Taiwan is wonderful ... and full of diseases

I cancelled my phone. My bag is packed. I figured if I kept up my marathon pace the cleaning miiiight get done before 2 a.m. and then ... James' fever persisted at 101. We've both been sick half a dozen times this year, and Taiwan sticks it to us again as a parting gift. AAAAARGH!

It's one of those tricky fevers - where the discomfort comes and goes, and James' temperature went down with every Tylenol dose (and then popped back up). I was getting really nervous and figuring if I did all the cleaning while he rested and then if James took a pill 2.75 hours before customs in Beijing and then - the obvious presented itself: "I better call my parents," he said. It's amazing at age 23 to how many questions that is still the answer.

Of course you have to cancel your flight, his mom and dad said (duh). The Chinese don't fool with illness, especially H1N1, and we'd rather not have James stuck in a 7-day quarantine when we have a train to Mongolia to catch (which, thankfully, doesn't leave until Oct. 20).

So we're just pushing the whole trip back 5 days. Since James has a round-trip ticket back to Taiwan with China Airlines he didn't even have to pay a change fee. My United flight back to America will cost $220 to change (insert weeping and gnashing of teeth). But then, James had to go to the hospital and poop on a stick and I get to tease him about it, so that's some comfort.

The other bad news is we're not making any more money, I already threw out all the food and we have to survive another 5 days here. The good news is 7-11 sells boiled eggs marinated in soy sauce for 10NT (0.30 USD) which are quite filling. Five lunches, $3 USD - it can be done!