Bangkok, Thailand

I had a great time in Bangkok, but it was certainly nothing like the beaches. Although, the city was vibrant & full of life!

Found this water lily while walking along the sidewalk. It was in the front water display of a hotel & begging for anyone to capture it's beauty.

I had to take this picture because I was excited to see so many cars with color! Korea doesn't have quite the array of choices.

A boat ride up the Mae Nam Chao Phraya.

There were so many different temples on this river! The motion of the boat ride made it difficult to snap a clear picture.

Wan Kanlaya

Wan Arun

This is at Wat Pho, where the largest reclining Buddha in Thailand is held.

Beautiful architecture of the many temples at Wat Pho.

More of Wat Pho.

One of the gates being protected by the stone guards.

Close up of the architectural work.

Once we found the 151 foot long Buddha, we felt our reason for coming had been satisfied.

The feet were intricately detailed with an abalone inlay.

Offering Bowls

These children demonstate how they're used.

Wat Intharawihan stood 105 feet above us.

The main train staion in Bangkok, Hua Lamphon.

Thailand Hospital

You may not want to look at this if you have a weak stomach.

In order to get some of the details to this, you have to check out the previous posting. Presuming you've read it, I'll pick up where I left off. I'll try to make this short... However, it's a really long detailed story! Oh well, I'll have to share it with you upon our next visit. So, I made back to Samui to ask for assistance from my Thai friends. They kindly offered to take me to the doctor after they finished work. After work, they drove me on their motorbike to the pharmacist. I didn't really think about it, but on this island, the "doctor" is usually your local pharmacist. The "doctor" shaved my leg hair & gave me a thorough wound scrubbing. She provided all kinds of pills & even some for vomiting. Yes, my stomach hurt & I held down the need to vomit many times. Yet, at one point I had to eventually give in. I didn't know it at the time, but my body was becoming sick, my infection was spreading through my body, scary!

This is my leg after getting treated by the pharmacist doctor. I waited a full day before I realized nothing was getting better, but in fact worse. The next morning I called Rung to help translate for me at the hospital. I chose an international hospital & thank God I did! They spoke enough English that I didn't need a translator. They told me to wait 1.5 hours before the doctor would arrive for surgery. Surgery? They also said I'd be staying in the hospital for a few days. At this point, I pretty much knew it was coming. Josh & Paul, who also went with me, brought me back a darn good sandwich during my wait! Keep in mind, I don't get those too often in Korea. Finally, they called my name & in I go. The doctor I needed to see only works at this hospital for about 2 hours. So it's no wonder why he was in such a hurry to get through all his patients. He quickly looked at my wound & spoke Thai to the nurse. Josh went in the multiple bedded, open surgery room with me & we both watched the rest. The doctor injected a local anesthetic, which instantly provided some sort of mental relief. Yet, instead of waiting for it to kick in, the doctor decided to go right to work. This means that the the anesthetic didn't have time to "settle in"! I often thought I have a high threshold for pain, but this one topped anything I've experienced. Josh & I watched (and I held my breath in disbelief) as he literally ripped out the gangrenes skin from my wound. Yes, that's right! He just tore my skin off my body! I could feel it, and felt my brain being punished with the most intense pain I'd ever have someone inflict upon me! The doctor held the chunk of dead tissue up for us to see. Yup, we nodded in agreement that it looked dead. Of course, if it wasn't before, it certainly was now that he detached it from my leg. Finally, he ripped out all the remaining dead skin, with some pliers-type utensils. Then, the doctor proceeded to dig below the whole wound in order to insure that he cut out any infection. I really can't tell you how much this hurt, but the pain felt like it caused brain damage. I felt as though a specific part of my brain had been pierced with needles, and would never recover. Remarkably, I didn't get the intense throbbing pain I was expecting afterwards. Perhaps it was a combination of the anesthetic that finally kicked in & my brain shutting off any further neural synapsing. But... my brain hurt, a lot!!!

This photo was taken after the dressing was removed. If you enlarge this, you can see the depth of the hole they left. Plus, check out the size of my normally skinny legs! Where's my ankle? You can barely see my toes in this photo, but take a peek at them. Not good...

It didn't look the best inside, but at this point I was confident in their treatment.

Making the best of the situation.

I really couldn't beat the accomodations! My own room with 2 beds & a nice view of the pool. This hospital was previously a resort, which is why it looks so nice. I spent many days & nights here. I saw the sunny days...

I saw the rainy moments...

I saw the SCUBA divers...

Luckily, my friends visited me! Although, I saw them leave as well...




This video shows a portion of the dressing that was done twice a day!

I celebrated my 33rd birthday in the hospital! With my cheesy self-portrait, I made the best of it. With all that time alone, it was definitely something to ponder one's life over. It's funny that in this photo, you can see where I've had another large cut. Yeah, go figure that I end up with more stitches!

My Sunday birthday lunch & dinner! Yes, I choose the Thai meals & enjoyed them! The nurses all wished me a happy birthday as well. Course, they started wishing me at 7:30 am when the first nurses came in to do their morning check up.

My Thai friends came to wish me a happy birthday!!! Phen, Wan, Aow, Mui & Bon, came to bring gifts after work. It was incredibly nice of them! Josh & Paul were also there, but occupied with taking the picture.

These were the gifts that were not edible. I felt very lucky to have the friends that I do & also to have met such wonderful people. It was a birthday I'll always remember, for more reasons than one.

After five nights in the hospital & cleanings like this... I was ready to leave. This video shows some of the finishing touches of the dressings that were done each day. By the way, there was never any pain killers, besides Tylenol. Fortunately, I only had to use those for my fever.

I was dreading this, yet also looking forward to it. It meant I could leave!!! Another anesthetic was injected & an instant sewing! The doctor quickly yanked each side of my skin to mend together. I couldn't believe their were no internal stitches either! I had to go in for daily dressings after being released from the hospital. Upon one of my return visits, I spoke to one of the guys who was in the operating room while this stitching took place. He said that once the doctor dove into my leg, my face instantly turned white! I believe it! He also said that it scared him, because he was next!

There was so much moisture in the air right here, that I couldn't get a clear photo with a flash. These were some of the nurses that took care of me. I greatly thanked them, as they made my hospital visit so much better than it could have been. Especially now that I have a Shanghai, China hospital visit to compare to. I'll get to those postings eventually. It's not nearly as serious of a situation, but it still had me worried.

All in all, my hospital stay was a learning one. Believe it or not, I really enjoyed the time that I was forced to do nothing but relax! Well, besides the routine dressings of discomfort. I read all the time & had the chance to reflect on many different aspects of life. Of course, I really enjoy seeing the water, so the swimming pool was a blessing to have outside my window! I could go on & on about life's little lessons, but we all experience them in different ways.

Different Areas in Thailand

Here are some pictures from several different places in Thailand.

Surat Thani

Relaxing on a ferry as we head to Surat Thani.

One of the transportion methods.

Krabi

This was one of the areas hit by the tsunami.

Long boat driver filling up the tank after telling us he's not making any money off us.

I caught Paul & Josh in deep thought as we head to Railay.

On the way to Railay, you can witness some of the destruction the tsunami caused. Keep in mind that much has been cleaned up here. If you expand this photo, you can see 2 boats partially submersed.

Railay

Railay isn't an island, but there are still no roads to it. You have to take a long tail boat to get to either side of the peninsula. Apparently, several of these areas were hit by the tsunami as well. We were told that this area heard it was coming & many of the long boat drivers headed out to sea to avoid the tsunami. Unfortunately, they didn't make it out far enough. Since then the memories still survive, but the area looks as if nothing happened.

Pulling up to Railay with the beach of Rai Leh East in view.

We packed over from Rai Leh East, to Rai Leh West & then to Ton Sai. From Rai Leh West, you can hire a long boat around a large cliff that extends into the ocean or hike over it with your flip flops & backpack. We opted to hoof it over for 15 minutes to Ton Sai & were all drenched in sweat by the time we touched back down to sand. Even spotted some monkeys while packing it over. This cove was my favorite area that we visited in Thailand! It had a small beach, a very friendly group of locals & foreigners, & most were there for one reason only. Rock climbing! It was a different world from both Rai Leh East & West! For instance, the electricity kicked on around 5 pm each day & was off before we awoke. We stayed up this main dirt path & loved the area!

Here is one of the local bars up the dirt path. It also doubles back as a rock climbing school.

My bungalow, which was basically in the jungle. This area was incredibly loud at night with all the wildlife! I loved it!!!

Here I am making it look easy...

Here I am trying to figure out what to do! This doesn't look difficult, but it easily challenged my beginner skills.

Waiting for my turn while I belay the other climber. Just kidding... I couldn't even begin to imagine climbing something like this! That's some other shaved head guy who's belaying. Yeah, we all look the same.

This is the rock outcropping that separates Rai Leh West & Ton Sai. This shot is taken from Rai Leh West & Ton Sai is behind this cliff. Further to the right, is roughly where the trail starts in order to trek over to our bungalows.

Here's the same rock at night. We came over from our little cove to join everyone for the sunset. It's nature's show & so many relax on the beach to take it all in. No luck on an award-winning sunset photo, nor even a sunset, but it was still enchanting.

That same night after climbing, Paul offered to belay for one of the Canadian guys we met. However, this one had a twist & the climb was up a palm tree. All the gear was just hanging there waiting for someone to use. After watching his performance up the palm, I figured I didn't have much to lose. Plus there weren't many people around for me to make a fool of myself in front of the "real" climbers. After all, how often can you climb a palm tree?

By the time I started this quick attempt, more people had gathered. I didn't even know that many people used this dirt path in Ton Sai. OK, there weren't that many people... Even though it was for fun, the pressure to do better than the Canadian was on. I barely made it much farther, but felt a sense of accomplishment. The Canadian & I both laughed & spoke of how it must be impossible. That was short lived...

Yup, the next guy in line made it to the top & proved us wrong! After trying it myself, I had deep respect for what he accomplished. I also felt like a wimp, oh well...

He won a bucket of something strong for making it to the top! Here he's giving his drink to Paul for belaying.

We learned that this was the tiny bar which hosts this palm tree climb. After climbing, in addition to the hot weather, it was refreshing to grab a cold two! This place was just down from the bar/rock climbing school pictured above.

This photo shows part of the wall we climbed in Rai Leh East.

Side Comment:

So needless to say, knowing my track record of cuts, bruises & scraps when it comes to being outdoors. I pulled off a good gash on the shin of my left leg. Nothing that was bad, at first, so I cleaned it as normal & bought some Betadine & Sodium Chloride Solution. No biggie...

Photo taken from Rai Leh West.

Josh & I kayaked from Ton Sai, to Rai Leh West, Phra Nang, Rai Leh East & back again in a 2 hour rental.

Side Comment:

This was the day after my shin injury & I figured after a good cleaning, the salt water would be good for it. Uhmmm... Very bad decision.

Ao Nang

North of Railay is Ao Nang. This town of 12,000 has plenty of 24 hour electricity. It was strange to see all the lights & activity after staying in Ton Sai. This is one of the back streets of Ao Nang.

I just liked this picture, but had to capture it fast. Sleepy Dog was getting restless.

Looks like a biker bar, but don't you be fooled. They're only scooters, or motorbikes, as our Koh Samui friends called them.

Phuket

At this point, we all had different agendas which was discussed before we left Korea. Paul wanted to join a Thai Boxing camp & it looked promising in Phuket. Since I did no research on the trip, I was eager to see anything & decided to venture with Paul to Phuket. Paul spent a full day looking for a decent Thai Boxing place, but came back unsatisfied. While Paul was off in search, I definitely had to spend a little time at the beach. Kata Beach was a fairly low key beach, but then again... We weren't there at peak tourist season.

Kata beach in the evening.

Side Comment:

By this point, I've been cleaning my wound daily, but I started feeling different pains. Actually, not in the shin wound itself, but my foot. I didn't think much of it & figured it would go away the next day. After all, mind over matter... I've now learned that doesn't always work for me... So, I woke up to more pain & my foot being slightly swelled. Now it hurt to walk on it! By this time, Paul decided to not stay in Phuket & knew I should really get to a hospital before it became worse. So, how do I just go about checking into a hospital? I'm new to this travel thing & not sure about this hospital visit either! Josh was back in Koh Samui visiting our friends & I figured I could have them help me translate. At the time, basically, the language barrier was my foremost concern. To my Thai friends, I know your hospitals are very good, but I must admit that I was worried about visiting one. I also have to admit that I'd still be nervous visiting one for minor surgeries. At any rate, Paul was wiling to go back to Samui & was now interested in getting a SCUBA diving certificate. At this time, I couldn't even think of such entertaining plans. We purchased our next day 9 hour road & water ride ticket back to Samui. I still thought, how much worse could my leg get? I was surprised to prove myself wrong! Well, at this point my leg is extremely infected! My leg is warm & it's pretty darn red not only near the wound, but a large distance from it. I knew I should have stayed in Phuket to get care, but figured I may need a translator. After 9 hours of pain, feeling flu-like symptoms, stomach pains & wanting to throw up in the van with the intense heat... I made it, or we made it, eventually. I thank Paul for sticking with me on this & walking at my snail's pace! I also thank the nice Thai girl who kept offering to help with my 40+ pound book-filled backpack. After reaching Koh Samui, we took a truck/taxi for a 45 minute drive & finally reached the town of Chaweng. We hunted for a cheap place to stay, but gave up & headed/hobbled our/my way to Tradewinds Resort to meet Josh & our Thai friends. They were there & happy to see us. The welcome was a short-lived comfort in the midst of agony, but they offered to take me to the doctor once finished working. I felt relieved at the thought of getting my leg treated!

Please look at the next posting for more detail.