Passport and Visa

Finally got my passport with my visa in it. I feel relieved and glad with my passport in my hands. It's quite a boring looking visa. I was expecting something nicer I guess. I guess all visas look quite boring. Now there's hardly any blank pages in my passport. Well I'm due for a passport renewal next summer.

I have one week before I leave to go to my cousin's wedding in Singapore before heading out to PNG. I am looking forward to it as I will be seeing some family I hadn't seen in a very long time. We're not staying in Singapore long as there's not much to do there but eat and shop. After that we are heading out to Vietnam for a small holiday before Ingo and I will say our goodbyes. We are staying mainly in southern Vietnam--Ho Chi Minh city (previously known as Saigon) and Mui Ne Beach where we can windsurf. We hadn't gone on a long holiday since our honeymoon last year so we are looking forward to it. Ingo really needs it as he has been working so hard.

This morning I went to the lido. I had to psyched myself up to going to this outdoor unheated pool. I've been doing this for years here in the UK and you would have thought I would have no problem. I hadn't gone all summer and for the first time this year, I've been thinking why torture myself so I don't push myself to do the things I normally do. If you've never been to a lido you might not understand, the pool water is very very cold even in summer time b/c it never gets that hot to heat up the pool unless you get a week of very hot weather which is unusual here. So this is usually the drill, I bring my long spray vest (not exactly a wet suit--easier to put on and take off--it's like a thick long tshirt. The drill is I prepare myself mentally, sitting at the edge of the pool debating if I should go into the pool or not and why I do this to torture myself. Then I plunge into the pool and hyperventilate from the cold half the length of the pool, then swim my lengths. I can usually tell how cold the pool is by when my toes and fingers are frozen and how slow/fast I swim. On a good day my toes and fingers don't freeze until the 4th or 5th length. The colder it is, the slower I swim and it also takes longer for circulation to come back to my extremities. I'm sure I won't have this problem in PNG. But they don't have a pool but a crocodile infested river.

I went to the GP yesterday to get anti retroviral medication in case I get a needle stick injury and need to take these medication to prevent from getting HIV. These medication are expensive and technically the GP could have said no b/c it's not part of NHS what I'm doing. The GP was really kind and prescribed it for me. A friend of mine said that cost about £600 if I was to pay it myself. So I'm very thankful. To tell you the truth, all the doctors I've come across has been so helpful ie the consultant who read my Chest xray that I needed to apply for my visa. We don't get that much perks working for the NHS and this is the only time that we do so I'm eternally thankful.