woensdag 9 september 2009

Airheads



Competing with connection time to get rid blog-backlog.
We're in Leh, the Himalayas.
Electricity only comes on around 6pm, hence also the internet (which didn't work until 8). No mobile connection.

Arrived this morning (Wednesday September 8).
The view from the plane was amazing: I have never seen so many fierce mountains cuddle up against eachother.

Traditional Tibetan welcome crew at the airport handed everyone a welcoming scarf (more stuff for suitcase) and guidelines on how to deal with altitude sickness.
It comes in 3 forms, one even less pleasant than the other:
1/ Acute Mountain Sickness (mild an early form however if non treated: high risk even leading to death).
2/ High Altitude Cerebral Edema (swelling of the brain)
3/ High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (swelling of the lungs).
Good stuff - where do we get it?

Well, seek no further: at the guesthouse TISS booked for us, the first signs became visible. Mild headache, strange feeling in the stomach, shortness of breath and "airy" head.
And really: just literally walking about 30 meters at normal pace, doesn't feel that good. And this time, it has nothing to do with my condition!

So, nothing to do but follow the advice from local doctors: Rest for 30 hours and drink 3-4 liters of water a day.
Off to bed and off to the toilet about every 1/2 an hour (not used to these amounts of water).

In the afternoon, we decided to risk our lives by sitting quietly outside in the sun under the Tibetan prayer flags.
Sunburn in about 5 minutes without sunscreen. (no worries for the fans of my fair complexion: I have sunscreen!)

It's hard having to be convinced to engage in no other summery physical activity than to put a glass of cold water to your lips and take a nap. Life can be hard...

More or less OK first day but like Kylie said: s-l-o-w.
I feel some swelling of the brain coming up, better go to bed again.




1 opmerking:

  1. Acute Mountain Sickness, Cerebral & Pulmonary Edema. Een mens zou niet voor minder 30h in bed gaan liggen en 3-4 liter water drinken. Maar ik kan geloven dat je eigenlijk toch even wil genieten van het zicht op jullie terras. snurk snurk, geniet van 30h slapen voor IBM... dat kom je maar één keer in je leven tegen. (Ik zal dat ook eens aan Mauro zeggen dat hij dat eens moet doen, nu is hij toch in zijn wieg in slaap gevallen - joepie ....)

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