Wednesday, December 13, 2023
Walking back from Chiang Mai Ram Hospital

I read the news today oh boy; about a lucky man who made the grade…

An interesting few days in Chiang Mai, and three visits to Chiang Mai Ram Hospital, two unplanned. Not at all detached from reality as is suggested by the Beatles song, “A Day in the Life.” Suffered through a short but intense bout of food poisoning, making me feel lucky to have “made the grade” or gotten through the symptoms. Went to the hospital to get checked and be sure that it was not something worse. Thankfully, it wasn’t. After a day of recovery and starting to feel like a version of myself again, albeit a tired version, my face and left eye started reacting to something about my left eye, very uncomfortable.

So back to the hospital to get that checked, and found that I had a corneal abrasion that had become infected. The area on the eye was cleaned (even with the numbing drops, not a comfortable process, but short) and a culture made. Antibiotic and lubricating eye drops were prescribed and I was told to return for a re-check in two days. That is today, Wednesday. The re-check showed that the infected area is 20% or less the size compared to Monday. The doctor was happy with the improvement and ordered me to continue the drops and return for a re-check next Monday. During all of this, I was mostly resting, no yoga practice, no strength training at the gym, no exploring, no adventures, and no blog posts. Sounds boring, but I have not been bored at all. I’m in Chiang Mai after all and there are plenty of quiet places to go, have a coffee or do restful things.

Chiang Mai Ram Hospital

Chiang Mai Ram Hospital is one of two of what the Thais call the expensive private hospitals. The other is Bangkok Hospital, quite a bit further from The 3-Sis than Chiang Mai Ram. I like Chiang Mai Ram and have been there before for non-emergency as well as more emergency treatment (like the 5 stitches to my forehead last December after an unexpected encounter with the edge of a metal street sign).

Is Chiang Mai Ram expensive? Depends on your perspective. By American standards, no, but by Thai standards, yes. For the visit after the food poisoning, the charge for the doctor, lab test, and medications was 2160 baht or about $66. I paid cash and have the receipts for a claim to my travel insurance. For the eye infection initial visit, the cost for seeing the ophthalmologist, cleaning the abrasion, culture, and eye drops was 2650 baht or about $82. The eye-recheck visit (in which I actually had more time with the doctor) cost was 1070 baht or about $33.

Another thing I like about Chiang Mai Ram is that it is relatively easy walking distance, about 2 kilometers, back to The 3-Sis, my home now in Chiang Mai. After the good news about my eye improvement, I decided to walk back, but by a less direct route along the north side of the moat.

Wat Khuan Kama

On the inside of the north side of the moat are two temples that in the past have not resonated with me well, so I mostly just ignore them. The first is Wat Khuan Kama with its distinctive horse theme. The notice board at the entrance tells the story of a horse groom and soldier serving under General Jaomun Damtuang who, when his much-loved horse died, donated his land for the building of a new temple in commemoration of the horse in 1492. 

The horse at the entrance and many smaller horse statues throughout the grounds are unique, while much of the rest of the temple is fairly typical. These photos show the ubosot (ordination hall), the front of the viharn (worship hall), and the chedi (the best view of which was blocked by a large tour bus). Both the ubosot and the viharn were closed.

Khao Soi Khun Yai

Walking west to the second temple, I passed one of my favorite khao soi restaurants, Khao Soi Khun Yai. Translated, this means grandmother’s khao soi. Khao soi is a northern Thai curry noodle dish. It can be very spicy and is very popular in Chiang Mai. I’m not terribly hungry at lunchtime, and many of the khao soi restaurants close by mid-afternoon, so when I am in the mood for khao soi for dinner, I go to a restaurant that is oriented more toward foreigners. When I have been to Khao Soi Khun Yai in the past, it was very busy and there were no foreigners except me. I’m here at almost 4 PM and they closed at 2 PM. Here are a couple photos of Khao Soi Khun Yai.

Wat Ratcha Monthian

On the next block west of Khao Soi Khun Yai is Wat Ratcha Monthian. This temple is almost impossible to miss as it has a very large, white seated Buddha image overlooking the main road. From the entrance on the road, there is a steep flight of steps to get inside the temple grounds.

On the left is the sign at the entrance. The first two lines are in traditional Thai with the third line in Khom script. This is a Brahmic script and a variation of the Khmer script used in Thailand and Laos to write Pali, Sanskrit, Khmer, and Thai. This is seldom seen, but a nice, flowing style with rounded characters.

The steep stairs are guarded by two very sleepy-looking yaksha. (Here they look almost like thick monkeys, an odd look.)

Up the stairs and to the left is the large seated Buddha while directly ahead is the upper viharn.

I went down a steep stairway to the right to the lower viharn, a very dark and quiet space where I suspect locals go to pray. The Buddha image there is very nice.

Next: Across the moat to Wat Lok Moli