Mon-Wed 16th-18th March: Bugged

I wanted to move on from Surakarta but now I was laid low for three days with a bug. This was the worst stomach bug to hit me on the trip so far. It was a pretty aggressive bug. I had a bad night on the Sunday night and for the next couple of days the bug took its toll. I got sick, had painful cramps and, suffice to say, you broke wind on the toilet!!! My energy levels were very low. I couldn't sleep, I just lay there for two days. Even the thought of food was uncomfortable. However, the people in the guesthouse were really nice. Giving me tablets. Checking up on me, bringing me food and tea etc.

On the Monday morning when it became obvious I was quite sick it almost turned into a little episode of the Waltons - "John Boy takes ill". Once word got around that I was ill I recieved a steady stream of visitors..... onlookers would perhaps be more appropriate. At one point it felt like the whole family had come into my room to see the patient. Grandma and Grandpa tottered in to join the rest and stare, the kids were there, a couple of uncles. A mother with an infant in her arms stood at the foot of the bed pointing at me trying to get the kid to look at me. To be honest I think half the people were neighbours who'd taken the opprtunity to have a gawk at one of the tourists. I was hoked and prodded. People at the back whispered and shook their heads grimly. Patrek at the front squeezed my thigh as if searching for the source of the sickness there. That actually became quite disconcerting, particularly when he tried it again later when everybody was gone. Opinions were expressed and heads nodded wisely. It was decided I had a flu which was attacking me in the stomach. Oil was rubbed into my back and stomach. My feet were rubbed. I lay there under the gaze of many feeling very pale and scrawny in my best boxers. I was given a course of tablets and told I should eat. Eventually I agreed to have a couple of slices of toast but it even that was hard work.

Anyway I survived. By Wednesday I was up and about but still low on energy. I was very grateful to the manager who had kept an eye on me over the days, assisted by Patrek who appeared to conclude that the illness wasn't in my thigh but more likely to be emanating from the biceps of my left arm,..........???? Enough said!!! Tomorrow I will take a train to Yogyakarta and rejoin the main tourist trail. I think I'll miss Solo. Its a charming little city.