March 27 - Bako National Park

Written by Abby
Wednesday, 26 March 2008 02:00
Well, my day had been so very exciting. So far, I have gone on a boat ride on the South China Sea, been invaded by a horde of monkeys, stood almost face to face with a humongous wild pig, seen a just recently dead stingray on the beach, went swimming in the ocean, got pinched by a very angry crab, and got stung by a truly unhappy jellyfish! Talk about a wild day! A friend and I were swimming out and riding the waves back in when I suddenly felt a hard pinch on my foot. I yelled because it surprised me but then laughed because it was quite funny. My friend couldn’t stop laughing at me because I had made such a scene, but about five minutes later, as we were headed back out to the ocean we saw a bunch of boys from our group heading back to the beach in a hurry. We both wondered out loud what they were doing when instantaneously I felt an excruciating sting on my ankle. After seconds, my whole ankle and part of my leg and foot seemed to be on fire! It is the worst feeling I have had in a very long time. My friend couldn’t stop laughing though because she thought I had gotten pinched by another crab. It didn’t take her long however to figure out that it was much more serious than that. At once we left the ocean and headed in to find someone for help. We later found out that several others had gotten stung by jellyfishes also. When we got back to the Veranda I was told that there really wasn’t much to do for it except to put vinegar or charcoal on the sting. So I let the pain simmer on my ankle for hours it seemed. It hurt pretty badly but was not unbearable, which I am thankful for. We played Mafia on the veranda this evening with Mr. Blankenship, P. Freddy, Mr. Wade, a whole bunch of students and this guy named Miguel that we had met that afternoon. It was tons of fun! Bats kept swooping over our heads for hours because of all the insects congregating at the lights. I played Mafia until 12:30, the others stayed at it for at least another hour or so.