My train ticket cost $5.45,,, so I was a little confused when the cabbie wanted to charge a straight $7.50 rate to take me to my hotel. =/ I turned down the first guy. No, to the second guy; but by the 3rd cabbie, I was feeling too miserable to put up a fuss. Fine!

If anyone is considering a trip to Palembang in the near future, I can recommend against staying at the Permata hotel. Lonely Planet gives a misleading description as: “a good value place with a range of clean, moderate rooms.” Bah-humbug

After trekking up 4 flights of stairs, in my sick-as-a-dog condition,, I braved a cold shower to get the funk of semi-digested rice & chicken off me, stuck a toothbrush in to finish excavating the funk,, then curled up in a fetal position for 12 hours straight. It took effort to answer the phone & give periodic status checks to friends who were concerned about me.

Truthfully- I didn’t know which day it was until I forced myself up at 6pm, and stumbled out to a nearby restaurant for a plate of fried rice & hot tea. I only felt hungry enough for a few spoon-fulls,,, the tea felt good though.

Slowly but surely, by 8pm I felt myself again, and had just enough time to check e-mail at a local internet café before calling it a night.