I needed to visit the health clinic here in Vientiane, Laos today. Like going to the Hua Hin Emergency Clinic, (see Travelespresso in February 2008), my visit was for a minor condition but nonetheless, I fervently hope this is my last brush with medical services during my trip.
When I was pitched off the boat into the water in Sihanoukville, I hurt myself and still, two weeks later, my upper rib cage is sore so I decide to check it out before leaving Vientiane (population 234,000) and going north to Vang Vieng (population 30,000).
It’s Saturday and my tuk tuk driver drops me off at the International Hospital (where foreigners are told to go). I am informed that there are no doctors on duty today unless required to attend an accident, heart attack or high fever. I calmly advise the nurse (whose understanding of English is reasonable) that my reason for visiting doesn’t fall into any of these categories. I tell her that my upper rib cage is sore but it is not an emergency.
I was preparing to leave when she says "if I want to see a Doctor now it will cost you $20". Huh? (No point going down the “I thought you just said….…..). Instead I say “OK I’ll pay”.
I’m taken immediately into a consulting room and she instructs me to sit on a bed. To my surprise another woman is led into the room and put on the other bed beside me. The linen looks fresh (but later I notice that it’s not changed between patients). However, the rest of the room isn’t all that clean. Tied to a sink, are a couple of old 2 litre water bottles loaded, almost to the top, with used syringes. The metal side table is covered in rust.
No curtains divide me from the other woman but her consultation is conducted in Lao so I have no idea of her problem, although if I want to watch I can see where the Doctor prods her. After she’s had her diagnosis, she leaves and a man is led in. Because he’s an American I can understand what he’s saying and he’s worried that the needle they’re about to use to inject him is not new. It is, but I too, had been warned to always check this point should I need an injection. Later he told me he had a rabies shot because he was scratched by a cat.
There’s no hand washing between patients but now it’s my turn. The Doctor is a very pleasant woman with a passable command of my language. She presses here and there to confirm the area of pain and concludes it’s not bone, so no broken ribs. However, she informs me, I have strained some muscles. She prescribes massage ointment and time.
I’m directed along a corridor to an outside veranda area where there are two small windows (think TAB). Behind one sits a cashier and the other the pharmacist. I’m waiting in the cashier line, when suddenly the nurse, with the Doctor nipping at her heels, rushes up to me. “You, no pay” the nurse says to me. “Just for today the Doctor says you no pay”. I look at the Doctor but she's just nodding in agreement. I’m confused but say “thank you very much”.
After I collect my ointment, I go on my way.
I stroll back into town, in the sweltering heat, along the Mekong river bank taking the side of the road with the grassy verge which offers a little shade from the overhead trees. Occasionally I glimpse the water in the river some distance from the edge of the bank. The river level is low at this time of the year – nearly the end of the hot dry season.
It’s a relaxing walk and I watch youngsters in groups; in couples, enjoy each other’s company. When I reach town I sit down at a table in one of the air conditioned rooms at JoMa Café, to read, eat and drink. The weekends here at my favourite café are busy, but, the begging lady who always sits right outside isn’t here today. Actually she is just one of two beggars I see around here.
Earlier in the day I spent time at the Post Office where I sent a parcel of goodies home and was asked to pay a “customs” fee (what for or upon what basis the price was calculated, I’m not sure). They helped me to pack the box. I thought I was packing from the bottom up (you know - heavy things on the bottom, light things on the top) but no – that’s not how it’s done. You pack and then tip the box upside down and that’s the top, so then all my easily squashed items where on the bottom!
My visit to the hospital and the Post Office has ensured that again today, I’ve had another interesting morning “on the road”. Even though, at times, I don’t know what’s going on or why. Most times I just go with the flow, remember to smile and forget about how things are done back home.
Taste sensation…….chocolate chip cookies. They’re the best I’ve ever tasted (sorry NZ manufacturers). The chocolate chips are huge and plentiful. I get a solid chocolate fix with just about every bite. Yum Yum. Brand: Pepperidge Farm and made in the USA. I tired to buy some more yesterday but then I remembered that I’d purchased them in Cambodia. Another reason to go back there?
I’m loving……….getting my laundry done by someone else. It costs $1 per kg and it’s returned to me at the end of the day smelling fresh and beautifully folded. This could be the bargain of the moment.
Bargain of the moment……the massage cream for my strained muscles. It cost about 70cents. I imagine I would pay about $20 in NZ, so why is it that we pay so much for this type of product in good ole NZ? On a more positive note, silver is incredibly cheap here and very plentiful.
I’m surprised…..at how I’m stared at. The blond hair? They also love to watch me write. Not quite so much here in Laos but in Thailand and Cambodia they did. In Siem Reap one man stood on the side of the road and watched me for ages as I wrote and had a cup of coffee. He then commented that I must have gone to a good school. I said yes I had. He then said “good….you write more….you write good things about Cambodia” and proudly rubbed his hands together in glee.
I’m missing…..beetroot. Don’t ask me where that came from but suddenly I really miss it. I haven’t seen anything like it so far.
When I was pitched off the boat into the water in Sihanoukville, I hurt myself and still, two weeks later, my upper rib cage is sore so I decide to check it out before leaving Vientiane (population 234,000) and going north to Vang Vieng (population 30,000).
It’s Saturday and my tuk tuk driver drops me off at the International Hospital (where foreigners are told to go). I am informed that there are no doctors on duty today unless required to attend an accident, heart attack or high fever. I calmly advise the nurse (whose understanding of English is reasonable) that my reason for visiting doesn’t fall into any of these categories. I tell her that my upper rib cage is sore but it is not an emergency.
I was preparing to leave when she says "if I want to see a Doctor now it will cost you $20". Huh? (No point going down the “I thought you just said….…..). Instead I say “OK I’ll pay”.
I’m taken immediately into a consulting room and she instructs me to sit on a bed. To my surprise another woman is led into the room and put on the other bed beside me. The linen looks fresh (but later I notice that it’s not changed between patients). However, the rest of the room isn’t all that clean. Tied to a sink, are a couple of old 2 litre water bottles loaded, almost to the top, with used syringes. The metal side table is covered in rust.
No curtains divide me from the other woman but her consultation is conducted in Lao so I have no idea of her problem, although if I want to watch I can see where the Doctor prods her. After she’s had her diagnosis, she leaves and a man is led in. Because he’s an American I can understand what he’s saying and he’s worried that the needle they’re about to use to inject him is not new. It is, but I too, had been warned to always check this point should I need an injection. Later he told me he had a rabies shot because he was scratched by a cat.
There’s no hand washing between patients but now it’s my turn. The Doctor is a very pleasant woman with a passable command of my language. She presses here and there to confirm the area of pain and concludes it’s not bone, so no broken ribs. However, she informs me, I have strained some muscles. She prescribes massage ointment and time.
I’m directed along a corridor to an outside veranda area where there are two small windows (think TAB). Behind one sits a cashier and the other the pharmacist. I’m waiting in the cashier line, when suddenly the nurse, with the Doctor nipping at her heels, rushes up to me. “You, no pay” the nurse says to me. “Just for today the Doctor says you no pay”. I look at the Doctor but she's just nodding in agreement. I’m confused but say “thank you very much”.
After I collect my ointment, I go on my way.
I stroll back into town, in the sweltering heat, along the Mekong river bank taking the side of the road with the grassy verge which offers a little shade from the overhead trees. Occasionally I glimpse the water in the river some distance from the edge of the bank. The river level is low at this time of the year – nearly the end of the hot dry season.
It’s a relaxing walk and I watch youngsters in groups; in couples, enjoy each other’s company. When I reach town I sit down at a table in one of the air conditioned rooms at JoMa Café, to read, eat and drink. The weekends here at my favourite café are busy, but, the begging lady who always sits right outside isn’t here today. Actually she is just one of two beggars I see around here.
Earlier in the day I spent time at the Post Office where I sent a parcel of goodies home and was asked to pay a “customs” fee (what for or upon what basis the price was calculated, I’m not sure). They helped me to pack the box. I thought I was packing from the bottom up (you know - heavy things on the bottom, light things on the top) but no – that’s not how it’s done. You pack and then tip the box upside down and that’s the top, so then all my easily squashed items where on the bottom!
My visit to the hospital and the Post Office has ensured that again today, I’ve had another interesting morning “on the road”. Even though, at times, I don’t know what’s going on or why. Most times I just go with the flow, remember to smile and forget about how things are done back home.
Taste sensation…….chocolate chip cookies. They’re the best I’ve ever tasted (sorry NZ manufacturers). The chocolate chips are huge and plentiful. I get a solid chocolate fix with just about every bite. Yum Yum. Brand: Pepperidge Farm and made in the USA. I tired to buy some more yesterday but then I remembered that I’d purchased them in Cambodia. Another reason to go back there?
I’m loving……….getting my laundry done by someone else. It costs $1 per kg and it’s returned to me at the end of the day smelling fresh and beautifully folded. This could be the bargain of the moment.
Bargain of the moment……the massage cream for my strained muscles. It cost about 70cents. I imagine I would pay about $20 in NZ, so why is it that we pay so much for this type of product in good ole NZ? On a more positive note, silver is incredibly cheap here and very plentiful.
I’m surprised…..at how I’m stared at. The blond hair? They also love to watch me write. Not quite so much here in Laos but in Thailand and Cambodia they did. In Siem Reap one man stood on the side of the road and watched me for ages as I wrote and had a cup of coffee. He then commented that I must have gone to a good school. I said yes I had. He then said “good….you write more….you write good things about Cambodia” and proudly rubbed his hands together in glee.
I’m missing…..beetroot. Don’t ask me where that came from but suddenly I really miss it. I haven’t seen anything like it so far.
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