I ended up waking up at noon again today. I fell asleep around 2 a.m., so I probably got about ten hours of sleep. Of course I woke up several times in the night sweating and wiped myself with a towel. After all, I have to do everything myself. It feels really lonely that there’s no one to take care of me when I have a fever. But I’m traveling now. I’m being given a lot of different experiences. So I guess I can only treat this as one more experience and try to find it interesting.
A man with a large wound on his arm
Today is my last day in Penang. So I absolutely wanted to go to Penang National Park. First I decided to get lunch and was walking when an Indian or Pakistani man approached me and said, 'I have a small favor,' and showed me his arm. There was a large wound on his left hand with pus. I think it was about ten centimeters. It was covered with gauze, but I thought it was a real wound.
I couldn’t help thinking there was no way that could be staged. If it were faked, that would be truly impressive.
He asked if I could spare 130 ringgit. He said he wanted treatment but had no money and absolutely needed it. I thought this was definitely a scam, but seeing the wound made me want to help him.
So we walked to a pharmacy. When I asked if I could buy Augmentin, they said it wasn’t available. Since I had Augmentin, I thought I might give him some. I told him to wait there and went back to the hostel to get the Augmentin.
But on the way I looked it up: is it illegal to give someone antibiotics? It’s not illegal, but they recommended against it. Augmentin can cause anaphylactic shock in people allergic to penicillin, and if that happened and he got into a bad state, I would be the cause. So I decided not to give it and instead gave him only 100 ringgit this time.
Because the side effects are strong and giving medicine is a bit risky, I gave him 100 ringgit. He asked, 'Can you give me another 30 ringgit?' and I said, 'Sorry, I can’t.' We shook hands, did a fist bump, and said goodbye.
I’m fine with being scammed
If he really wasn’t injured and was a genuine con artist, I’d be impressed. I’d think, 'Even someone like me could be scammed.' But 100 ringgit is only about 3,500 yen, not a large amount, and if he really can’t go to the hospital and is suffering, then I think it was the right thing to do.
I also thought a bit that when I’m traveling in the future I will surely be in trouble like this at times, and I’d like someone to help me then. But deep down I still couldn’t fully trust him, so I couldn’t really smile.
I gave it to him with the mindset of 'it’s okay if I get scammed.' He said he had been frying chicken and the oil splashed, causing it, and that his visa had expired so he couldn’t work and had no money now. I wondered if that was true.
After he got the money he left immediately, so I thought he might actually have been a scammer. But his eyes looked desperate. I felt that instinctively. And maybe I acted that way because at my core I want to 'save people.' Whether it was good or bad, I thought it was probably okay.
Fried rice and giving up on Penang Hill
I went to a restaurant for lunch. Today’s place was a no-nationality Asian restaurant—I forgot the name but it was really delicious. I ordered fried rice, and they used dry, separate-grain rice which was really suitable for fried rice.
I had ordered it without fried onions, but fried onion still came, and instead there were no green onions. Still, I thought it was fine and ate it.
After lunch I thought I’d go to Penang Hill today. There are hiking trails and it’s rich in nature, so I wanted to go since I was there. But my head was throbbing and I thought there was no way I could do it in that state. So I went back to the hostel and took a three-hour nap.
After I woke up I took a shower and walked around thinking about where to have dinner. But I couldn’t find anywhere and places were crowded. I went back to the hostel planning to order delivery, but when I looked at the menu I didn’t want anything. I probably didn’t have much appetite. So I skipped it today.
I came to Penang but did nothing
I worked at night and that was the end of the day. A day like this. I came to Penang but did nothing. What is this? (laughs). When you get sick you really can’t do anything, I thought.
It made me realize again how important health is, and that being healthy is the greatest happiness. And when you feel unwell you especially tend to feel lonely. You want someone by your side, and you end up thinking about someone you love.
What I realized after coming to Malaysia is that it might not suit me that well. In terms of food, it wasn’t like Vietnam where pho is everywhere and you can easily grab local food; I felt it was harder to find healthy meals.
From that perspective, Vietnam really is the best, I think.
