travel-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

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

Visit to the Esplanade and a Few Other Places

It’s been a busy couple of weeks, months? And now on the last day of Ramadhan, I finally have a bit of time to write about some the stuff we’ve been up to.

By the way, I’m writing this while watching the Littlest Dictator feed herself.

A few weeks ago, we visited PIP’s Playbox, located on the fourth floor of The Esplanade.

It’s sort of like a little library and play space for little kids.

Yeah, it wasn’t too bad!

I did get a little annoyed by parents who allow their kids to snatch away toys from the Littlest Dictator while she’s playing with them.

I have a new policy now: if the kid snatches away a toy, I snatch it back immediately. Gently but firmly. Waiting for some parents to do the right thing is like waiting for snow to fall in the Sahara Desert. Or the nee season of Attack on Titan. Just… just trust me on this.

BUT! It was hard to stay annoyed when you’ve got one hell of a view:

Then we went for a walk outside along the river.

Hmm, let’s see where else we’ve been to. Oh yeah. LOL Playland at JCube, an indoor playground near Jurong East MRT. Can’t recall if we went before or after The Esplanade though.

Oh yeah! I went to KL for my very first business trip. First time I ever flew there, and first ever day trip. Usually it’s a major thing for me. Takes about six hours by rail, and four by car or bus.

Yeah, not too bad. an experience! The budget airline terminal looked pretty damn good.

Then we took a goddamn 45-min cab ride to a place that looked like it had been carved out of a forested area not too long ago. A pretty cool place with a hipster-ish vibe, with apartments on the upper floors of the shopping centre, and brand new houses on the other side of a narrow road.

It reminded me of a nice waterfall in the middle of a forbidding jungle.

Despite how nice it looked and… ordinary it felt, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were so far away from the city centre, let alone the airport. Wouldn’t mind going back for a short vacation though.

Let’s see… where else? Where else? Oh right. We paid Big Box a visit. It’s a humongous shopping mall/warehouse next to Jem Shopping Centre, also near Jurong East MRT.

We’d gone there previously and it was pretty underwhelming. While it may be huge, the products sold there appeared to me to be of a cheaper, poorer quality compared to what you’d find in other shopping malls.

But I’d heard of a huge indoor playground there and thought we’d check it out.

It was pretty big, that’s for sure. Might bring the Littlest Dictator here when we get th chance.

Then we checked out their humongous supermarket.

Seriously, this place was huge. It felt exhausting just trying to look at all they had to offer. The design seems a little off though. The aisles were a little too wide, and there were white spaces nearly everywhere you turned, from the ceiling to the walls to the floor. Too many white spaces. The place felt vast but strangely sparse.

It wasn’t that bad though. Might return to check out some of the stuff they have on offer there.

By the way, this is now two days after I started writing. And now I’m attempting to finish this while watching Slap on Titan, an Attack o Titan parody. Armin is one hell of a creepy dude.

June 25, 2017 0

Trip to Arab Street

We met a friend in Arab Street yesterday, and it felt almost refreshing to be out amongst adults only.

Wife missed the baby but I was like ‘YESSS! No baby! WooHoo!! FREEEDOMMMM!!’

Anyway… we took the mrt to Bugis Station.

Looking at this picture makes me feel like Hagrid.

Then headed to the creatively-named shopping centre Bugis Junction.

That guy on the right is basically every parent who makes the mistake of going shopping with the baby in tow.

There a few cool shops.

This guy did NOT skip Back Day at the gym!

Met up with the friend, grabbed a quick bite and headed to nearby Arab Street.

Saw a Cat Cafe along the way.

… but I wasn’t in the mood for cat burgers. That’s what I assume they serve. As well as other cat dishes.

My old school is near Arab Street, so in a way I grew up here. And it has changed so much, that it’s almost unrecognisable.

It used to be very quiet around the iconic Sultan Mosque area, which holds the sultan’s tomb.

But now clubs and bars and hipster-ish shops and cafes have sprung up around the area like mushrooms.

It’s cool and all, and I really like some of the cafes. But it also attracts those annoying young people from western countries who watch movies about Asia and come here to ‘find themselves’ in an ‘exotic location’. GAHHHH.

So back to the cafes. We went to an OK one called La Marelle (naturally).

I really like these old shophouses. Picturing how people used to live in them a long time ago.

The place was alright. The chicken burgers were really good, but the coffee was alright. Overall not a bad place to hang out it. The music wasn’t too loud like in some other cafes that clearly aspire to be clubs.

After that it was a short walk down to and past Sultan Mosque.

Yeah overall, not a bad day.

February 26, 2017 0

First Trip on the MRT in more than Three Months

It’s been almost a week since we’ve returned (5 days, 12 hours, 39 minutes) and it’s my first time on the MRT (Singapore’s version of the Metro).

Pretty sunny day.

You can’t tell but I’m melting. And it’s not even a hot day! By Singapore standards that it.

The view from Lakeside Station is always a pleasure to see, even if it is now partially blocked by the safety barriers.

Compared to the much older system in Busan, this train feels like a freakin’ mansion, even if it is like, more than 20 years old.

I’d also forgotten how quickly the train fills up these days, and the picture above was taken when I’d first boarded. It’s definitely a far cry from when I was a kid, and the MRT’s novelty hadn’t yet worn off. I kind of miss that time.

These days, I have packed-like-sardines-in-a-goddamn-can rush-hour trains to look forward to each morning once I get a job.

At least the views are nice.

February 22, 2017 3

Hello Humidity, My Old Friend

It’s been relatively cool here in Singapore (like, 27 degrees Celsius)(!!) so I almost forgot how hot it could get.

While the blue skies and fluffy clouds mingling with so much greenery is always a beautiful sight to behold… I’d forgotten that a short walk could make you sweat like… everywhere.

We went for a stroll through the nearby market and shops to look for a little aeroplane and more drawing paper for the Littlest Dictator.

A military aeroplane flew kind of low.

Oh yea and as usual there was a bazaar going on in the main square.

It was a pretty good walk, and I’m still bowing to every goddamn person I meet.

February 21, 2017 0

Can’t. Stop. Bowing!

So the first visit to a shopping centre after three months in Korea and my wife noticed it first: I’m bowing to EVERYONE.

And sometimes I even expect them to bow back! Yeah… it’s going to be a weird first week.

Anyway, it was an almost surreal experience to be back in Jem, a shopping centre near our place. It’s like we never left and that Busan was just a dream.

Nobody put up banners welcoming me back or anything!

The last time I had a burger was before we’d left Singapore.

Oh yea and we wanted to get new pillows too. You know how no matter how hard you try to identify a pillow is like with your hands, it always feels differently when you’re lying on it at home?

Tomorrow’s Monday. That means a week of job-hunting and returning to the gym. Just eight more months left until we’re back in Busan! I hope!

February 19, 2017 0

Snow in Haeundae!!

Woke up a bit more late than usual, and still feeling groggy and considering a return to whatever dream I had… turned my head and saw… SNOW!!

At first there were only a few snowflakes dancing across the window… and I was slightly annoyed, mistaking them for joss paper ash, which is not that uncommon in Singapore.

What’s even more amazing (to me only, apparently) is that it’s not even below minus.

And then it hit me. I literally ran to the hall, even forgetting to greet the mother-in-law.

Seeing it snow for the first time. Quite a sight to behold. Just incredible.

The wind is still blowing strongly and it’s like someone’s playing with the tap in the sky, with the snow getting turned on and off and on again.

I’m really glad I finally got to see snow here in Busan.

January 20, 2017 0

Chinatown

So the wife had to head over to the immigration office to extend her visa by one more month and man, while I love most of the Koreans I’ve met here, if you have to deal with them, try and bring along a local if you can. Not a pleasant experience and I’d probably have lodged an official complaint if I’d been there.

Aaaanyway. Here are some pics of Chinatown that my wife took!

Chinatown and the Russian districts are almost the same basically, and pretty close to Nampo. This is where you’ll find awesome (and Halal!) Russian and Eastern European dishes (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, etc.)

Be warned though, Texas Street is a notorious red-light area and is somewhere there. Generally safe overall but I’d avoid that street at night unless you enjoy the company of drunk, burly Russians (hey if it’s your thing, you’ll probably love it!)