Time for a crisis

Ran into so bit of a medical drama on the way to Sapa.  Kyra's stomach bug turned into full muscle spasms and we had to divert to Sapa hospital for a doctor.

She's currently on a drip and oxygen and is feeling tired but otherwise fine. They have to get another bottle of drip into her before we can leave, so she's catching up on some much needed sleep.

Angela went into full nurse mode checking out the medical goings on and also called the insurance and travel people-fantastic job thanks Angela. The local travel company rep came around to help us translate, which was unexpected. 

The hospital is a bit of an eye opener. The heart monitor looks like something out of carry on nursing, with a paper trace printed out from it. No machines that go ping here.
Angela wasn't impressed by the facilities, but I guess this is a third world country with little money to spend on a rural hospital that caters for a few hill tribes.

The doctors looked to be about 20, but it's hard to tell. They seem to know what to do with the equipment they have available. They take not smoking in the wards with a pinch of salt though.

Kyra's turned into a bit of a sightseeing exhibit; the hill tribes seem to be a bit fascinated by the red head whitey in their hospital. I should really be asking for photos in return for a free look at the sleeping Australian.  They don't like you taking photos, but they're all dressed in traditional costumes and look fantastic.

Apparently the accountants are at lunch so I can't find out how much this is going to cost. The fact that accountants are involved has me a little concerned, but I guess that's why we have travel insurance. God knows they need the money here for some new equipment anyway.

I think we're down to the gardener now - a man in wellies just popped his head around the door for a looksee. Kyra's started to snore now, so that should scare the punters away.

A girl in wellies with a toothpick hanging out of her mouth has just unhooked the drip bottle to taken away the old drip bottle. I think she must be the cleaner. I guess they let the cleaners clean up the spare medical detritus themselves.

Kyra's awake again now and looks ten years younger thanks to the super hydration and needs to pee, but the medical staff have disappeared. Just a bunch of locals wandering around. If you're not in traditional costume, it seems wellies and scooter helmets are the go.

Got out of the hospital by 2 pm, $82 worse off, which is not too bad all things considered.  They didn't really know what the problem was so when we get back to hanoi the insurance company wants Kyra to go a hospital for a few more checks.
She's more tucked up in bed with a packet of pringles now.

Turns out the hospital is actually going to be converted to a five star hotel and a new hospital built down the road. Hopefully for them it will be a little less basic.

We left kyra in bed at the Bamboo Sapa hotel and had a wet wander about town, grabbing a so-so espresso.

The town is a lot more like what I was expecting from vietnam. The markets seem a lot more genuine, none of the tacky plastic crap we saw in Hanoi.

We'll be going to one of the restaurants in town tonight all of which seen to have the same menu catering for western tastes.  I guess that's catering for the tourists, but everyone's gone off the idea of vietnamese food today.

Booked a guided tour for tomorrow morning to two hill tribe villages. Probably a bit exy at $100, but it's with the travel rep's company and he seemed pretty genuine. He's trying to train the locals to do their own tours, which is a good thing I think. Hopefully the weather will clear up because the views from the hotel are stunning. The villages we are going to see are in one of the most scenic valleys around here apparently.

Here's hoping for a more successful day tomorrow.