Honey Bees and the Campus Health Center

Things in the jungle are just much scarier than those that are not. Particularly because of our unfamiliarity with these things. I never realized how much I am afraid of bees and apparently my fear is somewhat justified. We had hundreds of bees buzzing around our heads, on our camping stuff, our breakfast snacks, and even when I was sitting next to the toaster (the campfire). Our Tarzan/guide told us that since it was honey season, someone had probably just taken their nest and they were attracted to our sweet sweaty-smelly-dirty bodies and clothes. While I was changing one was stuck in my shirt and of course, I upset it. I was stung in my upper rear thigh. It was a little sore immediately after, but nothing substantial. This bee however was huge, it was still a honey bee, but more like a bumble bees wicked bigger evil cousin (I'm not sure if you can tell how much I do not like bees). Well, now that it is five days later after our two day escapades camping in a cave in the Taman Negara jungle, the bite has swollen and itches incredibly bad. Last night a patch appeared on my leg that seemed to be a giant cluster of mosquito bites and it was super super itchy. During class today the itching got worse and the bite was even more swollen, so I thought that this constituted a trip to the campus health center.

After waiting a couple hours for my turn and waiting to see if the doctor spoke English. I had no clue how to explain all of this in Chinese, except for saying 'I went to Malaysia and climbed' and 'bug ate my leg' in Chinese. The doctor spoke perfect English, but I had to repeat the story a couple times because he couldn't keep the details straight.

Details: Jungle + Camping in Cave + Bee Sting = Giant Itchy Swollen Welt on Leg.

The doctor and the nurse were both laughing and the other nurse who treated the bite was laughing at the situation, because the story sounded so ridiculous. They treated the bite with anxue (ammonia water), antibiotics, and gave me steroid creme. For all of this I had to pay $138, Taiwanese Dollars, which amounts to something around $5 USD. Mind you this included the creme from the pharmacy. The swelling has gone down and it's quite a bit less itchy now, but I had learned bees are scary and the campus health center is absolutely fantastic and cheap.