The Infamous Rat Bite Incident

I’ve told this story to a few people recently and decided to post my journal account of what happened which I wrote at the time. Disclaimer: This is unabridged.  I find it embarassing to re-read things I wrote years ago, so hopefully this won’t annoy or offend anyone too much!

 This took place in September, 1993, near the start of our backpacking trip around the world.  We had already spent a week in Fiji, 3 weeks in New Zealand and about 8 weeks in Australia.

This is John and Helen, our English friend that we had just met.  The ferry on the right is the “scene of the crime.”

I am sitting in our room at the Bogor II Losmen in Maumere, Flores, having just experienced my first mandi bath/shower. I have a lot to write about and the first part is really horrible. None of us (with the possible exception of Adam) really got any sleep last night. We went outside a couple of times for the fresh air, cool breeze, and to watch the sunset. Around 9:00 p.m. or so they brought out a microphone and passed it around for karaoke. Most of the songs were in Indonesian, some in English and all of them LOUD. There were a lot of people smoking and some sleeping on newspapers on the floor. Helen said she’d seen some rats but I didn’t think much about it. We tried in vain to get comfortable and go to sleep and I was trying not to think about going to the bathroom. Around 4:30 or 5:00 a.m., I felt a sharp prick on the little toe of my left foot. Picking it up, I saw it start to bleed. Soon after we saw a rat run across the floor. John looked at my toe closely and saw 2 bite marks. We both panicked a bit and are still very worried about it. I really don’t want to get rabies!

 

We arrived in Larantuka around 6:30 a.m. and took a bemo into town. On the way our backpacks were piled on top as usual. Luckily, Helen was watching and saw her bag land on the road behind us with a thud. We all yelled “Stop” and someone retrieved the bag. In town, John went to phone the American embassy in Jakarta to see what they suggested – maybe a medical referral or something. Helen, Adam and I went to find something to eat. We each ordered an egg, rice and coffee. Although I was hungry, I didn’t have much of an appetite.

 

John arrived at the restaurant after phoning Jakarta from the Telecom office in town. He had spoken to a Corporal Strike who had suggested going to a local doctor and if that didn’t work out, to call back. Someone at the phone office gave John the name of a local doctor. At the restaurant we discussed our options. We decided that Helen and Adam would wait with our backpacks while we went to see the doctor.

 

John and I decided to walk to the doctor’s office. He had seen the sign for it on the way back from the phone. We found it and went inside. It didn’t look at all like any doctor’s office I’ve ever seen. There was a man there who said he was “staff” and that the doctor was sick. (I realize that doctors in the U.S. are not immune to sickness themselves, but at the time this did not instill us with great confidence in his curative powers!) The man spoke a bit of English. I don’t remember if we asked or he suggested it, but we found out there was a hospital in town. So he put us on a bemo and we went to the hospital.

 

We felt a little better when we saw it – it looked somewhat clean and professional. There was a window that reminded me of a bank teller’s window where we were directed to go by a man that got off the bemo with us. So we went there and stood in line and started talking to the people milling around, using our Indonesian phrasebook. There was one Man Who Spoke Some English, for which we were very grateful. When it was our turn at the window, there was a small nurse who spoke no English. On the ferry we had asked, using sign language, the men sitting behind us the word for “rat” and they said “tikus.” We already knew the word for “bite” which is “digigit.” So we tried to explain that I’d been bitten by a rat. The nurse started to giggle. Great. We did get across the point that we needed to see a doctor. The Man Who Spoke Some English told us to wait. So we sat down on the bench there. We answered the usual questions. Were we married, did we have children, what religion were we, etc.

 

The nurse called us back to the window and charged us 750 rp, or about 35 cents, (2,000 rp = $1.00), which we paid, and gave us a slip of paper. The Man Who Spoke Some English led us to the next building and into a waiting room where there were a dozen or so people waiting. There were a few small rooms adjoining the room. We gave someone at the desk there the piece of paper and sat down to wait. The Man Who Spoke Some English sat next to us. I assume he was a patient, too, because he was limping.

 

It was around 9:00 a.m. at this point and I hadn’t been to the toilet for at least 24 hours, so I went to the nurse and asked “Dimana kamar kecil?” which I thought meant “Where’s the toilet?” She laughed a little and said “Duduk,” which means to sit so I sat down. I asked the Man Who Spoke Some English where the toilet was. He didn’t know but got up and asked a few people and led me outside, into the next building and showed me the door. I went in. It was an Asian-style toilet and the mandi water was spilling over the side. It didn’t look very clean, either, which gave me no more confidence in the hospital. I felt a lot better, though, when I got back to the waiting room.

 

Pretty soon we were called into one of the small adjoining rooms, and spoke to a man and a woman. We tried to explain to them what had happened. I’m not sure we were successful but the man led us to another building and we were told to wait outside. There were a couple benches and there were already 7 or 8 women already waiting. They were very friendly and smiling and tried to talk to us. I was crying a little bit and the woman sitting next to me patted my face. In just a few minutes we were called, ahead of the others, in to see the doctor(s). A man and woman. We managed to get our point across, although at one point they thought I’d been bitten by a rabbit! We explained that we were concerned about rabies. It’s the same word in Indonesian, although it’s pronounced differently. They laughed and said “no problem.” They said that only cats and dogs have rabies. So we thanked them and left and felt better for about ten seconds before we both decided we needed a 2nd opinion.

 

We took a bemo back to where Adam and Helen were waiting. They were surrounded by a group of Indonesians and said they’d been “hassled” ever since we left. We had time to catch the 10:00 a.m. bus. At first glance it seemed crowded. There was a Swiss guy there who told us it was full and he’d been sitting on a cardboard box. He was trying to get his backpack down from on top. At this point we’d already paid and our bags were on top also. We were assured there was plenty of room and the Swiss guy was eventually convinced also. As soon as he’d gotten his bag down, it went up again. Helen had an actual seat in the back. Adam sat in the back on a crate. John and I had 2 little cushioned stools at the front and John’s was in the open doorway of the bus. I was so scared he was going to doze off and fall out!

 

The next 4 1/2 hours were not exactly comfortable. More people actually got on and sat in more stools in the aisles. The scenery was spectacular, everything was very lush and the road was good. On our side we could see a very steep drop but I was only nervous a few times going around bends or meeting other buses on the narrow road.

 

We made one rest stop and John went to the toilet (2,000 rp) for the first time in at least 26 or 27 hours! There was another bus stopped there and people lining the road selling, among other things, bunches of bananas and coconuts. There were a couple of half-starved looking dogs roaming around. The 4 of us split a bunch of bananas. They were very small and very sweet. We talked to the Swiss guy a little. He had been traveling for a year and he spoke Indonesian pretty well.

 

When we got to Maumere we took a bemo to Bogor II. Helen, Adam, and the Swiss guy decided to go to Bogor I because it was cheaper. We stayed and got a double room with a fan and private mandi for 12,500 rp ($6.25). We rested a little and took mandis. Then we went to find a phone. According to our map it should have been near the Kantor Pos (post office). It wasn’t. In front of the post office, 2 little girls came up to us. One asked if we would help her. She handed us a notebook and asked us to write our names and addresses. There were also columns labeled religion, hobby, occupation, etc. We filled it out, then she gave us a piece of paper with her name (Sofia) and address on it and asked us to write her a letter. We asked a couple people for directions and found the phone office in just a couple of minutes. Adam was there waiting for Helen who was phoning home. She’s from Newcastle and he’s from Durham, by the way.

 

The procedure to make a collect phone call was to fill out a form with pertinent information. Then the man working there placed the call and we’d answer the phone when it rang in one of the two booths. John did all the telephoning and did a great job dealing professionally and calmly with all the parties involved. I was very relieved that he took control of the situation. We thought we were probably overreacting but were too afraid to do nothing.

 

Our 1st call was to Hong Kong. It was the emergency medical referral number listed in our AMEX book. They referred us, believe it or not, to a number in Washington, D.C.! John spoke to a nurse there and it was a real relief to finally speak to someone who recognized the seriousness of the situation. She recommended that we seek treatment in Bali or Singapore and gave us names of doctors, addresses and phone numbers. She did warn, however, that Bali seemed to lack disposable needles! Singapore was looking better and better.

 

We spent almost 2 hours on the phone. Helen and Adam waited for us, and we decided to go to dinner. All I’d had that day was the egg and rice and one banana. John had just had the banana! We found a restaurant that I think was called Rumah Makan Santy. One side of it was completely open. We were the only customers. We immediately ordered cokes and were unbelievably excited when they turned out to be ice cold. John, Helen and Adam all ordered noodle soup. I had chicken satay with delicious peanut sauce. With our menus we were given an order form, where we’d take our own order, then give it to the waitress. We had a nice time at dinner. We had become fast friends with Helen and Adam over the last 2 days and enjoyed their company. After dinner we went with them to look for maloprim tablets – no luck. Then back to the hotel briefly.

 

John asked at the front desk about flights to Denpasar, Bali. There was one the next day, he was told, and we should be at the airport at 7:00 a.m., but the plane’s always full. The Merpati office in town was closed, so we couldn’t get tickets that night. The guy at the front desk told John where the Merpati man lived and said we should talk to him that night if we wanted to get on the flight the next day. John went to his house which wasn’t far. According to his daughter, he was eating dinner and he should come back around 8:00 p.m.. According to John’s watch it was already after 8:00. He came back and we waited for 30-40 minutes, not wanting to offend him by interrupting his dinner. When we went back, the daughter told us her father had gone to bed and we should go to the office in the morning. We didn’t believe her story, but there was nothing we could do, so we left and went back to the telephone office. This time, John called our insurance company. They were very helpful. They said they’d consult with their doctors and the Indonesian authorities. Since there was nowhere we could be reached, we agreed to call them back in 2 hours. John was dealing with a woman named Ruth in London. We went back to the losmen and set the alarm for 11:00 p.m. and took a nap for about an hour. When we had gotten to the phone office that time (2nd) there were several nuns and a couple others watching TV. We thought we’d have to wait awhile to make a call, but they weren’t in line, just watching TV.

 

After our nap, we made our way through the dark, practically empty streets, back to the phone office. Ruth had more info. According to the doctors and officials, there was a “small but real” chance the rat had rabies and ideally I should have treatment within 48 hours, but if it took another day, that was all right, too. They had agents in Hong Kong and would arrange to send a complete rabies vaccination kit, including syringes, to the U.S. consulate in Bali. In the event we both couldn’t get on the flight, I would go ahead and John would follow the next day. All this was decided through a series of phone calls between 11:30 p.m. and 2:30 a.m. Ruth was able to phone us at the office. We were the only customers at that hour. The same man working there in the afternoon and another man showed up later.

 

While we waited for Ruth’s call(s) we watched an episode of Another World and the news, in French. Anyway, at 2:30 a.m. we had a plan at least and left to go back to the losmen. We had 2 immediate concerns: that we couldn’t get on the plane, and we didn’t have enough rupiah to pay for the tickets and didn’t know if they’d accept credit cards or traveler’s checks. The bank opened at the same time as the flight was scheduled to leave.

 

On the way back we got lost. The street we normally took was pitch dark. So we tried to find a better lit route. We finally arrived close to 3:00 a.m. only to find they had locked the gate in front of the losmen. So we climbed over, a little paranoid that there would be a guard dog on the other side! There wasn’t so we finally got to go to sleep.

 

We got up in 3 hours, at 6:00 a.m., checked out and chartered a bemo to the airport. We got there before they were really open but one guy behind the counter seemed to think we could get tickets and said they took traveler’s checks. “U.S. dollars,” he said.

 

Pretty soon, passengers started arriving. We started talking to an Italian man from Toreno. We explained our situation and he said there was a mission in town and we should go there. A few minutes some nuns came in, so the Italian man explained the situation to them. They seemed concerned and one asked me when I’d been bitten and if I felt sick. She said that if after the first 8 hours I hadn’t had any symptoms, then I would be all right. Sorry, sister, that’s not good enough.

 

We were able to get on the plane and it was not full. Two tickets cost $220. In the waiting room we met an American guy from L.A. named Brett and the woman he was traveling with. We chatted with them until it was time to board. We were given no seat assignments, we just sat wherever. Indonesian airlines have smoking sections – awful. We flew over Keli Mutu, the 3 lakes that change color from time to time. One appeared black, one a beautiful bright green and one a dark, jade green. The sun was shining on them and they looked very beautiful. We had planned to visit them in person. We’ll also miss going to Komodo, home of the Komodo dragons. The object of that visit is to buy a goat, have its throat slit and watch the dragons devour it. Fun, eh?

 

We flew for an hour or so, then stopped at Bima for about 45 minutes. We then flew on to Denpasar, Bali, which took another hour. As soon as we arrived, we caught a taxi to the U.S. Consulate. From what we saw of Bali along the way, which wasn’t very much, it seemed very much a vacation spot and very tropical. Two weeks here for treatment won’t be so bad, we thought. The sight of stars and bars made us feel good, too.

 

We walked through the gate and there was a desk, some chairs and a couple of Indonesian consular agents there. We filled out a form explaining why we were there and sat down to wait. The agents, of course, spoke very good English. There was a chicken under a basket in the corner of the yard. We found out its name was Bob and it was a retired fighting chicken. He had been a gift to the ambassador. One of the agents told is that he (agent, not chicken) had lived in Bali all his life and had never been off the island. After a few minutes we were taken in to see an Indonesian woman familiar with our case. She had some bad news. Since rabies is non-existent on Bali and they want to keep it that way, no serum is allowed in.

 

So the next plan was for us to go to Jakarta to the Metropolitan Medical Center. She called the Hong Kong Global Assist office for us and they gave us some details. Then she called the airport and found out there was a 3:10 p.m. flight to Jakarta. She suggested that we go back to the airport, book the flight and then call the Hong Kong office for further instructions and call her back, too.

 

So we went back to the airport. We tried to call Hong Kong before we purchased our tickets because the more we thought about it, the more we wanted to go to Singapore instead. In our LP book, the MMC was listed as being in the Hotel Wisata. It said that some English was spoken there but that they had odd hours, so call before going there.

 

The international phones wouldn’t work for Hong Kong and we couldn’t get through to the London office. After 2-3 frustrating trips between the phones in both the international and domestic terminals we finally went ahead and purchased our tickets and were able to reach the Consulate. We’d tried several times before but the line was always busy. We told the woman our concerns and she said she’d check with the Hong Kong office and call us back at the Merpati domestic desk.

 

We went back to the Merpati desk and the guy working there, who had sold us our tickets, said to go see his supervisor. We went to the supervisor’s office and the language barrier was very frustrating. Eventually we ended up calling the Consulate from there. The woman there (I wish we remembered her name) gave us the names of 3 doctors at the medical center and said they’d wait there until 8:00 p.m.. If we arrived after 8, we should go to the emergency room.

 

We went out to wait for time to board, it was about 2:30 p.m. by then. While we were waiting, a man came over and asked if we were the Cottons. He was a representative of Pacto, Ltd., which is connected with Global Assist (AMEX also!). It’s very confusing. Anyway, he (Mr. Beratha) had gone to the Consulate to give us a ride to the airport but had missed us. He gave us the same information we’d gotten from the woman at the Consulate. He also said that someone from Pacto Ltd. in Jakarta would meet us at the airport and give us a ride to the medical center.

 

So we got on the plane feeling a little better. Although now it seemed that treatment was getting closer, I was getting real nervous about that treatment. I had heard that it was very painful, involving multiple shots in the stomach. Not a pleasant thought. We had a good, hot meal on the plane. We’d been given snack boxes on the other 2 flights and that was all we’d eaten so far. We sat next to a foreign service officer and enjoyed talking to him. He’s been in Jakarta for 1 year so far. It’s his first foreign assignment and he described his actual job as “crappy.” He had traveled around the world 3 years before and said that talking to us made him jealous. He and his wife are going on vacation in November to New Zealand.

 

So we got to Jakarta and no one was there to meet us. We waited. And waited. And kept turning down offers for taxi rides. One particularly obnoxious guy stood and stared at us and blew smoke in our faces after we said no. John finally called the Pacto office and they said they couldn’t send anyone, but that we should phone the Hong Kong office immediately. For the next hour and a half we attempted to do that. We went from international phone to international phone and couldn’t get any of them to work! The phones have 2 columns of buttons and the name of a country next to each one. Ideally, you push the button of the country you’re trying to call and are connected with an operator in that country. The people at the information desks were friendly but no help. They just kept telling us to try another phone. Very frustrating!! Finally, we got through to the U.S. AMEX Global Assist and they contacted Hong Kong for us. All they had wanted was to confirm that we were to go to the MMC.

 

We got a taxi to the Hotel Indonesia which took about 30 minutes. According to LP, the MMC was in the Hotel Wisata, behind the Hotel Indonesia. It took us about 10 minutes to get to the hotel only to find that the offices had been moved! It was still an MMC office, but not the one we needed. We had them call the correct one for us. Two doctors had gone home already. It was 7:15 p.m. then. The other one was about to leave but said she’d wait for us. We got a taxi and it didn’t take us very long to get there.

 

The woman at reception spoke good English and recognized my name right away and took us to the doctor. There were a couple of interns with her. One of them cleaned the wound, which was a little “inflamed” and bandaged it up. Then she explained that I would have 5 injections over the next 30 days. The 1st would be then, Sept. 10, Sept. 14, Sept. 21 and Oct. 7. To my relief, the shots would not be in my stomach, but my rear end. It wasn’t bad at all, just like any other vaccination. She gave me a prescription for antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. We called the insurance company and John talked to Ruth from the 1st night. We were exhausted, having had 4 hours sleep over the last 2 nights. But being the intrepid travelers we are, we decided to take the bus to Jalan Jaksa, the backpackers center of town. The receptionist told us to get on a P 20 bus, which we did. The bus was pretty full and with our western sized bodies and backpacks we didn’t help matters any. We got off where they told us and walked in the direction they pointed. And of course we got hopelessly lost. Later we decided they just wanted to get rid of us with our intrusive packs because where they dropped us off was nowhere near JL Jaksa. After about 20 minutes we hailed a taxi and came to JL Jaksa, center for backpacker accommodation. Three or four guys on the street approached us offering a place to stay. We looked at each in turn and found them quite disgusting. As tired as we were, we were willing to keep looking for a clean and cool place to stay.

 

We ended up at Nick’s which we had originally passed by because they only advertised dorm beds. But the dorm was air-conditioned, had a toilet and shower, 12 beds to the dorm. It cost 15,000 rp for the 2 of us ($7.50). The price included a coupon for a free soft drink at Nick’s restaurant next door and breakfast, which consisted of tea or coffee and a toasted chocolate sandwich. We slept incredibly well that night. My 1st impressions of Jakarta – a huge, overcrowded, dirty, smelly, hot city where you risk your life every time you cross the street. There seems to be an incredible amount of poverty.

 

It’s after 10:00 p.m. now. We checked out of Nick’s this morning and moved next door to the Norbek Hostel which is the same price but we have a double room. When John looked at it, though, he forgot to check the toilet. No bed, just a mattress on the floor. A/C is OK, nothing special and there’s only a piece of plywood between us and the next “room.” If we stay in Jakarta after my shot tomorrow, we’re going back to Nick’s! I’ve actually used the toilet at Nick’s twice today since we checked out!

 

Yesterday we changed $100 in traveler’s checks. We went to the U.S. Embassy to let them know I was all right, having called them twice and having dealt with the Bali Consulate. When John said he wanted to talk to someone about a medical problem, the marine guard said, “Oh, is this the rat bite victim?” We were a little disappointed we weren’t invited inside! He phoned the duty officer and told him we were there and things were O.K. We went back to Nick’s restaurant and had our complimentary soft drinks and lunch. We sat there for a long time. I wrote and John read about Java. Next we went to Sarinah department store. They have a good selection of Indonesian arts and crafts. The air conditioning felt great and we wandered around for a couple of hours. There was a McDonald’s next door. We bought my prescription at a pharmacy in the dept. store. We went across the street to the Visitor Information Center and picked up a map and to the phone office and called the insurance company.

 

To wrap up the 8th, we went to the Senayan Satay House which is at the end of Jalan Jaksa, for dinner. It was delicious and cheap, fully air-conditioned with lots of waiters in black pants, white shirts and bow ties standing around doing nothing. It’s supposedly a popular place with ex-pats and middle-class Chinese. We checked back into Nick’s this morning and sent some clothes off to be washed. This time we’re in a dorm with only 8 beds and 1 other person.

 

We were both very depressed this morning and didn’t feel like our adventurous selves at all! We were depressed at being in the city and the fact that we’re basically stuck here. We attempted to take a bus to the hospital this morning but it never came, so we took a taxi. We had to purchase the vaccine ourselves at the pharmacy, so we got to see the box it came in, including the needle. There was a different doctor there today but the same intern gave me the injection. I found out I was being treated (last time, too) in the emergency room and didn’t have to wait. The doctor today said I should have another tetanus booster but I didn’t. John and I feel confident that the one I had in April was sufficient. We found the bus we wanted afterwards, but got on it going in the wrong direction! Finally we got to the end of the line and turned around. We were probably on the bus close to an hour. We got off near Sarinah and went to the bank first because they closed at noon, then to the Hard Rock Cafe to look at the menu (expensive) and treated ourselves to lunch at McDonald’s.

 

“Everybody cannot change the bed” (a sign in Dorm 2)

Translation: Once bed assignments are made, you can not change them