in the last few weeks… i traded in a bunch of frequent flyer points – amassed over several years of flying between sydney and singapore and new york – for a ticket to vietnam, china and singapore. i quit my job. i got my passport organised. i stepped past falungong protestors outside the chinese embassy – rain or shine – to get a shiny chinese visa in said passport. i bought a lonely planet guide, heavy as a brick. i got a polio vaccine that left a dark tasting trickle down the back of my throat, and a shot for tetanus that kept me from moving my left arm or sleeping on that side for three days. i bought some grape flavoured yoghurt sweets to take along. i saw myself eating ice cream and pork baguettes and pho, and swimming in halong bay with the boy who left me his fridge (see previous entry).

and it is quite possible that i will not be going, thanks to the mystery killer virus that seems to be sweeping through the region (and beyond) like some vile european dance music tune. no. not an april fool’s joke. my disappointment is far more bitter than that polio vaccine.

the one good (ha) thing about this experience is that i have become well-acquainted with the world health organisation’s website, which issues a daily update on the virus as well as a daily cumulative infection and death tally. it surely makes for compelling reading.