One morning during our recent month-long vacation, I was tidying up around our beach bungalow in a quiet Thai village while listening to my husband talking to a friend back in Canada over Skype. He was giving a blow-by-blow of our vacation to that point. First, he (my husband) put his back out and pinched a nerve just before we were to go on vacation. He had to bring a cane along so he could hobble through the airport. Over the following days, he gradually got better as we enjoyed the beauties of the city of Guilin and took a cruise on the Li River to see the famous karst mountains. Then, on our last day in Guilin, I came down with a mild fever.
We slogged on to Kunming, the city of Eternal Spring, and after a few days there, Ross caught what I had. Except that it settled in his lungs...
By Bangkok he was hacking and wheezing. After a few days visiting with friends in Bangkok, we moved on to the laid-back city of Chanthaburi, and then took a taxi to the little resort on Laem Singh beach where we planned to spend a week doing nothing but swing in a hammock, read books, and swim in the ocean. It was here at the extraordinarily kind owner of the resort put Ross and me into his car and took us to a beautiful modern hospital. A chest x-ray confirmed that Ross had pneumonia.
And wow, the Bangkok hospital (that's the name of the hospital) was amazing. Once we were back in Bangkok, we visited the Bangkok hospital there because Ross's pneumonia had cleared up, but he still had bronchitis. Also amazing. The place was spotless and spacious. The staff were all neatly and smartly dressed -- no wrinkled hospital scrubs and rubber footwear here -- and very courteous. There was, and I am not kidding, a pianist, a bassist and violinist playing light classical music in the waiting room. The bill was modest. Really, it was a health care revelation. I will remember those hospital visits just as I remember the beautiful temples and beaches!
But, while listening to Ross's recap of the health problems we'd had, I thought, Yeah, when you put it like that, it's pretty ludicrous. However, even though we had our setbacks, it was a great vacation. I'll post some more photos and thoughts about our trip soon.
One reason you didn't hear from me while on the road is that I made a last-minute decision to leave my laptop behind. I really relaxed, read books, and thanked myself for the decision I made three years ago to quit my job, re-train as an ESL teacher, and live and travel in Asia.
But, while listening to Ross's recap of the health problems we'd had, I thought, Yeah, when you put it like that, it's pretty ludicrous. However, even though we had our setbacks, it was a great vacation. I'll post some more photos and thoughts about our trip soon.
One reason you didn't hear from me while on the road is that I made a last-minute decision to leave my laptop behind. I really relaxed, read books, and thanked myself for the decision I made three years ago to quit my job, re-train as an ESL teacher, and live and travel in Asia.
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