Tuk tuk turned up

This is a tuk tuk, much like the one that fell on me. I was sitting with my back facing the driver on that little piece of metal, with my arm wrapped around the little bar, for "safety".

This is the actual tuk tuk that fell on me, parked by our hotel hours after the accident. The driver of it went back to his town for a few days (probably to prevent us suing him, or something).

In Cambodia about 2 weeks ago the 5 of us got into a motor vehicle accident. We were piled into a tuk tuk (see pictures) driving along, when a motorcycle hit us (Vonn and I had our backs to the traffic, not knowing what was going on behind us). Anyways, just as Vonn and Kristy were in the middle of debating about who would get more injured in an accident, the 3 of them sitting in their proper bench seat? Or Vonn and I sitting on the metal bench, without a back or arm rests... nothing other than a single bar on either side of us. We now clearly have the answer to that debate, proving Vonn wrong, sorry Vonner.

Like I said, we were driving along when all of a sudden I hear a bang and the next thing I know I am lying on the pavement with my right arm pinned under a metal bar from the tuk tuk.

Our driver overcompensated when trying to turn away from the oncoming motorcycle and in turn we flipped over. My arm was wrapped around the bar in order to keep me from falling out of the vehicle as we were turning and driving in and out of the mad traffic of Cambodia.

Bang! Tip! See roof of tuk tuk before my eyes.
Close eyes.
Eyes open.
Right arm bulging out all around the metal bar.
Pull arm towards myself. OUCH! Nothing.It's not moving. Shit. Am I going to lose my arm? Is this how these things happen? My arm!!! My right arm!! I need help!

"MY ARM! MY ARM! MY ARM! MY ARM!", I shout.

The others weren't injured, aside from a few sprained fingers or toes and a scraped leg. Everyone got up as quick as they could and Dan was the first out. He and a local bystander and someone else lifted the vehicle off my arm.

Pull arm out, look back as I am getting up and spot gas leaking out of the motorcycle all over the road.
Get up extremely fast.
Ahhh! Explosion? This can't be happening!
Run to a safer distance away from the mess and realize that I am standing in the middle of traffic that is still moving, barefoot and in a little bit of shock, but not enough shock to know that I should get the hell off that part of the road. shit.
Watch the motorcycler who hit us drive away. Nice. No surprise.
Get my shoes on.
My bag! "Get my bag!" Dan gets my bag.
Ok... breath.,.,.. ouchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. My ARM! OWWWWW..... That was scary and my arm hurts alot, but I know it's not broken.

I see our tuk tuk driver inspect his bloody pinky toe and slowly walk his motorcycle, with the tuk tuk attached, off to the side of the road.
Ouchhhhhhhhh!!!!! My arm!

Tears.... lots and lots of tears and heavy sobbing and asking the question of, "what happened? what just happened???" Now it seems like a safe enough time to cry.

A local walked us to the doctor's office that was a block away and the doc cleaned my scraped elbow (vigorously) and got me to move my arm to see if it was broken. Dan, Jay and Kris spoke French with him, his English was limited. He sent me away with a prescription.

I've been to the doctor since I've returned to Canada and had numerous tests (x ray, blood work, ultrasound, inspection, etc.) and there is no serious damage, just a possibility of infection. So, I am keeping my eyes opened for the signs. It's really swollen and misshapen now, most of the bruising has subsided. Other than some pain and discomfort, everything else is good.... except that I also hurt my shoulder and my leg. But my arm is the main injury and the most painful one.
My arm about a few hours after the accident.
My thigh a few hours after the accident.



My calf... both were bruised, this is just one of them.

My leg a day or two after the accident.
My arm a day or two after the accident.

Luxury.... HA!

It's strange when you start to get excited about things like - hot water, clean bed sheets, a room that isn't near a rooster, power at any time of day, no bugs or GIGANTIC spiders, windows in your room, screens on those windows.... the list goes on.

We came into the country being mislead by the taxi driver who purposely dropped us off at the wrong place, to get commission from the hotel he took us to and our way out of the country was also deceiving, leaving a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth.

We paid for a "luxury" 22 hour bus ride to a particular city in Laos. We had just come into Hanoi from the stunning "Halong Bay" that we stayed at on an island for 5 days, swimming in the ocean, strolling around, trekking and other things. Our old hotel was trying to sell this 22 hour bus ride to us at 50 dollars a person, we found a better deal for 24 dollars a person just down the road. We get on the bus and find out other people paid 12 dollars for the same ride. Great.

Then not too long after we are driving we also find out that everyone is going to Vientienne, Laos... a city in the North of Laos and we are supposed to be heading to a Southern city called Savateket. AWESOME!!

The bus was packed to the roof with boxes of goods that are going to be delivered somewhere. We made several stops where locals were piling on and paying 1/8 of the price, I'm sure. We made stops that allowed these people waiting along the side of the road to continue to load our "luxury" bus with more goods. It got to the point where a big box, filled with "q tips" kept falling on mine and Dan's head. The aisles were piled with bags of rice or grain or whatever that stuff was. Bike wheels. Stools and chairs. People started to resort to sleeping in the aisles, on some of the stuff, cause it may have been more comfortable than the small chairs we were crammed into.

The driver kept insisting that the bus was going to the Northern city and we had excepted our fate that we paid twice as much as most to have the "luxurious" ride of a lifetime (for 22 hours!). all to end up on the wrong side of the country of Laos! YIKES. Next thing we know a Vietnamese man is yelling to us about something, when we pulled over in this "one horse town". "BLA BLA BLA, bla bla bla.... Savateket, bla bla bla".... all with great urgency.

Me thinking some of these things and saying most of them- "WHAT? you want us to get off the bus here? why? what? ok!! Just a second. I have to get my stuff.... our stuff is buried under all this shit that you guys piled on the bus and now you need me to immediately get off this bus to go the Savateket??? is there a bus coming for us? where do we wait? do we have to pay again? when is the bus coming? what's going on?? yeah yeah yeah, I am hurrying! Thanks for the friggin notice!! It's kinda hard to walk over all these bags of RICE!!! bouncing my big bag off of all these chairs and probably peoples heads. AHHHHHHHHHHH!! I hate this place! Did I get all my stuff from my seat?? Did anyone check? Where do we go? when is the bus coming??? is there a bus coming? where are we?"

We stand on the side of the road, having been traveling for a total of like 36 hours, coming straight from Halong Bay the day before and getting directly onto this "luxury" bus for the past 22 hours. It's hot. We're confused. Oh! Here's the bus we're supposed to take.... jam packed with people!!! Bags go under, we get on and sit on the only stools left down the middle of the aisle, cause the seats were all full. And, pay some more money! Cause these tickets we are showing them that we paid for have nothing to do with this driver here in Laos. OF COURSE! So, there we sat in the aisle of a bus on little plastic stools, bouncing our shoulders between the seats, longing for our previously scoffed at and hated "Luxury Bus".

In any case, we made it to the city we wanted to be at and had an awesome time there. We rented bikes and went around the place and chilled there in this small, totally relaxed city (that is Laos 2nd largest city.... but it looks like a little town). Ate well. Played games. It was fun. And now we laugh at the hellish ride that at first made us laugh and then later all wanted to rage, cry, plead, pout or whatever.... anyways, now it's just a good memory.

Look both ways before crossing the road, yo!

I left off in Hanoi, Vietnam, last time I wrote. I want to try and express the scariness as well as thrill of crossing the road there. This is a city where the traffic didn't stop until late at night (midnight to be exact, because at that time everything in the country literally shuts down and the streets are empty, all except for the street cleaners and rats.) Anyways, the traffic doesn't stop for you.... really, it doesn't stop. It may slow down if it has to... but it won't stop. So, you have one option: walk out into anywhere from 4-8 lanes of traffic that is rushing by you and at you. You do this one step at a time, keeping eye contact with the drivers that are heading straight for you and they start to swerve around you. Take another step, and another, and before you know it you are now standing in the middle of a road with traffic rushing by you on both sides, heart pounding, palms sweaty, keeping your eyes on all of them all at once, and you must continue to baby step it all the way across the road.