First, we just want to say thank you to all for your notes and emails. We really appreciated them.
We finally made it home around 11:00am on Tuesday, not long after news broke out that the Royal Thai Army had staged a successful coup d’etat against the Prime Minister. Beth’s mom met us at Atlanta airport and whisked us off. She had set up a doctor appointment for Lauren at 2pm and one for Beth with an orthopedic surgeon for 3pm.
Lauren’s knee looks like ground up hamburger patty. But the doctor says the infection is minimal (it looks like it’s gone now) and we think she’s getting the stitches out on Tuesday. (more…)
The last few days have been spent going back and forth to the hospital getting cleaned and scrubbed. My wounds are starting to heal, and despite initial fears that there was a bad infection in my knee, I seem to be recovering fairly well without any major concerns. Beth is doing better now that her leg is immobilized in a cast.
The place we are staying is pretty luxurious by Thai standards ($20/night) and has been a good place to rest up, watch TV, and attempt sponge baths and hair washings without getting several scraped, stitched, and casted areas of the body wet. I have completed fallen in love with a kitten that lives in our hotel named “Kou Mow”. He looks a little like my cat Jackson at home. The strangest thing about this cat is that he is always sitting down on his butt with his legs straight out infront of him like a human just watching things go by. I’m going to steal him and bring him home. More cats for the Georges! (just kidding). (more…)
The next morning, we woke up at 6am. I was sure they were going to send me to the hospital that day, so Lauren started packing our bags. I couldn’t do anything to help, so I just laid there and watched.
After two hours of furious packing, we were mostly ready. I turned to Lauren, who was panting and covered in sweat, and said, “I don’t think I have the energy to go to the hospital today.”
We decided if they said it was okay to rest another day in Koh Tao that we would stay.
We made it to the clinic and they seemed confused as to why we were there. I reminded them about the hospital. They called the doctor on their cell and I talked to him. His broken English, which was hard to understand in person, was even harder to understand on the phone. I asked about going the next day and he said it was fine.
In Thailand, people drive on the left side of the street. At first, it seems like just a curiosity and didn’t bother me until the first time our taxi driver turned left on red. There’s something just wrong about left on red.
In Koh Tao, there’s almost no way to get around the island except by moped. (They call them motorbikes). Our second day on the island, we decided to rent one and see if we could find cheaper accommodations.
The woman we rented it from showed us how the moped worked and Lauren took it out for a test drive. “On the left. Left!” the woman yelled.
Lauren came back and I hopped on the back and off we went.
After dropping off our passports to have our visas taken care of, we wandered around Chinatown (does every city in the world have a Chinatown?) wasting time until our bus arrived. It was Sunday, so most of Chinatown was closed. We ended up getting a taxi back to Banglamphoo and drinking beer and playing dice in a sidewalk cafe for most of the afternoon.
After dinner, we headed back to the place where the bus was supposed to pick us up. Around 7pm, we were told the bus was a two minute walk away and that we would have to walk to it. The bus had two-stories and air conditioning, with a big screen TV and reclining seats bus. We thought we had it made.
Within five minutes of leaving, however, a movie started blasting through the speakers. United 93. Lauren and I looked at each other. They had to be kidding.
Lauren and I arrived in Bangkok at 2am. Most of the bus services were closed, so we hung out in the airport until 6 a.m. waiting for the sun to rise.
We started playing dice and waiting. One of us would absentmindedly prop our feet up on a chair and the other would knock them down. Showing someone the bottom of your feet in Thailand is very offensive — the equivalent of flipping someone off.
It became a running joke. Whenever someone would get far ahead in the game, the other person would flip the bottom of her foot and make a face.
At 6 a.m., we headed outside. The airport bus took us straight to Banglamphoo, the backpacker neighborhood of Bangkok, where we would be staying.
We’ve made it to Bangkok! Had a bit of a crazy departure from LA — said good bye to ma barker and sis, took off to the airport in our rental, got to the airport and found mom’s car keys in the front seat! Luckily, we were able to find a cab to wisk the keys away back to Pasadena and still manage to make it to the gate on time.
After 22 hours of travel, we landed in Thailand at 2am. We waited in the airport until the sun rose - passing the time with 12 games of yahtzee and zilch - headed into the city and found a cheap place to stay in a central neighborhood. We’ve taken care of 3 visas, bought thai silk, toodled around the river on a water taxi, tried the yellow curry and pad thai, taken a tuk-tuk, and booked tickets to the south where we will be hitting up the beaches on islands off the eastern coast. Currently, we are struggling to stay awake until 10pm to push off jet lag. Have not yet tried the beer… that might be next.
Lauren: I’ll have a Fanta, please.
Waitress: French fries?
Lauren: No, Fanta
Waitress: Fried rice?
Lauren: No (pointing in menu), Fanta
Waitress: Oh! FanTA!
Welcome to GirlsGoneWorldWide! Lauren and I planned to have more up here by now, but we’re still making lists and buying stuff for the trip. I haven’t sent any law school applications yet, and we’re leaving in 36 hours.
A taste of our last to do’s:
LB: Get files off computer
BG: Hem new pants
LB+BG: Pick up more malaria drugs
BG: FedEx laptop and bberry back to office
LB: Get information to the lawyer for speeding ticket (that’s another story)
LB+BG: Buy Pepto, Benedryl, toothbrush covers, sink stopper… and the list goes on
And, of course, get the website up. We’ll try to write the rest of the pages on our 20+ hour flight to Thailand… or we’ll finally get some sleep. We’ll see.
