When paradise turns into hell part 2 :

If there is one thing I am scared of while travelling, it is to be sick. Not just a cough, I meant some obscure painful disease. I hate taking medicines or going to the hospital.  I did get sick a couple of times: once in Chiang Mai with the “24hours traveler bug” which means that now it is impossible for me to eat my favorite Thai dish Pad See Ew , and a chest infection in Laos. Nothing that sleep, water and anti biotics could not cure.

Kurt Steffens, 19, from Airlie Beach did not quite have it so easy.

 Kurt worked at Bucket bar for a while in Vang Vieng. Whoever has been there knows that this place is dangerous for your health and soul. But the Aussie traveler had to face much more than a bad hangover from tubing.

“I started off feeling sick while I was staying at Vang Vilay Guesthouse. After 5 days I had not eaten anything or gone to the toilet... I was dry reaching just for that moment of upheaval when my belly did not hurt, it was the most excruciating pain of my life,” he says.

Putting on a brave face and thinking it was only a bad stomach ache, he refused to go the hospital (And if you have been to Vang Vieng hospital, although staff is lovely, the premises need serious upgrade).

“After the 5th day I literally felt my appendix burst and was in even more pain. The lady who owns the hostel came and checked on me about an hour later and then took me down to the hospital on the back of her scooter.

“I got x-rays and they found out that my bowels had tied themselves in a knot and there was a litre of infected puss flowing round my stomach…That had caused my appendix to burst, so I had to get  both removed and stayed there for 2 days.”

After 2 days spent in “Hopital de Vang Vieng” as once upon a time France tried to make their mark on Laos, Kurt received the visit of an Australian doctor. He ordered straight away an ambulance to drive him all the way to Northern Thailand in Udon Thani.

“I was in Intensive Care Unit for 5 days getting morphine every 2 hours because I was hurting so much. When they realised I wasn’t getting any better, they had to x-ray me again only to find out all my insides had turned septic!  They had to open me right up again and clean all my organs out!  Finally, three days after the operation I got out of ICU.

“Then the stitching got infected, so I had to lie perfectly still for a week in case of my insides literally fall out! When they stitched me up again, I had to be completely awake as any anesthetic would have interfered with my bowel recovery.”

If you were looking for the perfect diet, apparently Kurt had found out the hard way how to lose weight quicker than Jessica Simpson can say cheeseburger.
“I spent another 10 days in the hospital and lost 12 kilos. Then they just let me go. I had my backpack and I couldn’t carry it incase my belly split open so I had to get some friends I had met in Cambodia to come pick me up and travelled around with them for another 3 weeks  and they were carrying my bag… I couldn’t go swimming or anything physical and I had no abs muscles. 4 months later I am just back at work on light duties and still incredibly unfit.”

Although Kurt’s story would have stopped most of us from leaving the house ever again, the Aussie backpacker is ready for his next trip!

“I’m planning my next venture overseas. I’m not going to let a little bump in the road like that stop me haha!, “ he concludes.

 Photo: Liz Bell / Facebook