Back from the Fields...
I’m back after a 5 day visit to Kuala Selangor… I think apart from the hard manual labor, it’s been a good rest for my mind and spirit. I enjoyed the nights in the chalet with time for myself to watch TV, read some books and listen to some music.
But the recurrence of the pain in my lower back and abdomen did give me a cause for concern. I was undecided about whether I should continue going to the fields or just stay at the hotel. In the end, I decided to go. At this point I really do have to write about all the health hazards that I had to face throughout the trip. I might just die from one of these things one day!
Of course, there is the hot sun, with its scorching heat and UV rays. I just wonder how much the sun-block really helped because I ended up with sunburn anyway. One day I might just get skin cancer… heheh. I was hoping for some fresh country air, but was greeted by hazy air that smelled like burning sulphur every morning. Some local farmers were burning their fields. And I guess some did get blown across the Straits from Sumatera. Then there is the wonderful smell of exhaust that I get to inhale all day while working around the truck. I can even smell it while in it’s air-conditioned cabin! Lung cancer awaits me…
Then there are the creature hazards. We saw a long piece of dried skin left behind by a snake that had shed it not too long ago. The whole thing was still intact and the farmers identified it as belonging to a king cobra. Great. ‘I’ll be walking all around the paddy fields without any shoes on for 5 days’ I thought to myself then. There are the red ants too. They are everywhere. And when they bite, it hurts! The pain and itch lasts for about a week. I also saw 4 or 5 mosquitoes with black and white stripes happily sucking on my blood when I was out taking some pictures. I killed them all. I wondered if I’d get dengue fever in the next few days. And there are the hundreds of bugs, spiders and tiny little critters that stepped on or came into contact with. I might just get bitten by something poisonous one day.
But of course… there will always be the amazing views and wildlife which I managed to capture with my new camera!
But the recurrence of the pain in my lower back and abdomen did give me a cause for concern. I was undecided about whether I should continue going to the fields or just stay at the hotel. In the end, I decided to go. At this point I really do have to write about all the health hazards that I had to face throughout the trip. I might just die from one of these things one day!
Of course, there is the hot sun, with its scorching heat and UV rays. I just wonder how much the sun-block really helped because I ended up with sunburn anyway. One day I might just get skin cancer… heheh. I was hoping for some fresh country air, but was greeted by hazy air that smelled like burning sulphur every morning. Some local farmers were burning their fields. And I guess some did get blown across the Straits from Sumatera. Then there is the wonderful smell of exhaust that I get to inhale all day while working around the truck. I can even smell it while in it’s air-conditioned cabin! Lung cancer awaits me…
Then there are the creature hazards. We saw a long piece of dried skin left behind by a snake that had shed it not too long ago. The whole thing was still intact and the farmers identified it as belonging to a king cobra. Great. ‘I’ll be walking all around the paddy fields without any shoes on for 5 days’ I thought to myself then. There are the red ants too. They are everywhere. And when they bite, it hurts! The pain and itch lasts for about a week. I also saw 4 or 5 mosquitoes with black and white stripes happily sucking on my blood when I was out taking some pictures. I killed them all. I wondered if I’d get dengue fever in the next few days. And there are the hundreds of bugs, spiders and tiny little critters that stepped on or came into contact with. I might just get bitten by something poisonous one day.
But of course… there will always be the amazing views and wildlife which I managed to capture with my new camera!
posted by sojourner @ Monday, September 19, 2005
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