Leaving our breakfast cafe with the hammer and sickle flag

This day should soon take a very uncomfortable turn for me. Yet, while we were sitting here munching on our decent and affordable breakfast across the road from our hotel, we did not expect a thing of what was to come. Because we thought the super cool waterfall plus swimming hole would be better in the afternoon when it would be a bit warmer (it gets quite chilly up here in the mornings), we scheduled the walking tour of the town for this morning.

Because we did That Chomsi last night, we started at the north eastern end of the little hill instead of climbing it. Through Wat Siphouthabat Thippharam we made our way to the old royal palace, now a museum.

The temple of the Royal Palace in the morning sun

The fancy building in the foreground is actually quite new – it was built at the end of the last century to house the Pha Bang Buddha, namesake of the town. We were briefly debating whether or not to fork over the 60000 kip entrance fee. In the end, we were glad we did it – the palace was in prime condition, left like it was after the reds took over. It was renovated and upgraded for the coronation of the last king in the 60s. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside. It was quite splendid, though. We especially liked the throne room decked out in mosaics of Japanese glass and the collection of swords.

Wat Xieng Thong – Glorious side view

Through some alleyways we came past a whole bunch of Unesco World Heritage protected buildings and out to the Mekong waterfront. This is when I started to feel a bit worse for wear. Although it was only 10 am, I was completely worn out and ready to sleep again. We just so made it to Wat Xieng Thong at the end of the peninsula when I called it our last stop.

The wat was fancy and all, but I still have not really connected with the local Buddhist style and themes. A lot of gold and glitter, but nothing spiritual going on there for me.

Pretending that he’s not THAT sick…before collapsing

We headed straight back to our room after that and I pretty much collapsed on the bed. Within the next couple of hours I felt worse and worse and developed a fever. So much for waterfalls this afternoon. I slept through lunch time and moaned around until at least Nina’s hunger drove us out at 3 pm. We went to a restaurant just across the street. They had amazing green curry, but I was not feeling like eating at all. Luckily I stopped half way through, because it would sit there for the rest of the night in my stomach making me feel nauseous.

It got so bad that Nina went out to get me a thermometer later on. I really did have a fever at 39°C. I don’t remember much else other than feeling miserable but unable to sleep due to my full belly. Later and all through the night, that got mixed up with some fever dreams on infinite rotation, for good measure …