Monthly Archive for January, 2008

Day 234 – my Hospital experience in Pakistan

Published on January 20, 2008 in Weird and random. 0 Comments

Well, I have paid my debt – I have been to the hospital.

What I mean is that every foreigner goes to hospital here, 99 percent because “shit happens“, i.e. they get a slight food poisoning. I was heroically escaping this inglamorous state… In order to make an even bigger fool out of me by braking an ankle-bone by tripping on grass :P I am not going to explain how that happened, if You want to know, check the blog post about it…

But what it gave me chance for was to visit hospitals both in Lahore and Karachi. And the result is not too surprising as a fact, but I still could not stop myself from feeling a little surprised. The general standard of the hospitals was on a European average. The Lahori hospital looked better than any state run hospital in Slovakia (well, both hospitals I was to vere private). The Karachi one looked like a typical small Slovak hospital (I avoided going to the most expensive one, this one was like middle class).

Lets set the difference clear – the Lahori doc charged 800 rupee (13 USD) for a check, the Karachi one charged 300 (5 USD).

Both doctors treating me were competent, the expensive one had fluent English, the other spoke more or less (enough for emergency but for a check I needed a Pakistani). I have not experienced any problems and actully their treating of me was exceptional (I am white You know), thus I was prescribed loads of painkillers (that were useless as it didnt hurt), been transported in a wheel chair and the Lahori doc even suggested a surgery to fix it asap…

I have absolutely no worries about medical treatment anymore… and if You want to comment that it was private hospitals – true. But if You can read this (have PC), You will have enough money to get a private treatment…

PS: soon I am going to a dentist, so look forward for some more medic news!

Day 233 (19.01.08)@4am – Real scare tonight!

Published on January 19, 2008 in Weird and random. 0 Comments

life has strange ways…well, I was finally going to sleep, when I have heard an explosion, not too strong, but in the quiet state of the night city, quite audible. In the same second the lights went off…

…I look out of the window and see big red flames maybe a kilometer or two away… they have been higher than the trees… and the whole city around (except of houses lighted by generators) has been dark…

I took a pic, but it was really far away…

Update from 20.01.08: I have browsed all the news possible and didnt find a single mentioning of the event anywhere… People are so used to black-outs here that if they didnt wake up at the sound or sirens (which I doubt), they didnt even notice. Lets hope it also means that nobody was harmed…

Day 233 (19.01.08)@3am – Movie scare tonight!

Published on January 19, 2008 in Thinking mood and Weird and random. 0 Comments

This is a long post.. pure blog post.. i.e about nothing :)

some stories, or all stories, should be written in the moment when you experience them, in real life or in your head. and thats why I am sitting right here and writing this story.

I have known for longer how to distinguish a good movie from my point of view: its when You finish watching – go out of cinema, or put down headphones and come back to the “real world”… just to realize that the world doesnt feel that real. It feels like the movie is not over, actually it feels that it wasnt a movie…

Thats the feeling I have right now. And I can tell You I was not watching a fairy tale or a romantic comedy. I was watching one of the best horror movies I remember – 1408. And the chill that I feel right now is at the same time stressing but also delicious. The movie just made me feel like this. Asking why? Well maybe because it could have taken place right here, right now, in this room. In one moment the main character says: there is something chilling about hotel rooms in general, You dont know how many people have slept in that bed, how many of them were sick, how many of them lost their mind… The same You can say about my room, its not a place I know for long, I do call it a home, but it doesnt have my history, I didnt paint the walls, didnt put the furniture, didnt see those cracks on ceiling happen. I am a stranger for it that can turn back to how was it before I came in 10 minutes. And I look out of the door, and see door of the other room, just a shade, no surprise its 3am. And hear some sound. Yes, there are lots of sounds. But if You are in a mood like me right now, You try to catch them, try to make them make You feel like there was something more about them. You want to know how? I put down the headphones, the chill still on my shoulders (it actually just went down mine spine and gave me a shiver… doesnt it feel like someone is behind You watching Your back? Right there where head connects to the body… I do). And I look up and go to my room and hear a low roaring sound… sound that doesnt look like belonging in the room. What was it? I am still not sure at this moment, I think somebody was using a pneumatic drill…. At 3am? Well, best explanation I have. And than the dropping. The dropping of the loose water tap in the bathroom (how many people have You seen die in a bathroom in movies? Arent You just a little bit scared of them?). And my chair squeeks, the light is very dim… Feeling it? Want more of it? OK, if its very dim, just one step from being that way that makes everything around You to see only in shades of grey – try to look around You. Fast, throw a glance to right, NO, left, let Your eyes stride and on purpose dont let them stop at anything. Left, right, on screen, sharp left… Oh what a feeling. Now I understand those who really love horror movies, the pictures are so obscure that if they make You afraid, they make You afraid in a strange way – You have never experienced the situations on screen and thats why the feeling is special.

Adrenaline goes down, heartbeat slows down, I took a deep breath, look at my own hand and see it moving, turn on the light and get ready for a normal night. I guess none of You has been feeling the way I did. But just for the feeling… when You turn off the light tonight, to go to sleep, try to remember why have You been scared of dark when You were young. And one last thing, do NOT check if something is under Your bed…

Day 223 – Christmass time!

Published on January 9, 2008 in Weird and random. 0 Comments

Sounds random to make such post on 9th of January? Well I finally got back home to Karachi and all the Xmass gifts and letters I got by mail have been waiting for me :D

I got two parcels, one from home and one from Lenka, a small gift from Anita (a kiwi I have met years ago in Zilina, Slovakia) and a couple of letters. I got chocolate, sweets, biscuits, xmas fairy tales and cool Slovak and Czech movies on DVD, thists, necklace, Xmas decorations, Xmas music, map of Pakistan, a weird cap, a book, wooden dice, like 20 pages of letters to read… and… I guess thats it :)   …I am thinking of not being a selfish ass and organize for my Pakistani friends “Slovak styled Christmas”… I have enough of material for that :D

Here is a pic of it all was…

Day 219 – nonsustainability? how do You describe it?

Published on January 5, 2008 in Cultural and Thinking mood. 0 Comments

This is actually a comeback to a post I made a long time ago – how shocked I was to see Pakistanis take food containers from pottery and smash them after usage…
…I considered it unsustainable as pottery is expensive in Slovakia and thus it has be be reused.

But here in Pakistan and even more in India its obvious that clay doesnt cost anything! In India they serve You tea in pottery mini-cups, that You throw away after usage… But after a little bit of rain and stomping the cup becomes what it was before – dust…

…what happens to a plastic cup? Does it change back to petroleum? Dont think so… thank You Pakistan for giving a blow to my image of the world…

Day 218 – One leg jumping jack flash KLepo…. [I broke my ankle]

Published on January 4, 2008 in Weird and random. 0 Comments

Well, I would be guessing that already everybody knows… But just to make sure that I dont get any more surprised messages like: “OMG, what happened with Your foot?“

…remember when I was complaining how bored I was in Lahore? Well, I guess God has similar sense for humour like my mom, who told me when I was a kid and was making a halo without a reason: “stop crying or I will give You a reason to cry!”

Well, while normal walking, stepping down from pavement to (trimmed) grass, I landed wrongly, twisted my ankle and against all odds, broke a bone in my ankle… For first few hours I thought its just a muscle overstretched, but a friend of mine (Adeel) made me go to hospital (at 2 am)…

Click to see the bigfooT

Click to see the bigfooT

…Xray showed that it is a minor fracture of the ankle, the bone that leads to the little finger, right behind the knuckle, if You have a look at the Xray, You can actually see it, left side, like 1cm above the bottom of the Xray… … 4-5 weeks in plaster :P