photography

When Your Toddler Falls Sick in Busan

In this post I’ll be talking about our experience when my 3 year-old fell sick and needed medical help urgently on a Sunday, with Monday right afterwards being a public holiday.

If you need to get your infant or toddler to a doctor immediately on a Sunday or public holiday, please scroll down to the bottom of this post for information on the hospitals with a department for little children.

With that being said, onward with the post!

It almost didn’t happen but we’re back in Busan for just three-and-a-half weeks this time before my mother-in-law moves to France.

While we’re excited to be here, after a poor flying experience with Air China (there’ll be a whole separate post for that!), something happened that made us realise just how risky it can be to travel with a toddler to Busan.

After just a few days, our three year-old daughter a.k.a. The Littlest Dictator contracted a urinary tract infection, that caused her a lot of pain whenever she had to pee. The poor girl would cry and scream every time.

An infection like that requires antibiotics so you really need to get to a doctor.

Problem was, it was a Saturday night, with Sunday being New Year’s Eve, meaning the next day would be a holiday as well. So just take her to a hospital. No problem, right? Turns out not all hospitals here have a paediatrician or even a children’s section in their A&E departments.

I went to the largest hospital near our place in Haeundae, the Inje University Haeundae Paik Hospital and was told that the specialist would only be available on Tuesday and later Friday. With the pain The Littlest Dictator was in, this was unacceptable.

Fortunately after pressing a little bit for help, the counter clerk gave me two recommendations: Pusan National University Hospital (PNUH) and Dong A University Hospital. He said these were Grade 3 hospitals, meaning they’d have children’s specialists on call at all times.

I would learn later from speaking with various people that apparently, these were the only Grade 3 hospitals in all of Busan and that most people including Koreans did not know what Grade 3 hospitals even were.

Wouldn’t be a problem if you were near the Busan KTX station.

For us in Haeundae, it means more than an hour of traveling to the other side of the city, which is huge (compared to Singapore at least!)

Early next morning while the family had breakfast I’d decided to head over the Busan Tourist Information Center (I’ll try and get a picture later) to see if maybe they had suggestions. Turns out, not really. They tried calling another large hospital nearby, the Haeundae Bumin Hospital who actually asked us to check with the Inje University Hospital I’d gone to previously. So yep.

So I let my brother–in-law know where I was so he could pick me up. And miraculously on this particular morning, he seemed to have forgotten how to use the goddamn GPS and I instead had to walk back and forth in the freezing cold until he finally let me know that he and my wife were at the Burger King in the middle of a road that wasn’t even near any of the places we’d talked about. WELL DONE, MAN.

But he was driving us, and without him the cab ride would’ve cost a crazy amount so fine.

Of course naturally, he got lost and instead of going to Dong A University Hospital – which he had insisted was nearer even though everyone I met said that PNUH was closer to where we were – we ended up in a weird small mountain town at a building for Dongan Medical Centre or something. A small clinic that wasn’t even open. GODDAMMIT.

We eventually reached PNUH but not before the Littlest Dictator had to pee again and cried out in pain. This is what happens when you leave the navigation to people who are too goddamn proud to be wrong, you know what I mean?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m really glad he was around to help and even stuck around to bring us back home. But the delays were really unnecessary. 4/10.

Anyway, we finally reached PNUH and YES! They really did have a children’s department.

Of course the moment I arrived, they straight up asked me if I’d be OK if the bill reached or exceeded USD $1K (around 1,000,000 in Korean Won). Yea that was the first red flag, I guess.

We were led to the children’s section:

Not long after that, I had to keep slapping away the hands of grabby doctors and nurses who were super eager to run tests, a few of which I realized later were not necessary. Those tests did manage to significantly bump up the bill though…

InkedPic 8_LI 1 — Radiation Therapy? It was just an x-ray. WHY DID WE NEED AN X-RAY IN THE FIRST PLACE??

Overall, our experience with the staff were alright. Most of them spoke English, sometimes broken but enough to communicate.

After a couple of hours over there they finally confirmed what we suspected about the UTI and prescribed antibiotics.

And how much did it cost? A whopping KRW 876M (around USD $876). HOLY SHIT. I mean sure we’ve got travel insurance that we could claim back against back in Singapore, but if we hadn’t had the money up-front, I shudder to think what would’ve happened.

Fortunately the Littlest Dictator is doing much better now, and the pain seems to have gone away though she still needs to finish the course of antibiotics.

As much as I loved visiting Busan, this was something I did not expect and man, you should seriously reconsider visiting if you’ve got a little one in tow.

I’ll try and add more pictures to this post much later.

In the meantime, here’s the information on PNUH and Dong A University Hospital:

While at either of these hospitals, if you need translation help, call or get them to call 1330.

It’s a 24-hr hotline specifically for tourists, maintained by the Korea Tourism Organization and they’ve got excellent English speakers who can help.

Here’s a link to more information: http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/TRV/TV_ENG_3_1.jsp

Pusan National University Hospital

Website: http://english.pnuh.or.kr/english/main/main.do?rbsIdx=1?rbsIdx=1

Location: Address : 179 Gudeok-ro, Seo-gu, Busan-si, 49241 Korea

Contact number: +82-51-240-7472~3

Dong A University Hospital

Website: https://www.damc.or.kr/eng/main/main.php

Location: 26 Daesingongwon-ro, Seo-gu, Busan-si, 602-812 Korea

Contact number: +82-51-240-2400~1

Update 12th Jan 18: Included information on two other children’s hospitals in Haeundae:

Haeundae Pureun Bada Children’s Hospital (this recently opened on the 5th of Jan 18)
Centum Children’s Hospital

Haeundae Pureun Bada Children’s Hospital

A couple of days after our costly experience with PNUH, I found a flyer stuck to the front door (this is still a pretty common advertising tactic in Busan) for Haeundae Pureun Bada Children’s Hospital, which apparently opened on the 5th of Jan 18.

Other that what’s in the flyer, I haven’t been able to find any other additional information on this hospital, including a website. Not sure if I’ll have the time to swing by, or even if they have an A&E section but it’s good to know that it’s around.

Unfortunately I can’t even find an English transliteration of the address. But if you call 1330, the helpline staff should be able to get in touch with them for you.

Centum Children’s Hospital

This is another hospital that I found via Google while looking for the Haeundae Pureun Bada hospital above. I’d probably come across this one before, but figured I’d include it in this post as well.

The website is a little bizarre and looks somewhat broken though: http://www.ctadong.co.kr/

Not sure if they have any English speakers there, but again just remember to call 1330 and they should be able to help you out.

Contact details:

Tel: 051-743-1588

Address: 407 Haeun-daero, U-dong, Haeundae, Busan

Again, one important thing to note is that neither of these two might have an A&E or even open during Sunday and public holidays. So for emergencies, you might still have to head to one of the two Grade 3 hospitals mentioned above: PNUH and Dong A University Hospital.

Stay safe everyone!

January 1, 2018 0

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Spent a week in KL recently for a conference and to meet a few prospects. Nowadays I travel to KL for work every other week, sometimes for a day, sometimes longer. The last time I’d been in the city proper before this job was probably around 17-20 years ago. HOLY CRAP I AM OLD!

Anyway, it’s a mixed bag to me. If you live in Singapore and head over there, it’s like being in a different version of the same video game level. You’d know immediately that it’s different, but at first you’d probably struggle to identify the specific differences.

But first! Here’s a picture I took on the way to the hotel from the airport:

It was a 40-min ride (“WHAT??” – Singaporean who’d never left the country before).

I’d take Grab or Uber everywhere I went, so it took me a while to notice that it is NOT pedestrian-friendly! I once booked a hotel that was geographically close to the client’s location, thinking I was so clever. “Ha!” I thought to myself “It’ll be so easy to get to the client’s location! I will not be wasting time with a long commute and will therefore be more productive!”

What is typically a 10-min walk in Singapore, turned out to be more like 30 minutes. Brilliant.

Stayed at Holiday Inn Express, which was OK for the most part. Had a visitor in the form of a small cockroach so that was nice since I was getting a little bit lonely.

Also, I only remembered to take a picture at night. So yeah.

The conference was scheduled to begin two days later, so after the last meeting on the first day, I figured I better get my shopping in now.

Now I could see the twin towers (Suria KLCC) from my room, but since it’s KL, walking would probably take me a few days and by the time I arrived I would’ve had a long beard and a volleyball named Wilson.

Fortunately a nice lady was going near where I was headed, so she offered to escort me to where I’d just need to get off just one or two more stops to the KLCC station.

I was NOT expecting to cross busy roads in dimly-lit areas at night. But I made it! Either that, or this is a really crappy dream.

Behold! A mall! With a giant peacock inside of it!

I think it was just after Deepavali, so there were a ton of Indian tourists there and the festive decorations were nice. But the mall was huge and I was tired. Can’t recall if I got everything I wanted in the first evening, but over the next couple of days I would return and complete my… destiny. Shopping. Just a little bit.

I’d been missing quite a few hours of sleep throughout the week, so I figured that at the end of a long first day, I’d at least get to recharge without being interrupted.

Me at 2.59am: Ahh… recharging. Gonna wake up fresh for a brand new day tomorrow!

The building opposite the hotel at 3am: HAHAHAH LISTEN TO MY ALARM ALL NIGHT LONG, YOU FOOLISH MORTAL!

So yeah. That happened.

Lack of sleep is probably why I can’t recall taking this picture just outside the hotel:

Loved how they tacked on “with LAW” at the end, as if it were a nice additional topping in a salad.

Whenever I’m in town, I try to find food that I normally couldn’t get the Halal version of back home. Lo and behold next to the hotel lobby:

Yea I know… I know… it’s nothing to scream about but I love places like these, and Halal ones are hard to find in Singapore.

It was a little intimidating at first, I’ll admit. When they ask what you want, naturally assuming that you, a fully-grown adult male in a suit, would know what you want. But I was just in awe of all the choices. So… many… choices…

Once I must’ve ordered something extraordinary “Jalapenos? Cranberries? Eggs? Sauce made from the happy tears of yellow Yaks that reside in a temple in the Himalayas? YES PLEASE. ALL OF THEM. NO. ONE WRAP. ALL. OF. THEM.” because the girl actually called out to her colleagues and exclaimed in Malay about how… unreal it was.

So anyway yea, loved O’Briens.

Like Singapore, there’s an interesting mix of old colonial-era buildings and spanking new concrete and glass towers, quite similar to Singapore.

What was interesting though is that nearly at all times, you could see the remnants of a forest trying to make a comeback. Overgrown grass next to sidewalks, vines and what seemed to me like little patches of forest here and there, in between buildings, next to expressways, under overpasses.

On the second-last day I think, I finally got to leave the conference a little earlier and got to see the towers in broad daylight, as opposed to seeing them only in the evening like some kind of vampire without all the cool powers.

Oh, and this was me on the final day of the conference.

Headed back to the airport and was surprised by a pretty cool cover of “Mentera Semerah Padi”, by M. Nasir. Probably the only Malay song I kind of like.

Yea overall it wasn’t a bad trip, and KL’s starting to grow on me. Which is what I thought. Until I missed my most recent flight and had to spend more than 12 goddamn hours at KLIA.

November 15, 2017 0

West Coast Park

After another long week, we finally got our one day away from the Littlest Dictator.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love my daughter. But any parents who claim not to want a break from their baby are either lying or have already gone off the deep end. Kids will do that to you. They’re like those Velociraptors in Jurassic Park, and you’ve always got to be on your toes or you’re well and truly screwed. It gets exhausting.

Anyway where was I? Oh yeah, the day off. So we headed over to West Coast Park.

I had a rough idea of where it was, but didn’t know exactly how to get there. And I wasn’t going to use Google Maps because dammit, I used to cycle past it on the way to work four or five years ago and I don’t need a damn phone to tell me how to get there.

I totally needed my phone.

We reached there eventually after walking about maybe 30 mins from the Clementi Bus Interchange.

We had a sandwich at a Subway-like place, at an newly-refurbished old, three or four-storey building in an equally old neighbourhood.

The many “licensed moneylenders” and pawnshops made it a little bit depressing. Clementi is what property agencies call a “mature estate”, which means it’s been around for longer than most, and is relatively well-developed.

The old housing estates and low buildings with shops on the ground floor and apartments on the floor above have got a kind of charm. Brings back nostalgic memories for me. And some not-so-pleasant ones.

I grew up in a tiny two-bedroom apartment, and as the years went by, slowly realised that we were on the lower portion of the income scale. Not dirt poor by any means. But yeah, quite lacking in certain areas.

By the way, as we walked through the neighbourhoods to get to the park, it only occured to me to take pictures once we’d arrived. So ah, you’re just gonna have to use your imagination for now. Put all those Sesame Street hours to good use!

After walking for a while and wondering if we were lost, and ng refusing to check my phone because I’m a man goddammit, we finally arrived!

Beautiful place. So green and windy and bright. Last time I was there, all I could remember was some tiny boats tied near the shore and nothing much else. Hadn’t been there in more than 15 years.

I was quite pleasant surprised.

Looks like it’s windy often because there were quite a few people there flying kites. Maybe one day I’ll show the Littlest Dictator how to fly one.

Usually a trip to a park in Singapore is accompanied by massive amounts of swearing and feeling like a perpetually melting chocolate bar. But this time it was pretty good. Weather was just perfect.

And even on a Saturday, there weren’t many people.

Yea I wouldn’t mind heading back there at all.

September 24, 2017 0

Singapore, the Beautiful Little Birdcage

I used to have fantasies of owning a big house in Singapore (or two) (or three) (or maybe a bushel of ’em). We’d travel all over, but if anybody asked where were based, I’d probably have answered Singapore.

These days however, I’m drawing almost a blank. Well, almost. I mean come on, my imagination’s pretty damn strong.

This article kind of pushed me over the edge and convinced me that we’ve got to migrate at some point.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-aims-for-fully-cashless-transport-system-by-2020-lta-9114728

Add this to the recent proliferation of cameras all over the island, the plans to implement ERP 2 ( a system that tracks the real-time location of every single vehicle in Singapore on public roads), the recent additional laws that further restrict free speech (and this is Singapore we’re talking about here), the continued existence of the ISA (we have the dubious distinction of having held the longest political prisoner in modern history), the government’s stated overall goal of turning Singapore into a “Smart City”.

But this article and the accompanying announcement, insulting our intelligence and further marginalizing the poor. This was the final straw. Soon, Singapore too might become an almost 100% cashless society like Sweden.

Hey, do you remember the recent financial crisis? Here’s a novel idea. Why not put those same exact goddamn institutions that caused the crisis in full control of our cash?

I could write a lot more about this. But with mass surveillance, which will result in an even more docile, unimaginative population, it’s made me realize that it’s time to move on.

Being a minority here (one of the officially-designated “Others”), I’ve never really felt like Singapore was home. But it was a decent enough place to stay in.

With a daughter to raise now though, it’s troubling to imagine the kind of mindset she’d have growing up. For a two year-old, she’s got a lot of fire and energy. Very rebellious too. I don’t want this fiery spirit of hers to get dampened or worse, extinguished.

Speak up. Rebel. Don’t accept what they say. Don’t obey.

So yea, we’ll need to find another place. Being a brown Arab-looking Muslim though, the list of places is pretty damn short. But it’ll be worth it. I hope.

August 16, 2017 0

Stumbled Across a Wet Market

Just remembered to post this. Back when I was walking around looking for a gym, I happened to stumble across a wet market near the Haeundae Cultural Centre.

Reminded me a lot of the wet markets in Singapore, which will soon be all gone (if they’re not all gone already).

I gotta admit, it felt a little awkward taking these pictures without buying anything

Besides the stuff you’d normally find in a market like fresh fish, fresh meat, fresh vegetables, fresh cocaine, you’d also be able to find Korea-specific stuff like whatever these are: