 |
| You should see the other guy etc. |
I would like to be able to say that the above injury was caused by going the distance against a veteran Muay Thai boxer, or perhaps defending the honour of a young maiden against some ne'er-do-wells, but sadly the truth is a little more mundane.
Our GAdventures tour began in the very upmarket Hotel Royal in the Chinatown Area.
 |
| Some pleasant views over Bangkok |
The hotel was so posh, it even boasted a telephone beside the toilet.
 |
| Such decadence |
I was exhausted from my 900 metre walk from my previous hotel (to be fair, walking any distance in this heat with 15kg of stuff on your back is quite tiring), so I decided to have a wee nap. Upon waking, I managed to bang my head hard on the edge of a pointlessly sticky out bit of the wall.
 |
| The offending pointlessly sticky out bit of the wall |
After mopping up all the blood (not thinking straight, I cleaned the wall before I cleaned my head), I nipped down to one of the many pharmacies to be told that it would need stitches. Luckily, there was a hospital 10 minutes walk away, and before long, I had a team of doctors and other medics with various levels of competency in English asking me hundreds of questions.
The doctor who was assigned the task of stitching me up offered me the services of a plastic surgeon, but she looked like she'd know her way around a needle and thread, so I told her I was happy for her to have a stab. And as you can see from the top picture, a fine job she made of it too. And about an hour later and a couple of hundred quid later, I was sauntering back to my hotel, hospital gift bag swinging merrily from my finger as if I'd just spent an afternoon shopping at Macy's.)
 |
| It actually held lots of cleaning stuff I was to take with me for subsequent visits |
 |
| What a twat |
Still, they were all very sympathetic and seemed like a great bunch of people to hang about with. We went out for dinner on the first night and since we dined outside next to a road, I managed to sweat my bandage clean off, so I decided to eschew the next day's boat and temple trips, to go and get the wound checked and cleaned back at the hospital.
That evening, we were supposed to take an overnight train to Chiang Mai - which was then replaced with an overnight bus. Having already experienced them in Peru and Bolivia, I wasn't exactly eager to repeat the experience, so opted to stay for an extra night and fly to Chiang Mai the next day. Of course, me being me (and possibly lightly concussed), I managed to book a flight for the following month instead, but eventually I got it sorted, and I got to spend an extra night in Bangkok and enjoy rooftop drinks with my fellow bus avoider, Emeline.
Emeline even persuaded me to brave Chinatown at its busiest and try some street food.
 |
To be fair, the food was served up so quickly, I didn't even have time to sweat, and it was pretty tasty (and incredibly cheap). Next up, a hopefully drama-free trip to Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand.
Comments