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A dose of tourism

Sing Buri visitors let the doctor check them out while they check out the sights

Phoowadon Duangmee
The Nation

Nation photos/Phoowadon Duangmee
Think hospital and the pungent whiff of antiseptic assails your nostrils. Or you may picture unfortunate folk moaning their way to the emergency room. Or sharing the lift with a wildly bandaged fellow on a spooky night. Not really ingredients of a spectacular weekend getaway.

But things are changing. And how. A small district hospital in Khai Bang Rachan district, Sing Buri province, has recently introduced what it calls “medical tourism” and the doctors and nurses hold out the promise of more than just prescriptions and medicines.

Dropping in at the hospital to check things out, we are told not to eat or drink after midnight to ensure that the results of the medical examination aren’t skewed. The night passes peacefully with dreams of houris and single malt, and there I am the following morning, waiting for an angelic woman in white to begin checking me.

“You’re going to be fine. It hurts only as much as an ant bite,” says a nurse with a reassuring smile to my friend before she inserts a needle into his arm to pump out some blood.

Sounds sweet but not very helpful. Though the woman in uniform is attractive, the lurid liquid, big syringe and sharp needle make me feel dizzy and queasy.

Next, I clamber on to a weighing scale and then take a short walk to the X-ray room. It takes roughly an hour to complete the medical check-up, and the reward is a warm breakfast comprising coffee, a doughnut and khao tom kung (rice soup with shrimp). Though there are sniggers about the khao tom, it easily ranks among the best food I’ve ever had in a hospital.

“The medical examination results will be announced in the evening,” says Dr Suksan Phakthamnak, a director of the hospital. “For the rest of the day, our nurses will show you around Sing Buri.”

Ah, this is it – medical tourism. The medical check-up has sightseeing on the flip side. Too many people, says the doctor, wait until they’re too sick. The check up-cum-travel package should lure more people to the hospital, at least for an examination.

The nurse-turned-tour guide takes us sightseeing. With a bunch of uniformed nurses and a van with a huge red cross emblazoned on its side, we do look much like a mobile medical unit. Will residents be approaching us for free dental services and advice?
Sing Buri.

Located on the great Central Plain, the province is divided into two halves by the Chao Phya. Comprising six districts, it’s not very big, but the windswept rice fields and rivers provide a sense of space. Only two hours north of Bangkok by road, the greenery is soothing, enough to make you feel great even before arriving at Khai Bang Rachan Hospital.

“Sing Buri is small enough to wrap up in a day,” says Sathita Sabu, the nurse who has swapped needles for a megaphone. “Many weekend travellers come from Bangkok for a quick dose of the scenic landscape.”

Not surprising. The rustic views are dominated by green paddy fields and peasants strolling amid them making sure all is well. Sing Buri seems more in the 1970s than in the 21st century.

We stop by Khai Bang Rachan Museum and the Khai Bang Rachan Monument of Heroes. The monument was built to honour warriors who stood as firm as they could against powerful invaders in the mid-18th century.

In 1767, invaders from Hongsawadee, a kingdom in today’s Burma, attacked the northern Ayutthaya outposts such as Chiang Mai, Sukhothai and Kamphaengphet. They moved south through Nakano Sawan and Chai Nat to reach the small village of Bang Rachan.
“The local warriors held off the powerful Burmese invaders seven times over five months,” says the guide. “The camp fell and was burnt down after the eighth encounter.”

Looking at the statues of the 11 heroes who led the farmers on the battlefield, I wonder what made these people so courageous. People in other places surrendered, or abandoned their towns, to the Hongsawadee. However, statues don’t talk and I can only guess. There only two things that men would fight a losing battle for – land and women.

But it’s not the heroism alone that makes people visit Sing Buri. The laid-back lifestyle and scenic countryside do their bit. And the best place to see the peaceful life pass by is from a boat cruising along the Noi River.

The river was once an important travel route when roads and cars were rarities. Merchants, for example, travelled on boats with various kinds of pottery, such as jars, bowls, mortars and roof tiles from sites upstream to Lop Buri. King Rama V is said to have travelled incognito on the river to see his country and make friends with his people.

“Though lots of things have changed over several hundred years,” says the nurse, who is a Sing Buri native, “you see one thing that remains constant - the laid-back habits of the people.”

Old habits die hard. We see the peaceful lifestyle roll by as in a slide show: men lazing in hammocks, monks bathing temple dogs, women gossiping under the shade of a mango tree and fisherman sleeping on the job.

Eating out is the big attraction around Sing Buri, especially if you love fish. Many well-praised restaurants such as Kang Han Lom, Phad Thai Pak Bang and Chareon Tip, are alongside Highway 32. But we have a home-cooked dinner at our host family’s house worth every kilogram of weight gain - fish soup, shrimp cakes, nam prik plaa tu (deep-fried mackerel with a spicy dip) and several more mouth-watering dishes.

In the morning, after a lecture from the doctor on the excellent state of our health, we feel a bit sad about leaving Sing Buri to reunite with microwaved dinners in Bangkok. The idyllic weekend was proof that it’s silly to spend one weekend after another in a concrete jungle when the fields are greener and the air is cleaner in Sing Buri, not to mention the standard of nursing.

HOW TO GET THERE

Sing Buri, 135 kilometres or an hour’s drive from Bangkok, is well connected with Bangkok through highways and main roads. From Bangkok, use Phahon Yothin Road (Highway 1) or the Outer Ring Road (Road 9) and turn left into Road 32 in Ayutthaya’s Bang Pa-in for the straight drive northwards to Sing Buri by way of Ayutthaya and Ang Thong. The Khai Bang Rachan Monument of Heroes and Wat Bho Kao Ton (for the statue of Phra Dhammachot) in Khai Bang Rachan district are on Road 3032

WHERE TO STAY

Homestay Tha Kham (riverside)
Khai Bang Rachan district
Tel: (036) 535 478
Price range: Bt300

Khai Bang Rachan Youth Homestay
Khai Bang Rachan
Tel: (036) 535 661-2, (089) 083 6528
Price range: Bt150-Bt1,000

72 Hotel
Weerachon Road, Phrom Buri district
Tel: (036) 511 759, (036) 511 938
Price range: Bt200-Bt500

Chao Phya Garden
Sing Buri-Lop Buri Road, Muang
Tel: (036) 511 348
Price range: Bt200-Bt600

Sweet Home
Muang
Tel: (036) 523 255,
Price range: Bt500-Bt700

Sing Buri Hotel
Khun San Road, Muang
Tel: (036) 511 752
Price range: Bt260-Bt650

Sing Buri Palace
Wilaijit Road, Muang
Tel: (036) 520 904-5
Price range: Bt642-Bt3,000

WHERE TO EAT

Ood Nomsod
Nai Dok Road, Muang district
Tel: (036) 511 869

Phorn Phen Khao Man Kai
Wilaijit Road, Muang
Tel: (036) 512 369

Lom Choi Steakhouse
Nai Dok Road, Muang
Tel: (036) 520 397

Paiboon Kai Yang-Plaa Pao
Muang
Tel: (036) 512 132

Athit Pochana
Wilaijit Road, Muang
Tel: (036) 512 517

Loong Jerd Plaa Pao
Muang
Tel: (036) 511 740

Roong
Wilaijit Road, Muang
Tel: (036) 520 887

Charoen Thip
Nai Tan Road, Muang
Tel: (036) 511 099

Nam Phueng Chuan Chim
Muang
Tel: (089) 534 9153