Visit to the Fruit Farm

Today, we moved to the beach. We wanted to soak up some sun again, so we packed our backpacks and hopped in a taxi, which took us to the Holiday Inn. It cost us a mere 350 RM, which isn’t bad for a luxury hotel. As soon as we arrived, we headed straight for the pool, where Jan ended up in a water polo match with some other guests while I lounged in the sun. There were quite a few Muslim families by the pool as well. The men and boys were swimming, while the women sat under a parasol fully dressed, although the younger Muslim girls were swimming in their headscarves. I felt a bit exposed, but thankfully, there were other guests in bikinis too. After basking in the sun, we took a trip to a fruit farm where we could sample all sorts of weird fruits. It was incredibly hot, and in the middle of our tour, I suddenly felt like I was going to faint. I got dizzy, and the voices around me started to fade into the background. We took a taxi to see a doctor, where we had to wait for 40 minutes, which felt like an eternity when you’re not feeling well. It turned out the doctor was a woman, which surprised us since we didn’t think women could be highly educated in a Muslim country. She referred us to a hospital, Adventist, because my symptoms suggested I might have dengue fever. I had a fever, nausea, and a rash. We quickly grabbed another taxi, but the driver took us to the wrong hospital, even though we showed him the note with the hospital's name that the doctor had given us. He dropped us off at the public hospital in George Town, where they didn’t take our referral seriously or seem to care about how sick I was. So, we left right away and found another taxi that knew where Adventist was located. When we finally arrived at Adventist, I was admitted immediately. Jan thought they were rushing things and putting me on an IV before they’d even properly examined me. He called for the head doctor, who assured us that it was crucial for me to be admitted right away. I didn’t argue much since I was pretty dehydrated. The doctors took a bunch of blood samples to figure out what was wrong with me. I was taken up to a two-person room, where I immediately fell asleep as the meds made me drowsy. Jan wasn’t allowed to stay with me, so at 10 PM, he had to head back to our nice hotel, Holiday Inn, which I was really missing. I had a restless night, as the nurses came in every three hours to check my blood pressure and temperature.