Sadly, Michael's stomach infection took a turn for the worse yesterday morning, and climaxed in a very stressful visit to an Indian clinic, which I think was a bit traumatizing for Michael...
So I have been playing mom for the last couple days, which has actually given me a chance to see Darjeeling from an interesting perspective. It is very different here than in Calcutta. The ethnicity, Ghorka, shares more with Tibet and Nepal than with the rest of India. It is much quieter and more laid back. It is also feels much less threatening, particularly as a solo lady. Travelling in Egypt last year gave me some preparation for the attitude towards women here, but it was still pretty intimidating to walk into the bar at our hotel in Calcutta and have 40 sets of hungry male eyes land on me at once.
However, equally intimidating was the search to fill Michael's prescriptions here. After the clinic visit, Michael was sent home in a taxi and I went with the daughter of the hostel owner to go find medicine. Since it was only 6am, many pharmacies were not open yet, so our first stop was the state run hospital. To get there, she suggested we take a short cut but warned me that it was a bit "dirty." I wanted to get the medicine back to Michael as fast as possible, so I followed her through a burned out building full of garbage piles to the entrance of the hospital.
The clinic we had gone to in the morning was described to us by the owner of our hostel as, "a very nice private hospital, much cleaner than the state run hospital." However, by American standards, the private clinic was not clean at all. The bathroom smelled and the toilet seat had dirty water on it, and in his delirious state Michael compared the garbage can in his room to the chicken slaughtering jar he had seen at the animal market in Yangshuo. The whole facility was really offputting. But when we arrived at the state hospital, it was not only the garbage cans but the entire building that was reminicent of a giant chicken death jar. Needless to say, I was happy with our clinic choice.
So we woke up the man in the pharmacy across the street who quickly filled our prescriptions and then headed back through the dark burned out garbage building towards the hostel. Again, the girl asked me if I wanted to take another "difficult" short cut, and I agreed to. This one was up a series of tiny alleys with steep narrow stairs that wove through a series of small courtyards. The first had a large pack of stray dogs taking a group nap and the second had 3 men who appeared to be making a very sketchy business transaction. I was relieved to make it back to the main roads soon after this and deliver the medicine to Michael.
By that evening, I had seen many young women walking the alleys here on their own, which made me feel much less nervous about running errands solo. In fact, I beginning to feel quite comfortable in Darjeeling, and am sort of looking forward to being stuck here a few extra days while Michael recovers.
Sadly, it has been raining the last couple days, so we haven't even had any killer Himalayan views yet! But we posibly have two treks planned for here and Nepal, which I am very much looking forward to and praying for better weather. Also, I am making a serious effort to write more blogs, so keep checking back for more updates!
However, equally intimidating was the search to fill Michael's prescriptions here. After the clinic visit, Michael was sent home in a taxi and I went with the daughter of the hostel owner to go find medicine. Since it was only 6am, many pharmacies were not open yet, so our first stop was the state run hospital. To get there, she suggested we take a short cut but warned me that it was a bit "dirty." I wanted to get the medicine back to Michael as fast as possible, so I followed her through a burned out building full of garbage piles to the entrance of the hospital.
The clinic we had gone to in the morning was described to us by the owner of our hostel as, "a very nice private hospital, much cleaner than the state run hospital." However, by American standards, the private clinic was not clean at all. The bathroom smelled and the toilet seat had dirty water on it, and in his delirious state Michael compared the garbage can in his room to the chicken slaughtering jar he had seen at the animal market in Yangshuo. The whole facility was really offputting. But when we arrived at the state hospital, it was not only the garbage cans but the entire building that was reminicent of a giant chicken death jar. Needless to say, I was happy with our clinic choice.
So we woke up the man in the pharmacy across the street who quickly filled our prescriptions and then headed back through the dark burned out garbage building towards the hostel. Again, the girl asked me if I wanted to take another "difficult" short cut, and I agreed to. This one was up a series of tiny alleys with steep narrow stairs that wove through a series of small courtyards. The first had a large pack of stray dogs taking a group nap and the second had 3 men who appeared to be making a very sketchy business transaction. I was relieved to make it back to the main roads soon after this and deliver the medicine to Michael.
By that evening, I had seen many young women walking the alleys here on their own, which made me feel much less nervous about running errands solo. In fact, I beginning to feel quite comfortable in Darjeeling, and am sort of looking forward to being stuck here a few extra days while Michael recovers.
Sadly, it has been raining the last couple days, so we haven't even had any killer Himalayan views yet! But we posibly have two treks planned for here and Nepal, which I am very much looking forward to and praying for better weather. Also, I am making a serious effort to write more blogs, so keep checking back for more updates!
Glad you are so upbeat and positive, even though the situation is a little difficult. Get well soon, both of you.
ReplyDeleteglad michael is feeling better. hope the sun comes out soon!
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