ROMAN WANDERAUGH'S TRAVEL TIPS - July 2001

Teeth Problems - TB ALERT - WHAT'S THE CHARGE!!!??? Doctors Don't Speak English - Helping Hands

Roman Wanderaugh - National Radio Text Service - July 1, 2001

The Tooth - The Whole Tooth and Nothing But... The Tooth

What happens if the crown on your tooth falls out and you're in a country that you can't speak the native language? That happened to us in Cambodia.

We asked for recommendations for a dentist from the owners of guesthouses, hotels and restaurants that we dealt with in Sihanoukville. Two recommendations resulted in meeting with Khmer only speaking dentists. We didn't feel comfortable with that situation and started looking around on our own.

A sign of a tooth outside of their office can identify dentist's offices in Cambodia. We asked if there was a dentist that spoke English. One did and we let him do the work.

The key here is communication and dealing with someone that understood English so we would know what was going to happen and happening. Everything turned out OK. We paid $5 and had no problem with that.

The options were to have someone that spoke English put the crown in or wait until we returned to Bangkok or our native country to have the work done. If we waited the tooth could have become decayed and we would be worse off.

One Australian traveler offered us some Crazy Glue. Common sense dictated that this was a bad suggestion.

The dentist we chose also had a sign on the outside wall with his name and telephone number spelled in English. He's located opposite the New Paris Hotel on going west about 100 yards on Ekareach Street near the center of town. They can give you service in a pinch for simple matters.

Sihanoukville is a beach town on the land/sea route from Phnom Penh to Bangkok. If you are traveling to Bangkok it would be better to find a dentist there. If you don't have that choice it would be best to go to Phnom Penh. They have more dentists that speak English and their facilities are better. Depending on your situation regarding the direction you're traveling and your length of stay would factor in your decision-making.

On another occasion in Thailand we waited over a week to have a lost filling replaced. We had a previous and happy experience with a dentist in Chiang Mai. Our preference was to see him rather than try to find another dentist in Bangkok that we weren't familuar with. By the time we reached our dentist the tooth had decayed and a root canal had to be done.

***

Be Healthy When You Travel - TB ALERT: According to the Bangkok Post's Wednesday April 25th edition [ www.bangkokpost.net ] in the front section, page four, tuberculosis is spreading along the Thai-Cambodian border.

Trat Thailand Governor Songkhram Korsuthithirakul said 30 million people worldwide were thought to have contracted strains that are resistant to medicine.At Cambodian immigration you will be asked for an International Health Certificate when you enter the country. If you don't have one you will be asked to pay 50-100 baht. It is advised that you take whatever shots you need to prevent disease before traveling. Malaria is also prevalent in the region.

***

Be Advised: A 27-year-old tourist became very ill prior to departing on his return to Canada. He went to a Sihanoukville hospital where he was given medicine and they charged him $70. What was his problem? He doesn't know the doctors didn't speak English. He felt that he had typhoid fever.

It is recommended that if you become sick in Cambodia go to Phnom Penh for treatment were there are foreign or Khmer doctors who speak English.

***

Helping Hand: In beach town of Sihanoukville, a young man and lady tourist couple were eating out doors at a restaurant when healthy looking children beggars approached them asking for yum yum [basically, money to eat]. The male exclaimed, "I can't give to everybody."

A crippled former Khmer soldier was eating at the table with the couple. There was a conversation between the three. The handicapped ex-soldier thanked them and left after finishing his meal. The couple departed several minutes, later walking in a different direction.

Within minutes they returned to the restaurant and approached an elderly couple sitting on a low cement wall. The man then pulled out a loaf of bread and broke it in two and handed the pieces to them. They smiled, thanked him speaking in Khmer, "Akhun Trahn [spelled phonetically] meaning, thank you very much.

It was an interesting way to handle the beggar situation in Cambodia. The Khmer people have suffered badly during 30 years of civil war and many of the population are showing the signs and results of the wear and tear of war. [See: Travel Tips - Cambodia - April 2001]

© Copyright: National Radio. Any use of these materials, whole or in part, is prohibited unless authorized in writing by National Radio. Contact: nationalradio@yahoo.com ALL RIGHTS RESERVED