Malaria

Malaria and Dengue fever are similar. Both are a symptom of early tropical rain and the bothersome mosquitoes biting by the dozens whenever you step from under protection without protection. I sleep under the mosquito net in my dandy chamber, preferably with my open window. Still, these days, I hide in the air-conditioned safety of locked shades, bothered by the fact I live at the beachfront and cannot dream freely under the midnight skies.

It turns out that my prediction about the illness experienced by some of my staff was head-on when I treated the pastry chef with Malarone on his first day of symptomatic Dengue fever. Although HR finally dragged him to the nearby hospital (where they had no equipment to take a blood sample), I requested transport to the better Phuket hospital. 

Tomsai Beach Hospital is still under construction after the Tsunami destroyed the entire village… I had sent two of my staff back to the Island with Aspirin and codeine, but I was unclear about a professional diagnosis. To circumvent HR’s uncompassionate care for my staff, I arranged for “little Steward” to go home to Phuket, where the local hospital confirmed he had Malaria. The doctor prescribed him the same medicine I had given the pastry chef the week before.

It’s not a big mystery to a trained TCM druid; besides, it is well illustrated in every Thai travel journal, and yet, awkwardly, I’m wondering why we don’t have this prescription drug in our nursing department…Every hotel should be better prepared!

Malaria is dangerous; if caught multiple times and left untreated, you will experience terrible muscle pain, headaches, high fever, diarrhea, and loss of appetite. Here in Thailand, they call it “bone-shattering sickness” (lic). I have to remind myself that there is no need to suffer through this for three days before HR finally sends their staff to an (inactive) hospital, where they receive something equivalent to Tylenol (a prescription drug anywhere but in the USA).

The last days were busy, especially around lunchtime. I designed an easy-to-prepare menu for a female Spanish travel group visiting Thailand for a magazine-sponsored promo tour, including exquisite Thai-fused Gazpacho Andalusia, and we prepared Paella with seafood fresh off the fishing boats out front. (recipes included under THAI ISLAND MENUS) After they enjoyed their “home cuisine,” I invited the ladies to visit our modern kitchen. They all walked barefoot from the beach into my squeaky clean workplace (which is quite normal here…), and one of the Spanish tour Agents, while flicking her cigarette ashes on the floor, explained:” Spotless kitchen! I can tell you are Swiss”… I brought an ashtray and exclaimed, “I live in America.”

Another travel group of eleven arrived two hours after they announced their arrival for lunch and, within the first fifteen minutes, complained that the food took way too long to arrive on the table. That afternoon, after starting at 4:00 AM by around 3:30 PM, I shlepped myself to bed – under the mosquito net) and took a nap… one of those naps you wake up one hour later feeling even worse.

The days started early, like today: We had an underwater dive team, filming equipment for the big boss, and requesting staff presents, food, and a boat ready to go by 6:30 AM. We are still five people short. Somehow, we manage, but everyone is showing signs of tiredness.

Dinner preparations are faster now, and the consistency, quality, and plating have improved; it is of great advantage for the cook helpers that I am working next to them, physically showing techniques and encouraging positivity. Although sign language is dangerous when talking with a knife and fry pan in hand… We laugh a lot!

The skies regularly close at sunset, and it rains shortly most evenings, which chases the early dinner guests inside. Room service orders drizzle in – I’m proud of the menu concept we created. In general, we have a fun time, even though we stay busy for the entirety of the day. To keep staff happy and alert, I ensure they eat healthy, and we spike our drinks with ginger and chaga root powder.

The other evening I requested the Pastry chef to write down the names of my cold kitchen lady, Yok (sweet lady-boy), and the GM secretary’s name for her birthday cake. I need help learning Thai… I’m not a linguist! I finally translated the hotel name “ZEAVOLA” and discovered that it’s an old TCM remedy! Our Italian restaurant “TACCADA” is the Latin name thereof. This plant grows alongside the entire wall and around most hillside cabins… I wrote about its medicinal benefits twenty years ago for a school project!

There is a “hole in the wall” – bar on the very end of this beach. A slightly scary walk (for a foreigner) through the living quarters of fisher villagers and back: it is a karaoke dungeon. I have no better words for that dark, smelly room I visited during the daytime yesterday – it is scary even when the sun shines – I went there with that birthday cake in hand… One can imagine what awful quality brew we drank: one distilled ethanol. It includes a busy snooker table (how did they get it on this island) and an open kitchen right next to the “pee-hole” where anyone simply “releases” into a smelly corner. Seriously!

Maybe tomorrow I can blame my hangover or any other illness on the Dengue fever… and if I’m okay, maybe that “drink” was my best medicine!

hungover Raphael