I was hoping to just hang out in Luang Prabang for a few weeks and wait for my fractured wrist to heal, but after about a week it became apparent that there was a problem. So I caught a bus back to Vientiane and then crossed over the border into Thailand and went on to the AEK International Hospital in Udon Thani. It's a good thing I did this because the bone had collapsed and now my only option was surgery. This is an excellent hospital - comparable to some of the better hospitals in the States, for a fraction of the cost - I had a huge private room, an excellent orthopedic surgeon, great nurses and attentive care - they even gave me a huge gift basket full of cookies, ramen noodles, powdered soy milk, slippers, and a set of souvenir glasses-! The entire bill for everything -surgery, MD's, room and board, etc., etc., etc., was only about $5,000 which I had to pay out of pocket, but I'll be reimbursed by my travellers insurance. So I stayed there for 3 days then rented one of the incredibly cheap "apartments" connected to the hospital which was easy to transfer to considering I had no idea of where to even look for a room, but it turned out that this hospital is in the most central, tourist oriented part of town, so it was a good choice. I had not planned on visiting Udon, (or "Udorn" as it's called) -although strangely enough this is the town I lived in when I was a teenager. As I suspected, it has grown beyond recognition, though every now and then something would trigger a memory as I walked around town, like a strange superimposed image of a world long gone. I searched for the house I used to live in -all I had to go on was my memory; an image of a house down a dusty lane near a reservoir - and after a lot of walking, I found the general area. Now the reservoir is a landscaped lake with a sidewalk and neatly planted trees. Gone are the roaming water buffalo; gone is any trace of wildness. The house was gone too, or maybe I just couldn't find it, or didn't recognize it. There is a huge western influence in Udorn that wasn't there before - now you'll find McDonalds, 7-eleven, Dairy Queen and a host of other chain stores. And now there's a big mall, and a plaza with easy listening tunes in english (like the Carpenters) piped throughout so you can't escape it. At night the plaza is transformed into a night market with food stalls, but in general - the whole experience was kind of like landing in Kansas. I stayed 8 days, just long enough to have a follow-up exam, get the staples out, and transition from splint to wrist protector, which I'll wear for a month. I have the use of my hand, I just can't do any heavy lifting for awhile. I flew in to Bangkok this morning, and am writing this from the Bangkok airport - on my way now to Kolkata, India. I missed out on my plans for Thailand but may be back after I go to Nepal in May, but for now I'm just very ready to move on to India!
