Day 485: Drug Experimentation

Today was a busy, full day. It started off with me waking up at the crack of dawn to drag my ass down to the International Clinic in Itaewon so that I could get pumped full of drugs. No, I'm not sick, but with my coming trip I needed to get some vaccinations. With my Hepatitis A and B now topped up, the new Japanese B Encephalitis coursing its way through my veins, plus the mega-cocktail of drugs I got before leaving Vancouver, I'm all good to go. With one exception - malaria pills.

I was given a choice between two kinds of pills to take on my trip (and yes, malaria pills really are a necessary requirement, especially considering some of my more exotic destionations.) Choice A is only one pill once a week, but 25% of people who take it suffer significant side effects, ranging from nausea, mood swings, diahrea, and headaches to severe yeast infections and horribly intense, vivid nightmares that plague your sleep. Choice B is one pill every single day, and its side effects are milder but supposedly more common, including the whole nausea/headaches package plus skin sensitivity to the sun. Hmmmm...not very fun choices, eh?

I've decided to give Choice A a try. To this day I've never ever been able to swallow a pill (I have to chew it or mash it up and then mix it with juice) and so having to take only one pill a week seems a lot more attractive. Because of the risks of the scary side effects, my doctor is giving me a one-month trial of those pills. I'm gonna start taking them and if I don't go crazy then I can order more for my trip. If the pills start doing bad things to me then I'll stop and we'll know that I'll have to go for Choice B. I start the medicinal experiment this Tuesday. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

I spent the rest of the afternoon shopping, or more like attempting to shop. I had a big long list of things I needed to buy (just little stuff for my trip, but all really important) but was shot down each and every time I tried to find something. Some things just can't be found in this country it seems! Argh! After a frustrating morning of getting absolutely nowhere I met up with Addie, Mike, and his friend Chang for lunch at EuroCafe. Before meeting them I helped boost my morale by buying three CD's at Kyobo. New Coldplay, Black Eyed Peas, and Natalie Imbrulia ar all coming home with me!

The afternoon ended up being nearly as frustrating, and culminated with me having a near meltdown in the middle of Yongsan Electronics Market. My camera came without a battery charger, but because it's a Kodak I've not been able to find one here, despite searching high and low in an electronics store that's as big as a whole mall! Argh again! After regretfully rearing my ugly side for a few minutes in front of my frightened friends, I calmed down, returned to normal, and we all decided that a relaxing visit to Starbucks was in order. The rest of the afternoon ended up being quite fun, hanging out in Sinchon and then having dinner at Ruby Tuesday's with Pauline and Tim. After dinner we went back to Pauline and Tim's where I got to check out Tim's collection of photos from his own Southeast Asian travels. Definite inspiration there!