A Journey to Well Known Places

So, I find myself on antibiotics for the second time in as many weeks. A couple nights ago I was hanging out with a Kiwi (New Zealander) at a pub talking. It was early in the morning or late at night depending on when you had to get up. At the table next to us a group of extremely drunk Chinese were singing at the tops of their lungs. Suddenly there was a loud crash. It seems on of the neighbors had, in a temper tantrum, hurled a ceramic mug in the general direction of the noise. It hit our table, shattered, and left a gash in my arm. It was only an inch long, but it was atleast a centimeter deep. Ever the optimist I put a bandaid on it and went to sleep. I woke the next day, changed the bandage, and went about walking around the city. It hurt a bit last night, but that is rather what gashes do, so I thought nothing of it. Until this morning I noticed blood on my sheets where my would had bled through the bandage a full 24 hours after the fact. Crap. I knew then I would have to do something about it. I showed the girls at the front desk and they escorted me to the nearest hospital which was happily only two blocks away. I paid 4 yuan to see the doctor ($.50). He looked at my arm and surmised what I already knew; that I needed stiches. I am not sure if ‘local anesthetic’ just did not translate properly or if it was just not on the menu, but certainly none was administered. I suppose there is no gentle way to grab someones open woumd with forceps and stick a needle through it, so I appreciate that the nurse did not even make the pretense. I got three stiches (GOD, I hope that was a sterile needle), declined the antibiotic injection (for the already mentioned concern), and took home 10 days of Cefixime. The whole experience cost 170 yuan ($22) and took about 30 minutes. Just because Cefixime was discontinued in the states in 2003 does not mean it is not an effective shield against further infection……does it? Anyone? The downside of needing to go to the doctor is that I am staying another night here in Xian and will not be able to go to Hau Shan mountain. There is only one bus a day and it leaves at 8am. I have to return to the Dr tomorrow to redress the wound.

Having skimped on the local anesthesia I decided to splurge on lunch; making both quite a bit more memorable. It was great. I paid a full $6 and felt very decadent. I Walked around the muslim quarter and watched a bootleg copy of Spiderman 3 in Chinese. Then I was told that they were selling Tibet permits again, so I bought a tour package for 910 yuan. I get my permit tomorrow and am heading out to Lhasa on May 25th. Tomorrow evening I head to Lanzhou. That leaves me 10 days to explore the Silk Road before I head off. Wish me luck and good health. I am going to need it.

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 14th, 2007 at 9:24 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.