Travel experiences via medical care

by Jamie Rhein on

I’ve had a filling replaced in The Gambia, a root canal and a crown put on in Taiwan, a root canal in New Delhi, and stitches taken out in Great Britain. When I was living in Denmark with a family as a college student, I hurt my little toe at a swimming pool and went to the emergency room just to see what a Danish emergency room would be like. It’s not like I was, or I am falling apart–or that I’m one of those people always on the prowl for medical care thrills. But, if you travel and live overseas long enough, going to the doctor is probably a given–even for the healthiest of people. Or, if you don’t go to a doctor, you’ll be hunting down medication for some ailment.

Ask Justin. He found this one out when he trolled the streets on his trip to Poland looking for drugs for his girlfriend. She had a wicked cold and his aim was to help her ease the symptoms. (see his post)

In his column that he writes for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Thomas Swick describes his traveling in another country medical experiences. He points out how such traveling interludes offers insight into a country one might not get otherwise.

For the most part, I’ve found medical care good to excellent–and easily accessible wherever I’ve traveled, providing I wasn’t in the middle of nowhere. Perhaps, a doctor’s office has not looked quite as swank as what I have been mostly used to in the United States, but whatever help I’ve needed, it’s been there. Even when I was on a Rotary Club exchange program to Nigeria, when the leader of our group cut his hand, he was given stitches in a very simple clinic. The doctor was a whiz and the resulting scar was minuscule.

Of course, there was that time in Vietnam when my husband had a terrible itchy rash. A pharmacist gave him a collection of pills. One kept making my husband so sleepy he couldn’t stay awake. Since he wasn’t sure which one was the sleeping pill, he quit taking them all. Eventually, the rash went away.

Dollar eviscerated in India: Rupees now preferred

by Neil Woodburn on

As another sign of the plummeting dollar, officials in India have turned up their noses at the greenback and have started charging tourists a fixed rupee rate instead of the traditional dollar based entrance fee for the country’s main sights.

According to a recent Reuters article, the Ministry of Culture used to charge $5 to enter the Taj Mahal. This price was set when one dollar was worth 50 rupees. Today, the dollar has slunk to a low of 39 rupees. This means that the $5 entrance fee is now shortchanging the state coffers by 55 rupees per tourist.

To stem this loss of revenue, the Ministry of Culture is now making tourists pay a fixed rate of 250 rupees, approximately $6.50.

Man, will it ever end? When India becomes an expensive place to visit due to the plummeting dollar, things are really bad.

Heights of superstitious India: Man marries dog

by Abha Malpani on

If there is a country that often takes superstition to different heights, it’s India.

Throw salt behind you over your shoulder every morning to have a good day; bury your child’s first tooth in cow-dung and throw it over your roof — it will hasten the child’s teething process; you can’t marry unless your astrological charts match; about 300 million gallons of waste go into the Ganges every day, yet people go to bathe there as they believe it will wash away their sins … the list just gets more and more absurd and is endless. (Most Indian politicians follow their faith when they make decisions for their country — but that’s a different story altogether.)

The latest demonstration of superstitious India: Indian man marries female dog to redeem himself of stoning two dogs to death. When he killed those two dogs about 15 years ago, he suffered some form of paralysis and lost hearing in one ear. An astrologer told him that he was cursed for his bad deed and marrying a dog was the only remedy.

What!?OK, just for the record: I like to respect what people have faith in. I am Indian and have been brought up around things like karma and traditional astrological / spiritual beliefs. I may not believe in most of it, but I do respect it. But when it gets taken to levels like this, I really don’t know what to think.

I know India has a huge problem of illiteracy, and poor villagers depend on their local pandit, or astrologer to show them the way. If it helps you in your life, fine — but where is your head when you are asked to marry an animal?

Not being educated doesn’t mean you don’t have common sense and it amazes me how all sense of rationality often gets thrown out of the window in the name of faith. It also scares me.

[Via Red Orbit]

Photo of the Day (11/13/07)

by Neil Woodburn on


I actually had to look this place up online. Photographer raghaviyengar simply labeled it Pangong Tso, Leh (Ladakh). Hmm. It was suddenly my very own Where on Earth.

Judging from the color of the sky and the mountains in the distance, I was thinking it was probably Tibet. An online search proved me wrong, however. This fine shot was actually taken in Kashmir, India (not so far from Tibet, actually).

I love the way this very shallow lake seems to stretch on for the longest distance before the far away mountains put an end to it. Doesn’t it feel like you could wade the entire way across? It sure looks cold, though.

If you’d like your equally outstanding shot featured in Gadling’s Photo of the Day, pay a visit to our Flickr Pool and upload away.

India and now Korea: more toilet talk

by Abha Malpani on

India isn’t the only country having toilet summits; one is going to kick off in Korea on November 21. This one takes a special twist though as it encourages people to open their homes in the name of improving world hygiene — according to the UN about 2.5 billion people live without proper toilet facilities.

To commemorate the General Assembly of the World Toilet Association in Korea and to amplify his call for toilet sanitation, former Korean Mayor Sim Jae-Duck has demolished his own house and constructed a US$1.6 million house in the shape of a loo. Before he moves in, the house can be stayed in for a rent of US$50,000 a night and proceeds will go into building toilets for those who cannot afford them.

In the West, toilets and toilet paper are taken for granted and people complain about the dog poo they occasionally step into. In India, the government lets out pigs into the street to eat people’s excretion — there’s just so much of it.

In some villages of say 300 people, residents share one toilet. Hard to contemplate huh.

People crap isn’t the only problem, cows crap in the main streets too. That cow-dung we actually use as manure and fuel to cook on. It’s even splat onto walls of houses in villages where electricity is unaffordable, to keep them cool in scorching summers.

I think I don’t need to elaborate further on how unhygienic things can get from lack of toilets and sanitation facilities. I’m really happy that nations are collaborating to think of solutions for this massive problem.

[Via AFP]