pus-filled week

From the very commencement the student should set out to witness the progress and effects of sickness and ought to persevere in the daily observation of disease during the whole period of his studies.  - Robert James Graves 

Current location: Doctor's Quarters, RIPAS Hospital
Total distance traveled: 8,923km


I didn't know who Robert James was, and certainly didn't know he was the Mr Graves (the surgeon) who had lent his name to the eponymous Grave's disease. What I did learn is that, in paediatrics, it is almost impossible to just observe disease. At a certain point, you have to share it. 

Catching a bug was almost a rite of passage given the feely-cuddly nature of the specialty, and the fact that kids leave traces of themselves and their germs everywhere. Try as we might, the lack of soap and hand towels in my department pretty much makes handwashing an exercise in futility, even in the infectious diseases ward. Oh the horror!

Aside from the lack of ID control, the rest of the paediatrics rotation has also been an interesting one. Being the only one doing it in my particular clinical school in term pretty much gives me full reign of 3 wards. The interns have been especially helpful in figuring out the system here in Brunei. Expectations are a great deal higher here, given that most local students are creme de la creme of the local school system, and the gentle "Western" putdown isn't generally what's used in response to a perception of ignorance or lack of initiative. Beware the over-eager but underprepared (cue my entrance here).

After hours in Brunei is a challenge for me. The food has fallen short of my expectations in terms of accessibility. I have neglected to arrange for a IDP, which doesn't help in a place with little footpath coverage but dominated by 4x4s with drivers barely visible over their dashboards. The only other UQ student here, a 3rd year Miri resident, has offered lifts to shops and so on. But, thinking the exercise would be good to offset any dietary sins (and perhaps wishfully hoping that I'd start a revolution here), I had decided to rely exclusively on my legs, public buses and water transportation. The biggest risk with walking is that I'm constantly in danger of spraining my scalenes and SCM from all the head turning I do looking out for traffic coming behind me. Buses are a flat $1 each trip regardless of distance, which, in a place with zero income taxes, is a pretty good deal. I plan to give the water taxis a go this weekend.

Most of the time, despite the significantly lower CoL here, I feel as though I'm getting milked for cash. My impression overall is that, as a Bruneian, if you can live with some of the compromises to your personal liberty (which should be pretty obvious, but I'd struggle to say they are non-negotiable sacrifices), you will have a pretty decent living.  There's very little in terms of commercial competition, a very stable government, and judging from the display of cars and homes in the area, a fair amount of wealth in the community. 

Most of the younger set - meaning my generation - are uniformally well-educated and career-driven. Many have live-in domestiques. Most parents I've seen in clinics or the wards are in their early 20s to mid 30s. There is the occasional G7P7 40-something looking lady with the premie, but I can still count them with one hand after my 2nd week here. Twins such a common phenomenon here, and anecdotally it seems to be a maternal-line trend. Kids are all quite pleasant and well-behaved in a clinical setting, which would probably be a huge culture shock for me when I get back. I live in fear of ineffectual parenting...

old town coffee house

Current location: Low Cost Carrier Terminal, KLIA Malaysia
Total distance traveled: 7,444km

I have had a great run in Malaysia.

The weather was pleasant, with the occasional evening shower to break the day's heat. The strangers that I have been meeting along the way really gracious. And somehow, despite the deep discounts offered by many shops I still have some baggage space left. Which is fortunate, because I think I'm a hair's breadth away from herniating a disc with my check-in rucksack that's weighing in at 19kg.

A stay in KL is never complete without a stay with my lovable big cousin. I was generally solo during the CBD during my day there. This time riding the bus around town wasn't as hair-raising (at least the driver was sticking to the legal direction of traffic!). I got to flex my (albeit flabby) negotiating muscle around Petaling St with a surprising amount of success. Snapped up a couple of rather convincing "tribute" items there, and a polarizer lens filter at Kota Raya. The man behind the counter in the camera store was really something else. He was a 70-something looking man with coke-bottle glasses and a totally discontiguous Superman t-shirt that looked as though it might had been from his adolescent grandson's wardrobe. As we were chatting away about pancake lenses and image distortion he would occasionally make a gum-smacking sound, as if he forgot his dentures. He was so sweet, and ha apparently let me bargain the price of the filter down to his cost price - he claimed that it was ok because he'd reached his "sales quota".

I then went to Penang for a couple of days, for the wedding of a high school mate, who I shall now refer to as the most cool-headed bride I have ever seen, considering that she needs to travel between 3 cities in span of a few days for the ceremonial aspects of the Chinese wedding. Not only arranging her own affairs around her massive extended family and hometown friends, but also managing last minute changes to hotel bookings from her groomsmen and making sure that friends from out of town are not left twiddling their thumbs during the breaks. Needless to say, it was a marvel to see it all unfold so organically and beautifully, and her family was just a joy to stay with.

the day before

Hello and thanks for following me on my new journey.

If you have find this page, you'll probably know a few stats about me: I'm in my 4th and final year of post-graduate med school. The odometer on my Holden Astra has clocked roughly 13,000km since I bought it in 2003, a testament to the amount of travelling that a person can potentially squeeze out while working on a med degree in Queensland. I have 3 bags almost packed and waiting at the front door. And I am heading to Sydney at 7am tomorrow, ready to my first overseas flight since my last work trip while I was in Accenture.

As I'm writing this, thoughts of people who I'd worked with start to flood in. One's just finished his MBA in Melbourne; another's come back from Japan after the earthquakes; another probably waiting for a flight in KLIA right this moment heading for Korea. Many others have left the so-called "Incubator" since I did, beginning successful stints with Health Systems development, consulting for educational institutions, or starting an own e-shop that featured in the Australian BRW. Out of the handful that come to mind, I seem to be the only one still working on my transition from consulting analyst to something else, whereas the others have already arrived.

That's why I'm so excited about this trip.

It brings to mind the feeling we get when the starter's gun goes off at the start of a race. A race where the finish line is Graduation.

So, as they say, "come along and enjoy the ride".