First days are so exciting: Bangkok again
DAY 1 – “The familiar that never gets boring.”
That should describe of the things and people that you decide to keep in your life.
Travel can be like that for the lucky few who can call themselves true travelers. Each new trip is as exciting and feels as “correct” as the first did. Even more, maybe.
That’s how I felt upon landing in Bangkok, a place I’d been several times before, for a new 2-month (or so) trip to Thailand. I have applied for a Japanese visa so I can stay and work there, but due to some strange bureaucratic rule I have to complete the paperwork at an embassy outside Japan. Most choose Korea, which is closest, but I decided to turn mine into a weeks-long trip to Thailand.
And I already know it was a good decision!
Sunset in the Tokyo airport.
The first night was spent in a large, boring hotel near Suvarnabhumi Airport, whose shuttle service I’d gotten too. Usually I don’t pre-book rooms in Thailand, and don’t stay at places upscale enough to have their own shuttle services, but arriving at midnight on a Sunday night, it seemed like a good idea.
Diabetes report – uncapped insulin pen
After I checked into my hotel I found that the cap had come off my NovoLog pen, which was in my jeans pockets. I’d last shot up for the pasta meal (the lady beside me didn’t seem to notice), but the whole flight I had been pushing the pen back in my pocket when it popped out due to my squirming in the economy class seat.
At some point the cap must have come off and I never noticed. I guess it’s still in my airplane seat. Flying around the world for free; lucky bastard.
The uncapped pen, needle exposed, must have been in my pocket for a couple of hours; the needle had broken off and was still down inside, mingling with my fresh baht banknotes. I’m lucky I didn’t suffer multiple stab wounds in my leg.
Be careful with shifting pens in pockets on planes. I didn’t know that was even a problem, but apparently it can be.
The next day I moved into the heart of Bangkok proper, to a small hotel in Chinatown near the main train station.
When you see your new surroundings for the first time on a new trip, you are hit with the reality of your temporary new life. This is especially true when the weather and surroundings are markedly different from the place you just came from. The feeling of settling into the rhythm of travel is quite thrilling.
Don’t have much money, staying in a small hotel room with no view. But at least I’m traveling!
Leaving cold, wintry Japan in January for laid-back, always-scorching Bangkok is a pretty big change. The Bangkok heat wafts into your nose, carrying with it the exhaust, spicy food, and dust that signals that you are well and truly in Thailand now.
The street decorations, the sounds of the traffic, the signs with their inscrutable scripts, and the architecture of the buildings are all uniquely Thai. It’s great to be here, because it all means I’m back doing what I do best: nurturing my soul with travel.
Breakfast in my room.
However, I am not a huge fan of Bangkok, or of big cities in general. They have their good points, but for me are something of a necessary evil. I usually like to spend as little time as possible there, seeing what I want to see but moving on to the parts that are less well known.
(Read my essay on Skipping Big Cities.)
So I don’t plan on hanging around Bangkok too long; there are too many parts of Thailand I haven’t seen yet!
Diabetes report – buying insulin in Bangkok
I stopped in at several pharmacies as I walked around Bangkok, enquiring about insulin availability. I was interested in either Humalog or NovoLog or (in a pinch) ActRapid.
My last time in Thailand was about three years ago, when a hospital in Chumphon told me that Humalog was expensive while ActRapid was much cheaper. I’d never heard of ActRapid, but I bought it and it worked fine, even though it’s a little slower-acting.
This time, I showed the pharmacists my Humalog pen and they all said they didn’t have it. Some mentioned Humulin N and Mixtard, a terrible word that makes me giggle.
Pharmacy in Chinatown that had no Humalog.
Finally I found a hospital called Siriraj across the Chao Phraya River in Thonburi. There were several buildings and everything was in Thai. I had no idea where the pharmacy might be. So I entered one building at random.
It turned out to be the pharmacy. Diabetes travel gods always watch out for you.
They told me that I couldn’t buy insulin at the hospital without seeing a doctor, but that at a pharmacy across the street I could. So I checked there, and the good English-speaking lady said they did have Humalog, Humalog 70/30, and even ActRapid penfills.
I got some Humalog penfills that fit a cartridge pen I bought in Hong Kong a couple years ago. (Lucky I brought it with me.) I bought two boxes – 10 cartridges of 3mL each – for 3200 baht (about US$104). About half of what they’d be in the U.S.
(Incidentally, they also had OneTouch Ultra test strips – 25 for 490 baht, US$16. Again not bad.)
So if you’re looking for insulin in a foreign country, relax. I did no research whatsoever and still found what I needed. And the search was kind of fun in and of itself. Big cities are obviously better, but even smaller places can help you.
Real diabetes travel nerds will appreciate this: Humalog insert in Thai.
The important thing is to start your search about 2-3 weeks before you run out, just in case someone has to order it for you or if you have to try a different town or something.
Do you have any interesting places where you began a big new trip?
