Remembered to turn off the coffee pot this morning, always a good
thing. Friday's I get off at 12:00PM so it makes for a short day.
Decided to go the Galle Face Hotel and check out the "jumbo burger
fiesta" special that I had seen on there web site, hamburger, fries, 2
servings of drink and a big fruit tart for 480RP, about $4USD.
I went home and changed and walked all two blocks to the hotel. This
is a really big fancy hotel considered one of the oldest and nicest in
the Orient. I ask about the hamburger special at one of the reception
desks and I am directed to a restaurant by the beach. It's apparent
when I get there that they didn't sell hamburgers. I asked the
hostess and she directed me to the other end of the hotel. Again I
can't find it, asked another girl and I gave her what I thought was
the name of the restaurant, she thought I was looking for the
restrooms but eventually she pointed me in the right direction which
was up some stairs. It still wasn't obvious where this place was as
there was yet another restaurant, but I found it. The place looks and
from some respects is a pastry shop of sorts.
I ordered the chicken burger which came with cold coffee or apple
drink, go figure, I took the cold coffee. The "burger" was the oddest
thing, it had a chicken patty but also a burger patty (Frozen kind).
It was good, not overly good, but definitely filling. I got the fruit
tort that came with the special to go and they packed it in a fancy
box. I gave it to the reception lady at the apartments.
Not long after I returned home I realized my stomach didn't feel well.
This will pass I thought. Tried laying down, but the feeling
wouldn't go away. I realized that hours had passed and I really felt
worse, my stomach was in knots. I went to the shopping mall across
the street and bought some Maalox kind of stuff hoping it would sooth
my stomach, it didn't. A few more hours go by and I was doubled over
in agony, time to go to the hospital. I call a cab company and they
said it would be 20 minutes before the taxi arrived. It was raining
cats and dogs outside so they were probably all tied up. Although I
didn't want to I would grab a tuk tuk. I grabbed some Rupee's and my
work ID and BlackBerry, went down and took a tuk tuk to the hospital.
All the while the tuk tuk driver telling me how poor his family is and
how tight money is, this is expected.
We arrive at the hospital and a gentleman directs me to triage. There
is a doctor sleeping behind the desk and I wake him up with a few
"Excuse me's". I tell him the problem and he wants to take blood
tests and a ECG test, why I don't know. A nurse takes me back and
gives me a blood test and ECG and when I step out of the room I'm told
to pay up. Well I only grabbed enough Rupee's for a ride back and
forth. I didn't expect to have to pay right there and then. I told
them I would come back tomorrow and pay and they said no problem. I
was told to go see the doctor at triage again. I go see him and he
looks at my ECG and says that it looks good and writes me a
prescription and tells me to go back to the cashier. The savvy reader
will note the time frame here, the blood was never tested. I go back
to the cashier and again explained I only had enough for a cab ride
home. They asked how much I had and I showed them 800 Rupee's, the
bill was 1300 Rupee's, they said that was enough. Realizing I am
fighting a losing argument (Coming back and paying), I give them my
Rupee's and left.
There was a tuk tuk parked outside and I asked the driver if he was
willing to take me back and wait for me to run up to my apartment and
grab some Rupee's, no problem he said.
We get back and I run up and count what Rupee's I had, not much, about
150 and I negotiated 400 Rupee's with him. I grabbed some good ol'
American green backs and went down. Gave him the stack of small Rupee
bills I had and told him I didn't have anymore, he could take me to a
ATM or take these U.S. Dollars. I knew this wouldn't be a problem, it
wasn't. He got around 3 times the original negotiated price, probably
more.
I don't even know where I could get the prescription filled this time
of the night if I wanted to, that and it's a crummy rainy night
anyway, that and I feel (Somewhat) better.
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