Whats up doc

Much to my disgust I was admitted to a third world hospital on the night before my Birthday, not quite how I had planned on celebrating :(

After some initial tests the doctor reported that I had a throat infection (most likely from one of the roadside food vendors) and some altitude sickness. As I am not a fan of needles at the best of times, especially in a country like this, I opted for a saline water solution to try recover fluids that I was still having a lot of trouble keeping down fluids.

The lovely nurses escorted me to my room which was better than any private suite I've seen back in Australia!! My own queen size bed, mini fridge, flat screen TV, wifi, any food I want on order and an endless horde or nurses making sure you stay is entirely comfortable. Apparently this place is a stark contrast to the local hospital which is not somewhere you would want to end up.

On the day of my Birthday Mr Rajan from Earthbound brought me in a cake to celebrate and informed me that there would be another 6 day Anapura trek near a town called Pokhra (about 6 hours drive from Kathmandu) if I felt up to it in a couple of days, I signed up straight away. He stayed for a bit to explain about his company and his plan over the next 20 years to increase tourism in Nepal and try to bring some money in to this desperately poor country.
Business is not easy over here with bank lending rates around 16% and no help whatsoever from the dysfunctional government.

Later in the afternoon my doctor appeared with another Birthday cake and champagne, which we celebrated with about 10 of the nursing staff in my room. He was going to get me some beers too but decided it may not be the best idea given my condition, guess you cant have it all.

The insurance company phoned and asked plenty of questions about what had happened, luckily I had a good read of the policy as the girl kept trying to pick up on things that may exclude my cover, the trick is to know the wording well and question them on anything they suggest which seems excessive. Theres no way I was ready to fork out what I had heard was numerous thousands for the chopper evacuation.