Travel Errands in Bangkok

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023 - Thailand - Bangkok

06/07/08 - 06/13/08

Travel Errands in Bangkok

This, our fourth stop in Bangkok, was one dedicated to running some much needed 'travel errands'. Since Bangkok is a major hub of Southeast Asia (or all of Asia for that matter) it's always good to schedule a few extra days here for taking care of traveling needs. In our case, our list was pretty extensive and easily filled up the whole week. Here's the list:

• Apply for our 60 day Indonesian visa at the Embassy (the maximum amount you can get 'on arrival' is 30 days so we had to go in person to the Embassy of Indonesia).
  
• Get our yellow fever vaccinations for Africa. This was the biggest pain since it is not a common vaccine.
  
• Change our paper tickets of Bangkok - New Delhi at our travel agent (STA Travel) since we would be staying longer in SE Asia. Because they're paper tickets we had to actually go in to an STA store to do this change instead of doing it online.
  
• SCUBA equipment shopping. We needed some gear for our Divemaster training (DMT).:
  -Computers (we got matching Oceanic Geos in two
  
  Eating dinner at the hospital 'cafeteria'. Check out the place settings and the view!
  different colors!)
  -Compasses
  -Surface marker bouys (SMBs)
  -Slates
  
• Shopping for stuff like clothes, toiletries, etc.

On one of the first nights back in Bangkok, Hannah caught a pretty high fever so we went to the hospital. Turns out she had a bacterial infection in her throat (tonsillitis). The hospital we went to was THE nicest hospital I've ever seen in my life. Talk about state-of-the art! The architecture in the hospital was amazing and there were big screen plasmas in the waiting room to let you know which doctors were on call. Keep in mind this was Sunday evening and we weren't at an ER or Urgent Care (most of the doctors' offices in the States are only open 40 hours/week). The level of care was amazing, and the drugs that Hannah needed were automatically sent electronically to the pharmacy so they were ready shortly after our visit. The total cost of the doctor's fee, the hospital fee, and 3 different medicines (1 antibiotic, 1 throat anti-inflammatory, and 1 holistic throat spray) was $50. This was the actual cost, not the co-pay, etc. Oh, how I wish the health care in the States was similar to this!!

That night, we ate one of the nicest meals we've ever had in Thailand... at the 'cafeteria' in the hospital. Yes, you heard me right, the cafeteria in the hospital! This wasn't a cafeteria as much as it was a tasty selection of quality restaurants, complete with excellent silverware and incredible service. Yum, we were sooo impressed!

At one of the central shopping centers in Bangkok there was a large exhibit for Euro 2008. This was a blast and Hannah and I got to participate in some of the games, including a fun event where you're strapped inside a huge plastic ball and rolled down a hill into a 'goal'.

Short blog this time since we spent most of the week running errands. Next we head to Gili Air, Indonesia to begin 5 weeks of intense SCUBA training. This should be hard work but fun as well... can't wait!!

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