Being sick in Bangkok

In such a hot climate, it took awhile for me to realize that I was sick (don't worry, Mom, I'm fine now). I felt hot and tired, but who wouldn’t at almost 40 degrees Celsius. What finally clued me in was when I went to my apartment to get some rest and found myself turning off the air-conditioner and curling up under my blankets. This was the first time since I had arrived that I felt cold. After two nights with the chills and two days of feeling woozy, feverish and not holding down any food I was advised to go to the hospital.
Although there are fewer clinics in Bangkok, meaning that more people go to hospitals, my visit went much more smoothly than I was expecting.
One of the Thai teachers took me to the hospital (bless her heart). She spoke more English than most of the doctors and nurses and filled out my forms for me with my help and with the information on my passport. The forms were all written in Sanskrit, which meant that I couldn’t read them, and I could tell that she was very unfamiliar with writing in English characters. It was a team effort.
Once all of the forms were filled out, we moved to the waiting room. Having spent my first 4 days in Thailand at a more tourist-oriented location (Hua-Hin), this was the first time I’d realized just how much of a minority I was. I was not just the only white patient in that room at that point in time, but based on everyone’s reaction, I might also have been the only one they saw that week or month. Many stared but pretended they weren’t. Kids stared openly. It was all very unfamiliar and interesting.
After seeing the doctor and handing in my prescription to the in-hospital pharmacy, they processed it and handed over 5 different packages all with different pills to take at different times (before meals, after meals, before bed, etc). Having recently had my health plan expire on me, I’m very aware of how expensive all of this would have been in Canada. However, in Thailand, it all came to a little under 400 baht (about $12.00). Was Thailand mentioned in the movie Sicko? I was overall very impressed.
To top off my adventure, the Thai teacher Krou-Ply suggested that we take motorcycles back to the school because it would be faster. I knew my first motorcycle trip would be exciting, but I didn’t think I would be doing it with a fever, carrying a laptop or wearing my uniform (I’d gone there straight from school). This transportation is efficient and cheap, but it will take some getting used to for sure. I would definitely advise against the skirt as not being able to straddle the bike meant compromising some safety for the sake of being more ladylike…Not cool. It was exhilarating though and made me all the more happy to be back at home.