Travel Medicine

This is the first time I've ever traveled to a destination that actually requires me to know something about travel medicine. In Mexico it was basically don't drink the water and don't buy food off the street, orders which I followed to a T and never had any kind of problem. Thailand is different. First off, I'm getting a bunch of shots before I go, including:
-a polio booster (this not recommended by the CDC, but IS recommended by Group Health, so what the heck, better safe than sorry)
-a diptheria/tetnus/whooping cough booster
-a typhoid vaccination

These shots make me feel as if I am about to travel the Oregon Trail (You have Typhoid! What would you like to do: a) administer laudanum b)rest for two days c)do nothing)

I'll also be carrying with while in Thailand two prescriptions, one to treat "severe gastrointestinal distress" (because I'm basically seven in a lot of ways, I find this both gross and hilarious) and one to take while I'm in Cambodia and for four weeks following to prevent malaria. Not to mention as Pepto-Bismol (8 a day!) as I can fit in my suitcase. Lonely Planet tells me I can eat the food from street vendors, much to my delight, but I imagine it can't all be a hundred percent safe.

Then there's the question of preventing bug bites....

a blogging conundrum

On the recommendation of my program manager from Cross Cultural Solutions, I signed up for a Google service that sends me an email every day with headlines and blog postings about Thailand from around the world (speaking of Google services, I found out yesterday that Google has it's own free 411 number: 1-800-goog-411. Cool, huh?). There's been a lot of stuff in my Google alerts about internet censorship in Thailand, particularly surrounding YouTube, which was blocked in the entire country because it was hosting videos that mocked the King--Thais treat their royalty with HUGE respect, even though there's also more-or-less democratic government in place. Yesterday one of the blog highlings in my Google alert indicated that blogspot.com is at least temporarily blocked in Thailand. It certainly wasn't an official Google or Thai statement, just a comment that indicated that the blog's readers in Thailand had been having a lot of trouble accessing blogs hosted by blogspot. This obviously wouldn't be problem for you all (gentle readers...) here in the States, but if I can't get on to blogspot to post from Thailand, you won't have much to read. Anyway, I'll keep my internet ears open, and see what develops.