Chiang Mai running leaves me in stitches!

My first run in Chiang Mai and I ended up in hospital.  I had decided to take a week off of running after the River Kwai Half Marathon to allow me to fully recover from my recent races and of course to save some energy for all the walking that holidays bring.  However with a long day scheduled for Sunday, I headed out for an early morning run on Saturday.  I reckoned that 30mins would do me and I left the Rain Forrest Boutique Hotel on Soi 5, turned right and joined the main Charoen Muang Road, where a left turn took me past the Railway Station, over the River Ping to the city centre.  A left turn took me to the Night Bazaar, where I turned around and headed back to the hotel.  My legs were starting to feel less heavy and I was enjoying the run, although it consisted of a mixture of running on a busy road and a rather dubious pavement.  It was the latter that I was concentrating on when, 26mins into my run, I felt an almighty bang on my head and fell to the ground.  After a moment, I opened my eyes to see a pool of blood and I took off my running vest to use it to stop the bleeding.  As I got to my feet some locals came to my aid and, seeing the blood, called for an ambulance.  I could see that the cause of the accident was a rather low sign, now covered in blood, above the pavement.  When the emergency services arrived it was clear that the cut would need hospital attention and I was soon being driven to the McCormick Hospital where I received immediate treatment, which consisted of a partly shaved head, some stitches an injection, a bag of various pills and an appointment card for my stitches removal and of course an itemised bill before being picked up by staff from the hotel who took me 'home'.

I must say that the whole process was very efficient indeed and the assistance of the locals and the hotel staff was much appreciated as of course was that of the medical team, even if it does seem strange to see all the medical staff's time, equipment and procedures spelled out in a Bill.