Living Laos Style

I finally got around to taking some pictures of my new casa.....I must say I think I found a pretty special spot. And we have two guest rooms for visitors :). Yes, that's an open invitation....





This is my house, view from the front gait. Note the giant wagon wheel hanging on the wall.



Sunset. This is a little hut that the monks sit in to meditate and
watch the sun go down over the Mekong. Feels a bit like my own
asian paradise.



My porch, perfect for beerlao and watching the sunset. Mosquitos can be a pain
but repellant does wonders and it's well worth it.

The Buddhist Wat next door. Yes, they do wake me every morning at 6 am
with the morning bells....and occasionally at 4 am.....but it's well worth it to
have such a beautiful temple next door and the bells are quite pretty as well.

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The stairwell....I love the wooden parts of the house. So beautiful.



My living room. I love the lamp on the right....looks like a little man.



A little R&R on the deck.

How picturesque is this? Have you bought your ticket to come visit yet?

The Mekong is such an amazing river....I love the stillness of it.

The temple next door has these great little table and chairs where you can
sit and overlook the river or watch the sunset. There are often monks sitting here
as well. They are happy to chat and practice their English.

Home sweet home

It's official, I'm no longer a vagabond. Last night I went to Basi (a Laos blessing ceremony/party) for a friend's new house.....and now my new house as well. She just moved to Laos around the same time I did and found this beautiful house a bit out of town, right on the Mekong river. Lucky for me it's four bedrooms, and she wants a housemate.

It's a really neat Laos style house with a large balcony overlooking the river and a huge downstairs guesthouse. It has a beautiful lush garden with a little outdoor patio. It's also right next to a cute little Wat, with monks and all. The only downside is a longer commute into town but some friends who live just across the road said it's easy to grab a tuktuk or even bicycle in during the cool season. I figure you only live in Laos once so why not feel like you're living in Laos. It's also nice to have so much space for guests and Zoe, my new housemate seems like a good fit as well. She is a wildlife veternarian working with the world wildlife fund.

The Basi itself was interesting. It's a blessing for goodluck and to remove any past spirits or remenants of the past. A village elder comes, does some chanting and then we all tie string around one another's wrists while offering them a blessing for the next year. All the time, everyone is drinking beerlao and snacking on tasty lao food. Our evening ended with some dancing with one of the little old Lao ladies. I was sidelined by my ankle but got some good photos at least.

Missing in Action

I haven't been holding up my end of the blogging partnership lately and I apologize. I wish I could say that my schedule has been overwhelmingly busy but in truth, I'm still just nursing my ankle back to health. Two weeks down, one to go before I can start physical therapy and the long rehab process. I did just schedule my first PT appointment for next week, can you tell I'm anxious to get going?

That aside, life has been chugging along. I have yet to nail down a home yet but have a couple options lined up. One of which is bound to work out. I've also been researching my transportation options. Apparently important tax for a foreign car into Laos is 100%. Is that not incredibly insane? Even more so, is just how many foreign cars are on the roads here. Where do these people find the money to pay such an insane tax?
Just another of the many quirks of Laos.

A quick recap of my last week. Lots of reading, Ian bought me a new kindle book about Buddhism that I've thoroughly been enjoying. We also took a trip to the local movie store and bought a handful of pirated films to keep me entertained. In truth, probably the most exciting aspect of my last week has been culinary.

I've been eating like a queen here. It's just too easy. Options are plentiful, dirt cheap, and oh so convenient. The fresh squeezed juices and smoothies are pretty epic too. My favorite thus far is a Laos coffee and coconut milk smoothie; a delicious sugary, caffeine infused concoction to keep you buzzing all afternoon!

The pho and Vietnamese sandwiches have been pretty amazing as well (cheaper and tastier than at home). I've also had lots of tasty curries, noodle dishes, sushi, the list goes on and on. I'm pretty sure I'll come back to the US about 30 lbs heavier.....unless I get off these crutches soon and back to the gym. :)

Massages, tasty food and beer Lao.....who needs a functioning ankle, right?

Massages fix EVERYTHING

Today felt like my first true Saturday in Laos, if for no other reason than I seem to have filled the day with weekend type activities and only let my ankle slow me down slightly. I went to brunch with some friends at Stickys (a local expat institution). After a leisurely brunch and a sweat inducing stroll downtown, we went shopping at the local home goods store, where everything is dirt cheap, comes from china and will likely disintegrate in 2-4 weeks. This was quite an endeavor on a bum foot and took far longer than anticipated.

So in reward for my valiant shopping effort, I experienced my first ever Laos massage. For a whopping $6, I was given a wonderful full body massage (minus one injured ankle) which involved a small Laos lady bending me in various positions and at one point standing on my thighs to allow full use of her body weight. It was quite amazing and I will likely be back every week for the next 53 weeks or so :).

After the massage, a brief nap to help collect myself and then dinner with some new friends at their beautiful Laos style home. I took a Napa Valley wine I found in the local expat market just to make sure and represent a little bit. However, I was well outdone by the French woman who brought a delicious Champagne which went quite well with a tasty fish stew our hostess made.

All in all, a successful Saturday....complete with Sunday morning hangover.

Downhill from here

It seems that this adventure of mine has been off to a bumpy start. First, the trip getting here wasn't as smooth as it could have been. Then this bizarre ankle injury and now I've spent the last two days struggling with a fever, headache and the stomach bug from hell. So I'm banking on the fact that things inevitably change and its bound to turn around at some point. My recent sickness has at least kept me off my feet for a few days and thus sped along my ankle recovery. The swelling has gone down a great deal and the bruising gets more spectacular every day.

The problem with being laid up in bed is that I don't have much of any consequence to write about. Unless anyone is interested in hearing about old espisodes of American tv series such as Gossip Girl, House, or Dexter....I haven't been up to much lately. One thing I did learn is that there is a great little shop in town that sells any pirated movie, television series, etc. that you could ever want for a little over $1 a piece. It makes up for the fact that all the cable here, while free in most apartments and homes, is completely in Laos.

I have also been brainstorming some way to repay the wonderful woman (essentially my boss) who has taken me to the hospital in Thailand, played doctor to my ankle and stomach, and taken me into her home where she cooks and takes care of me. Not sure if I will ever find anything appropriate to repay that steep debt but if you have any thoughts, I'm all ears.

Hopefully life will get more interesting when I'm back on two feet!

Life goes on

Back to work today, at a snails pace of course. Having never been on crutches before, I never appreciated just how life altering they are. Luckily, I have a wonderful housemate (at least temporarily) who makes sure I'm fed and comfortable. She also has a cat named Tom Collins, who is absolutely insane. He's still a kitten and insists on chewing on my bandaged foot at every opportunity. You can see the crazy in his eyes, don't you think?

On the upside, I went sinh shopping today with a woman from work. Sihns are traditional skirts that women wear in Laos. They can be quite beautiful and I'm excited to go to a tailor next week to have mine made. I purchased five different fabrics, and I'm sure I'll buy a great deal more over the next year. They are a neat foldover design that allows you to ride a bike, motorbike, etc. without flashing everyone around. It's also a very cultural thing, and I think the Laos people appreciate the effort of falang women to wear them. All the men compliment me when I do wear them :)

As for my foot, it's getting uglier by the day, but I am certainly appreciating that while my injury looked horrible, it could have been much much worse. It was a subtalar dislocation meaning not the actual ankle joint but the joint just below that. This means that my ankle joint was still intact and also means there is less chance of an associated fracture or the need for surgery to stabilize things. I do plan to followup with an orthopaedic surgeon with my xrays just to be sure but if the internet is right (and it so often is) then my prognosis looks pretty good. Three weeks nonweightbearing, then physical therapy and I should be right as rain.

I've even cheated some and put a little weight through the foot and it seems tender but not overly so. I've also been doing some nonweightbearing motion and have decent range of motion already, so hopefully rehabilitation will be a breeze (famous last words). I must admit that in a city where motorbikes are the main transportation, life with an injured leg isn't easy. I'm basically stranded unless I call a cab (there are only a hand full in town) or hop on the back of someone's bike crutches in hand. Needless to say, I won't be purchasing my own motorbike any time soon.

I did make it out of the house today to see an apartment. I'm sharing with an Australian woman I met since being here. Two bedroom, one bath for $500 a month....and prices have basically gone through the roof lately. That of course includes aircon, internet, water, etc. It also includes a guard at the front gait, a maid who cleans daily, does the laundry and dishes. Basically I will be paying $300 for a housewife/mom and an apartment. That's a long way from San Francisco prices. You can see why people get spoiled living here.....now if only I could higher someone to carry me up and down the 3 flights of stairs :)

And my world crashes to a halt

Never in my life have I been in a hospital as a patient, until last night. My new project coordinator/boss invited me to attend a weekly netball game she attends on Tuesday nights. Apparently, netball is a cross between basketball and ultimate frisbee and is played on a basketball court. A group of ex-pat women get together and play once a week here in Vientiane. Kerryn, my boss, assured me it's not competitive and really more of a social thing and a chance to get a little exercise. I readily agreed to join.

Now I don't blame netball in any, way, shape or form, but I'm pretty damn sure you will never catch me playing that idiotic game again, ever. Long story short, I was running to defend my opponent and my foot stopped but my body kept going. I took a hard fall and looked up to see my foot rolled under me at a 90 degree angle, a very abnormal, inhuman, and sickening angle. I assumed my leg was broken as I had felt some kind of snap, pop, as I hit the ground. I swore and cried, cursing my damn bad luck.

Luckily, the women I was with were fantastic. They called the local French clinic emergency line and got the French doctor and PT to meet us at the clinic just around the corner. A couple of them managed to scoop me into Julie's (one of the women, who before then I had never met) SUV and pull together my passport (for the inevitable trip into Thailand) and health insurance. The French doctor and PT took one look at my foot and suggested making haste to Udon Thani and the hospital there (2 hour drive). The PT asked if my foot had been normal before this accident (which goes to show just how awfully abnormal it looked). I was then mercifully given a shot of morphine.I can't describe the feeling of seeing one of your bodyparts headed in the wrong direction. Somehow it is quite difficult to wrap your brain around it. It seems to send your body into a state of shock.

So with Kerryn supporting my leg on her lap, Julie driving and another wonderful woman, Sang (who speaks Lao) accompanying us, we made the 2+ hour drive to Udon Thani. The first hour wasn't so bad, as I was high on morphine and the pain was a persistent but background noise. However, the morphine faded and an intense burning that I could only guess to be nerve pain took over. I began breathing like a woman giving birth and sobbing uncontrollably. I have been lucky enough to have few serious injuries in life, and this pain was like nothing I had ever felt before.

I can't imagine how that last hour felt for the poor women in the car with me, but I remember it as being the worst of my life. Somehow, we made it through the bordercrossing with only minimal complications, and I eventually found myself being wheeled into the emergency room at Auk International Hospital. I begged for more pain killers as they removed my shoe and sock. I admit I could not bring myself to look at my foot at that point but someone managed a picture that I will share soon, it really is rather mindboggling. The ER doctor consulted "the" orthopaedic surgeon who was currently in the OR.

I was taken to xray and the morphine began to once again numb the pain. From my hospital bed I could see the xrays, showing no fracture but a dislocation of some kind. Turned out my talus (the bone that articulated with the tibia and fibula) had dilocated laterally (to the outside of my foot) and the rest of the foot moved in, hence the odd, inhuman angle.

Given this information, the ER doctor informed me that they would need to straighten my foot "some" and immobilize it to prevent nerve damage while we waited for the orthopaedic surgeon. I would then need surgery. So I couldn't eat or drink water although apparently morphine makes you crazy thirsty. The straightening of the foot wasn't exactly enjoyable but as I heard and felt the loud pop of the talus reducing, I knew things were headed in the right direction. Kerryn assured me my foot was back to where it should be and I could move my foot again, something I had been aching to do for the last 4 hours.

So, we booked the VIP2 hospital room (medical tourism :) ) and after an xray to confirm a reduced ankle and no need for surgery, we all attempted to get some sleep. I spent the next few hours feeling relief like I have never felt. Seeing you foot in such a horrible position is quite traumatizing and scary. I had been sure surgery was in my future. Instead I am in a splint for 3 weeks non weightbearing on crutches and then starting physical therapy and rehabilitation. Not looking forward to the next few months but counting my blessings for how much worse it could have been.

It's been an emotional and scary last 24 hours. I am moving in with Kerryn to her spare room for a temporary solution to my homelessness and lack of manueverability. Then hopefully I will get some decent sleep and start to recover. I must say that my compassion for my patients, especially those in the hospital, has increased exponentially. Crutches are no fun, and I'm so happy my one leggedness is only temporary!