Sriwijaya's Revenge

Ugh.  I am sick.  I went to a ceremony on Monday.  It was the opening of the 8^th Annual Conference on Islamic Studies.  It was at the Governor’s Mansion.  The dinner was supposed to start at 6pm, but by the time the honored guests arrived it was past 7 pm.  The most honored guest as the Minister of  Religious Affairs, who is a member of the President of Indonesia’s cabinet.  The decision was made to have the speeches first.   The outgoing Governor of South Sumatra, took the opportunity to address a controversy to the Minister of Religious Affairs.  The controversy concerns Ahmaddiyya, a religious movement that claims to be Muslim but recognizes a Prophet after Muhammad.  Since it is a complicated matter that includes matters of faith, theology, and religious freedom, the governor’s speech and the Minister’s response took a long time.  Although the buffet had been set out before guests  started arriving at 6pm, it was closer to 10pm before we ate.  I would have skipped out except for two reasons: 1) I was nearly fainting with hunger – trembling and all; and 2) its hard to just run out of the Governor’s Mansion.   

 

I took Pepto-Bismol and Imodium to get through the day.  I was still sick this morning, but did not have my stand-by of Cipro (Ciprofloxican) with me.  I asked the hotel to help me get the anti-biotic.  Before I headed out, I looked up the various names that Cipro might be sold under here.  There were no less than 11 names by which Cipro is known in Indonesia.  A taxi took me to a Pharmacy and without having to consult with a doctor, I got 20 tables of Ciprofloxican (they had it by the main name) for 65 cents.  That will be enough for this bout of Traveller’s Diarrhea and another bout.  I sincerely hope that I will not need the second round.  The expensive part of the excursion was the taxi, which cost 10 dollars to go there and back. 

 

I took the medication a few hours ago and am starting to feel better.  I know that sounds unlikely, but it is consistent with my experience, and if experience holds, it should be all cleared up by tomorrow. 

Friends interpret my sickness as being related to masuk angin which literally means "the wind enters."   They gave me minyak kayu putih (tea tree oil) to rub on my stomach to make it hot.  They said I should also turn down or off the air conditioning.  My stomache was cold they said from eating the cold food.  Making my stomach hot will let the wind out.  The said that the antibiotics that I took will from from the inside but that the oil will work from the outside and I will get better faster.

 As for the title of this post, I am in Palembang which is supposedly where the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Srivijaya was located.   The archaeological remains of this kingdom are few and so some people think it might have been somewhere else.