Well this was it. My last day in Thailand and I still didn’t feel much better than I did the previous day. The bite on my leg that I’d had since I left Pattaya was still there and it wasn’t getting any smaller. In fact it was really sore.
I finally got the motivation to get dressed and I decided to head to a massage parlor somewhere close by. I found a cab and told him I wanted to go to the Prince Hotel on New Petchaburi Road.
While we're on Sukhumvit about to make the turn onto Wireless Road to get to New Petchaburi, a cop directing traffic signals us to pull over. Now let me say I usually wear my seatbelt in the cabs as a rule given how insane they drive in Bangkok. But this time I didn't. The cop came over to my side of car and the first question out of his mouth was "Where you from?"
Maybe I should have said Mexico? But I said America instead. He then informed me that I didn't have my seatbelt on and I needed to give him 500 baht. I immediately knew what was happening. Whatever the fine was for not wearing my seatbelt (even if there is such a law in Thailand) I had a feeling it was not 500 baht. He just wanted to get some free money off of a farang.
Then he mentioned something about the police station and I was more than content to go with him, knowing/hoping that the fine I would have to pay there would be a lot less than the 500 baht this cop was trying to stick it to me for. And then that way perhaps this cop would be denied his free money prize from me.
I signaled my willingness to go the police station and started to pay the cabbie for the fare up until that point. Then all of a sudden the fine magically went down to 200 baht. So I paid that up instead of hassling with the shake down anymore. This was my first experience with a crooked cop. Mexico, Thailand, or anywhere else.
In hindsight maybe I should have just gone to the police station with him or insisted that we go and he probably would have just let me go if he knew he wasn't going to get any money out of me. But I was not feeling well and didn't want to bother with the hassle during my last day in Thailand. I didn't have my passport on me either, only a copy and I didn't want to get hassled about that either.
I have no idea what the real fine would have been. And the amount doesn't bother me. I just don't like the idea of been shaken down. But I made my choice. And it was probably worth the 200 baht not to have to deal with him anymore. And I could have avoided this situation altogether had I had my seatbelt on, right?
The cabbie apologized to me afterward and kept repeating the words bad police, bad police.
I eventually made it to the Prince Hotel and started walking along New Petchaburi road. It was still early, but one of the places I decided to check out was Embassy. This is another one of those massage joints that is talked about by all the touts along Sukhumvit.
Embassy
Soi 39
Phone: 0-2252-0393
I walked in and there were a fair amount of girls, but none that I was really interested in. I think I was quoted a price of 1500 baht. The papasan was really pushy and wanted me to take two girls. That simply wasn’t going to happen as I couldn’t even find one that I wanted. He wrote down a special “sandwich” price but I don’t remember what it was.
Halem
Soi 41 Left Side of the Road if heading up from New Petchaburi
Phone: 0-2625-7926
So I headed over Halem next. I found a girl there for 1500 baht. No idea what her name was but I remember that she was little bit older. 26, I think. We headed upstairs and when we undressed she seemed concerned about the big bite I had on my leg. Her English wasn’t good. I kept trying to tell her it was a bite and she kept trying to tell me it wasn’t. The bite was right smack center on the back of my hamstring so I never got a really look at it.
Photos: Halem
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She called it something in Thai which I could not understand. She also said that she had seen this before and it had to be cut out. She also mentioned something about it getting infected otherwise. I continued to think it was just a really bad insect bite, but it did get me thinking. It really didn’t itch, but was quite sore. I’d had it almost a week now and it wasn’t going away.
Back to the session. It was hard to get a few snapshots of her, but I finally managed two. It is kind of funny. On the latter part of my trip I had a very difficult time getting the girls to allow photos. I did get a photo of every girl I did on the trip, but some were not easy.
We started the session, which turned out to be my last of the trip. I don’t remember too many details and didn’t record them as all my thoughts started to become pre-occupied with this “something” on my leg. I do remember a nice, but short BBBJ and we probably did my standard three positions. It wasn’t all that memorable for my last session and she was a little chubby after she undressed.
But I did appreciate the information she provided about the “something” on my leg though. At least a dozen or more other girls had seen it and not said a thing about it. I remember Thip tried to pop it like it zit when I saw her on Monday which was insanely painful. I jerked my leg away extremely fast as soon as I felt that finger nail on it.
After I finished up at Halem I started to think about what I wanted to do. I remembered back to my research about Thailand and how the State Department website said healthcare in Thailand, especially Bangkok was quite good.
BillCink had also told me the other day how he went over Bumrumgrad Hospital shortly after he arrived for a minor problem. He had given the hospital rave reviews. While searching for Number One Gentlemen’s Club on Soi 1 I remember passing by that hospital as well. It looked like a modern, state of the art facility so I decided that was where I wanted to go.
Bumrungrad Hospital
33 Sukhumvit 3 (Soi Nana Nua),
Wattana, Bangkok 10110 Thailand
Phone: 66 (0) 2667 1000
Fax: 66 (0) 2667 2525
Emergency: 66 (0) 2667 2999
http://www.bumrungrad.com/
Here is the State Department’s excerpt about medical treatment in Bangkok.
MEDICAL FACILITIES: Medical treatment is good. This is particularly true in Bangkok, where excellent facilities exist for routine, long-term and emergency health care. Thailand has been experiencing an epidemic of HIV infection and AIDS. Heterosexual transmission accounts for most HIV infections, and HIV is common among prostitutes of both sexes. Additionally, alcoholic beverages, medications and drugs may be more potent and of a different composition than similar ones in the United States. Several U.S. citizen tourists die in Thailand each year of apparent premature heart attacks after drinking alcohol or using drugs
Additionally, here is a link to the Consular Information Sheet on Thailand
I originally found a regular cab and got in. I told him Bumrungrad Hospital. But once I saw the traffic on Asoke I decided, reluctantly, to take one of the motorcycle taxis. Ironically enough, there were a whole bunch of them right there on Asoke before the bridge to get over some small river that runs parallel to Sukhumvit and New Petchaburi. So I paid up for the taxi and hopped out and over to the motorcycle taxis. We weaved in and out of traffic and I was at the hospital in just a few minutes. There was a big banner that hung on the outside of the hospital stating that it was ISO 9001:2000 and 14000 certified. It also had something about United State certification or recommendation but I don’t remember exactly what it said.
I entered the lobby and there were signs in English and Thai that told me which floor certain doctors and specialists were on. I thought a visit to a dermatologist might be appropriate for this problem. I found the floor and headed up in the elevator. Once again, I followed the English signs and soon entered a waiting area.
I said I wanted to see a doctor about a bite on my leg. They asked if I had been there before and I said no and was asked to fill out some paperwork. They asked for my passport, which I didn’t have, but they happily accepted the photocopy I had on me. After I finished the paperwork, I waited 15 minutes before being called into see the doctor. I was also given a Bumrungrad Hospital card.
The examination room seemed to double as her office. There was an examination table to the right. She sat behind a desk to the left with a computer and various paperwork on it. Behind both the examination table and her desk were some cabinets with various medical supplies. There was also a curtain that could be pulled around to separate the desk from the examination table and the entry door.
I showed her my bite and she knew what it was right away. She kept calling it something I could not understand. She eventually wrote it down on a piece of paper in English. It was a “skin abscess.” She originally said she would give me a topical cream for it and some oral antibiotics. If after applying the cream for a day or so, some puss came out I would have to come back to have it removed and drained.
This was all good. Ok, no problem. I was relived. I didn’t relish the idea of having to have it cut out so I was hoping this topical cream would do the trick. I don’t remember how the conversation eventually went in this direction, but we started talking about how sensitive the entire area around the abscess was. This concerned her. So much so that she decided that she wanted to stick a needle in it to extract something. She said that if the needle extracted puss that meant it was getting infected and it would have to be dug out and drained. If no yellow puss came out we were ok with just the topical cream and oral antibiotic.
Well just my luck. She stuck in the needle which hurt like a mother fucker and some good old yellow puss came out. So this meant we had to go to an operating room to have it removed. I asked if this could be done today because I was leaving the country tomorrow. She said yes, they could do it in a few minutes. Someone was using the operating room right now but it would be free momentarily.
After about a 10 minute wait I was taken down about 5 doors (still in the dermatology center though) to their operating room. I asked if she was going to use some pain killers while she dug this thing out and she said yes. I believe they just gave me a local anesthetic though.
The minor surgery only lasted a few minutes. She cut out the abscess and bandaged everything up. When she told me it was it over and I went to set up, I immediately felt nauseous. A few moments later I was dry heaving into a garbage can. The doctor told me lay back down for a while and I had a cute little Thai nurse, complete in the old fashioned nurses uniforms with the hat and all watching over me for the next 10 minutes.
The doctor came back in and asked how I felt. I said I felt ok. I was handed some paperwork and told to go down the hall to pay for the services and get my antibiotics. Oh yeah. She also told me I should have the wound cleaned and re-bandaged changes every 24 hours for about 5 days.
I should also mention before I went ahead with the surgery I asked the doctor how much she thought all this was going to cost me. She said it shouldn’t be much more than 50 dollars.
It was hard to walk now and I had a noticeable limp as I went down the hall. I waited another 10-15 minutes to be called up to pay my bill and receive my medicine. The bill for everything, medicine, hospital fee, the doctor, everything was 2435 baht or around 56 US dollars.
I limped downstairs and got something to eat at McDonalds before I headed back to the hotel. I started packing up and getting ready to leave the next morning. I set the alarm and arranged for a wakeup call. Remembering what the doctor said about having the wound re-bandaged and cleaned and knowing I was about to be on a plane for 24 hours, I decided to get up early and head back to the hospital to have it changed before the long flight back to Los Angeles.
I got up about 6am that morning and everything was packed from the night before. I took a taxi back to Bumrungrad and visited the emergency room to have the bandage changed. They didn’t speak English to well there but I pointed to my leg and gave them my recently created Bumrungrad Hospital card and they knew what to do. They laid me down on a bed, took off the old bandage, took out the packing (which hurt like hell), cleaned the wound, and re-bandaged me. They did a good job of bandaging it up. It didn’t come off easily and was sealed quite nicely. I was in and out in 15 minutes. The cost? 235 baht or a little more than 5 US dollars.
I then went back to Omni Tower to get my things and check out. All the taxis at their taxi stand were gone so the bellboy had to run down the street to find me a taxi to the airport. They eventually found me one and several people helped me outside to load up. A nicely dressed gentleman told me he told the cabbie to use his meter and thanked me for staying. Soon we were off.
As soon as we got on the expressway the cabbie starting crying like a whiny little bitch about using the meter and all the traffic he was going to have to fight on the way back. He eventually just turned the meter off and asked for 400 baht. With the meter off I really didn’t know what to do. I think it was around 150 when he turned it off although I can’t be sure. I think I ended up agreeing to 300 baht.
I got to the airport and killed time in a pay per use internet shop until my flight departed. To say that the plane ride home was uncomfortable, even being in EVA Evergreen Deluxe class would be a huge understatement. Any time I placed any kind of pressure on my hamstring (so just sitting down) hurt. I slouched in the chair to avoid putting pressure on it but that hurt my back. So I tossed and turned all the back to Los Angeles. I appreciated the larger seats in the Evergreen Deluxe Class though, I imagine my trip home would have been all the more miserable had I been in coach.
When I arrived in Los Angeles I got a rental car and started driving back to Arizona. It had been more than 24 hours since my bandage had been replaced so I stopped into a hospital somewhere between San Diego and Los Angeles. Wow what a big mistake that was.
The first thing I asked was how much it would cost to replace the bandage. Of course she couldn’t tell me because they supposed to serve everyone since they are an emergency room payment is worried about later. I had my insurance card on me so I decided to get the bandage replaced. I didn’t want it to get infected.
After filling out some paperwork I was admitted to the hospital where I waited about 2 hours before anyone came to see me. The doctor, a young guy in his early 30’s who I think had USC medical school written all over him came in and tore off the bandage and the packing. He said it was healing up nicely and then left the room. Never saw him again. About 45 minutes later the nurse came in to give me an antibiotic shot and a tetanus shot.
The tetanus shot was useful as I couldn’t recall the last time I had one. She then did an oh- so terrible job of bandaging up the wound. I was then discharged. Total time I was in there must have been around 3-4 hours, with about 10-15 minutes of all that time actually being attended to someone on staff at the hospital.
By the time I got to the car the bandage had almost completely fallen off and I ended up taping it up some more myself. Contrast this to the Thai bandage that survived more than 24 hours of my squirming in every which way and a the car trip down to that hospital.
I was so tired I had to stop in Yuma at a hotel for a nap. But I did make it work on time the next morning.
The last footnote to this story is the bill I got from the hospital. I couldn’t believe they fucking charged me insurance company $1200 dollars for what they did. My insurance paid for most of it, but which co pays, deductibles and the 20% I owe (luckily the fucking hospital was a certified Blue Cross/Blue Shield hospital or I would have had to pay 40%) I still ended owing the hospital over $400.
I tell you what. Say I didn’t have insurance. I could have come out ahead had I booked another flight to Thailand ($600 US) and had the bandage changed there. (235 baht, about 5.50 US.) I just can't get over the fact that hospital charged my insurance company $1200 to change a fucking bandage.
My second Thailand trip was now complete. I would really love to go back. In fact, one of my goals will be to spend a month or two there and really go exploring. But those days will not come for me anytime soon. My next trip will probably be Rio and I can’t wait. But Thailand will always be a special, wonderful, amazing place for me and I recommend that anyone considering it as a destination go there at least once. It truly is an exotic, wondrous place.
I can honestly say that even if I had not gotten sick I probably would not have met my goal of 45 girls for the trip. But that number may have been a little closer. Say 41 or 42.
Final Girl Count For The Trip: 39