Matt and Kylie

Phuket

While in Phi Phi Don, we had booked ourselves some accommodation in Patong, Phuket, aware that for a back-packers budget, accommodation could be on the pricier side.  We checked in and were delighted at our biggest accommodation splurge yet.  We booked for two nights, and had a flight organised to fly to Penang (an island off the West Coast of Malaysia). 

Our first Port of call was the local hospital to get Matt’s (hopefully) clear and final test.  We tottled along to the Patong Hospital, where Matt had his initial consultation at the nurses station in the waiting room in front of everyone (I sneaked a pic), then was hearded upstairs for his test.  When the results came out a little while later, they were so high (bad) that the nurse told us that the machine must be reading it wrong, and that he was probably fine.  After some protesting from us, the Doctor arrived, gave us a prescription and ordered us from counter to counter and told us to head down the hall when we were done.

After paying for the consultation at one window, ordering the script from another, and paying for it from a third, we were on our way.  With a bag of goodies that we weren’t quite sure what to do with, we waited outside the procedure room down the hall.  And waited.  Finally in exasperation, we sneaked a peek, only to find that the procedure room was set up kind of like a hospital room, all cubicles and curtained compartments.  The nurse then attached Matt to a drip(!) and told him that he would need to come back for the following two days for the antibiotics at the same time, proving to be problematic, given that it would interfere with our flights.  We think(!) we booked appointments, then headed back to our not-so-humble abode, a little concerned about what we should do about our trip… weather or not we should just cut it short and come home early.

We rung our insurance company, whose number by now we had saved to Skype, and asked them what we should do.  They advised us to head to the bigger, better hospital Bangkok Hospital Phuket, the following day, which we did.  On our way, we passed a ticket booth selling tickets to the famous Phuket show ‘Fantasia,’ which we decided we would try to get tickets for that night.  At the hospital the Doctor saw Matt, listened to the long list of Doctors right back to the food poisoning on the 30th of December (it was now the second of February), and asked if we could spend the afternoon at the hospital.  After some initial hesitation by Matt (followed by a stern kick from me), he agreed.  Like magic, an administration clerk appeared to whisk me off to the international office to fill out Matt’s insurance details.  Within minutes I was on the phone to our insurance company, who were very nice and helpful, offering to set things up so they would pay the bill.  Thinking that we would only be there the afternoon (after all, we were flying to Penang the next day) we agreed to just make a claim on our return to New Zealand.  Ha!  Little did I know…

I returned to Matt to find him admitted with a name tag on his wrist, perched in a wheel chair looking rather bashful.  He informed me of his number, and was whisked away by a nurse.  He had asked if he could walk to his room, feeling like a dork in a wheel chair as he was able, but one look at the embarrassed nurse insisting that he be wheeled, and another stern kick from me, he was whisked away, utterly mortified and a little miffed at being in the wheel chair.

While I was filling out more paperwork, ringing insurance and telling them that he had been admitted, Matt was being shown a catalogue of rooms, finally setting on a private room with ensuite (filled with potions, lotions and smellies), private courtyard, 50 channels of cable TV, coffee and Tea making facilities and a large couch/lounger, that was apparently ‘the standard’ with insurance companies.  I arrived to find him propped up in bed, happily sipping away on a glass of water watching TV remote in hand with a drip needle firmly wedged in his wrist. 

The idea of making my way back to our hotel (about 20 minutes in a taxi) by myself to stay in our room by myself was losing its appeal pretty quickly.  I asked the nurses if it would be OK if I stayed in Matt’s room with him on the couch, and got a chorus of very enthusiastic ‘Of course!’ – really nice of them, providing me with a blanket, pillow and towel.

The next day, we waited in anticipation of the Doctor coming round so we could check out and fly to Malaysia.  The Doctor arrived, telling us that no, no flying today as Matt would be staying in hospital for ‘three days’ so they could culture the bug and treat it once and for all.  I taxied back to our hotel, gathered up both our packs, rung all the parents and headed back to the hospital where I was met with a porter to help me with the 40kg of luggage I was trudging along, huffing and puffing with.  When I got back to Matt, he had secured me a free Thai massage in the hospital’s rehabilitation ward (woo-hoo!).  Then it was off to immigration – our visa’s were expiring.  Given that we had already extended them once, we were given special permission under medical order.

Three days tuned into 15. 

We missed Malaysia and Singapore, but were glad to be heading home.  Our insurance company were brilliant, liaising with the Doctors and Hospital to organise getting us out and home.  For a while there, there was talk of getting Matt a nurse from New Zealand to fly over to fly back with us.  By the time we checked out of the hospital, Matt was treated, I was a master at Sudoku, John Key had been in the Thai news for selling his cast for charity and for an attempted beating by some Maori activists, the administration staff new me by name, the 7-11 and kiosk staff new us by order and the cafeteria manager would come bouncing out whenever I appeared. 

When we left, we were fare welled in every corner, the nurses particularly sad to see Matt go (see the pic, it’s brilliant!).  We were scuttling down the corridor to meet our taxi when we were met at the nurses station by a porter with a luggage trolley.  The nurses seemed to be having some kind of handover, and they all saw us leaving and began to frantically wave, singing out “Bye!” “Ooo!  Matt you’re leaving!  By-ye!”  “Bye Matt Bye!”  at the sight there was only one thing to do:  Photo call.  I looked at them and said “Photo?”  They looked back at me confused.  With a flourish, I produced my camera.  They RAN round to the front of the desk and leapt into position!  I had never seen anything like it!  They jostled around, craining their necks to get the best spot!   Bangkok Hospital Phuket was brilliant to us.  We later read that there is a travel company that run medical holidays to the hospital; they specialize in dental care and facelifts.  Interesting.  It was the nicest hospital we had ever been to… and where else do the patients get to choose their food from a menu each day and have the choices be hamburger and fries or cordon bleu?  The staff came in twice a day to clean the floor, plus they cleaned the bathroom, restocked our water supply and changed the sheets every morning.

All in all though, our insurance company were brilliant, and taught us a very noteworthy lesson… don’t leave home without good insurance!!!

It took 27 hours to get home from Phuket (due to a very long layover in Singapore, then a shorter one in Sydney), a lot had changed in twenty weeks on our return to New Zealand.  When we left, Helen Clarke was in charge, replaced on our return by John Key, in an election held during our time in Hong Kong.  Obama won the election American election while we were in the Cu Chi tunnels in Vietnam, and we had almost missed an entire summer and more than half of Spring.  Our trip was amazing, insightful and brilliant, we came back a little wiser and a little less nieve.  It was nice to come home.  It was especially nice to be able to clean our teeth in tap water!  

As for the dramas; the lost teeth, dog bite, food poisoning (twice!) ear infection, Matt’s hospital drama’s and the disruption in Thailand due to political unrest; they say smooth rides make boring stories.

Final photo count: 14,463 (stop laughing!) 

Hospital visits: 9

Days abroad: 140

Phi Phi Don

We had two nights on Phi Phi Don (the only inhabited Phi Phi island), pre organised by the very helpful Surat in Krabi.  While our room was small, it was in a brilliant location and was clean.  The thing about the tourist-popular islands is that apart from wandering around exploring and visiting the beach, there wasn’t really all that much to do on the island which is possibly intentional, given the searing heat. 

We visited the Phi Phi Tsunami Memorial Garden, which was really sad.  Phi Phi Don is shaped kind of like a cartoon-dogs-bone, with the two rounded ends high with mountains, and the central bar a low spit of sand, where the islands occupancy occurs.  When the Tsunami hit, it hit from both sides simultaneously, effectively destroying the populated area.  The Memorial Garden was filled with plaques, photographs, flowers, notes, passports and poems that the victims families had laid, little reminders to show they once existed.  There were lists of family and friends, some of them in groups of 4-6, almost all of the memorabilia dedicated to tourists.  I found it quite odd seeing some of the photographs that were posted… they could have been anyone, quite sad that these people just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Any who, the beach was beautiful – white sand, clear sea – a repeat of Ko Samui, the Island tour and Ao Nang, but nice none the less.  Wandering around, we managed to find a place called ‘Matt’s Joint’ (yes, there’s a picture) and to Matt’s great delight, Salt ‘n’ Vinegar Chippies – the first we had seen in all of Asia.  That little find gave him a grin from ear to ear all day! 

Phi Phi seemed a little bastardised – although this is what we had expected.  Everywhere was selling whisky buckets and postcards, the locals seemed jaded by the constant strain of the tourists – very unlike the sleepier Northern Thailand.  We expected much the same for our next stop, Phuket, ‘the Surfers Paradise’ of Thailand.

We departed Phi Phi for Phuket on a boat with a good hundred or so others.  We were told by the ticket seller to get to the boat at least an hour early, as when it was full, it would go.  Turns out we were the first on the boat, thus scoring the best position on the deck.  To entertain ourselves while we were waiting, we fed bread (well received) and Pringles (not so well received) to the tropical fish – quite a sight.  By the time the boat left, the top deck was covered in back packers sprawled out sunning them selves, much like a giant ant massacre.  Once we were a couple of kilometers off shore, we pulled up next to another boat, and passengers from the other boat boarded ours, gingerly balancing as they precariously leapt over the gap with their packs, trying not to get themselves dunked in the sea. 

After 1 1/2 – 2 hours we had arrived at our last Thailand destination… Phuket.

Phi Phi Islands Tour

We headed out to sea on our nifty wee speed boat, very impressed that we had managed to get onto the boat without dunking ourselves.  Our first stop on the  tour was at Maya Bay, the beach made famous by the movie ‘The Beach’ with Leonardo DiCaprio.  This tranquil little spot we had the pleasure of sharing with, oh a good few thousand others that all had the same idea in mind, much to our sheer amusement(!)

In reality, Maya Bay is very different to the movie – in the movie it is an enclosed lagoon, encased in large limestone carsts, whereas in reality, it is not enclosed… thank you CGI!  We later found out from a travel agent on Phi Phi Don (the only island of the Phi Phi Islands that is inhabited with humans) that during filming the film makers paid every longtail boat they could find to block off the entrance to the bay, thus keeping visitors away by taking away their transport and by blocking the entrance.  The agent told us that at the time (the high season) the tourists and tour operators alike found this practice really unfair…fair enough!  She also mentioned that she had had tourists actually cancel tours to the islands because 1) They wouldn’t get to see the massive (highly illegal, particularly in Thailand) Marajuana crop from the movie, and 2) They wouldn’t get to jump off the waterfall that Leonardo does in the film.  Which does not exist, at least in Thailand anyway.   That kept us giggling all afternoon.

We had a swim in the warm, walk-in water before re-boarding the boat and heading off to our next stop, a snorkling area mingled in with a host of limestone carsts.  The boat provided us with snorkling gear, and we all hopped in.  In an effort to  be ‘lady like’ and to avoid jumping on someone, I hopped off the boat via the stairs they provided at the back.  Matt, being Matt, jumped off the side of the boat, and straight onto a rock/coral (we still don’t know which), thus ending his snorkling trip almost instantaneously to get his foot cleaned up.  He assured me later that his foot would be fine, and that anyway, we were due to see a Doctor in Phuket, we would just mention it then if it wasn’t looking so hot. (EDIT: I actually swam around for about 10 minutes before realising that my foot was actually bleeding from the knock, I got to see most stuff in the water but decided I better not start attracting sharks! – Matt)

It was a shame, he missed out on what I think was the highlight of Southern Thailand.  Below the surface were kina’s, and literally thousands of tropical fish surrounding us.  Having learnt from previous trips, we came  on the trip armed with bread to attract them and feed them.  Matt took to throwing the bread straight at me from the boat, thus attracting copious amounts of fish with great gusto… the results from the water were amazing.

We took off to a lagoon next, allegedly (according to the boat staff) where Leo ‘jumped out of the waterfall, onto the shark and wrestled it to death.’  The only problem with this story was that not one person on the boat had seen that particular part of the movie.  Huh.  Perhaps the Thai’s had a special edition?  We zipped past Viking Cave, a cave now inhabited only by rare birds that were nesting, and onto Monkey Bay on Phi Phi Don Island.

As the boat pulled up to Monkey Bay, there was a flurry of excitement on board as everyone leapt up to take photos of the monkeys in the trees.  Within moments a devious wee monkey jumped onboard the side of the boat, clearly looking for food.  We pulled back a bit, aware that the monkey could get aggressive if it was intimidated, teased or not given what it was after, and were amazed to see parents pushing their children forward.  Michelle, our onboard lady-boy host who had made cake for everyone on the trip and had distributed it earlier, pulled out a few remaining pieces of cake which were fed to the monkey, much to everyone’s delight.  A couple of minutes later the monkey reappeared, and one of the guys handed Matt a coke (the top unscrewed) to Matt to hand over to the Monkey.  Down it went, much to the amusement of us.  Hate to think of what it does to an already hyper monkey!  When we went to leave, we noticed the beach they live on strewn with cans and bottles… no wonder they like the boats so much!

Ao Nang

When we booked our accommodation at Ao Nang, we did so without really realising that it was a mere 20 minute drive from Krabi town.  Surat had organised our hotel for us and we were quite pleased with our little splurge when we saw how glorious and sparkly the swimming pool was!  

We spent most of our time at the beach, checking out the washed up jellyfish, drinking pineapple (Matt) and Mango (Kylie) shakes (fresh fruit mixed up with crushed ice), swimming and lining up with the locals and tourists alike to watch the sunsets over the sea.  It was really nice to relax and hang out a bit without the hard travelling days, cramming stuff in.  It turned out that by booking our 4 Island tour through Surat in Krabi had been a really good deal, as transport from Krabi town to Ao Nang had been included, and the same tour booked from Ao Nang cost about five hundred baht per person extra(!) 

We managed to book ourselves on a Phi Phi Islands tour on our final day in Ao Nang on a fancy looking speed boat, planning on getting off at Phi Phi Don (an Island) and simply not getting the boat ride back to Ao Nang (on the mainland).  The travel agent that did the booking assured that our packs wouldn’t be a problem.  Ha!  I was silently cursing her as we waded out to sea, bum deep sea, to meet the boat.  Me with my 18kg pack on my back and my 6kg day bag on my front, trying to stay upright, with my long pack strapped unnaturally high as I very carefully maneuvered my way through the sea, mindful that the rain cover on my pack would do very little to protect two tubes of paintings stashed in my pack and my camera bag containing my new camera and lenses.  With a hand from Matt to keep me steady, we made it out there dry and on board!

We were off to the Phi Phi Islands!! 

Krabi

On arrival into Krabi Airport we had no real idea of what the hell we were doing or even what part of the province we were going to go to. We needed a visa extension though so that became the deciding factor in having to choose actual Krabi Town over Ao Nang or Reh Lai beaches as it had an Immigration office.

The airport bus dropped us off near enough to the centre of town and we only had to wander a few minutes around the place before we settled on a guest house called “P Guesthouse” (nothing to do with the drug fortunately). It was run by a really friendly guy called Surat and once we were settled in he gave us directions to the Immigration office which was only a five minute walk away. Once we got there we had of course forgotten the passport photo’s and necessary photocopies but a quick 10 minute trip back to the guest house where Surat let me use his copier sorted us out and we were once again legal for 15 more days (damn we really should have just got the 60 day visa! Wish we knew about it… )

We were going to only stay one night in Krabi Town but after seeing the prices for the places at the surrounding beaches (1000+ Baht vs 350 Baht) we decided that it might be a better idea to base ourselves there for one more night and we then got Surat to book us a day tour and two nights at Ao Nang and two nights on Phi Phi Don.

The day tour was a 4 Island boat trip off the coast from Ao Nang. The boat was one of the stereotypical Thai long tail boats and had what I’m guessing was a massive turbo diesel engine on it that was not really controllable by the driver at all… well it was more that the boat was too full and he was not strong enough to control the direction once it got off course…. it made for a fairly start stop adventure for the entire day.

We met a couple from Britain the day before the tour at our guest house.  They two were trying to figure out what to do for the day and decided to do the same tour as us, so we hung out with tem for most of the day.  The Island tour took us to the picture-perfect Poda Island, compete with Halong Bay-like limestone carsts jutting out of the sea.  Here people could feed fish in the calf-deep water, while on the other side of the island close to where we were swimming, a film crew filmed a music video.

Next stop was snorkeling off the coast of chicken Island (see the photo… it looks like a chicken!)  There were loads of tropical fish and corals, the fish in a frenzy as the boat crew threw them food.  We stopped on Tup Island for lunch where the boat crew gave us each a polystyrene box of egg and rice, and a bag of delicious curry to pour over the top.  Tup Island is shaped with two large circular and masses joined together by a skinny wee spit of land – add to that the longtail boats lined up on either side and it was quite photogenic!  After a beautifully warm swim where you just walk straight into the sea without any hesitation due to the cold, we boarded back on the boat.

Our last stop was Phra Nang Cave, a large, rocky caved that we had to wade through waist (Matt)/chest (Kylie)deep water.  We scrambled around in there for a while before heading back to the boat and back to Ao Nang beach, and eventually back to Krabi.