This post is coming very late. Forgive me. My last few weeks were a whirlwind of emotion, craziness and fun, saying hello and goodbye to some people who had become and remained very important to me.
Haidee in Hong Kong
Luckily, I was reintroduced to western culture in a gradual way, which reduced the shock of getting home. A little over two weeks before leaving Thailand for good, I was able to go visit one of my friends from UW-Madison, Haidee, in Hong Kong! I cried a little when I saw her. It had been so long since I’d seen a familiar face.
Visiting Hong Kong with Haidee was absolutely incredible. I’m so lucky her family gave me a place to stay and introduced and treated me to wonderful tradition Hong Kong cuisine and also that she was my tour guide through the city. It was so nice to connect with someone who knows Wisconsin again. Hong Kong is like the New York City of Southeastern Asia, it even has a Times Square! It was very westernized and modernized compared to lots of the other places I had traveled recently (especially compared to Nepal!) so I started to feel like I was getting back into my “normal” life slowly but surely.
Haidee showed me all around Hong Kong. We went to the Peak and saw Hong Kong from above, we took a boat ride around the islands and ate amazing, fresh seafood, I gorged myself on dim sum, we bar hopped late into the night, we explored the endless malls, we sweat our butts off in the sun hiking the Dragon Back trail, we drank lots and lots of bubble tea, and we meandered through art galleries and shops. I had an absolute blast in Hong Kong. Haidee is one of my favorite people to be around because she is a ton of fun but super easy-going and generous and she just makes people around her happy. So thanks Haidee, I love you and your home.
When I got back from Hong Kong, I only had to wait TWO DAYS before AUSTIN POWELL would be in Thailand with me! I wish I could explain to you how ready and excited I was to see him again, it had been so so long. I had started to feel like I had a fake boyfriend who just existed over a screen. Those two days I preoccupied myself by going about my normal life – doing laundry, studying for exams (kind of), and lots of binging on Netflix. Finally, on the day of, I distracted myself by spending the day shopping.
Hello, Again
Seeing Austin for the first time in six months at the airport is one of those moments I’ll never forget. He looked so handsome. And big. I swear his arms got bigger. And did I mention how handsome? I was very happy to have him in the same place I was, finally.
Just now, I was asking Austin what stories I should put in this post while I was writing it and he said, “Did you talk about that first night?” I said, “What do you mean?” He said, “Idk, just how good it was.” And I think that about sums up how happy we were to see each other again.
I still had a final exam to take, so Austin and I spent a few days at my apartment at Thammasat University. I showed him Bangkok. We visited temples and the shopping malls and the markets. After I was officially done with classes, we went out to Khaosan Road with some of my friends from journalism. Austin embraced absolutely everything about the journey and the adventure – especially the food – and his excitement to be there made me so happy.
After months of being apart, it was amazingly effortless being together again. It was so hard to be away but honestly, nothing changed other than gaining a deeper appreciation for each other. I’ll be the first to admit, I never truly realized how incredible a big, Austin bearhug is until I hadn’t been hugged by another person in six months.
One day in Bangkok, Austin and I decided to go visit the Jim Thompson house, since we were in the area and I hadn’t been yet. Even though I was in Thailand, a very, very different place than Minnesota, I couldn’t help being reminded of my Grandma and Grandpa Merritt’s Mississippi River oasis. There was something about the funky architecture, green surroundings and rusty red colored walls that kept Grandpa Merritt on my mind the whole time.
Afterward, Austin and I walked to a nearby Thai massage place. Thai massages are a weird experience: they hit you and step on you and contort you in all these weird shapes, so I wasn’t sure how he’d feel, but let me tell you, Austin LOVED it.
Northern Thailand
After Bangkok, we traveled up to Northern Thailand. We spent one night in Chiang Mai before taking the minibus to Pai. Our night in Chiang Mai was good. We stayed in an Airbnb run by an English man and it was spacious, clean, comfortable… plus he gave us a ride to the bus station in the morning which was a huge bonus.
However, Pai was probably our favorite place. The ride there kind of sucked, it’s about 3 hours into the mountains. I think they say it ends up being over 700 twists and turns. Luckily, neither of us got car sick. The night before we had decided to change our reservation from a “party hostel” to a little cabin we found on Airbnb. After my terrible experiences at the party hostel in Cambodia (drunk, naked men peeing at the foot of my bed + bedbugs), I wasn’t really ready to risk it again.
Changing our reservation was a great call. The area was so pretty, with the mountains surrounding us and cattle grazing nearby. Better yet, the Airbnb host offered us to rent his moped for 100 baht per day (Approx. $3) WE HAD SO MUCH FUN ON THAT SCOOTER! It was perfect. The scooter gave us so much freedom to see more and more of Pai. We scooted out to the Pai Canyon one night for sunset, we scooted up to some scenic look-out points, one day, we visited some waterfalls.
The waterfalls were a huge highlight of our trip. Based on the fact that there are basically no restrictions for natural areas in Thailand (sometimes a fun thing, but typically a bad thing), we were able to climb, slip, slide, swim, and jump around the waterfalls as we pleased. Austin watched as one older, local man threw himself with no restraint off the top of a waterfall into the pool below and said, “I’m going to do that.” He and several other travelers climbed their way up to the top and spent about 10 minutes taking turns looking off the side of it. Then, all the sudden, Austin went for it and jumped.
This was one of my favorite moments, personally, because I always love seeing the side of Austin that not everyone gets to see.
Without spending much time with him, you instantly can tell that he’s not a huge talker but he’s kind, humble, competitive and has a great head on his shoulders. And this is true, yet spend a little more time with him and you’ll find he’s stubborn, he tells the worst dad jokes ever, he’s an absolute sweetheart, he blushes when he gets embarrassed, he rarely judges anyone for any reason, he is steady and dependable through anything, he’s the most passionate, controlled, determined and motivated person I know, and he’s SO FUN.
Austin is easy-going and ready for whatever wild ideas come into my mind; I mean he came to THAILAND to have an adventure with me! We balance each other really well and help each other step out of each of our individual comfort zones and that’s my favorite, favorite part of dating him. On paper, we couldn’t be more different and yet we work, so well, in my humble opinion.
Southern Thailand
After Pai, we took a flight to Southern Thailand to spend some time on the islands. It was the monsoon season, so I was a little nervous about how the weather would treat us, but we totally lucked out with sun and great weather. However, since it wasn’t peak tourist season, we hadn’t been running into lots of other travelers. Bangkok is always hectic, but Pai wasn’t packed and the island was about to be even more deserted. We spent one night in an absolute crap hotel in Krabi, then took our mini-bus + ferry to Koh Lanta.
Since there weren’t many others on the island, our Airbnb host upgraded our room to the nicest one in the resort. So we paid $20 for a private room next to the beach and pool and bar and yes, we loved it.
There wasn’t a ton to do on the island, but that was almost the best part of it. We just relaxed. We walked near the ocean and swam and read books. One morning we went to the Koh Lanta Animal Welfare Shelter and volunteered to take some of their dogs for a walk. Singha and Elvis were the names, and they were two adorable little Thai pups. I love that Austin because he’s as big of an animal lover as I am – I’m a firm believer you can tell a lot about a person based on how they react when they see a dog. We both have to stop and give our favorite stray pups some pats and possibly some snacks.
Another one of our days on the island, we did a snorkeling tour! This took up basically the entire day but it was the best snorkeling I did in Asia. The coral was still colorful and there were tons of tropical fish. I was starting to get super tired while we were snorkeling though. I’m not sure if I was just drained from sun and travel, or if these were my first warning signs that I was beginning to get really sick, but I remember feeling off this entire day.
The trip was winding down, however. We had a beautiful time. I don’t quite know how to put in words how much it meant to me that Austin was willing to not only deal with a long distance relationship for half the year but also come all the way across the world to visit the place I had fallen in love with and explore it with me. He’s the best. Thailand is the best.
Finally, Coming Home!
I was EXCITED to go home. Let me tell you. Austin and I spend the last night in Thailand packing up my apartment and trying to even out our (my) baggage so we wouldn’t go over the allowed weight. We spent a lot of time moving my items around: “Well, what if I put my jeans in your backpack, my books in my backpack, and my shoes in your suitcase…” — You get the idea. However, after an hour or so, Austin picked both of our suitcases up and said: “If my years of weightlifting have given me any sense at all, I think that’s right.” Each of our bags was allowed to weigh 50 pounds, and we weighed them as soon as we got to the airport. Sure enough- I think both of our bags were 0.2 lbs above or below 50 pounds. I still laugh thinking of how pumped we both were, dancing around the airport in the middle of the night because we were going home and not paying any overweight baggage fees.
We both agreed, flying 15 hours in a plane is much better when you’re with someone you love instead of leaving someone you love or anticipating getting to see someone you love. We scored an exit row seat so had plenty of room to get up, move around and stretch our legs. We slept a bit and watched some movies and did what we could to make the flight go fast.
In the last two hours, however, I was beginning to feel a little nauseous. We had some turbulence almost the entire flight. I also felt a little feverish, claustrophobic and I was just dying to get off the plane. O’Hare was so backed up, we ended up having to wait almost two hours for our luggage to come out. I was so anxious to get out of there, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I wanted to see my parents. I wanted to eat Culvers. I wanted to cuddle Charlie.
Malaria Scare
Finally, we got out. Yes, I cried when I saw my mom. I was overjoyed to get a hug from my dad. We stopped at Culvers before we even made it out of Illinois, and I gorged myself with more dairy than I had eaten in the past six months combined. But, at Culvers, on the drive home, and the rest of the evening, I had the chills, and I was burning up. Finally, I just put myself to bed early in hopes I was just readjusting and would be better in the morning.
Unfortunately, I was not. The next few days I dealt with fevers, especially at night. I got migraines with them too. I was SO BUMMED. I had just gotten home, there was so much I was dying to do and so many people I was dying to see, yet I was stuck in bed.
I decided to just deal with not feeling great because there was so much I wanted to do! My parents had a big two-week road trip planned to go out west, and I had agreed to watch Charlie while they were gone. Austin tried to take me out for a beautiful date on the lake but I was too exhausted to even be any fun. I slept on the boat the whole way there and back and could barely find the energy to do anything else.
After a week of reoccurring fevers, Austin convinced me to go to Urgent Care. They decided to take the situation very seriously when I told them I had just gotten back from Southeast Asia. Some blood tests confirmed my levels were off: low white blood, high liver count, etc. Now I was a little nervous but mainly just annoyed. I wanted to enjoy being home, I wanted to start working, I didn’t feel like dealing with this.
Long story long, I had to call my internship and ask them to push my start date another week back. Luckily, they were generous and understanding. I spent the next week going to get blood work done every day without any progress on an actual prognosis. They tested me for HIV, Hepatitis C, Salmonella, Tetanus, who knows what else…but their main concern was Malaria. The Prairie Clinic began sending my blood results to Infectious Diseases at St. Mary’s. One blood test for malaria came back negative, one came back positive, and one came back inconclusive, so basically… no one knew.
I was such a mix of emotions at this point: Frustrated because I wanted to move back to Madison and have fun. Thankful for Austin, who stayed with me as much as he possibly could throughout the week. Scared because my parents were gone and I didn’t know what was happening. Guilty because I knew my mom was worried sick about me. But mainly I was just tired. I didn’t want to do anything but sleep. So Charlie and I spent lots of time in bed snuggling.
After a few more days, I began feeling much better. I had energy again, the fevers had stopped. However, one weird symptom remained. My hands were absurdly itchy, and then my feet too. It was the craziest thing, there was no visible rash but I couldn’t stop scratching my fingers. It kept me up at night, trying to itch them. I really just thought I was losing my mind at this point. Unfortunately, my lab results didn’t show improvement, so the testing continued.
Finally, I received some good news — my blood levels had stabilized on their own. A few days after that more news, my test for Dengue fever came back positive. Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne tropical disease, typically just treated with rest and fluids. I couldn’t help chuckling a little looking through the 3 Stages of the virus, they were spot on:
1. Fever
2. Exhaustion
3. ITCHINESS
So, I wasn’t going crazy.
The mystery was solved, and I was thankful it ended up being something that could get better on its own. Turns out there were more confirmed cases in Thailand this year than in the last two decades. Still, I read if you live in Thailand for 20 years, you only have a 1% chance of actually getting the disease — lucky me. My mom cried when I told her and I was happy that I knew she would be able too to enjoy the rest of her trip in peace now. The doctor confirmed I could begin working again, all in all, it was a huge potential crisis averted.
Finally, I could begin to enjoy my time being back. I went out with my friends to celebrate MALARIA FREE 2018, my parents came home soon after, I moved back to Madison and finally got to catch up with all my roomies, and lately, I’ve been packing my summer days with a full-time internship, getting back into a running habit, and all the fun Madison provides.
Last night I went out with my good friends from Sauk, Mikey and Trent, and was blown away by how many detailed, poignant questions Trent asked me. I was so excited to actually get to talk about my trip without feeling like I was driving him crazy. Trent had read my blogs and followed my posts and truthfully wanted to know the details. So thanks Trent, I really appreciate it. Talking to you felt like one of the first times I actually got to reflect on my trip, and I needed that.
That’s why I finally pushed myself to finish this blog post that I’ve been working on for over a month now. Because reflecting is important, and between Dengue fever, readjustment, and jumping back into a full-time work schedule, I haven’t gotten to do that yet.
I miss Asia, I miss traveling, I miss the food… but when I look back I’m so proud of myself because I also dealt with a lot of frustration, sadness, and discomfort. I am so happy to be back in Madison, my favorite city and be able to drive home and see my family whenever I desire. But I wouldn’t change a thing about my experiences, and I feel so grateful to be home, safe, and happy. This is the final chapter of this journey, but there will be more to come in the future, I can feel it.
Mckenzie Lena Halling 