In the absence of any travelling or photos, here’s an attempt by my fevered and befuddled brain to provide a quick report on my health.

Both 4th and 5th of May were identically unpleasant, and both were spent shivering and sweating in bed. On the morning of the 4th May my temperature was down near normal, but the 5th it was up again, as I worked through the pack of antibiotics and tried to stay hydrated.

I have been thinking (or attempting to think) about the fact that my flight out of Denpasar is for 18th May, and that the nearly 4 weeks I allowed for Bali and Lombok is too much.

It sounds like I will be able to visit at least one old friend in Brunei, and there are 2 other people I know there with whom I have yet to get in touch. It would be an advantage to fly a week early to Singapore, so that I can then spend the extra week in Brunei. I can then fly Bangkok to Calcutta on schedule on 1st June, with time for a month in India, before this trip comes to a sudden end, with a flight from Bombay to London on 1st July.

1st July..? When I first started the trip, that date seemed scarily far in the future… But now…? It’s less than 2 months away, and when I think about it I’m really in no rush to get home. There’s nothing urgent to do there, and right now the main attraction seems to be giving world trip slide shows to family and friends!

Temperature back up to 39 degrees (102 F)… Feverish dreams have been making me imagine all manner of confusing tangled routes spiraling around Asia. Nothing that makes the slightest sense… like a ridiculous idea which would mean not going anywhere near India, and perhaps would mean that once I land back at Singapore I wouldn’t get on another plane. But no, that is too crazy.

Or is it…?

I need to get rid of this fever, or I’ll never leave this Balinese village.

On 6th May I managed to get up and stagger weakly out of the “Widiana” bungalows, for the first time for 3 days, to quickly check the post office for messages, and to change my flight dates at a nearby travel agent. I will now fly straight up to Singapore on 11th May.