Adventures in Thailand, Part 2

Chiang Mai, Thailand

The next day we caught our plane out to Bangkok and caught a connecting flight to Chiang Mai.  When we got in, we were accosted by the Taxi clans again.  We found a pretty nice guy that knew where the guesthouse was and rode with him.  It turned out to be a great pick.  He was really nice and helpful, and on top of that he spoke English pretty well.  He was also trying to promote his little hustle on the side, but in such a nice way others might not even notice it.  He gives tours of the city and will allow someone to rent him for the day while he takes them to where they need to go.  In hind-site I would do anything to go back and just give this guy a call, but you will see what I mean later. 

“O”, as our taxi driver referred to himself, started a wonderful trend that we would notice throughout our trip and that is everyone was extremely nice to us.  The same could be said about Patong as well, but it really stood out in Chiang Mai.  The people here were really pleasant to be around, which if I am being honest, could not be more opposite from our experience in Abu Dhabi.  They were really helpful and, as you will read later, went out of their way help us on various occasions.  It was almost a culture shock, but in a good way. 

He delivered us to Dozy House, the guest house where we stayed.  It is located in the Old City, which means it is contained within the original section of the city when it was built thousands of years ago.  Chiang Mai is one of the oldest cities in Thailand, and used to be the capitol, before that was moved to Bangkok.   It is also the second largest city in Thailand, so it’s a good size as far as population.  As we would later explore the place we found the city itself seemed fairly compact, but that wasn’t really a bad thing.  

So as soon as we got out we met Gina, the owner of Dozy House.  She was very nice, of course, and chatted with us a bit before showing us to our rooms, which weren’t spectacular but definitely adequate  (the same goes for the Bodega, where we stayed in Patong Beach).   We discovered on this trip that we really didn’t need a lot of frills, and that we were perfectly fine with just a good, clean, spacious room with a TV and that’s exactly what we got. 

The next day, we came down and sat in the general seated area and met some other Americans from New York (state, not city).  They were a couple and he was actually a teacher too.  His wife worked in graphic design.  The conversation was interesting and it was refreshing to run into other people backpacking through.  After that we decide to rent a motor bike to get around the Old City to see some of the temples.  I was a bit apprehensive because I had never ridden a motor scooter before but I was confident in my ability to pick up the skill as I would see little school girls motoring past the hotel.   Some kids were three deep on the bike riding it with no problem.  At that point, I knew I could do it.  And after some practice with the bike up and down the street a few times by myself, I felt like a pro.  So we were off to explore.

We went to one of the many temples, called Wats, in the city.  They were actually having a service when we walked up but they didn’t seem to mind the fact that there were lots of tourists buzzing around the entrance and meandering through the temple grounds.  They seemed to be doing business as usual.  It was a special day, though I can’t exactly remember what that was, but they were setting up tables for a some kind of buffet, or feast maybe.  We wandered around back and took pictures of the place and its surroundings.

As a show of respect for the monk, everyone taking a picture with one must kneel down. 

After we left the Wat, we went to see another tourist exhibit, the Three Kings monument and museum.  Inside the museum they have documentaries running about the Three Kings and their significance to the city, but ultimately it all boils down to they are the founding fathers of the city.  The museum is pretty indepth, discussing the reasons for building the city where it is, the construction of the city, societal dynamics and so on.  After walking through the exhibits we went to grab a bite to eat. 
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We wanted to eat authentic Thai food, which meant eating at one of the many vendors on the streets that serve the locals.  We found a place on a corner; no AC, just fans.  Interestingly enough, the fans did the job, and your body adjusts to the outside temperature as you have a cool breeze coming from the fan.  That’s something else I noticed about Thailand is that they don’t rely as heavily on the AC like we do in the States, which surprised me because I thought, generally speaking Thailand was a hot place.  The temperature while we were there was never ridiculously hot, not nearly as hot as Florida I would say.  Most of the time it was pleasant. 

The food in Thailand consists of soupy meals and a lot of food with rice.  I had chicken and rice with some vegetables on the side.  It was good.  I forget what Natova had but she was satisfied.  The best part about it is that it cost us less than 100 Baht ($3 USD).  Not bad.  If we wanted Western style food or maybe went to some of the recognizable food chains, the price would be comparable to what we pay back home.  The Thai food was just as good and a fraction of the price.  We’ll take it. 

So with all this running around how could we not take an opportunity to unwind and get a massage.  We went down this street which was littered with massage parlors.  We picked one and got great massages side by side.  I noticed her massage lady was going way easy on her, compared to mine which at one point, while she had me sitting up with my legs stretched out in front of me, literally jumped on my back, grabbed my arms, and did some type of MMA move to turn my torso, on both sides.  This was quickly followed by the audible cracking of my sides, but it wasn’t bad; in fact it felt pretty good.  It created a great stretch, I won’t lie, but Tova and I laugh about it every now and again.  For a second, it felt like I was like getting attacked by a 100 lbs woman.  The massage overall was great though.  There are quite a few different type of massages.  The ones we got while we were in Thailand were the Oil Massage and the Thai Massage.  I think those are probably the most popular (besides the adult massages of course).  This particular massage place actually gave us a combination of the two.  They started with oil, rubbing us down, and ended with Thai, which is when she decided to go all Spider-man on my back.  The Thai massage didn’t seem like it would be all that great, but it turns out it is really relaxing.  We got a full Thai massage later on the trip and I will go into detail when I get there. 

An Unexpected Turn

So from the massage palor we decided to go see more of the city before heading back home.  We actually booked dinner and a show later that night, back at the guesthouse.  One of the great things about those places is that you can book all kinds of tours, classes, and shows right there at the guest house.  The guesthouse will deliver you to where ever you need to go and pick you up when it’s over.   We loved it. 

At this point we figured we had time so we decided to see another part of town suggest to us by Gina.  We ended up leaving the main part of the city and got caught up in traffic leading us out of the city.  Long story short we ended up getting lost trying to find our way back to the major roads leading into the city.  It’s at this point where we had our accident. 

To be honest, it had just rained so the roads were wet, we were lost, and I was dealing with heavy traffic, and trying to find our way back to our guesthouse.  It was not a good combination for travel.  Had I to do it over again I would have just called Gina to either get us or guide us back to the guesthouse.  As it was I had a determination that my land navigation abilities would see us through and I figured we would come upon it eventually.  However, before that came to pass, at one of the points where we stopped to find our way, as we tried to turn around to go back, we ended up getting into an accident. 

By the way my body fell I immediately knew I had broken my leg.  I both heard it in my head and felt it in my body, though more so I heard it.  When my eyes opened Natova was lying on the street next to me.  I asked if she was okay and she said she was fine.  I saw that I was laying on top of the side of the bike, I also knew that my leg was under it.  I pushed myself up to stand on one foot, and began to navigate my leg from under the bike.  I pulled it out and it was clear it was broken by the shape, which was…I guess curvy and loose are words that could describe it.  My leg was not straight after my knee.  I sat down on the ground towards the side walk, away from the road, and with the same reaction I had with my broken ankle, I tried to put my leg back into its knee socket.  I was hoping it was just a dislocation and that it would pop back into place.  No such luck, it didn’t budge as I hit the side hoping to get it back normal.  In hindsight I don’t think that was a good idea because I am not sure if I cracked my fracture even more from doing this, but at the time wasn’t thinking fracture.   I stopped after two good attempts and decided to wait for the ambulance. 

People gathered, some may have called the Hospital.  Natova and I waited and eventually an Ambulance did show up.  They spent some time getting me onto a gurney to get me in the ambulance.  The agonizing efforting grunts of the ambulance workers as they try to lift me from one place to another would become common over the next few days I would spend at McCormick hospital, and then Chiang Mai Ram hospital.  I suppose I could stand to lose a few, but I would like to think its muscle weight.  When we got to the hospital I was processed, had an X-ray taken, and it was confirmed a fracture, right below the knee. 

During this whole process, I have to mention JJ here.  JJ is the owner of the bike we rented.  She went to the scene to see her bike and then later came to see us at the hospital.  Doesn’t sound good right.  Well normally it wouldn’t be, if this were anywhere else, especially Abu Dhabi, but also in the U.S.  You have to be thinking this person is pissed.  But she wasn’t; far from it in fact.  She was very helpful in talking with her insurance company, the police, or anyone that would need to talk to us about the accident, she kind of acted as a buffer and kept them off of us.  I was amazed at how helpful she was, we were just not used to it.  I remember looking up from lying on the gurney in the emergency room (I was just tucked off to the side in one of the waiting areas) and I saw four faces all looking down on me with concern.  There was Natova of course, but all these other ladies.  Gina was there next to Natova, JJ was on the other side, and her friend was beside her.  Everyone was concerned, and it was weird because I just didn’t expect it.  They helped us sign forms, and translate Thai for us when needed.  They didn’t even know us, and they were doing all of this.  It didn’t stop there though and I will get to that later. 

The Orthopedic Surgeon there told us we had a few of options.  Either we could try to head back to the U.A.E. to have the necessary surgery, which would include pins and plates, just like my ankle.  In this case he would put me in a long cast that would start at the top of my thigh and end at my toes, which would allow us to travel back to Abu Dhabi.  The alternative was that we could let them do the surgery there at McCormick.  The fact of the matter is I was not going to be having my surgery at that hospital.  Granted my doctor looked to be very knowledgeable and smart.  He answered all of our questions with a textbook accuracy.  But he also looked like he was 18 years old.  I just had no intentions of letting Dougie Howser cut into me and tinker around.  When I asked about his experience, he kept making references to medical school, which I did not see as a good sign.  The third option was to do the surgery at another hospital.  Our initial thoughts were to head back to Abu Dhabi anyway, so there wouldn’t be an issue with insurance, and that is what we decided.  So the cast went on and we started to make plans to cut our trip short and head back home. 

I stayed overnight in the hospital just so the doctor could check to see everything was okay before I left.  Then we left back to the Dozy House.   While I was in Dozy house my leg became very sore.  It got to the point where I could barely move without extreme pain following.  It got us to reconsider our decision to attempt to get on a plane because it would just be too much for me, and I agreed, which meant if must have really been bad for me to admit that.  So we proceed to find the best hospital and the best orthopedic doctors in the city and came upon Chiang Mai Ram and Dr. Paiboon, who was highly recommended on medical and travel forums from other tourist that had mishaps on their trips.  We set up an appointment, and as he consulted with me, he was concerned about the amount of pain I was in.  I assumed it was normal, I mean I did just break my leg.  Also, I had tremendous pain from swelling when I broke my ankle, so I figured this was the same.  Turns out it was not just swelling.  Upon an ultrasound of my leg, they found there was a Deep Vein Thrombosis (aka. Blood clot).  Not good news for anyone, particularly someone who is in another country in need of a surgery where time is of the essence.  However, the operation had to be postponed until the blood clot was diminished, which could take a few weeks.  And so began the rest of my “vacation” in a Thai hospital. I think this picture shows how I felt about that at the time.  

Chiang Mai Ram

I ended up staying at Chiang Mai Ram Hospital for a little over a month.  During that time Natova and I got to know the nurses and assistants that would come in to check my blood pressure, change our sheets, deliver our food, and other tasks.  If you can say anything about this hospital, it won’t be that they forget to check on you.  Literally almost every hour someone was knocking on the door to get something, check something, or clean something.  Once, and I am sure this was only coincidence, but someone would come into the room about every ten minutes for a couple of hours straight.  That was annoying.  But in the end at least they’re checking on me. 

But overall, the ladies, nurses, were great.  For the most part they were always upbeat, smiling, and nice.  By the time we left we recognized the entire 10^th floor staff (even knew a few names) and they knew us.  They liked us because for the most part we were always upbeat, joking or laughing with them about something.   

Having Natova there was the best thing ever, because she kept things light and fun for the most part.  I could see how it would suck to be in a foreign hospital all by yourself, which unfortunately was the case for several other patients on our floor.  Most of them were men.  I would see them in their rooms as I would be wheeled down the hall to go to physical therapy.  The door would be open and I could see them laid out, miserable getting something like their pulse checked by the nurses standing over them.  It was a depressing sight. 

One of the other things we lucked out on is the view from the room.  When they first took me to my room, they took me to a room that looked out onto a wall of the building next door.  Looking back, I can’t even imagine how horrible it would have been to spend a month looking at that.  Luckily, Natova, with her astute powers of observation, suggested one of the empty rooms across the hall that had a view that didn’t make me want to jump out of the window.  The nurse saw no problem with moving us and so it was that we ended up with this amazing view.  Looking out, you could see all of Chiang Mai, even the mountains in the distance.  It was actually very beautiful and each day in the hospital didn’t seem so bad because I was always able to glance out of the window and see this serene vista, and it relaxed me.  The room itself was alright too.  Actually it was more than alright it was pretty nice.  It would have made a great hotel room.  There was a couch, a loves seat, a coffee table, a refrigerator, a microwave, a kitchen sink, an attached bathroom, a flat screen tv that we were able to hook our computer to and watch anything on Netflix, Hulu, a huge windows, a glass door leading out to the balcony, etc. (to this day both Natova and I always slip up and say “hotel” and have to correct ourselves to say “hospital” when we refer to the room).  Considering the view and everything else, it was one of the better rooms I have ever stayed in, be it hospital or hotel. 

Physical Therapy was good.  I got to compare it to the PT program in Abu Dhabi, and at first they were comparable.   Later, the whole department moved from the 12 floor to the 4 floor, where they were given an area that was twice as big and twice as open, filled with new equipment and training obstacles and everything.  The guy heading up the staff seemed more knowledgeable as well and he would work with me personally.  The exercises did a lot to help keep my leg at least somewhat in condition, some of them harder than others. I went everyday.  Now that I’m back in AD I feel somewhat gipped compared to what I got in Chiang Mai.  

Hospital Living

Were it not for the circumstances, I don’t think I would have minded so much staying at the Hospital.  By the time we had to go, I felt like I was leaving a second home. 

The food situation started out pretty good, but I got tired of hospital food real quick.  It wasn’t that bad though, but after a week, we started ordering out regularly.  Believe me in my situation, I could go for some comfort food.  Much like in Abu Dhabi, everyone delivers.  We actually found site online that included several different types of foods including Italian, Mexican, American, Bistro, Chinese, etc.  You could actually order and pay online, and in thirty minutes or so someone’s knocking on our door with the food.  Most of it was hit or miss, and to be honest the most of the hits were only so-so.   There were a few tried and true dishes we would always return to and our favorite had to be Mike’s Burger.  So as far as food goes I didn’t exactly accomplish my goal of cuisine diversity, where I thought I would be eating Thai food the whole vacation. 

The night would normally be something of a refuge because, from my experience, sleep is a great companion when you are not feeling well.   However, pain is a fellow that can easily keep you from reuniting with that companion, and that was my situation.  I dreaded the evenings because it would only put me in the quiet, seemingly never-ending darkness with my painful leg.  There is nothing worse than lying down and having nothing else to concentrate on but your own discomfort.  Consequently, I stayed up a lot, surfing the internet throughout the night, watching Hulu or Netflix.  I would stay up until I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore and would fall asleep with no problem.  The issue with that was it usually happened somewhere between two or three in the morning.  The next thing I know its about eight o’clock, and there are nurses coming in to check my blood pressure, assistants coming to change the bed, people delivering breakfast, etc.  So I didn’t get much sleep at nights; a lot of times, I ended up taking powernaps during the day, so I guess it worked out, sort of.  To make things even more difficult, with an injury like the one I have, my sleeping positions are limited.  I have either on my back or on my right side.  Believe me it gets repetitive real quick. 

As far as keeping optimistic, I can say that I think we did pretty well, considering.  When the accident first happened I didn’t fight it mentally, but just accepted the situation.  There was no turning back time, so I concentrated on moving forward.  I, however, did fully understand how unfortunate of a situation this was.  We had just been on what was by far the best vacation of our lives, and it was shaping up to be the best summer we had ever had.  For most of the year we both had been looking forward to going back home to see the family and the anticipation had grown really intense in the last 4 months or so leading up to the vacation.  I could see us kicking back in Florida, telling stories of our time in Arabia.  All of that was quickly snatched away in an instant.  On top of that I had just gotten over my ankle injury and was starting to make great progress walking.  The stiffness was going away and I was getting better at maneuvering.  Not to mention how wonderful it was enjoying my new mobility, without the aid of those limiting crutches.  Well, now it’s welcome back crutches and I get to go through entire process again for another few months.  It’s a cruel thing really.  It’s like being in jail for three months and then being released.  You enjoy your freedom for a week or so before you are slammed back in jail for another three to four months.  And on top of that I have to try to get around school on these crutches again, which was hard enough the first time.  Teaching in this condition is a nightmare because kids feel like they can get away with more, so they try you more, and they are liable to try and sneak out while my back is turned.  Meeting the kids on the first day of school like this is just asking for them to run all over me.   And on top of that there is just the general suckiness of having to be on crutches all the time, hopping from here to there, etc. 

So I knew all of this while in the hospital, but I saw no reason to dwell on it.  Don’t get me wrong, there were times when I got down but I tried not to stay there.  The way I see it, I got into a motorbike accident and walked away (well technically hobbled away) with only a broken leg.  Although we probably looked like corny American Tourist, we both were wearing our helmets so thankfully there were no head injuries or anything like that.  I could see how it could have been much worse.  What if Natova had been hurt too?  Both of us hurt would have been a nightmare.  So as far as distribution of injuries go, everything went well.  If one of us was going to be hurt obviously I prefer it to be me.

So there you have it.  This was obviously the roughest part of the trip.  We did manage to have a pretty decent time after this at Dozy House.  Believe it or not, we ended up getting another surprise! But don't worry, this one was a heck of a lot better than the last one.  As always, I'll explain in the next post.  Stay tuned!