Tag Archives: accident

Day 57 – Hot for Home

It felt like just the right way to end our trip. The sun was out and the kids were playing. There was only one last push to be made to get home – all motorway and for now with no major incidents along the road forecast. So we did as you do – slowly.

We soaked up as much sun as we could and broke camp at a very, very measured pace. It was fine, though. Today was a public holiday in both the Netherlands and Germany – a day off for all of us. So we let the little ones roam free and explore. Number 3 tried for some jumping on the trampoline – but that will still take a bit longer to work for him.

Sneaking away, we would often find Number 3 behind some wheels…

We said our goodbyes and wished our friends well in all of their upcoming adventures. Thanks again for camping with us – from the Horizons Unlimited meetings we know how hard it feels to pack up the tent when home is so close.

We did manage to get on the road before lunchtime. The plan was to have Number 3 get in some sleep, eat and finish the rest of the trip with a bit more sleep. As it turned out, sleep would not be a problem. The wee one developed a bit of a fever during the morning and was flat out for 90% of the drive. Lunch was had at the customary crappy fast food franchise, something we managed to stay clear off for the last eight weeks.

At home, Flo’s sister was waiting for us to give us a hand. She had been keeping an eye on our flat for us. As it turned out, she did more than that – our whole flat was spick and span! That only added to the surrealness of the situation. It just feels weird to … have a house, things … a milk foamer.

That’s when catastrophy struck (at least a little bit). We managed to go thorugh the entire trip without any disaster, which started to make me itchy. In the very last moment, a second before falling onto the sofa with a cup of tea, Murphy reared his ugly head one final time. In the hustle and bustle of getting everything unloaded from the car and the little one entertained, my sister steam boiled her right hand over the kettle while trying to get a cuppa ready for us. So instead of the sofa, it was a trip to the ER that rounded out our day …

  • Sneaking away, we would often find Number 3 behind some wheels…
  • His companion loved driving as well
  • Both of them enjoyed their go on the trampoline…without actually managing to jump
  • Here, you can see the different approaches to the trampoline
  • I, again, missed the official sign for Germany so here is one for the federal state that we entered
  • Frankfurt appeared on the signs! We were close(ish)!
  • Carrying everything back into our flat. We have a flat. And like a roof above our heads while we sleep. So odd!

Day 44 – Covering ground

We started the day okay, though Number 3 had some accidents while we were packing up. The first time, when he screamed as if he was really hurt, we ran to him and couldn’t really figure out why he was screaming so much. It just lay on the ground on his belly as if he had tripped…just…one of his legs was oddly twisted and…oh no…his foot was still pointing towards the sky. *shudder*

It turns out he was playing with a traffic cone when his sandal got stuck on a nail. He couldn’t get it loose and then fell… Luckily, toddlers are tough (and flexible). Once we had freed him and comforted him for about two minutes, he went off exploring again on his own.

Ok, safer view

So the second time he screamed like he really hurt himself, we just sprinted to him straight away. This time though, he hadn’t hurt himself at all. He had figured out how to turn on the camp ground’s tap for drinking water. What he didn’t anticipate was that he would stand in a stream of icy cold water afterwards. He was so shocked that he didn’t even move out of the way. He just stood there and screamed getting soaked from head to toe. Flo snatched him out of there but we both had to laugh really hard. Probably not smart to encourage him as he managed to do the same thing one more time before we left. *sigh*

Today was a driving day. We had to cover some ground on our way back so our next goal, the Picos de Europa, were a bit of a stretch for one day, with a toddler in the car. Guess we’ll see how far we get towards them. In an attempt to make stops as unnecessary as possible, we picked up bread around the corner from the camp ground and started on the daytrip.

over 2500m tall, some of them

Though one stop was a must. About 30 min from our camp ground, the cliffs of Garita de Herbeira beckoned to be visited. The cliffs are the highest in Europe, about 600 meters from where we stood into the ocean. We were lucky. The day was a bit of a rainy one and we timed it just right to be at the cliff when there was a whole in the blanket of clouds. Thus, we could actually see something.

Galicia is uncannily similar to Ireland or Scotland: Weatherwise but they also kept parts of their celtic heritage, including bagpipes. So we were standing at the rugged cliff, wisps of cloud drifting past, more fog coming up the cliffside, watching horses and their young graze around a stone building…and could have been somewhere different entirely.

Lunch was had on a motorway stop right next to wind turbine parts on trucks. It was a bit odd but luckily, the motorway was almost empty. Most of the afternoon was spent driving. Number 3 slept for a good while but started to complain once he was awake. Anyhow, Flo pushed on and we arrived at the Picos de Europa late in the afternoon.

The mountains of the Picos are beautiful. Definitely worth spending more time there than we have left. A paradise for hiking and rock climbing…and much less crowded than the Alps. Just driving through the first range to our camp ground was breath-taking already.

Super tired, we set up, ate dinner and put Baby into bed. Ready to go to bed myself, Flo suddenly found some energy to check out the camp ground’s bar. He said it was cosy and inviting, had some Spanish ham and desserts on the menu and really, we just should have one drink there. Which we did. Well, I had cheese cake which was nothing like German cheesecake but this rich, silky, yoghurt-y cream, topped with blueberry jam. It was well worth staying up for.

  • Ok, not quite here, but a good start
  • ok, even better!
  • So cute, he grabed Hubär to cuddle before sleep
  • Take a good look and hope the old people everywhere get it before they kill your future
  • three foals were about
  • Hi Mr. Horse
  • You sure, daddy?
  • long long way down
  • Ok, safer view
  • I wish the front would be powered by the back
  • fog came up, end of the world photo time
  • mommy, daddy is weird. Can I go now?
  • a lot of fog cam up
  • final viewpoint
  • just hanging out – is food ready?
  • wind power seemed the theme of the day
  • ok, good start
  • uuhh, cool drive
  • cool road rock fall shelter – plus intersting german tourist
  • I learned how this is called in Milford Sound – go me!
  • over 2500m tall, some of them
  • hmm … there would be mountains in the sky part, had I set the camera correctly …
  • the camp ground was deep in the valley surrounded by beatuies
  • almost ready for bed

Day 277 – Guardian angels

Of course, we don’t believe in supernatural beings, faith or such like. But sometimes these ideas are a good shorthand to deal with the weirdness that occurs when a single observer gazes at an overwhelmingly complex and often random world. Why did we stop right there for food? How come Mohammad had to drop of two of his guest at that exact same moment? As much as these moments can neither be influenced actively nor explained with some sort of directed external force, there is a part of ourselves in them nonetheless. By opening up to the world, traveling as we are, and being open to be swept up by what may come, I believe that we “spike the deck” ever so slightly in our favour.

Saying good-bye to Mohammad

Saying good-bye to Mohammad

Whatever it may be, we consider ourselves supremely lucky to have ended up here. The Tak-Taku Homestay is an amazing place to the point of being surreally so. We spend the rest of the morning lounging and catching up on the blog a bit more (a reoccurring theme at the moment, it seems). When it was time to tackle the last 100km to Esfahan, we packed our gear once more and got ready. All that was left was to give a huge thank you to Mohammad, his family and the lovely other guests we had the pleasure to meet.

The GPS was set, we had just wiggled our hindquarters into position and turned back onto the main highway, when I noticed something ahead. The road was freshly sealed here, without markings yet. I saw a dust cloud 500m ahead and closed my visor, thinking maybe a digger or some other machine was at work next to the road. When we got there, I was first confused, then realisation dawned. There was a wrecked car, on its roof and facing the wrong way maybe 10m off the road in the dust. Terrible, blood freezing confirmation came when we stopped and saw a little girl, maybe 6 years old, crawling out of the wreck, screaming.

Nina was terrified, especially when we both saw the foot sticking out of the former driver’s side window at an odd angle, unmoving. I was sure someone must have died or at least sustained horrible injuries. I handed Nina the phone and the number of Mohammad and grabbed the first aid kit. By the time I got to the car, miraculously, all four members of the family had crawled out of the wreck on their own. Maybe 1 minute has passed since the crash. More people stopped and came over and I had a look at the four. No obvious broken bones, no bleeding, heck almost no abrasions either! They were all walking, obviously in shock and covered in dust, but pretty much unharmed.

For a minute or two, I could not quite believe their luck – and ours for that matter. They were certainly not buckled up and the Iranian cars are usually at the safety levels of 1985. For all of them to walk within a minute, no one showing signs of injury, is like winning the lottery. Or as a short hand, their guardian angels were doing overtime today.

There were plenty of people here now to help, no one needed first aid and we don’t speak Farsi. To avoid any misunderstandings, especially once the authorities show up, we decided to move on. A moment later we stopped again briefly to call Mohammad anyway and asked him to double check with the ambulance service just in case.

A great setting for a tea house

A great setting for a tea house

Shaken but relieved we rode the 100km in relative silence, all the way to our next hostel in Esfahan. Mohammad had suggested a place with a great price and even called ahead for us to make a reservation. All worked out smoothly. The room is just what we need, maybe even a bit more, and the bathrooms are clean. Best of all, there is proper safe parking for the motorcycle.

We lay low for a couple of hours. Nina was enjoying the chance to recuperate a bit more and I was just chilling. When sunset drew closer, we thought we might still want to go out to see at least one thing or two.

The Lonely Planet suggests the Tea House of the Abbasi Hotel. Part of a luxury hotel set up in a magnificent old caravansary, this place serves snacks good enough for a dinner for us. The courtyard has been transformed into a beautiful garden, with the seating lightly sprinkled around. It is hugely popular, especially around that time, and it took a moment for us to find a spot. The ash was creamy and filling, the tea excellent. We thoroughly enjoyed the “date night” feel of it.

Day 231 – Klicks

We had a good night’s sleep in our little “resort” in Hot (resort in Thailand means a hotel a bit out of the city center or out in the fields). Today, we even got a free breakfast – including fresh strawberries!

The first bit of the route was "scenic"

The first bit of the route was “scenic”

We had about another 100 km of more or less windy back road until we were planning on hitting the highway 1. These really turned out to be quite nice, even if my arm was still taking a bit of enjoyment out of riding. It would still get stiff and cramp after like 30 minutes of riding. On top of it all, it was once again scolding hot. Riding was still fine, but any amount of walking or stopping out of the shade were just … inadvisable.

Once we hit the highway 1, it became quite a different ride again. 600 km of flat land on a road pretty close to a motorway. Cruising speed moved up to 110 km/h, at least outside of the many stretches of roadworks forcing both directions on one of the two multi-lane strips. The kilometers just melted away.

We passed this pick-up going at least 80kmh so the dog was quite deformed

We passed this pick-up going at least 80kmh so the dog was quite deformed

After a very brief and unmemorable lunch in Tak, we were on the road again when a macabre first for the two of us occurred. As expected at a little traffic jam on a stretch of roadwork, we came past an accident. A ute came off the road and had hit a tree. As we passed it, we both got a look at our first dead person that we can remember. Lying right there on the road with the paramedic just taking pictures of him was a lifeless human form wrapped in white sheets – with one blue and mangled hand sticking out.

We got the whole thing for a very good price

We got the whole thing for a very good price

We ended that day with only 250 km to go in another resort somewhere in the no-man’s-land between towns. The benefit was a killer price for an excellent room – the down side was that we were not prepared for the fact that we could not just walk 100m and have dinner ready. I ended up riding another 20 km alone in search of food and all I came up with in the end were crisps and an eight month old one-square-meal.

 

 

Day 220 – Pain

As expected, we did very little today. The first night after the accident was rough for me. I did not find a good position to lie without pain in the arm, even with the ibuprofen. Groggy and deflated, we got out of bed to go find breakfast. Turned out we got more than we hoped for. Both of us were actually defeated by our set breakfasts.

"scanning" the x-ray for the insurance

“scanning” the x-ray for the insurance

The sheer amount of food we had for breakfast plus our low energy levels meant that we would retreat and coil up in our room for the rest of the day. The pain was ok while immobilized, but I very soon started to get annoyed with the utter uselessness of my right arm. This set out to be a long and annoying recovery for me.

We did get one thing managed: I got in contact with our travel insurance and they promised to get their doctor to look over our documents and get in contact with us tomorrow for the next steps.

That night we went out to another place in town. Their local Lao food turned out to be really nice and pretty reasonably priced.

One day of recovery done … how many more to go?

Day 219 – Grinding to a halt

One could take up a boat ride to remote villages but we are on a bike ...

One could take up a boat ride to remote villages but we are on a bike …

Three weeks in Laos felt like a decent amount of time. So from beautiful Nong Khiew, we had two more days to go: To Luang Namtha today and then on to the border town of Houei Xai tomorrow.

From here on, the road seemed to be new. Perfect tarmac in a stunning setting. We made very good progress while cruising along, enjoying the ride rather than pushing it. 230km for today was nowhere near yesterday’s push so we really took it easy.

Nice turns!

Nice turns!

Arriving in Oudom Xai at 11.30am, it seemed a little early for lunch so we continued on, starting on the last 100km for today. Not too bad to arrive early and have some time to catch up on blogging. Nothing really changed: The tarmac was perfect, we cruised through the corners. One of the corners was in shade with the surface seeming wet there. When we rode it though, it turned out to be something entirely different than water. Something slippery as hell. In milliseconds, the tyres slipped, the bike dropped from the tyres onto the pannier but continued riding the corner until it fully tilted onto the broadside of the pannier which resulted in a spin and then dropped us on the ground where we and the bike stopped.

... looks like road, rides like an ice rink

… looks like road, rides like an ice rink

Quickly checking that I was okay, I turned to Flo who said he needed a minute to sort through the different pains. To be safe, I turned off the engine. Not knowing what to do next with Flo still on the ground, I took a photo of the scene. Because pumped with adrenaline, you don’t exactly have the best ideas about what to do. It was then that a horn sounded: A truck announcing its presence from around the corner so nobody would overtake. We sounded the bike’s horn because it was lying in the middle of the road. Luckily, the truck driver understood and slowed down to a crawl being able to stop and help us get the bike up and to the side of the road without any further issues.

Got the stuff off to get it out of the way

Got the stuff off to get it out of the way

Well, the bike had no further issues. Nothing was broken, just the plastic from the front indicator fell off. It is still in one piece so can be glued back on. The pannier has new scratches but not many considering our slide and the military haversacks we use as front panniers were completely unscathed.

However, Flo’s right arm was not okay. He could tell pretty early on and you can see it on the picture that I took after the accident. Pumped with adrenaline, he thought it would be okay in an hour or so while I thought it might be broken. I fell onto my hip and didn’t feel much pain yet because of the adrenaline so if Flo was in pain…it must be something.

So I started to stop cars. Surprisingly few would actually stop with me waving like a madwoman in a corner of the road. The second car that stopped was from a NGO or something like it. At least, the people inside spoke English. They offered to drive us to a nearby hospital but we didn’t feel like leaving the bike here was a good idea. We settled on them driving off, asking a truck in town to come pick us up. Slightly relieved, we sat down, calculating that it might take up to 1 1/2 hours for this to happen. In the end, it didn’t take nearly as long.

Setting a point of interest in the GPS so we would be able to find the bike again

Setting a point of interest in the GPS so we would be able to find the bike again

An ambulance showed up. Obviously called for us. The driver then realized that he couldn’t also transport the bike. With a heavy heart, we shoved our luggage into the ambulance, parked the bike out of the way as best as we could and left for the hospital.

The “hospital” was not exactly that. Yes, they had doctors and nurses but almost no equipment. They touched and bent Flo’s arm while he was obviously in pain before letting us know that we had to get to Luang Namtha’s hospital. By this point, Luang Namtha was 70km away. A world away without the bike. No one here really spoke English and while I discussed with the ambulance driver and a doctor that I will NOT hand over the keys to the bike so a local can drive it here, one of the nurses wanted to give Flo an injection of something we didn’t know. Overwhelmed by the situation, we decided that we will all stick together and nothing except for a cooling cream will be done until we are in the bigger hospital.

Strapping down on greedy doc's truck

Strapping down on greedy doc’s truck

Once everyone understood that we were adamant of finding a pick-up truck to pick up Rocinante and then drop the three of us at Luang Namtha’s hospital, plans were made. The doctor himself offered his pick-up for the ride…for the steep price of 1.000.000 kip. That’s a fortune in local currency. About NZ$200 for a car ride of 70km. Well, we were desperate and under time pressure (and in pain) so the doctor got himself a deal. Repacking our luggage from the ambulance into the pick-up, we went back for Rocinante. It wasn’t easy to get her up, another local passing on a scooter was volunteered to help as well and then everything had to be tied down. Flo didn’t look too well but he had to help to make sure the bike was secure.

Leaving at 3pm, it took 1 1/2 hours to reach Luang Namtha. Our drivers were in high spirits (no wonder for that price) and even agreed to stop at a hostel first so that we could securely park the bike and store our luggage before hitting the hospital. Luang Namtha is bigger and more touristy so the hostel owner spoke English which made us hopeful for the hospital.

Worse for wear

Worse for wear

The hospital still was a provincial hospital in Northern Laos though. Mimicking an accident on a motorcycle and pointing at the arm, we were brought into an examination room were more people bent Flo’s arm. We asked for an x-ray and the hospital actually had one. Flo was wheel-chaired off to radiology while I paid what google translate said was “service/examination fee”.

A short wait later, we got the x-ray and nothing is broken. Much relief for both of us. Flo was still in pain though so we got Ibuprofen as pain killers and a sling for his arm to keep it still.

Nothing more could be done today so we had food and then collapsed for 12 hours of sleep.

Day 71 – First world problems and an enchanting city

Flo woke me up at 7am after a good night’s sleep. I had been very tired the evening before as the 3.30am start into the day did not go down well with me.

Herman was already up and back from his morning run (shame on me) so we had breakfast together before he headed off for work. Breakfast was delicious but I started to feel really unwell. Most of the morning saw me in bed with stomach pains. I am unsure if it was a reaction to the malaria prophylaxis in the morning, the local food yesterday or the crushed ice (aka tap water) in my juice last dinner. Whatever it was, it was most definitely a reaction of my body to something new.

Pretty and convincing for fake flowers.

Pretty and convincing for fake flowers.

So Flo had to go out without me to procure lunch which he did while I took a nap. He made it to a Vietnamese bakery close by where he bought some kind of sweet treat for me. When the lady at the counter asked for $1, he was sure that he was being ripped off because he’s malae but then he came home with a whole plastic bag full of the treats! More than enough for both of us for lunch. It turned out to be several quartered bananas wrapped in dough and then deep fried in oil. There was probably some honey put on it as well. Sweet, fatty and quite delicious.

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