The Joy of Traveling

 During our final visit to the hospital on Thursday the 9th, we met with a doctor who filled out Shirley's "fit to fly" form.  The doctor recommended that we return to the US for Shirley to continue her recovery.  The form he signed indicated that she was able to return by commercial flight, but also suggested that for her comfort, it should be in business class. With form in hand, I sent copies to both our travel agent and the travel insurance company.  The local representative got back to us with two options:  one flying Sunday and another flying Monday for $1000 less.  They suggested we run them both past the insurance company to make sure they would pay the bill. When we sent it on, the insurance company responded within an hour and indicated they had found a flight - for even less - that departed Saturday morning. As it was now Friday afternoon, we decided to cut our sightseeing short and get back to the hotel to pack up.   The short notice f...

Sorry to have left you hanging. Our last 36 hours in Phnom Penh were rather hectic and we ended up being medically evacuated on relatively short notice.  We’re now back in the US and recovering from our jet lag and setting up follow-up appointments with Shirley’s doctors.  Here’s a recap of our last day and a bit in Cambodia: Friday, November 10. This was to be Shirley’s first day without having to have an IV infusion.  Unencumbered by hospital appointments, our guide suggested a morning tour of the National Palace, followed by a visit to the National Museum.  While that was the plan, it was not to be. We arrived at the palace and as we were exiting the car, another guide who knew Nara approached and told us not to bother.  The King had decided to pray at Silver Pagoda inside the palace complex and the entire palace grounds were closed for the morning until he finished. We hopped back in the car and headed over to the National Museum.  Nara had borr...

 As I mentioned in a previous post, today November 9 is the 70th anniversary of Cambodia's independence from France.  We knew there was to be a riverfront fireworks display at 7 pm, so we ventured up to the bar on the 44th floor of our hotel in hopes that we could see it.   It's a rather strange experience to look down at a fireworks display, but the bar turned out to be a perfect venue to see the show about 2km away.   We were treated to another even more spectacular light show courtesy of Mother Nature, as we had a fantastic lightning storm as well that night.  During the fireworks to our east, they sky to the south seemed to try and one-up the human-made display. While the fireworks lasted barely a half an hour, the lightning continued through most of the night.  We're told it is very common this time of year and we've seen lightning most nights since arriving in Phnom Penh. Fireworks in the distance.

Thursday Shirley completed her last IV infusion and we met with the cardiologist who signed the "Fit to Fly" documentation needed for our homeward bound trip to be arranged.  We were picked up at the hospital by our guide & driver and we ventured about an hour outside of town to Choeung Ek, the site of memorial to the victims of the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields.   Prior to the Khmer Rouge reign of terror (1975-1979), this site had been a cemetery for Chinese families living in Phnom Penh.  It became one of thousands of mass grave sites around the country used by the Pol Pot regime as they attempted to ethnically cleanse the country.  In all, somewhere between 1.3 to 1.7 million people were executed in these Killing Fields.  Another million-plus died of disease or starvation during the period. This particular site has had the remains of roughly 20,000 people recovered.  Trucks arrived several times per week at first and then several daily as the pace ...

As our adventure in SE Asia comes to a rather abrupt end, I look back to some of the planning I did for which I am very grateful.  I wanted to share some tips that paid big benefits for us.  Some related to the medical crisis we encountered, others are useful for any international travel. Before Traveling 1.       A good travel agency is worth their weight in gold I cannot say enough great things about Audley Travel .   They were there for us every step of the way.   They have a 24/7 Duty Officer always available and have worked to coordinate the necessary changes to our Itinerary. Their local partners in both Vietnam and Cambodia have been so supportive of us during very trying times. 2.    Buy travelers insurance Nobody wants to think something bad will happen on their trip, but the reality is that for many, something will.   Be it a medical emergency, your luggage getting lost or stolen, a travel agency going bankrupt, polit...

I remember a family car trip to Canada when I was nine years old. We had some car troubles and ended up spending an unexpected day in Calgary - only to discover the Calgary Stampede was in in progress.  The lesson I learned that day is that sometimes plans change and you stumble upon a great surprise. While our trip to Cambodia did originally include three days in Phnom Penh, had things gone according to plan we would have departed this morning for our Mekong River Cruise.  Instead, we spent the morning at Royal PP Hospital again for outpatient treatment #2.   Shirley was feeling a bit better, so I contacted our guide, Nara and arranged to be picked up at the hospital and we went for car tour of the city.  And that's when the the surprise was discovered.  Cambodia gained independence from France in 1953.  Their independence day is November 9 - that's tomorrow.  According to Nara, while they celebrate every year, every tenth year they go all out....

Shirley has gone through a rather traumatic event.  Her first full day out of the hospital was intentionally kept very low key to allow her to heal, rest and recover from the anxiety-producing last several days. We slept in late and missed the hotel breakfast.  My bad, as my first two days here were on weekends when breakfast was served until 10 am.  Weekdays, it shuts down at 9.   We spent much of the morning figuring out which pills Shirley needed to take.  We had turned over her pill boxes to the hospital and they were a bit jumbled.  On top of that, she had some new prescriptions she had been release with.  At 10:30 we grabbed a ride and headed back to the Hospital for her first of three out-patient IV infusions.  Since she is going through a therapy for Covid, we were placed in an isolation room adjacent to, but not in the ER.  A nurse came in an got an IV line started on the first stick - a rarity for Shirley.  The IV drip too...

 Monday, November 6 – shortly after I got to the hospital this morning, the infectious disease doctor treating her pneumonia & Covid stopped by to check in.  He said she was much improved, but was recommending at least a 7-day course of remdesvirmir to make sure the Covid was knocked down. Today is day 4.  Then he gave us the good news:  if her cardiologist cleared her, she could be released and follow-up treatments could be done through their outpatient clinic. We got the same word an hour later from the cardiologist.   She could go “home” as long as we monitored her blood pressure and had a follow-up up visit in a few days.   I’m familiar with “hospital time,” so don’t expect the actual release to happen until this evening, but it is the best news we’ve had in a long time.  

I woke up Sunday morning at 5:30 am.  I was aware that back home, it was 3:30 pm on Saturday, and my beloved Oregon Ducks had kicked off an hour earlier.  I found the score of the game on my phone and settled in to watch a text narrative that posted after each play.  Not the most exciting way to “watch” a game, but it beat the previous Saturday when we were mid-air for the entire game and it wasn’t until we landed in Seoul that I learned of the Ducks victory.  During halftime, I checked the internet TV in my room and discovered that I could watch the live stream of the game on YouTube.  I was able to watch the second half and the victory before breakfast. The new hotel had a fantastic breakfast buffet and I loaded up on a protein heavy meal that I knew would last me until after the early visiting hours at the hospital.   I then grabbed a Grab back to the hospital (I told my guide it didn’t make sense for two people to be waiting on me all day). When I rea...

 Like all the places we’ve stayed so far, the Penh House was classified as a boutique hotel.  It was of a more modern architecture, but was nicely appointed and definitely had a local feel to it.  I awoke and enjoyed a great local meal at the rooftop restaurant.  Skyline from the Penh House Rooftop We had decided the night before that while nice, the Penh House was too far from the hospital, so I checked out and the travel agency assured they’d find me a closer place.  My guide for the day, Nara, and driver, Lee, were waiting for me in the lobby.  They gave me a ride to hospital and kept all our bags since I was temporarily “homeless.”  On my way, we stopped at a cell phone store, and I was able to purchase some additional charging cords so our power crisis could end. The ICU has strict visiting hours of from 10 am to 2 pm and 6-10 pm.   I spent the early shift with Shirley.   She was alert and bored out of her mind.   Her isolation ro...

 Shirley had been stabilized, but there were concerns that something may go wrong during the 320km (200 mile) trip to Phenom Penh.  The ambulance would travel with a full team of a doctor, two RNs and two drivers.  Add to that, Shirley’s gurney, me, and all of our luggage and it was a pretty packed vehicle.  We left Seam Reap around 5:30 pm – the heart of rush hour.   She was ready to go long before that, but there is a “pay before you go” policy here and first, our final bill had to be tallied; then they had to reach out to our Travel Insurance company for payment.   Ninety minutes after the final bill had been submitted, the invoicing clerk came to me and suggested I could pay the bill and be reimbursed.   I burned a big hole in my credit card and got her bailed out.   Of course, 5 minutes later the insurance payment came through.   😊 So our packed ambulance pulls out of the hospital at almost exactly 5:30.   Based on posted road ...

Besides the wedding we plan to attend in Bangkok, to me the #1 highlight of our trip to SE Asia was to see the temple complex of Angkor What outside of Seam Reap, Cambodia.  Unfortunately, fate had other plans for us. We arrived in Seam Reap about 7:30 Thursday evening.   After clearing immigration and collecting our bags, we met our new guide, Ri thy (pronounced REE tay), and driver Onnak, outside of baggage claim and began the drive to the hotel.   We had flown into a brand-new airport that opened just two weeks earlier.   The facility is ultra-modern and the story is that it was moved over an hour outside of town to reduce noise around the temple complex.   Ri thy told us the other side of the story. His family, and about 50,000 other families were displaced to make way for the new airport.   They were offered small cash compensation or land in exchange for being forced out.   Ri thy showed me a video of the parcel he was offered:   barren,...

 Our 3 rd day in Vietnam started early with a drive to the Gulf of Tonkin and the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ha Long Bay.  We traveled on a modern superhighway with very light traffic after leaving Hanoi metro.  Our journey got a glimpse of life outside of the big city, but we were promised a return trip via an older road that would take us into the countryside. We drove past the massive port city of Hai Phong and onto Ha Long city.   We stopped at a place where they seed oysters for making pearls.   We got to observe the entire process from making a catalyst membrane from another oyster and the “seed” which is from mother of pearl.   We then watched them implant the membrane and seed and finally the extraction of the pearl.   We were told that pearls grow in about one of three oysters that are seeded and only 20% of those produce a jewelry quality pearl.   That means only 6-7 pearls per 100 oysters seeded. Nothing is wasted.   The me...

Our fourth stop of the Jeep Tour was the most touristy thing we’ve done so far.  At the same time, it is a truly unique Hanoi experience.  The main passenger line going from the north country all the way to Saigon runs right through town.  Originally, the houses nearest the train tracks were some of the poorest slums in all of Hanoi.  Train Street is NARROW The buildings on each side of the track are perhaps 12-15 feet apart with the train running in between.   Many of the residents along the tracks have opened small coffee shops with guests sitting single file along the building wall.   When the train comes by, it is no more than two feet away and you can feel the wind blow as it barrels by.   Once it passes, cheers sound and people run into the tracks to take selfies. At the coffee shop waiting for the train Click below to see the train go by

Our entertainment for Tuesday evening was an open air driving tour of Hanoi in a vintage Russian Jeep. Our Hanoi guide, Phil, joined us and along with a driver and a jeep tour guide named Martin. We headed into the Hanoi rush hour traffic. Our objective was to get out of the heavily visited Old Quarter and see some more typical Hanoi street life. Jeep passing by the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum First stop was a street market in the southern part of town. We learned that most Hanoi residents shop every day for their food so that it is the freshest possible. Martin tried to find some fruits we had never tried before. Thanks to my last two breakfasts, he didn’t succeed on his first few attempts, but we eventually ended up with a funky looking thing they call some sort of apple, but it looked more like flora’s best attempt to imitate a shar pei. We bought several fruits to go and took them for our fourth stop of the tour.  Fruit market Stop number two was down a side alley in the marke...