GOOOOOD DAY!

First and foremost, this is the 5 month anniversary of this blog. I’ve been gone 5 months. Where does time go!? Did I think I’d be getting a rabies vacine on my ~150th day out? Nah, but that’s part of the fun.

I feel soo good that I could morph through your montior and party with you, right now, wherever you are, even if you’re procrastinating at work. Check this, I just took a 1 hour bus to Udon Thani to AEK International Hospital and got my FINAL RABIES SHOT in the nicest hospital I’ve been in yet. What a trip!!! I love how in Asia, you can get a 1 – 1.5 hour bus ride to a new city for $1.20us. What sucks is the tuk tuk will want tones, I just walk.

I love that hospital, I ALMOST got one yesterday but the emergency room was kinda dirty and I was just like “I’m better than this” and “I can’t do this!” This morning I wanted 1 bananna for 5 baht, the lady gave me 20, so I went around giving tuk tuk drivers and anyone with a smile a bannana, good will at it’s best! When I was in the emergency room yesterday, I thought of my expat friends and what they’d do. Bottom line is if you got the coin, you go to the top place you can. THIS IS YOUR BODY not like buying a dinner.

I get to Udon Thani and walk the ~7KM from bus stop to the hospital. I have total peace of mind, this place was mint, had ladies dressed in traditional asian attire (whatever that means) and everything. They took care of me and I had no worries bout needle sterilization and whatnot, it was just bliss. Seriously this whole “needing shots in strange countries” has been dragging me down, putting salt in my wounds so to speak. The clouds are gone and the sun is shining again.

Now I’m in Udon Thani, found this little internet cafe and am updating.  After this I catch a bus back to Nongkhai. Tonight, I will continue meditating OR I’ll catch a night bus to Bangkok to see some friends who are going to be there and hang with another friend / blogger Gary. I dont’ want to go back to Bangkok but I REALLY do. Once in Bangkok I can go to Cambodia easily, or fly anywhere. I’m kinda “stuck up here”.

The meditating is good but at night I go crazy, I feel like I’m in jail. I’m a really social creature to the point of being “IN YOUR FACE”. I love being alone but when I’m done doing my “me stuff” I want to be able to walk out on a street, grab a fist full of skewers, a beer, a drink, whatever and chat with some people. The only things around late at night are random dogs barking, cats and mosquitos that are stealing my dreams. That and for the first time on my entire trip I’ve been feeling low and kinda homesick, yah I’ll say it it’s true. I don’t like being isolated like that at night, it’s not good for this gent.

Also I know we aren’t in a milaria zone but this bucket of water in the room has mosiqutos and they are harassing me. Flip side is, when will I get another chance to do something like this? Hmmmmm oh decisions.

Either way, I’m now fully vaccinated against rabies and I feel good about it, no more timelines or places I need to be. I am now totally free. Don’t be shocked if my next update is from Bangkok or anywhere but there. I need to go walk another 2K to the bus station and take a 1.5 hour ride.

Peace out,

P.S The gov hospital wanted 350 baht for the shot (cheapest yet) and this hospital wanted 950 baht. I told them “I thought it was 600 baht” as that is the price of the vaccine, then they told me Doctor charge… I politely said “I’m not paying a doctor charge, I am already diganosed with a dog bite, I came in asking for a vaccine and that is what I got”. 1 minute later, boom 605 baht. Also check receipts, they try and put “medical stuff” or something on receipt, tell them you want the product you bought, they say “detailed?” (More $$$) you say “No, just want the item I bought” and they give you an additional print out. Now you know.

Finally, I find it hilarious how many people haggle over pennies but never question dollar sums, I, my friends, am the exact opposite. Only I don’t haggle, I simply inquire as to why something costs what it did and let them know whether or not I’m cool with it.

<Downs expresso with a great vigor and zeal and slams the tiny cup on a hand crafted hardwood coffee table.> I woke up yesterday after what was a total bender of a tubing experience and decided to bounce. I sweat buckets (literally) on a bus for 6 hours and at one point hit a bump, my knee dug into this nail on the seat in front. Get this, it hit right bullseye on my old staph infection, wtf!?

Took the local bus from Vang Vieng to Vientiane for a mere 30,000 kip, it took a while and was really hot but whatever. I’m over VIP buses, minibuses etc. You meet lame people. Met some guys who have worked in Vang Vieng for 1-2 years, they look tired but happy with themselves.

I’m in Vientiane, the capital of Laos drinking coffee and chilling. This place is cool. Had dinner on the Mekong last night and watched a sunset. Had a great meal, met a girl from France and she joined me with this photo journalist. In front of us was an awkward German and a lady boy who was a wrestler in a previous life, to my left? Some dude who graduated from the same SMALL University in rural Quebec as myself hahaha. It’s a small world, he graduated in 1973, myself? Class of 2003.

Getting injections in Vientiane is no problemo… They got mad luxury rides here and business men banking coin. You think they get crap care? No way. Over heard a business man saying he lived here 9 years, I went over to the table and said “pardon the interuption but…” he filled me in. Checking out the Australian Consulate as they help Canadians as well. It’s really $$$ but you know what you’re getting, also this way I can cruise south into Cambodia, then Vietnam just keep going, keep on trucking like my boy CMI.

Last night, I ran into a whole new crew, like I do every day. Some guy on my facebook was like “yo Rob, are you bored traveling alone yet?”. Hmmm NO!? Traveling alone is the ultimate sense of adventure, unknown and excitement if you have the guts and funds to make it work. Remember, no drama, it’s your trip, you meet a crew and get along? That’s all you need to worry about. Being gregarious and slightly nefarious at times is a great combo.

Anyways, I’m going to hang out here today, might even go back to Vang Vieng. When I got to Ventiane I was like … I feel like smashing a mirror on my face then carving WEAK into my chest before sterilizing it with a half used urinal cake for leaving soo soon. I wanted to make sure I could get the injection here and if I couldn’t, I’d have to leave like today or tomorrow to Bangkok. Give yourself some time in Veng Vieng, it’s a special place for anyone who is cool and under 30. Over 30, sure just I hope you look young as you’ll be old man on the river, ha.

Alas, who knows but I miss tubing, I’d love to be watching family guy, eating a huge breakfast then just meet mad randoms and chill in a river drinking cheap whiskey, indeed. On a side note, I woke up early after going to bed late. Chilling with some new friends from New York and we hear this crazy local music BLASTING like BOOM BOOM BOUNCE… BOOM BOOM BOUNCE…

We decided to rock the spot or something like that, it’s this family doing karaoke and blaring it into the street so we join them and their feast doing shots of whisky before jumping in a tuk tuk to some discoteque, the discoteque sucked and that was pretty much the rest of the evening. The stuff the drivers off you here is hilarious, you’re like wow bro, no holding back just going for the home run are we? I came to chase some drinks, not the dragon thanks.

Alright, I’ve written enough timely and arguably relevant crap for this day.

Tips hat,

P.S: I want to buy some suits and tuxedos very soon, maybe Vietnam?

Greetings,

I was going to write this LOVELY (think Old School & Will Ferrel explaining his Saturday to those kids who want him to funnel beer) trip to Erawan falls. It was delightful and I had a sick time despite never having planned on going. I ran into a travel agent who was going there with a group, I said “I got gas pitch!” half jokingly and she said don’t worry about it, just come, we’re leaving at 9.

I awake a few hours early check no one there, then realize it’s 6:30am, whoops. Fast forward to 9, we hang out and we go. It’s 200 baht and a great time. The first ~500M I was like, wow I’m outta shape, then suddenly I’m sprinting around to the top. They had this one waterfall that has a huge sliding rock and it was littered with attractive Australians. Would have filmed it then but being the gregarious gentleman that I am, I joined them. I didn’t have my swim suit but figured silk boxers would do considering half the people there were Euro’s in speedos.

I digress.

Hang out and meet some nice people and climb to the very top, definitely worthwhile and very glad I went. Pictures below speak for themselves as well as the video above… The people I went with were very nice and the tour guide was really cool, my kinda lady! Another cool thing is that there are tones of big fish swimming around.

Being the kind soul that she is, she drops me off at a local hospital. Once again they treat me like a King and are about to inject me with a vaccine but it’s NOT RABIPUR. Listen you, I don’t know my a$$ from my elbow about medicine but I do know I want to continue with the same vaccine, makes sense, yes?

So they give me the info, I read it, it has the “Anti-Rabies Vaccine” and 2.5 whatever or greater in international units. Figure it should be OK, however they say down the street 10KM they should have it. I say whatever, it’s only 10KM, I’m outta here.

Surprisingly I CAN’T FIND a cab, anywhere. So I look for the local bus that comes this way, nothing. At this point I’m having rabies rage and saying “PHUCKET”, I’m just gonna walk or get a ride for free. So I walk, I walk, I walk, I walk. I run into all sorts of characters along the way such as police, tourist police, some French people and mechanics. The mechanics ask if I want a shot of their local moonshine and I say “Sure”. That was a bad idea because immediately after drinking it, it felt like a death march.

Every KM or so I ask how far it is, one guy says 2KM left, I’m like “sweet”, next guy says 6, I’m like “This sucks”. I ask these ladies at a local store… They say it’s far, if you can wait 2 minutes, I’ll drive you free, really? For free? Awesome. It’s odd how once you commit to something, I mean TOTALLY COMMIT to something, the universe works its magic in your favor. I was NOT taking a cab or anything, I was annoyed and suffering from rabies rage (ok not really).

So I help her unload the stuff from her motorbike with side carriage and while doing these dogs freak on me, great I’m on route to a rabies vaccine and these dogs are tweaking on me. One then licks me. I am getting shots so it’s no big deal but thought I’d mention it. She drives me for ~5KM and as we get to the hospital this dog starts going ape sh~t on the vehicle. Below is the free ride.

Get there, they make me wait forever and then I’m sitting in the seat and she is about to inject me with this strange serum. This is at a private hospital btw. I say “Rabipur?” having just gone on a harrowing journey to get here when the other place was close, convenient, the staff was nice and they treated me like royalty… She pulls the box out of the garbage and it’s NOT Rabipur. She says same thing as other ladies, it doesn’t matter it’s a different brand but a PCEC post exposure immunization… What am I to believe? I take the shot. One thing that confuses is me is neither placed asked how much I weigh (I’m not big) but the Rabipur was 1ML while both of these are 0.5ML, hmmm, suspect!? They all contain 2.5 units or more of “Anti-Rabies Vaccine”.

As I’m leaving, filled with a mild case of neurosis from the fact that both these mention a different strain, but how did the first place in Bangkok know what strain? Maybe having multiple strains is good? What’s good, what’s bad? I dunno… So I pay and it says “medical & drug use” on the receipt, I tell them I want it to say VERORAB Anti Rabies Vaccine as that is what I paid for, they come back 10 minutes later and say it’s 200 baht more. At this point my “What the…” switch flips.

I say, this is illegal, I bought VERORAB and that is what I want on my receipt, I told them if I buy a mars bar or a bar of soap at a grocery store, it says what I bought, this should be no different. The lady starts flipping on me in Thai.  Finally some other lady comes over and I tell her what’s up, she goes back and 10 minutes later comes back and says well Dr. already signed so he did his job, I said that’s crap, I want a receipt that says what I paid for and I’m not leaving until I get it. I get it, no extra charge.

Screw private hospitals, they are money grabs. I am so happy to be from a country where all hospitals are the same and the people working there have NO INCENTIVE to try and up charge you. It’s not he flow people, it’s the principle of charging me extra for an itemized receipt. If I didn’t have it, I could of bought some sedatives or something, or advil or whatever. That said, I’m a foreigner here so they treat you different. A guy I know here says he ONLY goes to private because they treat him like garbage at the local one. Just called my family Doctor, got receptionist, she said he is busy, asked if I ordered it from him “Said no” and she told me I should call a pharmacy… What a nice lady.

So here I am, back at my guest house after a 40 baht motorcycle ride through Kanchanaburi on some guy who drove soooo slow I felt unsafe. It’s odd how when you are in “crazy land” on the road, the guy driving slowest is often the most dangerous, it’s treu (sic).

I have 3 “anti rabies vaccines”… 2 Rapibur and one VEROLAB. The one they offered me at the first place was called Abhayrab and at least it had “Rabies Vaccine B.P” on the cover, whatever B.P means. That is what Rabipur has. This one jsut says “Inactivated Rabies Vaccine Prepared on VERO Cells”. The Rabipur was on chicken embryos. Again, I have no clue what any of this means. All I know is 2 hospitals says no worries so I’m not gonna worry, ok just a bit. I suspect it’s all good but for peace of mind, I’d like to take the same vaccine until completion.

Just did a google search and nothing relevant comes up. Maybe I’ll call my Doctor today and ask him, then again he probably won’t know, Rabies is like Polio or the Plague back home, nobody gets it, ever. On the topic, this guy at the hospital told me a story of what happened to his friend… His daughter and him got a bite form their puppy… He got his daughter vaccinated and didn’t himself. She’s OK and he’s dead. Supposedly he just got mad sick and then just tightened up and became crazy before shortly after “kicking the can”. Cool, he said “Get a cane to keep em away and make sure they load you up, I’d rather overdose on the vaccine than die of Rabies”. He was quite the character.

Alright, I’m gonna chill out and have a cold one, maybe eat some soup from the street and then eat so many skewers that it skews my judgment so that I decide to go to bed at a reasonable hour tonight. I have something planned for tomorrow that is “same same but different” from my last few days, use your imagination.

Oh yeah, check out Erawan Falls if you’re in the area, it gets the SHABL Stamp of “Worthy”, even if you don’t like nature so much, you’ll love those Eastern European ladies bathing suits.

Tips hat with a perplexed look on face,

Greetings, make sure your boss isn’t around, this may take a while,

Last night I was hanging out with some of my better “Tuk Tuk” friends and told them of the dog bite, they kept laughing saying “BAD DOG, BAD DOG” and this one older guy pretending to be a dog using his hands as a mouth trying to act rabid. Do you know some characters in your life? Well put them inside the body of a 25-55 year old Asian guy and amplify their eccentricities x 10 and you are STARTING to get an idea about some of these guys, we’re tight.

I tell them this one place wants 35,000baht for full treatment and one of the guys pretends to faint and falls back on to his tuk tuk and starts laughing about how I’m being an idiot tourist. The others shake their head like, no way man. At this point I start thinking about everything else in these countries. IF YOU GO THROUGH A MIDDLE MAN YOU GET RIPPED. Read that twice so it sinks in, the guy even said we have to do the shots at the hospital… Hmmmm.

Fast forward 15 minutes and I run into a guy from Belgium we will call “Andre the Giant”. The name says it all.

I digress.

So I sit next to him and say what’s up, I met him at an “impromptu” street rave on Khao San an hour after the bite, last time I met a guy that big was this bouncer from Serbia who LOVED house music and danced around like a kid despite training for Strong man on his spare time by way of benching mini coopers and eating a dozen eggs plus for breakfast and several litres of milk a day. Every once in a while when he got tipsy he’d pull out photos of AK holding peeps with ski masks from when he was a kid or show me knife marks in his arms from the “war over there”.

I digress once more.

So yeah, I tell him about my ordeal and he is like “no big deal”. He said he got bit a few years ago and to go to the local hospital, he said it shouldn’t cost you more than a few hundred baht per shot. He told me he got 5 and is better then ever or something like that. Then I met his Aussie friend who told me to simply drink more beer, I bounced.

I went to my main tuk tuk friend (Joe of course) and told him I wanted to go to the hospital for the bite, he asked when it happened, I told him last night and he waved me in. We drove there howling at the moon like rabid dogs or some over caffeinated Slope of Hopers piling into the FAZmobile on margin whenever the market opens any color but green. (If that last sentence means nothing to you, it’s ok)

Get to the hospital and the ladies at the front desk speak no English, furthermore all the signs are in Thai… I was like wow, this is something new. Start the game of charades and key words until I meet this old Thai lady who went to school in Melbourne who walks me through the emergency room, we had a moment. I get there and explain what happened and they guide me to this other building. I enter my name and am treated with great respect. When I tell them 35,000 baht is what I quoted, they all start laughing. There were 2 people there that spoke perfect English. I spoke with a surgeon from the trauma area who had a crew of ~10 final year med school students assisting him. They take my blood pressure and all that jazz, I’m healthy.

He checked it out and it was classified as a low risk case so no immunigalizasdfaf(I will never remember how to pronounce or spell that). Like a Rabid dog, or a Rabid Rob I told him I don’t care about price, load me up with everything you got. He insisted it was not necessary and told me it is ONLY necessary when a dog breaks through all your skin so its fangs puncture really deep directly into the blood stream, or something like that. I’m in between case 1 and 2 severity, case 3 is nutso land.

I got the shot required and a tetanus shot. I have to go back on the scheduled days for more. Whether I’m in Bangkok, Thailand or not it’s a very popular vaccine called “Rabipur” or something like that. I also have my record. I think I have a tetanus shot but I took one anyways because it was $3 and at this point would of taken anything they’d sell and safely inject in me at these bargain basement prices to ease my most anxious mind.

Getting your meds in these hospitals is quite interesting. You get your prescription, go to a registrar and pay for one of the drugs the tetanus, transfer buildings and give these people behind a glass wall your card, they enter some words in Thai and send you to another station, you pay at that station, you then go back to the other station and pick up your meds before returning to the inital site to get injected.(I know this is a long sentence but I’d get it out in one breath so it stays) I remember sticking my head through the glass with a Joker like grin saying “Hello Ladies” and seeing 10-15 wide smiles back. The “drug factory” kinda reminded me of Charlie and the chocolate factory with conveyor belts and everything and everyone singing and dancing in harmony, maybe it was just the rabies induced hallucinations but I was mesmorized by the efficiency and friendliness of this little “op”.

Get the shots and roll out, 5 missed calls. I figure Joe has left and that is OK, I was in there ~30-45 minutes and this is at ~11PM aka PRIME TIME for a tuk tuk driver to bank some coin on tourists venturing off to different parts of Bangkok. I don’t see him, this other guy starts talking to me and I see Joe at the other side of the highway doing jumping jacks to get my attention, I run across and off we go in the TUKMOBILE! He keeps joking “bad dog, bad dog” and making barking noises as we speed around cars with great vigor and zeal.

Seriously, driving in these countries is nutso, if you are a control freak, stay home. When you jump in these vehicles you’re just a sack of potatoes in the back, you gotta “trust yo driver” or something like that. I mean this is how they roll out and the best defense is a good offense right? Either way, I was genuinely surprised he waited, acquaintances drop people at the hospital, friends wait.

Yeah so here I am, just chilling. I am actually kinda glad this happened in a weird way. While I was laying there with the sinking sensation that I needed medical treatment some things came to my mind, we’re all here for a short time that feels like forever. Kinda like a vacation if you will, you never really think about the inevitable until the trip starts coming to an end… Suddenly having the possibility of your “trip” cut short by decades makes you think of things you typically never do, it was enlightening. I basically entertained thoughts I’d never had before, none of which I’ll share with you.

FYI – hospital stay and the 2 shots cost me a grand total of 467baht aka ~$16US. Each additional Rabipur is ~377 baht or ~$13US and tetanus is ~$3US

This is long, tips hat,

Rabies patient from the US in the 1950′s

Good day,

I was out for a leisurely jaunt last night on my way to a delicious street side fiesta of sorts a few streets from Khao San when suddenly I felt this “NIP” on my right ankle, I was like “What the….!?” and look down and there is this skidly dog looking up at me with a case of the crazies in his eyes. It wasn’t but hard but dog bites are dog bites and it was right in my right ankle / calf region. The lady I was walking with was like “no big deal” and I brushed it off. The night continued…

I woke up this morning and still thought nothing of it, it didn’t bite me hard but being the prudent gentleman that I am, I figured why not talk to a pharmacist. This one guy tried to give me the antibiotics I had for my leg and charge me 2X what I paid previously. He tried to sell me half the quantity for the price I paid for double, I told him “no thanks”. I spoke with a few people and everyone said “You should be OK”. I even “think” I’ll be okay but man, the flip side is death and that dirty dog did bite me. I realized it was time to go to a hospital and inquire about pet meds aka vaccines.

I go in and talk with the Doc, he looks it over and says I “should be OK”, he did note that there is a small opening in the skin. I said ok, that’s reassuring, what happens if I’m not ok? He said all cases end in fatality. Really? Wow, not sure if I like those odds and I could be considered a “betting man” of sorts. I even asked him what the odds of the dog having rabies are, he said it’s an epidemic in Bangkok.

After an hour so reality sunk in. This “You should be OK” stuff isn’t good enough. I’m not down with being a petri dish for rabies, thank you. Imagine suddenly coming down with the symptoms below while in the middle of Asia or anywhere for that matter. Also once the virus is fully developed there is nothing you can do. I kinda thought to myself, wonder what it would be like to know that you’re going to get lock jaw, have central nervous system failure and a whole host of unpleasant side effects before eventually dying a painful death? It was a very unsettling feeling.

Symptoms (Wiki)

The period between infection and the first flu-like symptoms is normally two to twelve weeks, but can be as long as two years. Soon after, the symptoms expand to slight or partial paralysis, cerebral dysfunction, anxiety, insomnia, confusion, agitation, abnormal behavior, paranoia, terror, hallucinations, progressing to delirium.^[7] The production of large quantities of saliva and tears coupled with an inability to speak or swallow are typical during the later stages of the disease; this can result in “hydrophobia”, in which the patient has difficulty swallowing because the throat and jaw become slowly paralyzed, shows panic when presented with liquids to drink, and cannot quench his or her thirst. The disease itself was also once commonly known as hydrophobia (or aquaphobia), from this characteristic symptom.

Death almost invariably results two to ten days after the first symptoms; the few humans who are known to have survived the disease were all left with severe brain damage, with one recorded exception purportedly resulting from implementation of the Milwaukee protocol.^[8] It is neurotropic in nature.

I got up and went over to the Medical clinic and told him to hook me up with the immunoglobulin treatments. One thing I will note is I was kinda floored at the price, I knew it was pricey back home, but not like this, $1000US+. Well back home it’s the PRE-EXPOSURE vaccine, this is the post exposure one. Regardless of how much it costs to manufacture, they could charge what they want, if you have been placed at risk to something that will kill you, you’ll trade it all. In fact many people who get bit in Thailand have to fork over ~50% of their annual rate, wow I almost typed “annual rage”. “Rage” is what’s called in French FYI.

If I read correctly on wiki, deaths in Thailand have dropped significantly however ~400,000 post-exposure treatments were administered and 30-40% of the samples come back positive, I don’t like those odds.

Familiar with Rabies?  Wikipedia, notice how often they mention “Thailand”.

So yeah, tomorrow I go to the Bangkok Hospital and get the post exposure immunoglobulin treatment (shot) and then some other shot. Then I get another  3 days later, 7 days later, 14 and 28. OH JOY! To think, I was only in Bangkok still because I was letting my knee get better and now that’s gone the next day I get bit by a shady and agitated stray dog. Sweet.

That said, I’m in a new guest house now, I have A/C and free wifi so who really cares if I lounge here a bit, it’s quite comfortable except for this kid that won’t stop crying and his parents who aren’t doing anything about it, I hate that.

I digress.

I’m off to eat some stuff that looks tasty while avoiding dogs. Truth be told, I do avoid dogs this was just dark and I was walking past a vendor stall and I guess I spooked him or he is raging on rabies, either way I’m getting a tour of yet another South East Asian hospital.

Tips hat,

P.S: Dogs don’t usually go after you in these countries, I was passing by one of the many stalls and I’m assuming I spooked it or something. That said, be careful what you ask for, this trip isn’t boring but going “Hospital Hopping” wasn’t really on my things to do list.