Bangkok and the tale of the infected mosquito bites
We've just left Bangkok for Chiang Mai on our second internal flight in Asia. Our experience of Thailand has so far been extremely mixed, mostly due to the fact that illness has finally struck for the first time.On our last evening in Siem Reap Chris felt a twinge in his ankle and thought he might have sprained it on our bike ride. The next day it got a little worse until by the evening he was limping a little. The following day the pain steadily increased and his ankle started to swell up and go a reddy-purple colour. That evening he could barely walk after supper and also had a temperature, but still felt fine. So we raised his leg and put cold flannels on it, and gave him some paracetamol, and the next day he seemed a little better. However by late afternoon his temperature was back, and the swelling in his ankle had spread considerably. We also noticed that the three or four mosquito bites round his foot had gone black, and we suspected they might be infected.
We had just finished some shopping when he started to feel ill, so I decided to take him to hospital. This was easier said than done - first of all no taxis would take us, then the tuktuk drivers tried to charge us extortionate amounts. Finally after asking people on street corners a woman wrote down 'emergency room' in Thai for us and we found ourselves in the Bangkok Police Hospital. Here Chris was examined by several doctors and nurses, who all looked alarmingly young. They established from his blood pressure and temperature that he had a fever but seemed to be unclear on the exact problem. Luckily the hours of my life spent watching ER came in handy, as I was able to interpret what they were trying to say (Chris is very bad at understanding Asian accents!). They gave him four different types of pills - paracetamol, ibuprofen, antacid and antibiotics - presumably on the basis that one or more of these would work.
Chris's fever was very bad that evening and the following morning, but eventually he started to feel better and the swelling has decreased, although his ankle is still a nasty colour. However he now has a medical card and we have checked up on hospitals in Chiang Mai just in case. Hopefully though he is on the mend.
So really we didn't manage to see much of Bangkok, such as the Royal Palace or the sky train. We even failed to try a tuktuk here, although this was more because they are extremely over-priced (more expensive than taxis) and not nearly as fun as those in Cambodia - like limousines by comparison! Still we did get about a bit in between illness.
We stayed in the khao san road backpacker area, which was quite a shock to the system. It is really nothing like anywhere else in Asia, seemingly being created solely to make Europeans feel 'at home' - although my home isn't full of neon lights, drunken topless westerners and lady boys! I can see how it would be an easy place to start travelling, as everyone speaks English and everything you could need is a few steps away from the guesthouse. We found it a little expensive after Cambodia and Vietnam. The first night we arrived late (8.30pm) and were feeling so stingy we stayed in a $5 room that was basically a cell with a bed in, and the sink in the shared bathroom had been reduced to a pile of rubble on the floor! However we relocated to the marginally more comfortable Bella Bella House for the rest of our visit.
Our stay was brightened up when we met a school-friend of mine, Serena, an Indian-Thai who lives in Bangkok. She very kindly took us to lunch and showed us all the best places to shop (the main thing to do here), and took me out to supper with some friends when Chris was resting. She also showed us the Suam Lum night bazarre which was good fun and a nice outing for Chris when he felt better. Here we took the opportunity to get a cartoon drawing done of the two of us which tested the artist's skills considerably as he couldn't draw westerners! It was nice to see something of local life in Bangkok, and we also learned alot about arranged marriages which was interesting as it is such an alien concept to westerners. Thanks to Serena we did manage to have some fun and it was not a wasted visit.
Other highlights included experiencing a Bangkok bus, a boat-trip along the river and seeing a large golden buddha (very shiny). We're now looking forward to hopefully making a jungle trek around Chiang Mai, providing the foot is well enough to go.
Emily
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