More Adventures to Come: January 2011

Thursday, January 27, 2011

"Try to avoid breaking your fall with your face from now on"

I've successfully scaled Thailand's fifth highest mountain; snorkeled in the Andaman; navigated the streets of Bangkok while successfully avoiding motorbikes, tuk-tuks, buses, and cars; taken buses across Sierra Leone; dealt with my fair share of corrupt border people... but walking on the sidewalk is a bit much for me.

My face, Sunday around 1pm

Last week, I managed to break my fall with my face... basically. I was walking along the road and passed out. Rather than fall gracefully like all those movies show, I fell flat on my face. No scratches on my hands, knees, elbows, or any of the many places that you tend to scratch when falling down. Instead, I managed to do this -->

Luckily, it looks worse than it was. While I did manage to scratch myself up quite a bit, I didn't damage anything else and my fainting was probably due to low blood pressure... and some mild dehydration, hot temperatures, and/or MRT nearby (insert doctor handwaving here). Also luckily, I was with several friends, one of whom is a doctor, who promptly took me to the hospital for some good face scrubbing, several stitches in my lip, and continuous ice-packs and IV drugs overnight.

My hotel-like hospital room

Also luckily, I heal pretty quickly - with the help of said doctor-friend, who scrubbed my nasty, scabby face each night and put on nice, healing ointment. And, I had tons of visitors, text messages, and phone calls to keep me company. And, people to bring me soft food that I could eat with the small spoon that could fit in my mouth without stretching my stitches. So, all-in-all, not a bad experience... not good, obviously, but not bad.

And, I got some very helpful advice, namely, from my friend Samhitha, who wisely and sagely told me to "try to avoid breaking your fall with your face from now on." Noted. Thanks! ;)

My face (from top: Mon., Thurs., Fri.)

Monday, January 24, 2011

Christmas and New Year's in Thailand

I was dreading spending Christmas in Thailand. Yes, I made the decision to stay here, knowing I would miss all of the traditions and family activities and general holiday cheer that makes me adore the holiday season. But, after last year's exhausting whirlwind tour of the Northeast (which was very nice but left me with a horrible cold and an even worse layover in China), I decided to stay here, spending my time touring Laos and relaxing a bit around the holidays. For the first few weeks between Halloween and Thanksgiving, I pretended Christmas was not imminent, despite the lights, decorations, and holiday music that surrounded me even in Thailand.

This lasted until the first week of Advent, the official start of the church Christmas season. We started church with a few holiday songs and I was hooked. And then I went a little Christmas crazy! So here are a few pics from my holiday season in sunny, warm Bangkok with my friend Samhitha to celebrate Christmas and New Year's with me!