Falling in Hoi An (on my first scooter accident )

To the nice young men in Vietnam who rescued us from my first scooter accident.

Dear Sirs,
Thank you so much for your kindness and generosity.  I apologize that in the one week that I've spent in Vietnam, I managed only to learn to say, "Thank You".  I wish that I could've at least learned the word for "generous and kind" instead of stupidly giving you the thumbs up sign and pointing at you.

When we fell off of our scooter, we were both in a state of shock.  I was scared when I saw the blood leaking out of my friend's shirt. Even though I knew that we were lucid with no broken bones, I was still panicked because I had been the one that was driving.  The adrenaline that got to me made me completely forget how it all happened and how I had even managed to pick up the very heavy scooter so fast and get it out of the road.  I was in no condition to get back on that scooter right away to seek help.
But you and your friend, our rescuers... were so quick to stop and try to help.  Even though we couldn't communicate, thank you so much for trying with your iphone using google translate.  But I have to mention, you should check the setting on that because unfortunately, instead of translating it from Vietnamese to English, it only wrote out the Vietnamese with the English alphabet... so yes, I read what you were trying to say but I still had no clue.  But I truly appreciate your gesture. 


Although we lacked in communication, your willingness to help was more than enough.   Thank you very much for whisking us away to the nearest hospital, which was unfortunately the worst hospital I've ever been to simply because we were the last sort of people they wanted to see, but that wasn't your faults in any way and I thank you for trying your best.  Oh, and when she asked us to pay and we didn't understand, I was touched by your gesture when you grabbed for your own wallets.


I know the two of you were worried for us when you dropped us off back at the scooter but I was much calmer by then and able to drive.  I drove very slowly and got us safely to the bigger hospital and luckily it was only 10 km away.

I wish I knew more than your names, I have already forgotten, they were difficult to pronounce and my mind was racing, but that's no excuse.  I hope that one day when you visit another country you will receive the same hospitality and treatment that you have given us. Sorry, I was too shocked and shaken to even ask for your email addresses.  Maybe one day I will run into you if you ever visit America... I can be your tour guide in SoCal... I can take you to Disneyland...

I know that you will never read this letter, but I hope that in some way you can feel the positive vibes from this message.

Good luck for the rest of your life, I hope we do meet again and I wish you great happiness for you are both great men. 

Your truly,
The girls that that fell the scooter when they hit that ridiculously huge bed of gravel that should have not been there. 

P.S.  So sorry for getting blood on your jacket.  Hope you already know that soaking it in salt water will get it right off.


A letter to the nurse that "cleaned" my wounds.

Dear Nurse,

I apologize for inconveniencing you today when my friend and I, two obvious foreigners, walked into your hospital unable to speak your language.  Sorry that we were unable to explain to you what we needed.  However, shouldn't be obvious and within your expertise to treat scooter wounds quite often? Why, with the senseless way of driving in Vietnam, there must surely be at least two and a half patients that you must see everyday that have fallen victim to scooter accidents.  We may have lacked in communication, but from the blood dripping down our sides and our arms, I thought it was clear that we at least needed some immediate cleaning.

Thank you though for eventually cleaning our wounds.  Though it was quite obvious that for you, foreigners must have no pain receptors, with the way you went carelessly pushing at our wounds with the cotton swab.  I honestly believe that with the amount of gravel that was still left in our wounds and the half ass tape job that you did with the gauze, either you hate your job or you hate us.

I assure you that you are not my first nor last experience in an Asian hospital.  I have even been in medical facilities that are maybe even less sanitary or the most unwelcoming at first glance.  However, your hospital is the first hospital that I ever felt truly unwelcome.  I hope that one day you will see that we foreigners as well have feelings and pain receptors. 

Yours truly,
The foreign girl that fell off her scooter the other day.


Letter to the doctor that stitched up my dear friend.

Dear Doctor,

Thank you for taking the time to stitch my friend up on such short notice.  I was very concerned that she needed immediate attention because the wound to her side was so deep and wouldn't stop bleeding.  We both immediately knew that the puncture was quite serious, because...well it looked like a gaping hole.

No offense, but your hospital isn't exactly the kind of hospital that we Westerners are used to.  It lacked the usual, sterile feeling, bright flourescent lights, cleanliness... even the familiar hospital smell that we have grown accustom to in our respective countries.  I was however appreciative of the nurse that re-cleaned our wounds with gentle care and thoroughness because the previous hospital we had been taken to did not even speak one word to us... English nor Vietnamese.  We were relieved to find that your hospital has a staff that can speak basic English at least and didn't make us feel like we were intruding just because we were foreigners.  This helped to soothe our nerves a bit and know that we may potentially be in good hands.


May I however, make a few suggestions?  The room that you used to operate on my friend was quite frankly, a bit scary to us.  It looked very... what's the word... dooming.  By no means am I suggesting that you decorate the room with flowers, but... maybe even just a few more pieces of hospital furniture? A few trays for your tools instead of the counter next to the sink might help. I'm not quite sure what I'm getting at but the room seemed quite bare and reminded me of scary movies.  I think maybe even a few more lights would help the atmosphere instead of the one hanging light over the operating bed. 


If I may, I would also like to make one more suggestion; It may be nice for your future foreign patients if you please turn off your cell phone.  As a European and an American, we were quite shocked when half way through the operation, your cell phone started ringing quite obnoxiously.  With the tense, nervous silence being broken by the sound of digital La Mamba  bouncing off the bare, tile walls, it was extremely unnerving.  I appreciate however that you didn't reach into your pocket with your bloody hands and answer it.  That may have been reason for us to stop the operation and fly home immediately.  Instead you did let it keep ringing the first time and we were forced to hear your phone sing while I held my poor friend's hand and we both wondered, what we had gotten ourselves into.


I must say that we were both quite confused when your phone rang for the second time and you motioned for me with your bloody hands and tools to come and get your phone. Maybe it didn't occur to you to put down your tools, take off your gloves and turn off your phone immediately...  But where I come from, I would not even fish into my brother's pocket to take out his cell phone.  That was a definite first for me, and I couldn't help but wonder, why are your pockets so deep?  Clearly, you must have felt just as uncomfortable as I when I had to reach my hand all the way down your pants, dangerously close to your you know what, and fish out your cell phone.  What shocked us more still was that when I did finally manage to retrieve your phone, you nudged for me to press "Answer".  Then I, very astonished, put the phone to your ear so that you can chat away on your cell phone and simultaneously operate on my poor, dear, shaking friend with the gaping hope in her stomach, now only half way closed and still bleeding quite profusely.  I could only manage a half smile to her and whisper, "It's going to be okay."  But quite honestly, I myself wasn't quite convinced, even though you made sure to make the conversation under two minutes.  

It has been a few days and with relief I can say that her wounds seem to be healing just fine,  I applaud your multi-tasking skills and hope that you may consider my suggestions without being overly offended.  I just wanted to give you some insight from a foreigner and possibly future business since Hoi An is quite a touristy area and I'm sure you will have several more foreign patients.
Thank you again for your time,

Sincerely,
The foreign girls from the scooter accident the other day.