Cambodia day 9

This day was CRAZY.

I woke up, had an all you can eat buffet for $2 and then went walking around to get a haircut.

Now this is where it gets really CRAZY!

Max, Matt, the American Chick and I all decided by midday to rent motorbikes and ride to Beng Mealea. The ride was awesome! The path there involved going off road for a bit which at first was awesome because of the lack of traffic and awesome views.

And this is where the CRAZY event happened

I was in front and saw a snake cross the dirt road in front of me. The inner 8 year old girl inside of me forced me to slam on the breaks. Max who was behind me slammed on his breaks too. Sadly, this all happened just over a crest so Matt and the American girl on Matt's bike didn't have enough time to stop. Travelling at a spectacular speed of 5 km/hr they both fell off their bike.

And the CRAZY injuries were:

Both Matt and the American girl got ripped up knees. Both of which needed stitching. We used all of the first aid equipment and water we had but it wasn't enough. To make matters worse we were stranded in the middle of nowhere well away from the closest road or medical centre and it was going to get dark soon. In our indifference we spent close to 40 minutes just tossing up between 1) letting Matt and Madeline rest in the closest local shack while max and I went in search for a road to find a car to drive us home or 2) abandoning a motorbike and fitting Matt on my bike and Madeline on Max's bike.

In the end a local came by and we took option (2) except the local lead the way. The only English word he spoke was "hospital" and that was good enough for us.

The "hospital" was nothing more than a small side shop selling Band-Aids. Fortunately though it was right next to Beng Mealea. It was dark at this point and all the tourists had left, however I managed to negotiate with a local to use his small truck to drive us 4 and our 3 motorbikes back to Siem Reap for $70 - it was a ripoff but we were desperate. Oh yeah, we payed the local guy $20 and he was extreemly happy - that money could feed his family for weeks.

But the CRAZIEST thing was

When we got back we went to the closest hospital. It was a local hospital and it was filthy. There were locals holding up their own IV drips and people sitting in the corridor. We immediately tuk a tuk tuk to the international hospital 20 minutes up the road. The total cost of stitches, compulsory consultation, and anesthetic was $440! Ouch! Fortunately they had a free hot chocolate dispenser so Max and I made it our mission to drink $440 worth of hot chocolate before we left to make the visit worth while.