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July 12, 2006

Pak Chong Hospital

Click on image to play video (high speed connection advised).

LOCATION: Pak Chong, Thailand
SEE WHERE WE ARE!
Longitude: N: 14.60830°
Latitude: E: 101.06709°
Miles from Singapore: 1613

Yes, I'm busted. Quite literally. About 9am, 9km off Pak Chong (small small town about 80km from NKR), I was thrown off my bike. The hill was pretty steep and long. I wasn't careful enough and rolled down the hill too quickly. I kept trying to engage my brakes, the speed got worse and worse. I couldn't brake and got thrown off the bike.

I live to tell.

Now my face is all smashed and bruised from the fall. Thank God for the lesson that Kennieth from work once taught me... He insists on wearing his helmet every time that he bikes. I wore my helmet and its smashed on the right side now. It probably saved my life.

The rest of my body parts are pretty much ok, minus the majorly big scrapes on both my thighs and right elbow. Looks like I've beaten Chu'ai (from work) to the records of largest “bah kwa”.

It was pretty painful initially. I cried and cried in pain and shock. At least for an hour solid till they shot me with painkillers (probably morphine) in the hospital.

Well, for the record, I had 3 stitches on the left side of my face. A large piece of gravel got stuck between my helmet and my head. If not for the helmet, I would have died.

Jason's been great so far, taking very good care of this bashed and bruised team-mate. He's actually out trying to get my bike computer replaced. It was smashed along side with an inner tube that was ripped about 6 inches long. A can of my “celebrations only” Coca Cola was smashed as well and it splattered all over my handlebar bag.

I actually feel bad about holding up the expedition, especially when Jase has got a really tight timeline to meet. His visa is only till 21st July. Counted the days from now, its about just 10 more days. The longer that I get stuck, the worse the situation it can be. :( Sorry man.......

Melissa

Posted on July 12, 2006 6:44 PM

Comments

Wow. So good to see you are okay. And maybe you can join Jason again when he gets there. In the meantime, Khon Kaen is a good place to rest. Take care.

Posted by: Carl Weaver [TypeKey Profile Page] at July 14, 2006 3:29 AM

i can't believe you guys are still posting (and video-ing!) during all this! i'm so sorry this happened to you so early, melissa. it's hard, but you're doing great!

Posted by: gl. [TypeKey Profile Page] at July 13, 2006 6:08 PM

hi, everyone! i've moved ahead into Khon Kaen, some 200kms away from Pak Chong (the accident site) to get some rest and wait for Jason to arrive on bicycle.

thank you so much for all your kind thoughts... meanwhile... anyone can snail mail me a bottle of anaflex powder??? knee scrapes take a long long time to heal... (nah, just kiddiing abt the snail mail part.)

Posted by: melissa [TypeKey Profile Page] at July 13, 2006 10:07 AM

I am so glad to see this followup video. That was a very scary video earlier. I am so glad to see that you are recovering at hospital. Thank goodness you were wearing your helmet. Be safe, and may you heal rapidly.

Posted by: tagami [TypeKey Profile Page] at July 13, 2006 8:54 AM