Visiting Hours

Well my first stay over night in a hospital happened to be in Thailand. 

The short story is that somehow my eye got infected, and I was recommended to stay at the hospital to be administered antibiotics and keep a close eye (haha) on it.

The longer story begins on Wednesday when I went out to have a drink with friends.  I was happy to be out with friends and was celebrating the end of my teaching week.  The next two days were sports day at our school, which you can read about in another post! No classes for two days and certainly an experience.

Anyway I had ridden my bike to a local bar to meet up with friends.  I remember my eye being bothered, but wasn’t worried.  Later I went home took out my contacts and rested for the night, that evening I woke up and felt like I had something in my eye, I tried washing out my eye and went back to bed.  (here’s a moment when I appreciate America’s clean water, because cleaning my eye with water from the tap in the middle of the night probably wasn’t a good idea)

The next day my eye was still bothering me a bit, I was going to wear glasses, but then decided to give my contacts a try because I thought I might be encouraged into participating in sports day races and would be out in the sun wanting to wear my sunglasses.  I then spent the day out under the sun and with dust from the sports field being kicked up, and my eye seemed to be getting a little worse. Anyway, I’m not sure why you might care, but I suppose I got used to telling a long winded story about my red eye to try and get it correctly diagnosed. Throughout the day my eye was sensitive to the light and continued to bother me more, I was also quite tired.  So after going home,  resting, and consulting my primary doctor Mama Stucke, I headed to the hospital to see about getting it checked and getting some antibiotics.  One hour and less than $20 later I had a prescription for antibiotic pills and eye drops to take four time a day. 

The next day, Friday now, my eye still didn’t feel better, so I spent most of the day resting.  And then enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving meal.

Saturday morning the eye still wasn’t better so I went out to find the eye doctor a nurse at the hospital had recommended I go to.  As it turns out the office is opens at 4:30, so I came back then to have my eye looked at.  The receptionist spoke very little English, but iphone translating apps were a lifesaver, technology can be such an asset. It took not one, but two apps because some translations came through as red silk and other irrelevant phrases. (Thai-English, iphone app is great, has a purple icon, great resource!!)

The doctor confirmed my eye was infected and what a shock when he told me he wanted to admit me to the hospital for 1 to 2 weeks!! So after my slight freak out and call to Thai friends I began my first trip to a hospital!

Thankfully I had escorts, translators, and even comedians (thanks to Orlando! I was ready for anything after jokes about scraping my eye and being blind) to put me at ease.  So, after deciding to pay more to have my own room, I found out that I was not allowed to stay there alone. 

This is a stark contrast to the ‘Visiting Hours’ of the U.S. and western cultures.  It is more uncommon that someone be at the hospital without family and friends in Thailand.  No one batted an eye asking who was coming with me to the hospital (that or I was oblivious in my English-speaking ignorance).  It is amazing family will sleep on the floor, stay through the day and night with their relatives and make sure they are cared for. 

The atmosphere at the hospital here is also relaxed and even cheerful, with nurses and patients smiling and joking.  That is with my experience in the pirate ward.  I am one of the few comrades without an eye patch and certainly the only foreigner.

So although I am currently sitting at a hospital bored and unable to really communicate with the people around me, wondering as to why I am even here since I can put eye drops and ointment in my eye and take a pill twice a day all on my own, I am still grateful for the experience to see another culture’s medical system and truly appreciate the times I live without language barriers (presently it would seem I am also writing the world’s longest ungrammatically correct sentence).

So a careful eye is being kept on my now healing eye infection and I’ll keep you posted.  Sadly though I may develop a fear of wearing contact lenses in tropical climates because the eye doctor attributes the infection to that, although I still think something first scratched my eye. 

However, I happened upon my eye infection it’s being taken care of, although I’m being taken out of my comfort zone it’s a worthwhile experience.  And I know there will be more times to come when I will not be in control of aspects of my own life. 

Discovered the greatness of Koala snacks, when some of my lovely visitors brought me snacks and smiles. 

Loy Krathong

Loy Krathong is a Thai festival that celebrates letting go of sins, mistakes, and all negatives things in your life.

To honor this "letting go" people float Krathong, made from banana tree, banana leaf, flowers, or bread.  They also light lanterns to release into the night sky under the full moon. The festival is also a time to be with friends and family, enjoying each other's company and making well wishes for the coming months and year.  .

In Ubon there was also entertainment. There were different music shows and beauty contests. As well as street vendors selling anything you could imagine.  I loved my evening down at the moon river, floating my Krathong and lighting a lantern. It was both peaceful and joyful with so many people celebrating together.

It is a truly beautiful sight and I hope these pictures can give you a glimpse of what it was like.

My Krathong that I picked out. 

There's something beautiful about the simplicity of this photo that I love. 

Krathong bread, so you eat it right? Actually no….. we found that out a little late though.

Make a wish

Guess the food?

Yup, bugs!

Look tasty??

Beauty Pageant Contestants 

So many people!!

Family Time :)

Laos

I made a quick day trip into Laos in order to get my non-immigrant visa.  My Laos trip lacked a bit in culture and authenticity, but nonetheless I got a taste of the country and am excited to return. I actually did quite a lot in my day there.  I rode in my first tuk tuk (although paying too much),  relaxed and sipped mocha at a coffee shop, saw dinosaur bones and replicas being made, ate a nice meal along the Mekong river looking over to Thailand, did some souvenir shopping, sipped Beerlao, which I found quite tasty, spent the day with a friend, and of course actually got my visa.

I was thankful to have Nui come along with me, and her language skills in Isaan dialect, which although different than both Laos and Thai is a language known by people in the area.  She also has a great
knack with translating prices, which for some reason continued to leave me baffled.


Here our the pics of our short and sweet adventure.  I'm sure you'll see more which highlight more of the country's beauty.

Yup I'm a dinosaur bush with awesome hair!

Lunch on the river!!!

The embassy. Everything was taken care of. 

Sand Be On Every Beach, Where The Elephants At

I got to see my first elephants in Thailand!!

My weekend trip to Surin the see the Elephant roundup began bright and early. We caught the 6:30 bus to Surin.

It was a three hour ride, with ac, water, and loud Thai TV.  I tried to take a nap, although it was to a chorus of laughter and ridiculous stunts on the Thai comedy show. LUckily though the ride wasn't too long and we soon arrived in Surin.

Once we arrived I called the woman we were supposed to to bring us to our accommodation.  As it turns out a friend of a friend had a husband in the army and they rent out extra guest rooms.  So this kind woman picked us up at the bus station, showed us to our army camp room, then took us to see some elephants. It was amazing to see them simply lumbering down the street.

The experience was also humbling as you remember that these majestic animals are spending their lives confined to cities, rather than roaming free.  That they do circus tricks and give people rides on their back rather than relaxing and doing whatever they please in the wild.

The experience inspired me to learn more about elephants in Thailand. The next time I spend time with elephants I plan for it to be at a camp that takes good care of them, where they can live with more freedom.

The two highlights of our trip was our fun night out on Saturday and the elephant show on Sunday.

Although no taxis were available in Surin we eventually hailed (had a woman call for us) a tuk tuk to pick us up, and then rode home in the back of a  pick up truck.  The evening included sipping drinks at a Thai reggae bar,  walking towards the sound of music, and then happening to stop into a Thai concert.  We relaxed and enjoyed the individuality of our trip and as Julia put it, "sand be on every beach, where the elephants at" All in all, a great night and wonderful company.

The following morning was the elephant show.  Again our host picked us up, this time at 8am and with bottles of water for us all. The elephant show featured, a welcome ceremony, circus tricks, elephant soccer, thai traditional dancing, and a battle re-enactment.


The highlight by far was the final dancing and battle reenactment. The English commentary had ended so it was a bit difficult to know exactly what was happening, but it was so interested, and the dancing was beautiful.  Sadly my camera battery died so I couldn't attempt to capture the finally, not that it would do justice to the experience.


After the show we simply had a meal and returned to Ubon.  Rather than waiting 3 hours to travel back with the same bus company we took first a van and then a smaller bus.  It seems with Thai travel you never know exactly what you will get.

A different kind of street traffic. 

Snack Time??

Often temples are easier to find that stop signs. 

Elephant Show!!

Elephant Painting

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