I’m in the air on my way to LAX where I’ll board Thai Airways jet to Bangkok now – but I want to recount a bit of my preparations from the past month or so.
First, the injections. I was a bit surprised that rabies vaccine is recommended for those doing “adventure travel” in southeast Asia. Three shots of brilliant pink – perhaps a bit more painful than a flu shot. About 24 hours after the second vaccine, I had a headache and about an hour of shaking chills that went away with naproxen and Tylenol. No reaction to the third shot though. I’m not intending to get bitten by the wildlife. My wife says that from now on I have to be the one to protect us from rabid animals. I also Japanese encephalitis vaccine. Mostly, JE is limited to the rainy season – which doesn’t start until late April or early May. But northern Vietnam also has nonseasonal outbreaks. It’s a virus that is untreatable and often causes brain damage, and the newer vaccine is safer (and only requires two shots) – so this made sense. I’m still immune to Hepatitis A from previous travel vaccinations, and Hepatitis B from immunizations I got back in medical school. I took the 4 capsule typhoid oral vaccine about three years ago – so I’m still covered.
The tour company states clearly that the area I’ll be riding in is nonmalarial based on altitude. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention disagrees –so I’ve got Malarone packed and will start that when I reach Hanoi. Just a few weeks ago I listened to a This American Life about a Fulbright scholar who awakened in a train station in India with no passport and no idea who he was – and the culprit was Mefloquin – a different antimalarial. I’m happy not to be taking that – it sometimes leads to psychosis – and the TAL contributor never recovered a full year of his memory.
My family moved in the late fall, and we’re still not fully unpacked – and our new house just keeps on swallowing belongings. I spent some of yesterday evening at Wheelworks getting new bike shoes – my existing bike shoes were nowhere to be found. I’ve been using a bike trainer and wearing cycling sandals – but I didn’t feel comfortable going halfway around the world without bike shoes. I’ve brought my own pedals to fit the cleats as well – I hope the tour operator has a pedal wrench. At the bike store, Rob told me that I had to “buy cinnamon” when I’m in Hanoi. Mysteriously he said “because it will take you somewhere you wouldn’t otherwise see.” All I could think was that I hope cinnamon isn’t code for some illegal drug!
Finally, there are the electronics. Of course, I don’t need any… but
I don’t want to be entirely unplugged. I got a new Toshiba ‘netbook’ that weighs under 3 pounds and allegedly could get 11 hours on its battery. (I’m not betting on this). I’ve borrowed the family’s newest point-and-shoot camera, and hope to be able to take some good photos (and post a few as well). I took my son’s unlocked Samsung GSM phone that he used in Italy last semester, and hope to get a new SIM card when I arrive in Hanoi. Josh had to show me how to even turn the phone on – not a good sign. And of course there are the two IPods – one that has all of our music, the other (ancient) one to sync to the new computer so that I can grab a podcast or two on the road. Or not. Luckily, I won’t be carrying any of this on my bike.
So – we’ve begun our descent into LAX. I have a bigger and heavier bag than I thought I would – and almost 4000 air miles into this trip I can’t think of anything I forgot. More on this later as I realize what’s missing.
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