For the last several weeks a Nepali friend has been trying to find a time when our families could get together to share a meal. We decided on Saturday lunch and we were to meet outside his residence. Our kids could play together while we adults got to know each other better and enjoyed a meal of Dhal Bhat.
gamespy arcade 2.0.3Being invited to a Nepali home is a big deal for westerners living in Nepal. Nepalis do not invite people over just to do it and an invitation is not something to be taken lightly. We were honored when my friend invited us to his home and we cancelled all our plans for Saturday so that we could spend the day with his family.
Early Saturday morning my phone rang and it was my friend. His wife had become terribly ill and was not able to get out of bed. I borrowed a motorcycle from headquarters and drove over to their house to see if I could help. She was terribly sick and my friend was contemplating taking her to the emergency room. With this in mind we rescheduled our lunch plans and I left my friend to take care of his sick wife.
A few hours later my friend called and told me that he was now at the Hospital. He wanted to know if I would come by and help with his kids while the doctors examined his wife. I rushed over the Patan Hospital on the motorcycle and after a short discussion with my friend I picked up his kids and we rode off so that they could be left alone. My friend was crying as we left. He said, "You see we have no one to help us. No family, no friends, and no help."
It was not long before my phone rang again and my friend told me that his wife was being rushed into surgery to have her ruptured appendix removed. Again, I drove to the Hospital and brought his kids back to him. I left with the promise that I would be back soon. I had no idea just how soon I would be back.
Shawna and I decided to use the borrowed motorcycle to go to the store and pick up a few things so that we could take them by the Hospital. Flowers, food, coloring books, and toys are in short supply at the Patan Hospital and keeping two young kids occupied while their mother is being operated on is quite a task.
Today marked the 31st day of continuos rioting in Kathmandu. The usual riot prone areas were full of riot police, police cars, and thousands of protesters. The closest hospital to the riots was so full of injured protesters that they are having to use the floors as hospital beds. Tear gas filled the hospital during one of the riots and all the patients had to be evacuated. Traveling in Kathmandu is no longer difficult. Now it is just crazy.
We kept trying to get to the store to pick up a few needed items so that we could return to the hospital but all of the streets we needed to take were blocked by the police and the protesters. We kept getting turned around and turned around until we were just driving in circles. Eventually, we came around a corner and a white sedan turned into our lane of traffic. I attempted to stop the motorcycle but the front wheel locked and the motorcycle fell onto its side and we wrecked. Shawna and I skidded across the pavement like two stones before we came to a stop in front of the vehicle that pulled out in front of us. A crowd gathered around us as we layed there. Eventually, we were carried over to the sidewalk so that we would not be hit by another car.
The careless driver asked me if I did not see his turn signal. I really don't see the importance of your turn signal once you are in my lane and I cannot stop fast enough to keep from hitting you. I answered. He seemed to agree with my reasoning and offered to drive us to the Hospital. We limped into his back seat and then we started driving back to the Hospital.
The driver attempted to drop us off at the hospital that was located in the middle of all the rioting. We refused to go to this hospital and he reluctantly drove us to Patan Hospital. Once inside the emergency room everyone stopped what they were doing to see why two foreigners were being carried in. The nurses and a doctor helped us onto a bed and began trying to determine how bad we were hurt. The majority of our problems came as a result of us skidding across the pavement. The right side of both of our bodies had terrible "road rash" and the fine gravel of the kathmandu roadways were stuck in our arms and knees.
An hour later we were released from the Emergency Room with orders to come back the next day to have our bandages replaced. The chance of infection is relatively high since so much gravel had to be removed from our arms and legs.
"Bai, You are very lucky." The old nurse said.