Thailand Pt. 2

When we arrived at the Bangkok Hospital in Chiang Rai (oddly, not located in Bangkok), I was shocked. There were chandeliers in the lobby. Everyone was dressed in lavendar pant suits, instead of scrubs. The nurses were wearing the little hats that you'd expect to see on a Halloween costume. People were smiling, it was clean, and well-lit. No morbid, fluorescent lights. I have never been in such a beautiful hospital in my life.

I was able to immediately meet with their orthopedic surgeon, whih was very lucky, because he was flying to bangkok the following day. He spoke very good English, and he actually did his residenvcy in Pittsburgh. This would not be a hillbilly with a rusty chainsaw, after all. However, I still had my qualms about surgery in a developing country. I asked if there was any way I could make it to America the way that I was, and have the surgery there. Due to the location of the breakage, he was very concerned about the possibility of deep vein thrombosis. I would not be "fit to fly" for a minimum of two weeks. And, yes, that is an actual form that you have to bring with you to the airport before they let you on the plane.

Waiting in Bangkok Hospital, Chiang Rai

Not only would I not be going back to America any time soon, I wouldn't even be allowed to leave the country. The rest of our trip, the trip that was fully paid for, was not going to happen. And what's worse than just losing that extra week of an all-inclusive trip, is having to re-book every aspect, and add a two week stay at a hotel near the hospital... So, my bill basically doubled. Oh! And I had to pay for the surgery up front. For a "family suite," surgery, meds, X-rays, tests, etc. it was about $12,000 USD. This is much, much less expensive than America, but they did not accept my shiny little platinum American Express (credit card) at either hospital. I had to pay cold, hard cash up front.

Y'all... I may never financially recover from this trip. IF I had booked travel insurance, my medical would have been fully reimbursed, along with the trip that I had to miss. Stupid ankle. Stupid me? The moral of the story is, buy the travel insurance. It's pennies on the dollar for what the trip costs and it would have saved my ass. Don't be a Whitney.

I digress, I was allowed to choose to be put under or stay awake during the surgery. I chose to be awake. I was genuionely scared. didn't want to die and have Ian have to bring the boys home to America without me. Being in the hospital makes you have all sorts of thoughts that you never wanted to think. It was bad enough that I ruined their liottle elephant adventure, and they would now miss oput on the entire coun try of Laos. I was really feeling that the shittiest mom, but felt somewhat relieved when I survived surgery and got to see them in the hospital suite.

I was in the hospital for three nights. The food was incredible. This sounds very stupid, as I write it, but the menu was like being at a Thai restaurant. Spring rolls? Fried duck? Green curry? They had it all. Other than the food, the care was pretty standard. Morphine, physical therapy, crutches to get to the bathroom... We have a lot of trouble with the language barrier, trying to explain that I did not actually know how to use a bed pan and therefore, did not want one. The nurse told me to just "pee pee" in the bed. Sexy times.

As a travel agent trapped in a hospital, I did make it my number one priority to find a hotel that the kids would love, since we would have to spend two more weeks in Chaing Rai. I think I nailed it.

I booked the Riverie by Katathani resort, and it did not dissapoint. It had an indoor playground, ball pit, lazy river, splash pad, waterpark, childcare, and it was less than $100/night for the family suite. This was the perfect place to ride out our two weeks of recovery.

I basically stayed in bed the entire time. Every day, Ian would take the boys to the playground, or swimming. Full transparency, I probably gained 20 pounds on this trip. Not being able to move is super shitty. So, on top of everything else, there's that.

However, I am stubborn as a mule, and I wasn't going to leave Chaing Rai without seeing or doing anything. We (Ian) loaded a car with my wheelchair and crutches. I strapped on my air cast, and we ventured into the city two times before departing.

Our first stop was the golden temple, which is a Hindu temple. I'm a pretty big fan of elephants, and I really loved seeing the Ganesh statues. The boys loved that they could feed giant catfish from the bridge. As far as handicap accessibilty goes, I would rate this 3 stars. There was a ramp to get into the temple, but it was very steep. I could not access the upper level of the temple, but I chose to be happy with what I could see. My air cast was already rubbing against my stitches at this point and I was ready to lay back down.

However, we trudged on toards the white temple, which was totally worth tha pain. The man who designed the temple was actually sitting at an ice cream shop next to it. I got a photo, but I look horrendous and have decided not to post it.

It took two Thai men to wheel my fat, American ass up the steep ramp for this buddhist temple, and I am eternally grateful, if not a bit embarrassed as well. I'm sure it was a site to see.

We had to remove our shoes to enter the temple, and no photography was allowed. There was a very realistic monk statue in thre Ymiddle of the room. You will have to see it yourself someday! The walls were covered in very modern murals, with everything from Batman to Osama Bin Laden. George W. Bush was next to Osama and the tour guide said they were called "the two devils." I wonder if the architect still feels the same way today, but my Thai was certainly not strong enough to ask.

I wanred to see the giant buddha statue that I had been viewing from our hotel for weeks, now. It turns out, it wasn't a buddha at all! It's actually the Chinese goddess of mercy. This was not handicap accessible at all. I took a photo at the base, got back in the van, and headed back to the hotel. I had reached my limits.

My takeaway from these sites was how diverse this small city was/is. Cultures from all over were proudly displayed side by side; something that we don't see often in America anymore.

Overall, Chaing Rai gets five stars from me. The food, people, culture, ceiling fan... Everything that we encountered really was above and beyond expectations.

Want to book your own travel to Thailand? Email me at Whitney.Thompson1@fora.travel

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