Bali Belly

I’m sure it hasn’t gone unnoticed by the regulars that there has been a dearth of posts since my return from the island of Bali. This is due, in the most part, to my affliction of ‘Bali Belly’. I suppose it is inevitable that at some stage into your holiday in South-East Asia you will be cursed with 'intestinal rumbles' no matter how meticulous about food selection you have been. It started three days before the end of my holiday; nothing too sinister at first. The main symptom was frequent toilet visits. Basically, I was squatting and squitting about twenty times a day. The world literally fell out of my arse. Of course, this limited my activities and the last two days were spent in the hotel complex due to the need for rapid toilet access. Apart from that, I had the occasional abdominal cramp but no nausea although my appetite waned to zero and I started to shed weight. Many would welcome this side effect however, I am already lean and by the time I got home to New Zealand I was looking decidedly gaunt. Once home I still suffered from diarrhoea but not as bad as it been and nothing serious enough to prevent my return to work. The appetite was still a problem and I was eating very little. Then  about a week ago I felt fine, much to my relief. But if I thought the dreaded malady had relinquished its grip on my lower intestines I was in for a shock. Over the last two days, the symptoms have returned. I haven’t seen the doc, basically because I have to be on death’s door to relinquish the $60 fee to visit the GP: "First sign of death and I'm off to the doctor". I'm very reluctant to shed money as I'm as tight as a gnat's chuff.

Three of our party of four suffered a similar fate. Only my wife was spared due to her antibiotic medication for a septic toe. Not quite sure whether I've been infected with a frank pathogen or whether my gut was adapting to the local bacterial flora- only time will tell. My son, Flaxen Saxon Jnr, has promised to take over the blog in the event of my demise.

Arse, big sore, arse!