Asia | Diary of an Adventurous Retiree

On our second last night on Koh Samui, in the middle of the night, Earl woke up with terrible pain in his left foot. He could not bear to have the sheet on it nor could he stand on it. He hobbled to the loo by holding onto my shoulders as I walked ahead of him. I gave him Disprin and propped a rolled up towel under his foot and he managed to sleep. But in the morning he still couldn’t put any weight on his foot. Goodbye planned National Marine Reserve trip!

I arranged for a wheelchair to get him to breakfast and asked reception to get us a doctor’s appointment. I left Earl in the breakfast room while I went to fetch the passports and papers we needed to cancel our Marine Reserve trip. While I was in our room the phone rang to say the transfer was ready. So I dashed straight down to reception to complete the cancellation business. The driver couldn’t understand English but reception did an excellent job interpreting. In the meantime my beloved was in panic mode wondering what had happened to me. In the time I was away, though, I’d organised the cancellation, the appointment at a private hospital and the transfer to it. The tour company would give me a refund when I presented them with the medical certificate.

The hospital was amazing. A doctor was waiting for us when we arrived. The nurses were gentle and beautiful. A history was taken and a form quickly filled in. After the doctor checked his foot he was whisked away for an X-ray then another doctor came to examine the foot. He manipulated it and apologized for the pain caused.

Nurse applying a soothing gel

Does this hurt – so sorry to cause pain!

There were no bones broken and he was a bit puzzled as to why the foot should be so sore. It was hot so it definitely indicated inflammation – of the the tendon near his ankle. We concluded that walking on soft sand at high tide had caused the inflammation and he prescribed a cold compress, inflammatories and pain killers. The nurse also gave him an injection. We also decided to take a pair of crutches so he could hobble short distances without the wheelchair.

The Earl becomes Hop-Along-Harry

We missed our boat trip to The National Marine Reserve but we couldn’t have chosen a better place to be hotel-bound. It was relatively easy to get to the pool bar/restaurant where Earl could sit for as long as he liked. It had a lovely sea view and he could enjoy the ambience.

A fine place to sit and relax

Amazing View

Not an activity that either The Earl or I could enjoy!

But fun to watch

I was able to go for swims in the sea and not be too far away. We actually had a lovely chilled day and enjoyed our last dinner at the pool restaurant on a perfect last evening.

Luckily we had assisted travel anyway and the next day we flew to Bangkok for the last night and day of our holiday before flying home.

Earl insisted we get to the pier early on the morning we booked a snorkeling cruise as we were not sure where our boat would be docked. Well we needn’t have worried. It turned out that we needed to meet at the company’s office which the vendor failed to tell us. Luckily the guides at the pier were clued up and directed us to the correct meeting place
There were about 15 of us on this half day trip. We were the only South Africans. Most spoke other languages and Earl and I were the oldest. It was an inexpensive tour and when I saw the boat I realised why. The windows were cracked and there was a big need for maintenance! To make matters worse we hit high seas and the vessel rocked and rolled frighteningly. Fortunately we were only in open sea for a short time. In the bays it was relatively calm. Most of the passengers paid the extra 400 baht to visit “The Beach” of movie fame. We did not and this was a good thing as one had to canoe to shore and then climb up a steep cliff using a rope net ladder thingie.

I swam here while the younger tourists went to The Beach

I think we have outgrown this kind of climbing for fun

Then there was a trek through bush to get to the beach. While they were gone I swam off the boat wearing a life jacket and hanging onto life ring attached to the boat so that the current didn’t take me out to sea. It was fun. Earl won’t swim because of his ears and the other remaining passenger was out of it with sea sickness.

After an hour everyone returned and we went on to the next bay where most of us did some snorkeling. As you can see from the photographs our travelling companions were young enough to be our grandchildren.

The Earl made sure I had my mask on properly and in I went. It was awesome. You can’t compare it to the barrier reef but it was fun nevertheless. The Earl was convinced I was in the wrong spot and yelled to me to get onto the reef. Well nobody else was there but I knew he wouldn’t let up till I humoured him. Nope – nothing there so back I went to where everybody else was enjoying the colorful fishes.

I was so grateful that the weather co-operated on the days we did tours. No disappointments and really lovely times.
When we got back to the pier we went straight to one of the restaurants for a fruit shake.
In the evening – our last on Phi Phi – we walked to a restaurant that braaied chicken on a skewer – Thai style. We were right on the beach and it was a perfect evening, what a delicious meal.

The Restaurant was right on the beach

Our Chef cooking our dinner

View from our table

Yes – It’s good

Quite delicious, actually

The restaurant beautifully lit up

Afterwards we stopped at a stall where the vendor encouraged us with ‘yum yum very nice ice cream. You want some yes?” He had a yogurt version so we gave in. He took plain yogurt, poured it onto a frozen slab, chopped berries into it and then using a palate flattened it out till it was frozen enough to cut into strips and roll up. These frozen yogurt rolls he put into an ice cream cup and topped it with more berries and berry sauce. He made chocolate ice cream in the same way for Earl. Delicious 😋