Medical Kit

Human Medical Kit:

The basic kit I carry for Laos:

• Sterile Swabs / Cotton wool
• Ethyl Alcohol (a big bot)
• Betadine
• Sterile gauze & dressings
• Bandages & tape
• Elastoplast
• Antibiotic cream: Faucedin
• Antibiotics: Augmentin (not sun sensitive), or Doxycycline (if you worry about malaria), but Doxy makes you sun sensitive & you can burn very easily.
• Painkiller (strong): Tylenol with Codeine, Tramadol (for broken bones) if obtainable at pharmacy.
• Anti diarrhoea / dysentery: Immodium & Dissento. Immodium is just a “bung.” Dissento works when you get a real bait – stomach cramps, vomiting, fever, and the general “runs.” It saved 3 riders on the same tour in Laos, in December 2001 (don’t eat barbequed porcupine!)
• Insect bite cream: Esperson
• Scissors & tweezers
• Lip & Sun cream
• Anti histamine (for allergies / hay fever)
• Eye drops / Optrex.
• Cold tablets: Tiffy or Decolgen.

All of the above can be bought at the “right” pharmacy in Chiang Mai, without a prescription. This kit may not be 100% complete, but it has never been seriously tested after 5 trips into Northern Laos, the secret being to stay upright on your machine.

Spare spectacles. I got caught out in Laos in March 2001, when a screw dropped out of my specs frame, a lens popped out & smashed on the asphalt – freaky. The next 4 days riding was somewhat more demanding.

MALARIA

I personally don’t worry about, but your local doctor might say otherwise. Your biggest worry is falling off the bike, patching yourself up and getting to a proper medical facility in time (especially in Laos.).

You can’t protect yourself 100% against the little mozzies, so just do whatever you can – wear long sleeves and long pants, put on your mozzie repellent and have a few whiskies to keep the blighters at bay. There is no one anti-malaria medication that can protect you against all the current strains; and the one evil mozzie that might get you, will probably be the one that you’re not covered for.

Serious riders in S E Asia don’t worry about getting bitten by mozzies; they worry about getting run over by a truck or bus, not by a mozzie.

BIKE MEDICAL KIT
The basic kit I recommend for Laos is:

• Spare key & tyre gauge.
• Tools & rags.
• Levers – clutch & brake.
• Cables – clutch & throttle.
• Fuses.
• Oil & electrical spray.
• Flat tyre kit: tubes / plugs / levers / pump / valves.
• Spark plug & plug wrench / Allen key set.
• Tape: duct & insulation.
• Tow rope & wire.
• Chain lube, if you don’t have a Scottoiler.
• Glue: 5 min epoxy / Super glue / Adhesive.
• Spare nuts & bolts.
• Spare chain & link (only if your chain is on the way out when you leave, best put on a new one before you go.