the worst day of my life

One might think that me, having had a baby, would consider the days I was in labour to be the worst days of my life, but no. There was a worse one.

In Japan, for all of us ALTs, it was very common to go traveling. We were, of course, so close to a handful of exotic countries like China, Thailand, Korea, etc. The list goes on. It was hard not to take advantage of the proximity and hop onto a plane every now and then. Thailand was a particularly popular country to visit, and it seemed that every ALT would get there at some point. People would talk about their "Thailand trip" and ask you if you had been on yours yet. It was pretty standard to go.

So Ryan and I went. We boarded the plane, not knowing what we were going to do, or even where we were going to go when we landed. We had our Lonely Planet book in hand, and while in the air, decided where we'd start out: Khaosan Road, Bangkok. This was the place that was known far and wide as the starting point for travel in the country. We arrived in Bangkok and boarded a taxi. It was late in the evening.

We stepped out of the taxi on a brightly lit street, full of carts and kiosks selling everything under the sun. There were tables and chairs littered all over the side of the road, filled with travelers of many, most of which looked like young backpackers in search of themselves. Drinks covered the tables as people laughed and yelled, and we wound our way through the street in search of a guest house in which we would spend the night. We found one, paid for a room for the night, and went on in. It was pretty shabby, to say the least. If you've seen the movie, THE BEACH, and seen the grungy old places Leo stayed in in Bangkok, it was pretty similar. Paper thin walls, dirty floors and a squeaky old rusting bed with a mattress that could've easily been traded for the floor. Cockroaches would be welcome in a place like this, making their little love-nests in the corners and crevices. This was the beginning of Thailand.

Now, to pause a moment, I am not someone who needs an immaculate, elegant hotel room in order to feel comfortable. I was okay there, but it was the great unknown of this land and what in the world we were going to do in the morning that was a little unsettling. So we decided that first thing in the morning we would head out of Bangkok and go visit some other cities.

After spending a few days up north in Chiang Mai, we decided to go down to a small island we had heard all about called Koh Samui. It was supposed to be beautiful, and as everything in Thailand, dirt cheap. We researched the different ways to get there in our travel book, and discovered that there was a cheap way and a slightly pricier way. The pricier way was a plane straight onto the island. The cheap way was to fly to a town called Surat Thani, and then to take the night boat across and arrive on the island the next morning. We decided to go the cheap route.

Upon arrival in Surat Thani, we found the night boat and wow, it was pretty grim. (photo) We bought our little tickets and boarded. Downstairs was cargo - this was a boat that would take supplies to the island - and upstairs was where the people would sleep. We walked up the rickety stairs and found the top level to be a long, wooden deck with two rows of sleeping mats on either side and an aisle down the middle. On the left were the Thais, and on the right were the foreigners. And in and amongst everyone ran the cockroaches. Yes, our famous little friends were everywhere, including running across my legs. Knowing that we had an hour or two before the boat left, we reserved a couple spots and got off the boat. We needed dinner, had very little cash, and it was late at night so all that was open in the area was a convenience store.

We entered with high hopes of finding something to fill us up for the night. Ryan thought he'd tempt himself with a mysterious looking burrito of some sort, but not me. I thought he was crazy to eat something like that. No, instead, I chose a cup-o-noodles of Thai variety, filled it up with water from their hot water tank, and off we went.

Now, if any of you have been to Thailand, you know that the water there is not potable. It'll make you very, very sick.

We gingerly and happily ate our modest dinner on a park bench in a parking lot, me gulping down the last of the noodles and broth, feeling quite content, and then boarded the boat again. The ship took off at about 11 pm and we tried to get to sleep. All was well for a while.

Then I woke up, rolled over and heard a "SNAP" in my neck. I couldn't move it. It had seized up. I had had this happen once or twice before and it was so painful! Even worse, was that it made me feel ill to think about my neck having something wrong with it (it's a funny fear I have), and so instantly I started feeling ill. I woke Ryan up, who really couldn't do anything for me, and we sat there, me feeling like bringing up my noodles, while the row of Thais and row of foreigners snored on around us. I finally had to get up and go to the bathroom. It was down the aisle, down another rickety set of stairs, and it consisted of a hole in the bottom of the boat. Delicious. Unfortunately, I was so sick by the time I got to the stairs that I had to sit on them and just try to stay conscious.

I'm not sure at what point it was that we realized I had downed a good cupful of water with my noodles the night before, but it did dawn on us at some point, and it was a sad realization. I spent most of the night sitting on those stairs, watching the wake tear away from the boat, feeling the wind on my face and the full moon shining down on my back. It was miserable.

The next morning at about 4 am, we arrived and I weakly pulled on my pack as the boat unloaded. We, having been so low on cash the night before, didn't even have enough to catch a ride into town on one of the famous Thai pickup-taxis, but the merciful driver gave us a deal. So there I was, feeling woozy and ill, stuffed into the very back of a pickup, holding on with one hand to my pack and one hand to a bar that kept me from falling right out the back of the vehicle. How I managed to hang on was beyond me, though I'm sure Ryan would have grabbed me had I started to swoon.

We arrived finally, and went straight to the hospital for my neck. My stomach was doing alright at this point, so I was much relieved. They checked out my neck and sent me off, much to my dismay, with a neck brace. We then found a restaurant that was open and sat down to have breakfast. It was then that the water from the night before really spoke back. I went to the washroom and couldn't get up. I was so weak, and so ill that I couldn't even call Ryan. He finally came and found me, and back to the hospital I went. This time I got a room, lucky me! Ryan went off to get us some accommodation for the night, and I lay alone, waiting for him to come back, in my hospital room in Thailand.

Looking back on it now, one might think that I'd laugh. Nope. It was awful. The difficulties of the day wore on after that, though none was as tumultuous as what I've described already. When I got out of the hospital later that day, and we got to our bungalow (for $8 per night), things started improving again. Koh Samui was probably our favourite place that we stayed in Thailand, with white sand beaches, delicious food, and warm and friendly Thais, it was a place to remember. I think I'd like to go back there, to bask in the sun and wander the streets past the shops, to eat pineapple pancakes for breakfast and fiery Thai curry for dinner. And yes, I think I would like to have a burrito next time...