Have Seen a Doctor

Sunday, July 15, 2007--Jakarta

I must be feeling bad because of my ear problems.  I did two strange things for me this weekend.  First, yesterday I returned to my room from breakfast and turned the wrong direction on my floor.  I inserted my key into someone else's door.  Because he hadn't pushed it shut tight, it opened.  We were both surprised, but he was nice about it.  Then today, I left my bag down in the restaurant downstairs when I returned from breakfast.  They called me on the phone to tell me to come back and get it.  Fortunately, there was nothing much of value in it and everything that was of value was still there.

I went to the zoo today.  That's always something nice to do on a Sunday.  Besides the animals, there are always lots of people to watch.  This is a strange zoo here, though.  It's really a huge park with a small zoo within it.  I had to search and search to find the animals, since they were spread so far apart.  Many people were there picnicking, dating, etc.  The afternoon passed quickly.  

Before entering the zoo, I ate a lunch outside at a stall.  The woman made me chicken soup.  A group of men were to the side.  It was obvious from his facial expression that one was so happy to see that a westerner was willing to come eat at such a place.  He finally came over to me with a big grin, shook my hand, and gave me a thumbs up sign!  The soup was unbelievably good.  I think it may have been the best meal I have had since coming to Indonesia.  It had noodles, broth, tomatoes, thin rice crackers, chicken, and small pieces of pork crackling, I think.  Fantastic!!

In the evening, I stayed in my room and watched TV.  It had the English version of the  Aljazeera news channel on it.  They seem to provide a very well balanced news program.  And they cover more stories from smaller countries than CNN and BBC do.

I finished reading Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat.  It's a collection of short stories about Haitians.  She's a good writer.  The stories were simple, but interesting.  I gave the book 3 stars out of 4.

Monday, July 16, 2007--Jakarta to Bogor


I was lucky and got an express train to Bogor just as I arrived at the station.  Still, it took over an hour to make the trip.  Bogor is up in the hills just outside of town.  It's the home of the summer house of the president of Indonesia, and it has a world-famous botanical gardens.  There's also a local train to Bogor.  I'm glad I didn't take it; it probably took twice as long to stop at all stations.  We only stopped at 2!

I'm staying in a guest house.  The house itself is a total mess.  Every table has stacks of junk on top of it.  Even the floors are covered with lots of things.  Fortunately, my room faces an outside courtyard and has a gate I can use to avoid going through the house.  I don't see how people can live under conditions like that house has!  My room is nice, though.  It has a big window that opens out toward the street.  It has a fan.  I'm pleased with it, especially since it is in a rather quiet neighborhood.

For lunch today, I joined the students who had just finished school.  I went to a stall that had a variety of dumplings.  The man put them in a bowl along with a boiled egg and covered it all with a peanut sauce.  Then I added chile sauce to give it a bit more flavor as I saw the students doing.  It was delicious.

I went to the doctor in the evening.  In fact, I picked up my appointment chit in the afternoon.  The tourist office had told me that T.H.T. meant an ear, nose, throat specialist.  When I saw a sign, I stopped.  But the office is open only in the evenings.  There was a piece of wire hanging with numbered pieces of cardboard on it.  I took the next chit--number 14.  Then I returned in the evening and waited my turn.

The doctor was nice.  He even gave me some food his grandmother had made.  He said that I have a middle ear infection.  He gave me five medications to take (Otrivin nose drops, Flamar 50 mg, Ambroksol HCL 30 ml, Celestamine, and a combination of amoxicillin 500 mg/clavulanic acid 125 mg).  I take each one 3 times a day.  Eventually, the Celestamine gets gradually cut back to 2 times a day and then 1 time a day.  He also sent me to a physical therapist I am seeing daily for a deep heat treatment.  He told me to rest for two days and to drink 3 liters of water per day.  Surely this will get me well!!

I had a great dinner.  I went to a nearby restaurant with a view over the river valley.  They recommended the chicken curry, and I am so glad they did.  It was a thick curry sauce with 5 nice chunks of white chicken meat, sliced carrots, and chunks of potatoes.  It came with a serving of rice.  It was spicy and delicious.  Ummmm.