Brave, or stupid?
The guy is balancing on a single bar, well over 100 ft up in the air..... The other guy (on the second floor) looks as though he's about to do a nose dive into the ground below (he didn't, thankfully).
No wonder there are so many deaths on building sites in Thailand.
(but they can build things, very quickly).
Had to make a little visit to Chula Hospital in Bangkok. We were advised to 'get masked up', and so we did. Trouble was, I had the worst case of flu ever (which wasn't the reason for having to go to hospital). After having arrived back in Thailand from the UK, I have spent the next week with hardly any sleep cos of bad jet lag. After a few days (when I felt fine) I went swimming in a bit of a minging pool, and a bug pounced.
I must have looked pretty terrifying for anyone a bit jumpy about catching anything nasty. My eyes were bloodshot, I had a hacking cough and nose like Niagra falls. I really shouldn't have gone I know, but I had very little choice; I hoped my mask would keep most of my own nasties inside. I even took the stairs (nothing to do with the huge lift queues, honest). I was so ill by the time I got the sixth floor I was ready to check in.
(Just another weird Thai t-shirt) I reckon about 1/5 of people in Chula Hospital had masks on. I can't really see that making a big difference on infection rates, if swine flu is as virulent as the press would have us believe. The hospital staff impressed me though; as we sat in a large waiting room, nurses dished out antiseptic hand gel to everybody without exception. One of them even stood at the front and gave a demonstration on how to use it. All we strangers sat there, rubbing hands and fingers together in unison.
When we finally got in to see doctor (to see him about something completely unrelated to my flu), he took one look at me and surprised me when he asked in perfect English if I had a fever.
I said that I was a bit rough, yes.
He asked me if I had recently travelled.
Er, yes, I said, a few weeks ago (I'm not sure why I lied, but I felt pretty uncomfortable at this point).
He carried on taking a good hard look at me, and said 'If you have a fever, then I will need to make sure you go and get screened for H1N1 virus, swine flu'.
I told him that I appreciated what he was saying, but really, I was fine.....
He looked quite pissed off, and carried on with what he was doing.... making me feel worse for being there, as ill as I was...
I'd be lying if I said I didn't get a little worried voice in my head at this point... Maybe I should get checked out? It's one of those occasions where you think, shit, maybe this is why there is all this press attention. Christ. Maybe I have got fecking swine flu.... !
We got finished up, and I legged it.
(Lovely view of a park from the Chula Hospital. Any Thai experts out there know what it's called?).
Anyway, a day later, tonnes of fresh orange juice, paracetamol, tomato soup and a full nights kip, and I'm fighting fit. I think I scared myself healthy.
Moral of the story. If you gotta go to the Thai hospital, get a mask on, especially if you've got swine flu.
Was walking along Highway 340 at the end of last week when I came across the big commotion below.
A 4x4 had come off the road and into an overgrown trench at the side of the highway.
It looked as though nobody was hurt, as the driver was no where to be
seen, and there were no other injured parties, from
what I could tell.
On these busy highways, local shops and houses are often situated along the side of the road. Many cars tend to tear down the highways, hell for leather, so it's lucky that this car didn't end up crashing through the front of somebodies home or business.
Accidents will happen, and Thailand has it's fair share, 12,500 road deaths and 79,000 road related injuries in 2007, according to this article by ThaiPr.net.
A lot of the time, these accidents involve the young, sometimes the very young, who are in control of the vehicles. I remember when I first came to Thailand, Sutiya and I spent the night in the local hospital with her cousin's son (5 at the time) who had been run down by a moped driven by a 12 year old. He was badly hurt, but thankfully O.K.
Thailand does have a mandatory driving test, but as with many laws here, it isn't enforced stringently, although, I've heard the police will come down hard on wrongdoing after such accidents occur.
I read about another accident that happened this weekend. Police have ordered the closure of 'The Bangkok Drag
Avenue' after one of the race cars lost control and hit the barrier,
flipping over into the crowd, killing 9 spectators (full article here).
I suspect safety precautions which were supposed to be practiced by the track would have been loosely enforced.
The trouble for me personally is, being someone who rallies against the importance afforded to health and safety departments back in the UK (i.e speed cameras / pointless risk assessments / overzealous security etc), these accidents show just how the Thai's attitude towards the law, and health and safety, may in fact be too relaxed, and in consequence means they will have to endure many more preventable tragedies.
More safety, or more freedom. Which do you prefer?
For a full breakdown of Thai driving laws, there is a good website here.
