Travellog: Thailand: Bangkok and Koh Samed

Thursday, July 24 2003

"You know, I just dreamt that I was drinking Starbucks and the bottle had Thai and Spanish on it..."

I don't know where that came from. I heard the alarm clock and sat up in bed (conveniently dragging the covers off Kat) and announced that I'd had a dream about bilingual coffee.

Several minutes later I realized I couldn't really breathe, either, and that my throat was trying to declare independence. Boy, it hurt. Somehow I'd managed to catch the flu in the middle of a tropical paradise. Unbelievable.

That day we had to leave Koh Samed. I took some last photos and we scooped up some sand into a water bottle to take home after breakfast - it was such lovely sand! - and took another speedboat out to the mainland. This time there were many more people and what looked like the hotel's laundry in the boat, so it wasn't nearly as choppy. It was still fun though. Here's a photo I took just as I was about to step out of the speedboat.

The ride back to Arnoma Hotel in Bangkok wasn't nearly as fun, however. I thought I was going to suffocate and die. I couldn't breathe through my nose and my throat screamed bloody murder if I tried to breathe through my mouth. It's not worth remembering - I'll only mention that I bought some very cheap Strepsils at a petrol station shop and that they didn't really work. I read the back of the packet and it said it contained antiseptic. Hmmph. I thought anaesthetic might've been a tad more useful in my case.

Once back at the Arnoma, we found that we'd been upgraded to the executive floor, with connecting rooms (no more midnight giggles, even if I had been able to giggle!). The executive floor was really not much different from the regular floors. The view was improved, perhaps, but that was it. We didn't even have a shower as well as a bath - we'd had both downstairs in the regular room.

After a quick buffet lunch we took the BTS again (here's the back of the ticket again for your reference) from Chit Lom to Sala Daeng, changing lines at Siam. We went to The Dusit Thani (An extremely, extremely posh hotel! We couldn't even find reception!). Their Devarana Spa is incredibly nice. They gave us roselle juice (at least, that's what I think it is - it looks and tastes like Ribena) while we were choosing our treatments, and we got soft white slippers to put on when we went in (I almost didn't like to put my feet in them; I'd recently stepped in a puddle). Kat had a Milk And Roses water treatment, a Rice Body Scrub and a Swedish Massage, and I had a Marine Body Scrub, a Swedish Massage and a facial (I forget which). I fell asleep in spite of being unable to breathe and hurting like crazy - now THAT'S something! The girls were really good. It was an absolutely lovely experience that took three hours, even though it does sound a bit silly that we paid the spa to sleep. I recommend this if you have a bit of time and money in Bangkok. I walked away feeling all loose and relaxed and sweet-smelling.

We went for a walk after that and shopped a bit. I stepped in another puddle, much to my dismay. We returned to the Dusit Thani and had Royal Thai Cuisine at Benjarong, a restaurant inside the hotel. We could see the fountain from where we sat. We ordered so much! (Please excuse the half-eaten mess on my plate). The food was really good - Kat ate a lot of chicken curry.

Later we went around to a pharmacy to see if we could get any medicine for my cold. There seems to be absolutely nothing for colds in Bangkok, people probably aren't supposed to catch colds in Thailand. Grrr. I did buy some Strepsils PLUS, though - and those had anaesthetic in them! Just what I wanted. I had one right before going to bed that night. It definitely helped. The inhalant with menthol in it that I also bought didn't work, on the other hand. It might've helped had I been able to smell it...but no, my nose was past help. I wished fervently for my trusty nasal spray (it clears blocked noses in 5 minutes and lasts for 12 hours), but it was in Hong Kong. A word of warning, if you ever travel - never forget to bring nasal spray!

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