Another One Dying

Pui is off for four days to visit her father in the hospital in Phitsanulok. He's apparently had some kind of thoracic surgery and is now in the ICU. Over the last two weeks, my maid Go made two daytrips down to Rayong to visit her friend who is deathly ill in the hospital.

It's a total toss-up as to whether Thai people spend a good portion of their lives nearly dying of some grave illness (and another even greater portion visiting relatives undergoing same), or whether I'm just being jerked around. I think it's the former because all of the times when a Thai person tells me, "I have to go visit X in the hospital," there has never been an instance where they couldn't just as easily have said, "Uh, yes, I'm just going to go piss off for a couple of days upcountry," and I wouldn't have said, "Great! Have fun." Also, and more telling, there hasn't been any, "Can I have some money to pay for X's surgery / hospital / doctor / medicine / crashed motorcycle repairs?"

So anyway, if I were to make a guess, I would say that on average, 3 times a year, a Thai person has to rush home to visit a dead or dying relative. This reminds me to thank my family for not being dead or dying nearly so often, as I would have a long way to rush, were that the case.