I've been taking blood pressure medicine for 20 years now because I'm a nervous fat-ass, to put it bluntly. I don't smoke, and I don't really drink, so my condition is the result of heredity and a bad diet of junk food.
My life in Hong Kong this year seems to be a series of firsts, little milestones like getting my Hong Kong I.D. card, getting my first real apartment in Hong Kong, and so on, and today's doctor visit was another first and a matter of some urgency: I am running out of my blood pressure medicine and those dispensaries don't seem to have it.
(They do, however, have almost everything else you would want and there is no need to go to a doctor here if you just want an antibiotic, for example.)
Today marked the first time I have ever been to a doctor's office in Hong Kong. I went to the North Lamma clinic -- up there in the picture to the right -- and it was a painless experience.
Frankly, it's almost like time stopped in that place. Things were so laid-back that I couldn't but help and think of that Michael J. Fox movie Doc Hollywood (1991).
Anyway, it was easy and I was in-and-out, prescription in hand, in a matter of minutes.
The total cost for the visit was about $45HKD which is about $6USD, or about the cost of 2 McDonald's meals here. And that's without health insurance.
Some things are better here.
That picture above is a shot of my portable "medical records" folder. I am to take that with me whenever I visit a health clinic, or hospital, here.
I don't have to sneak-a-peek at my chart, or steal it, like Elaine did in that episode of "Seinfeld" with Kramer in tow as Dr. Van Nostrum!
This is the Tin Hau temple near the clinic. Those lions (?) are impressive.
Finally, some dim sum for breakfast/lunch at Sampan Seafood Restaurant, the place I visited on my first visit to Lamma back in 2009. And it's the same place that Anthony Bourdain visited recently in his new series, "The Layover".
