Disaster!!
I know some of you are thinking how glamorous and exciting traveling to far flung exotic corners of the world must be. On the whole it is very rewarding. However, things can happen that give you an immense reality check and brings you back down to earth with a rude bump, even with the best laid plans.
Over the past eight days or so something has happened which has seriously threatened to scupper the rest of this trip. It gave a big knock to my confidence and even now I am questioning the motivation and drive needed to keep going. At the very least the old travel team of Steve, Gareth and Phil looks to have ended as we all head off to our various ends of travel in Asia.
But what could bring such earth shattering changes? For the whole story we need to go back to July 7, 2002, the day S&G left the islands of Koh Phi-Phi.
After the guys left the island I looked forward to another day’s R&R before I would make my own way by boat and bus to the Thai/Malaysian border. Things were going swimmingly, so much so that when I started to feel a bit funny that evening I put it down to a little too much sun during the course of the day. I forced myself to head out to get something to eat. Still, things got worse. I couldn’t eat the small pizza I had ordered for dinner. I headed straight back to my bungalow hoping an early night and some good sleep would help.
During the night all the symptoms hit me like a ton of bricks. Apart from the nausea and vomiting I was already feeling a high fever kick in, severe headache, backache, joint pains, and a skin rash. I was feeling dizzy and the fever produced some really weird hallucinatory dreams. I was even short of breath every time I reached for a mouthful of water.
So the next morning, exhausted, I was in no condition to contemplate catching the boat off the island. In fact, I used all my strength to get to the island’s clinic to be checked out by the nurse. Hopefully she could provide some medication to make me feel better. This is when the first mention of dengue fever was made. The nurse checked but it seemed to turn up negative. I spent another day and night in the midst of this illness. Even with the amount of sleep I was able to get the fever meant that my body was never really at rest.
The next day, Tuesday, still weak and ill, I was mindful of the fact that I only had four more days left on my Thai visa. With an Herculean effort I dragged myself out of bed, packed my rucksack which is way overweight at the best of times and made my way down to the ferry pier. I bought a ticket back to Krabi Town on the mainland. By now I was in a very bad way, having blacked out a few times whilst lying on a bench in the pier.
Mercifully the boat arrived and I was eventually allowed to board. Below decks I found forward in the bows some long mattresses and cushioned benches. The Thai crews only seem to have work to do when docking, unloading, loading and setting off. During the crossing they use this area in the bow to spread out and catch up on their sleep. Taking one look at me they allowed me to curl up on one bench where I promptly passed out for the entire crossing. Thankfully the sea was a lot calmer too, making the crossing smoother.
I left the boat in Krabi and somehow made it the 200m across the road to the travel agent where I was due to collect my ticket to the border town of Sungai Kolok. I don’t know if I ever got that ticket, I certainly didn’t catch the bus.
People were now showing open concern for my condition, wanting to contact an ambulance to take me to hospital. With some sense left in me I somehow managed to contact my father in the U.K. Through my insurance he arranged for a nurse and an ambulance to collect me and take me to a private hospital – it was better this way as then I was assured that the cost will be covered by my insurance.
I was examined by a friendly, English speaking doctor who admitted me immediately and confirmed that I had contracted the dreaded Dengue Fever. I was groggily lead to a private room where I collapsed in a heap on the hospital bed. Within minutes the nurse was in to set up a Dextrose I.V. drip into the back of my right hand.
For the first day I seemed to respond quite well to the drugs that were being pumped into me. So much so by late afternoon I felt well enough to get out of bed again and hungry enough to order steak for dinner. I even told the doctor how foolish I felt feeling this improved so soon. He assured me that I may be feeling a bit better now but I will feel a lot worse again soon.
Boy, was he right. From that night and the following three days and nights I drifted in and out of a fever induced coma. My vital signs were constantly being checked and at one stage my temperature reached a dangerous level about 40�C. The discomfort and unwell feeling was never ending, I sweated buckets, ate nothing, surviving only on the dextrose drip which was religiously changed every 15-18 hours.
Being delirious I wandered if I had maybe caught a fatal version of Dengue Fever and I was gradually slipping away to an untimely demise.
Then all of a sudden on July 14 I woke up to find the fever had broken and although still very weak I had a much clearer head. The next 2-3 temperature readings saw the fever almost disappear, leaving me with a normal body temperature. I even felt well enough to venture out of my hospital ward to a nearby Internet cafe to catch up on my emails.
During Monday’s visit by my doctor he explained that as of tomorrow my body temperature had remained normal for 48 hours and he would see that as a sign that things were well on the way to getting back to normal and I could be discharged.
Well, first things first. I had to try and get myself to the Immigration Office in Krabi to sort out my visa which had expired during my lay up in hospital. I got a lift into town no problem with the hospital shuttle, but from town it was a brisk walk in the blistering heat to try and find the right office. I found it but was in quite a state, the heat had made me dizzy again and I literally had to lay down on the waiting bench exhausted by the heat. An official came up and gave me some smelling salts and asked for my passport. On seeing I had overstayed my expiry date on my visa he calmly asked why I hadn’t applied for a visa extension. Duh! Like I was in any state, invalided in hospital with Dengue Fever. Well, to immigration officials, that is no excuse. I should have obtained the necessary extension before being admitted into hospital and there was no choice, I had to pay the 200 Baht for each day I overstayed.
Whilst in town I also managed to arrange a bus pick up at my hospital for 7am the next morning. I was very weak by this stage and although I did try and rest at a roadside cafe and eat something, I just wasn’t hungry. Eventually I took a taxi and made it back to my hospital bed.
Next morning bright and early I was awake, packed and ready and waiting for the bus that would take me further south to Hat Yai and eventually onto the border town of Sungai Kolok. My friendly doctor had got up to see me off and fussed over whether the bus was in fact going to arrive. I had become fond of my doctor, he always had a friendly word and I can’t help thinking that him admitting me into his hospital when I was at the lowest and sickest I had been ever in my life, saved me from a fate worse than death. The bus arrived and he wished me well. I hope he get no problem with payment for the hospital bill from my insurance company.
The bus trip was the usual long, boring ride through Southern Thailand. At Hat Yai we changed onto a older mini bus to take us the final leg of the journey. This was filled with Thai locals making the journey a lot more squashed.
At Sungai Kolok the bus driver dropped a group of us backpackers off at the border post. I had the expected hassles with the border official re: my overstayed visa. No amount of explaining could convince him that I had not been neglectful in not obtaining a visa extension before getting sick. Exasperated, three quarters of an hour later and after a pile of paperwork was filled in I paid the 600 baht fine and left Thailand.
That was it. I had excitedly returned to Thailand at the beginning of April and although I had visited all of Indochina, I had spent a good deal of the previous four months in the Kingdom. However, it had now become too much of a good thing and I was glad to be leaving.
Still feeling weak and exhausted from carrying my huge backpack, I moved on into Malaysia.
