Gunshots and festering wounds
Thursday, March 8th, 2007Staying with the theme of things, Thailand has continued its reign as the heart & soul of excitement on my trip. A visit to Raum Praet hospital just outside the city walls concluded with word from an actual doctor that the infection in my right leg has not gotten any better and that it would need attention immediately. My heart dropped as she told me to lay down on the table and relax. Suddenly 4 nurses were standing over my bed. I started to breath heavily and could feel my heart pounding and wondered whether or not this was it. After 2 months on the road, the trip was going to end here with word that I needed immediate surgery to remove the infected limb.
At least that is what went through my head for about 30 seconds of my morning. The 4 nurses were actually just coming through to prepare a table for a couple of kids that got scraped up probably playing soccer in the street and just wanted to take a look at my leg for kicks. The doctor pulled out a long needle and began poking at the site of the 2nd degree burn. She told me that she is going to have to cut some of it off which she did but luckily she just meant a small portion of the skin that was already burned. She said I will lose the skin and it will scar but that it should heal fine otherwise. The other bad scrape that was healing a slowly on my lower leg was bright pink and looked decent to me. She asked me what I planned on doing today and I told her not a whole lot. She said that was good because she doesn’t want me outside because they are going to leave the wound open instead of covering it with a bandage, in hopes that it will dry and scab quickly. She is concerned that it has been 10 days and it still isn’t closed completely. I was given new antibiotics and sent on my way after a hefty bill. I guess when you see a real hospital doctor they like to charge you a bit more. The peace of mind that everything should be fine is worth it.
The real excitement didn’t occur till after I was leaving the hospital. Chiang Mai is known as a pretty safe destination in Thailand but I guess even in the safest places you can have your isolated incidents. I tried flagging down a tuk-tuk to take me back to my hotel but there weren’t any coming down the side street so I headed for the main road. Just as I turned the corner I hear 3 loud gunshots. Pop, Pop…. then POP! (I’m a big fan of the onomatopoeia) I have heard a lot of loud bangs and pops during my travels, from blown tires in Ethiopia to backfired engines elsewhere. At first I let this one slide as just another random noise but then the crowd started forming and doctors from the hospital got on their motorbikes and headed across the street to check out it out. I’m not sure how many were involved but there was a robbery at the gold shop. I had to be the only one in Chiang Mai walking away from the incident. A Thai man ran up behind me and told me to be careful that it was a robbery and the men had fled. Looking back on it I should have probably gone TO the scene rather than walk by myself away from it down the quiet street that lead to the neighborhood of my hotel. I figure the robbers aren’t coming back to where they just set off 3 shots and might be looking for a lone traveler to take as a hostage. A fleeing criminal is usually the most dangerous.
I am safe though and got back to my hotel fine. Just a little excitement before 12 noon. I wonder what the rest of the day will be like.
Joey