This is the story of my accident in Sulawesi, Indonesia in 2023.
I was riding on the way to Malino, a mountain town in south Sulawesi.
I had been riding on the twisty road named Jalan Sultan Hasanuddin, for about 1 hour, when I took a curve and I saw this car coming way to close to me in the curve.
And at some point, I could see the unavoidable coming, contact with a car.
This is what happened.
Right at this location.
As you can see this was his fault, and as soon as he got out of his car he started saying he was sorry and bla bla bla.
I think he was distracted on his phone or something.
But anyway, after looking at the damage to myself and the bike, I realized that my foot was bleeding considerably and that my flip-flop was stuck between the engine and the brake pedal.
Yes I was wearing flip flops, I know I know but to be fair I am not sure how quickly I could’ve taken out my foot if I had been wearing shoes, and this is rural Indonesia, pretty standard to ride with flip-flops.
The flip-flops status. Hole right thru it.
The bloody situation, about 5 minutes after the accident. My tibia got scratched quite a bit too but the only thing impeding me from walking was my cut in between my toes.
Upclose cut situation.
All the locals came out to see the “Bule” show.
So after hitting me, the guy drove me back to a hospital. He was on the way to his home in a different city but he brought me to the closest hospital. In Sinjai.
After talking in the car, I came to know he’s a doctor, and on top of that, he is a podiatrist, a foot doctor!!
What are the odds?
When I was in the car with him I could see why he hit me, his driving skills were horrendous.
He did manage to get some locals to ride my bike back to Sinjai,
This is him.
We tried to check if the local clinic could help, but they recommended to go to the hospital.
On my arrival at the hospital, the lady on the left spoke very good English and was quite helpful. The pain was pretty bearable, surprisingly.
So in the end, the dummy who hit me fixed me. He did the stitches on my foot. I was told later by other doctors he did a pretty good job.
Good lighting.
The day after.
I had to find adjustable sandals, the foot was quite swollen on top of being in a bandage.
Living the dream in Sinjai’s finest hostel room
Three days later I went to the local clinic and I was quite the attraction.
The situation, six days after the accident.
8 Days in.
9 fays in.
I couldn’t wear these comfortably for months after the accident.
The day before I went to Kuala Lumpur, about 10 days after the accident.
My last bandage. 13 Days in. You can see the damage to my tibia healing also.
And while in Kuala Lumpur I went to the clinic and this doctor decided I was ready to go raw. No more bandage.
This is it.
And almost 3 weeks after the accident.
At this point, I waited about another few days and returned to Indonesia to continue my trip.
Since then it fully healed, I think my toe was broken because it took quite a long time before I felt 100% normal.
In the end, the dummy who hit me paid for a week at the hotel, the bike repairs (quite cheap), and the hospital bill which he probably arranged not to pay because he’s a doctor.
But I still had to get a few hundred dollars out of my pocket for the rest of the hotel rooms, for more than 2 weeks, the new visa for Indonesia, and the round trip between Makassar and KL.
At the end of the day, this could’ve been much worse and I felt I got lucky, with how the accident turned out and the dummy that hit me wasn’t a poor local with no means to help.