement on the rest of the day,  we are hoping that the antibiotics will continue to do their job.  If this is the worst of our medical problems whilst away we shall have got off very lightly!

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Island paradise!

 

We had a nervy start, arriving in Kuala Besut by taxi and being taken straight to an agent and not he hotel we had asked for.  After too much debate we finally got to the hotel to find it was closed for refurbishment!  We had a fairly stressed half hour looking for an alternative whilst being shouted at and followed round by touts on mopeds we finally landed on our feet and found a large, clean family room with air conditioning.
The next difficulty was that everywhere we wanted to stay on the Perhentian Islands seemed to be full for all of July and August!  With office hours finishing we settled for some internet research and a bit of quiet panicing.
In the morning we grabbed an early breakfast, took a deep breath and headed into an agents office to see if hey could help us out.  Luckily, they could!  They tried wuite hard to talk us into a cheapie chalet option, but the photos looked grim and it semed a shame to visit a tropical paradise and stay in a dump!  It took a while to persuade them that we actually wanted to spend more money but they got it in the end and booked us ino BuBu Resort.  At this point it transpired that they only accepted cash and the nearest cash point was 1km away!  Amazingly they trustingly loaned Phil their scooter and sent him off to find the ATM!  Wouldn’t happen in the UK.
The ATM had a very low withdrawl limit so Phil and to make two trips – one to withdraw on the credit card, and another to use the debit card. Finally all paid up at 10.50am.  The boat crossing was at 11am, cue frantic checking out of hotel, sprint to the jetty etc but we made it!
Having arrived we are delighted with our decision.  Lovely room, fabulous service, unbelievable food and the most amazing location!  Phil has booked me for my dive refresher this afternoon (he did his yesterday and is on his first proper dive now).  I’m nervous because its been so long, but if he snorkelling off the beach is this amazing i can’t miss seeing the diving.