Rabies

Because the silly relief I feel right now needs to be shared:

I was bitten yesterday. Not by the pet monkey at my guesthouse (I disapprove, by the way, even though it's very cute and receives all the attention of a small child rather than a pet), not by a stray dog, not by one of the nippy wee un-neutred terriers that are the loudest of all. No, I was walking past a bike parts shop and their fluffy husky mongrel thing just had a chomp on my thigh. It was wearing a pretty ineffective muzzle, so one tooth still hit bullseye and broke the skin. Dammit.

So, I wash, I disinfect, I go to the clinic this morning and the very helpful doctor writes me two notes, in Thai:

1. To take to the owner, asking if the dog is rabies vaccinated.
2. If the answer is no to note 1, a note for Ayutthaya Hospital explaining.

The parts shop only opens at 5pm, so I've had the full day of sightseeing and hypochondria, thinking I'm foaming at the mouth when I've actually just brushed my teeth, feeling twinges in my left leg which are more likely brought on by riding around on a push bike too small for me etc etc.

The ending, as I'm sure you've all realised by now is a happy one, the lovely lady owner of both shop and dog hugely apologetically reassured me that the animal is vaccinated to the hilt for everything, including rabies.

I would never have got rabies anyway, would have just had to shell out a fair whack of cash on another couple of vaccines, as well as the discomfort of the after-effects of the jabs. The relief is good though. A beer, banana cake and a chocolate brownie are good comfort food, and I have the wonderful souvenir of a thai doctor's note!