A day to kick about the area. I'll see about heading southwest for the other rocket festival.
There
were a couple routes and I ended up taking a highway directly south to
the town of Udon Thani. It is more south than I needed to travel but
the whole distance was only about 50 kilometers south so I figured I'd
visit the town. There was a nice roundabout but other than that - it
was a busy town - nothing too interesting. I went looking for a way
out. I wanted to head northwest so instead of heading back on the
highway I came in on - and taking the marked road to my destination,
Ban Phu, I just started weaving northwest. I ended up on some small
roads. At one point I ended up in a small town - a name I do not know
what.
Working my way northwest in this town I came across a
dead end road. Turning around I started to hear some dogs barking - and
the barking was getting louder. Mostly turned around and clicking into
first gear one of the dogs ran up on my left and took a lung at my leg.
I lifted my leg as I let the clutch out but he still made contact. Darn
dog. A hasty retreat I turned the corner and made sure they weren't
following. I pulled up my pant leg to see if the bite had broken the
skin. It didn't look like it - but a top, thin layer of skin was pulled
off. I reached into my pocket for the bottle of alcohol sanitizing hand
cleaner and washed where it got me. No idea if I needed to - just
figured it would be good. That done I also figured mark where this
dog is. Another waypoint for the GPS. Getting out of that little town I
didn't find the highway and just kept wiggling northwest until I did.
Some
of the roadway was nice smooth asphalt while there were sections with
bad potholes. Finally hitting the highway to Ban Phu I found the town
and started to look for smoke trails in the sky. None found I did find
a convenience store where I sat inside with the A/C and had a snack -
green tea, water, peanuts.
The trek out of town and back to Nong
Khai would be interesting. I first stopped at a Honda dealer that had
some new "three wheeled motorcycle like taxi's". After that I ended up
on the road with the topiary creations - all different creations -
you'll see....
Here's a tidbit that the CDC.GOV website had on rabies:
3. Q: What happens if a neighborhood dog or cat bites me?
A:
You should seek medical evaluation for any animal bite. However, rabies
is uncommon in dogs, cats, and ferrets in the United States. Very few
bites by these animals carry a risk of rabies. If the cat (or dog or
ferret) appeared healthy at the time you were bitten, it can be
confined by its owner for 10 days and observed. No anti-rabies
prophylaxis is needed. No person in the United States has ever
contracted rabies from a dog, cat or ferret held in quarantine for 10
days.
If a dog, cat, or ferret appeared ill at the time it bit
you or becomes ill during the 10 day quarantine, it should be evaluated
by a veterinarian for signs of rabies and you should seek medical
advice about the need for anti-rabies prophylaxis.
The
quarantine period is a precaution against the remote possibility that
an animal may appear healthy, but actually be sick with rabies. To
understand this statement, you have to understand a few things about
the pathogenesis of rabies (the way the rabies virus affects the animal
it infects). From numerous studies conducted on rabid dogs, cats, and
ferrets, we know that rabies virus inoculated into a muscle travels
from the site of the inoculation to the brain by moving within nerves.
The animal does not appear ill during this time, which is called the
incubation period and which may last for weeks to months. A bite by the
animal during the incubation period does not carry a risk of rabies
because the virus is not in saliva. Only late in the disease, after the
virus has reached the brain and multiplied there to cause an
encephalitis (or inflammation of the brain), does the virus move from
the brain to the salivary glands and saliva. Also at this time, after
the virus has multiplied in the brain, almost all animals begin to show
the first signs of rabies. Most of these signs are obvious to even an
untrained observer, but within a short period of time, usually within 3
to 5 days, the virus has caused enough damage to the brain that the
animal begins to show unmistakable signs of rabies. As an added
precaution, the quarantine period is lengthened to 10 days. |
