Hunt for medical attention

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Well today was pretty pants. Woke up at 4am in pain, stoopid ear and when I got up this morning my jaw and neck ached and my ear was even more swollen 😞 It said in the Lonely Planet 'bible' that the best/only (it literally said there are no good healthcare facilities in Laos!) place to get good care was at the Australian Embassy Clinic so we set off there. On our way we saw their version of the Arc d'Triomphe which was really cool, quite gothic, we liked it. Unfortunately after 1hr 1/2 we finally found the embassy, well a note on the embassy wall telling us it had moved...and not just a little bit, miles away. Anyway we managed to grab a passing tuk-tuk driver and show him the sign which had on the address of where we wanted to go to.

The guy said 4000 kip, this seemed really cheap and we were very happy....then part of the way there he informed us he'd said 14000 kip then by the time we'd got there it was 40000....now I know my hearing was not in the best of orders but I have a severe feeling he was ripping the pee out of us! I was however just happy to eventually be there. The embassy was very big, white and plush. We were security checked and had our cameras confiscated before being allowed in. Once at the clinic the receptionist informed us the doc was in a meeting....over 2hrs later he appeared (we'd entertained ourselves with mags and by chatting to this guy from NZ who had burst his ear drum by sumasalting off a river rope swing).

The doc was really nice, looked in my ear and gave me antibiotics and drops and informed me I have an ear infection. Paid $73 which I have to attempt to claim back from insurance company. We shared a ride back to town with NZ guy. Went for tea and I realised I'm only really capable of sucking food so yoghurts, chocolate and banana cake for me then! 😉

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