Business Trip Encounter with SARS :: Personal Narrative China Travel Essays

Encounter of the Worse Kind My schedule flight to Hong Kong was delayed because of a conference get together that ran over in New York. I rescheduled for the following week on Tuesday, February 21, 2003. I arrived in Hong Kong and met my business tangency and headed off to the conference at the Metropole Hotel. Something seems odd here, contrasted my trips before. There are sight with masks on everywhere. I asked my business contact what was going on. He said there was some kind of influenza going around. I have never seen so many tribe with masks on before. In the U.S. people rarely put on masks tear down if they have the flu. He also said that a lot of people are sick and some have workd from it. It seems odd that people would die from catching the flu I mean nowadays who dies from acquire the flu.We last arrived at the conference and I met my clients. Most of the clients seemed sick scarcely were determined to finalize the deal. Some of them were coughing and some had sore throats. I was shitless I would get sick from being too close to them and I tried to take precautions by taking cough drops and Tylenol when I felt I was coming down with the flu. I was glad when the brush was over. The contract took two days to iron out all the details. Since the meeting went well I decided to expect in Hong Kong for a niggling longer. I needed a break from work and wanted to go sight seeing. I have been to Hong Kong a couple of times but never had the chance to see the countryside.The following morning when I woke up I started to cough and was running a fever. I was probably septic from the close contact of the sick clients. So I decided to stay in and rest for a while. I was sleepy and couldnt get up from my bed. The next day it got worse. I had a sore throat and had musclebuilder pain. Ive never been this sick before and I thought to myself that it was due to getting older and my immune system not being up to par. I have been ve ry busy lately and my stress level has been up more than usual.