I stayed in Bangkok almost 2 weeks. As I wrote in my previous post, the initial scheduled dental procedures only took a week. But the last procedure was to have two wisdom teeth extracted on Thursday night and they wanted to see me Friday night to check on the healing.

So let’s back up to my arrival date and my time in Bangkok. After my appointment Friday (the day of my arrival), I watched the sunset over Bangkok from the rooftop garden and met Chris who told me how much he loves living in Bangkok. I found the W District open air food court he told me about and had a yummy Pad Thai. You can get Pizza or Mexican or Greek or BBQ in the food court, but I am in Thailand! I want to eat Asian food! I slept well that night after not sleeping on the red-eye flight. My next appointment wasn’t until 3 pm, so I went for a morning swim and meet Grace and Jill enjoying a morning dip. They are retired and travel each year during the Australian summer. The last few years, they have spent four months in Chiang Khong, a north Thailand town on the Mekong River. There is a new bridge to Lao (Laos) near the town which expanded Chiang Khong from a local market town to an international border crossing in 2013. They spoke so fondly of the people that have befriended them there and their many activities helping with children’s reading programs and women’s projects. They had stopped over in Bangkok for some dental work this year but were anxious to get on the bus and out of the big city!

Hotel Search

It had been my plan from the beginning to stay at Dr. Sunil’s boutique hotel a few nights and then look for a budget hotel. The boutique hotel room was only $45 a night so very reasonable, but if I could save a little more then the overall cost of an international dental trip goes down. 😉 Neil did some research and gave me a few leads close by. I spent the morning walking to look at some hotels, then brought the BTS Skytrain back one stop from On Nut to Phra Khanong; the BTS is very modern, clean, and fun to ride! Right under the stairs as I exited is a small hotel, The Mix, that wasn’t on my list. I walked in to look at the rooms: clean and bigger than the one I was staying in but not as new or gleaming white. I inquired about price and availability and was told it would be basically ½ the price of what I was paying but they were booked for several more nights. Time for lunch and a rest from the heat.

When I got back to the hotel, I was handed a letter on Dr. Sunil’s letterhead that there would be a ceremony in the lobby from 1 to 3 and we guests were invited. Some of us dressed in our black clothes (of course that is all I had, ha) and went downstairs to the main building lobby. When nothing was happening there, we went back to the 5^th floor hotel wing and in what I would have called the common room was a Hindu pujari (priest) preparing for a ceremony. We watched the color and patterns evolve for a while but then I had to leave for my clinic appointment. I was later told the ceremony started about 3 with much chanting and clanging cymbals.  The beautiful colorful patterned art was still there for me to appreciate when I got back. [I never learned what the ceremony signified or honored.]

That Saturday afternoon, I had two root canals and then my teeth whitened. The teeth whitening is the one procedure I could have, should have, skipped. My thought was that it might make my teeth match the one front tooth cap/crown I got when I was 17. Didn’t really work and it was actually more uncomfortable than the process of getting the root canals. There was no pain during the root canals because I was well numbed and relaxed while she drilled and dug in my mouth doing two side by side upper left molars. Afterwards they handed me three drugs I could take: pain killers, antibiotics, and one for swelling. I didn’t take any; didn’t feel the need. I had clove oil diluted with coconut oil which I would put a few drops on cotton and sleep with the cotton against my gum for pain and antibiotic. I also took turmeric capsules and ginger tea for swelling. No problems.

Sunday exploring

At dinner that night in the food court (I had soft Indian dahl, yum), Grace and Jill asked if would like to join them for an outing the following morning. The clinic is closed Sundays so we had the full day. They were heading to an English language bookstore that served organic coffee. Their plan was to have breakfast and browse. We took a taxi the couple of miles to the bookstore along the road with the BTS track overhead. It is very efficient construction with broad pillars in the center of the street separating the traffic and the track elevated overhead. It utilizes the existing thoroughfare and doesn’t take any real estate away from buildings. There are lots of cars on the road but probably almost equal number motor scooters! I later observed that scooter drivers with orange vests were registered taxi scooters.

The bookstore only had a coffee bar and no breakfast. We ventured a block farther to find a local restaurant with a plate lunch buffet. They handed us a plate and let us spoon on our choices. Then she came to the table and decided how much to charge for the amount taken—60 baht which is less than $2 for oh so good food! Now satiated with brunch, we returned to browse the 3 story bookshop. It clearly caters to the expat community and has a good niche market with English and other foreign language books plus a small espresso bar.

We walked to a nearby high-end grocery store where you can find imported products. I got some chocolate and Grace got them a loaf of fresh rye bread! Then we covered a couple more blocks to the EM Quartier Complex, one of the many upscale multistory shopping malls in the downtown area. It’s interesting to look at the architecture and the variety of stores even if there was nothing I needed to buy. One thing that impressed me about Bangkok is the love of plants and greenery. Even in the concrete and paved city, there were plants everywhere the residents could put a planter pot. Many rooftops had gardens and potted trees growing high above the streets. When space was limited, they designed vertical planter walls. We found the Quartier Water Garden on the top floors of the mall with indoor and outdoor sections allowing you to meander through a variety of habitats. The Mall is integrated with the Phrom Phong BTS station so it was an easy three stops back ride to our neighborhood.

What to do about housing?

I was feeling mixed about moving from Dr. Sunil’s hotel because I had friends now in our little community, however, I did want to economize. I was already emailing with Grace and Jill to coordinate meals and getting together, so my logic was that staying at a place in the local area would still allow me to hang out with friends. (It did work out that way all week!) I walked over to The Mix Monday morning and they had a room opening up after all. I went back and packed, check out of The Bloom, and moved to my new hotel for the next week. My first night was VERY noisy from the street noise (even with earplugs) but they were very accommodating and moved me to the garden side room on the same floor the next day. I had a mini fridge, an electric kettle to make tea, free wifi, and the Craft Café right downstairs. I had found my little haven in Bangkok.

Text and Photos by Nanette Harter

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What did I want for my birthday last October? I couldn’t think of anything and Neil was trying to come up with ideas. I finally said what I wanted for my birthday was to get my teeth fixed! I had been ignoring them for a long time as I don’t have dental insurance. I was hurting on one side but then the other side of my mouth started throbbing too. Time to take some action.

I remembered a friend once talking about going to India for good but inexpensive dental work. I emailed him and also a friend who lived in Mexico. My requirement was a holistic (also called biological) dentist who didn’t do amalgam (silver/mercury) fillings. The only biological dentists in Mexico are in Tijuana and their websites read that they wanted multiple visits. My other friend suggested Thailand and the Philippines over India. I had been to Thailand before so started online investigation. There are several dental clinics that cater to international clients. They start your appointments the day you arrive and continue daily until complete. And they have their own in-house labs so crowns are processed quickly onsite. I chose Dr. Sunil International Dental Center in Bangkok. In addition to the positive reviews for excellent dental service, they have limo service that handles your airport transportation and drives you to each appointment at the clinic, and also have a boutique hotel for clients in a good location in Bangkok.

Within two weeks of beginning the search, I was on a plane to Bangkok! My return flight was for three weeks later. The clinic suggested allowing at least a week for the dental work, I thought two to build in buffer, and Neil suggested three so I had some time to tour. I went by myself because Neil was still recovering from the serious road burns on his legs and wasn’t able to travel yet. I missed Neil’s companionship on the trip but I have traveled often by myself so was comfortable with the trip. Neil and I spoke every day over the HangOuts app and he did invaluable research for me on places to see in Bangkok and later options of where to travel out of Bangkok for my week holiday.  

The country of Thailand was in mourning: King Bhumibol Adulyadej had passed away on October 13, 2016 at age of 89 and was the world’s longest-serving head of state, and the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history at that time. People were requested to wear black or subdued colors for one month of mourning. I packed only black: black tops, pants, shorts, hat, purse, day pack, and shoes. It was easy to coordinate everything and it was appreciated by the people of Thailand as a few stopped to comment to me. There were memorials up all over the country and black and white banners outside every school and government building. The clubs, music, and entertainment was subdued. And many Thai websites like the official government Tourist information site changed to black and white for the month; same information but text and photos lacked color.

I left Maui on Wednesday night (redeye) and arrived in Thailand Friday morning after crossing the International Date Line. My driver was waiting outside immigration and whisked me off to the hotel. They changed my initial appointment to 5 pm so I thought I could get a few hours of sleep and maybe be more alert. Mid-nap, the housekeeper knocks on my door and hands me her phone where the voice tells me they changed my appointment to 3 and could I meet the driver downstairs. The Dr. Sunil’s boutique hotel is on the 5th floor of The Bloom, a gated high rise condominium building, with the pool and workout room on our floor and an accessible rooftop garden that has a wonderful view of the city. It is only a short walk to the Phra Khanong Skytrain (BTS) station. Neil had read about the area before I left noting it is one favored by expats and has both a wonderful native Thai and an eclectic feel. That evening as I watched sunset from the rooftop, I met a building resident also enjoying the evening. Chris is from the UK and has loved living in Thailand for several years. He gave me great info about the outside food court across the street and suggestions on outings including the weekend market. Thanks Chris!

A great feature of the hotel is the small number of rooms and all guests are international clients of the clinic. The other guests I met were from Australia and New Zealand and it was fun trading stories. I met Jill and Grace from Castlemaine, Australia, the first morning and had a great time hanging out with them all week.

Back to my first visit to the clinic: The driver was early and waiting. It only took about 15 minutes to get to the clinic from The Bloom. The first thing I saw was white and gold and chandeliers plus several employees. The valet brought me ice cold water and little slipper covers for over my shoes while I waited. I was escorted upstairs to have x-rays taken and escorted back downstairs to wait to see the doctor. Your first consultation is always with Dr. Sunil himself. I knew from the throbbing and that I had some chipped teeth but needed to hear what he recommended. He recommended two root canals and crowns, plus a third crown to replace one that was chipped, three small fillings, and extraction of the two right wisdom teeth that were both decaying, He didn’t feel I needed to replace my three remaining amalgam fillings with composite because they were in good shape. And of course I needed a cleaning.

Decision on jetlag: I believe my choice of doing all the procedures was the right one because they all needed to be done and the two women dentists who did all the work within the week that followed were exceptional. That said, my only real issue was feeling “rushed” to make the decision and to pay. I wanted to internalize it a little and come back with more questions and had wanted to talk to Neil (but 17 hour time difference). My concerned was about having root canals however I had done the research before leaving home and the only real alternative to root canal is extraction. I said yes to all the work ($3200) and they had a driver take me to a nearby money exchange booth to get a better exchange rate than they could give me (very considerate of them.) Once the payment was transacted, the work began with my teeth cleaning that evening and an appointment set for the next night for the root canals. All the appointments were all set for late afternoon or evening and the work was completed within the week. I had daytimes off to explore Bangkok. Stay tuned.

Text and Photos by Nanette Harter