Unfriendly Cats
Trip Start
Jul 10, 2007
1
9
46
Trip End
Mar 11, 2008
Koh Samet,
Thailand
Friday, July 27, 2007
It is a very touristy and polluted island. The water near the conservation park is somewhat clear, very warm and spits out once in a while, massive, plate sized purple and green jelly fish. Cats come out at night on the beach and two males decided to fight under our very low table and bit our youngest. It left him with four bleeding holes on his leg.
Let's re-evaluate; it is 9:00 pm, on a small island in the Gulf of Thailand, where people speak a foreign language and animals roam everywhere (4 legged ones too)...is there a clinic?
Eureka! We find one - no doctors, no nurses but a grumpy attendant oye! After she unlocked the door, she disinfected the wound and in broken English explained:" Very dangerous, must see doctor".
Koh Sahmet
Luckily for us, we had spent the extravagant amount of money pre-departure on rabies shots. We also knew that if were bitten that we would only require one extra stabbing on the arm within 24 hours... but where to get it?Pattaya
We left the next day to meet my cousin in Pattaya. A saving grace as he knew exactly what to do and where to send us. We ended up at the Bangkok hospital which is as beautiful as a five star hotel. As we arrived in the foyer, we were greeted by a smiling and gracious hostess who took our coordinates, registered our son in the Thai system (he has a hospital card) and escorted us to the proper treatment room; no coloured stripes on the walls to follow on our own. As we followed the hostess, I am sure I saw angel wings on her back.
Upon arriving at the "surgery' my son's vital signs were then taken, and the he was offered some lemonade and a sweet treat. Then, we met with a doctor and his nurse. They explained the treatment very clearly: "Master Yayier" needed a shot oops no, two shots and some antibiotics.
"The Master", who cringes (loudly) at the sound of the word syringe, was no longer in control. As tears started to pool in his beautiful sea blue eyes, two nurses immediately came to his side to rub his hair and console him
Rootie at Koh Sahmet
. His shots were administered, I paid for the antibiotics. The hospital staff even arranged for an air-conditioned taxi to take us back to our hotel. From beginning to end of the visit: 1 hour! The cost of the visit, consultation, shots and antibiotics: $89.00 Canadian. Best medical service I have ever experienced; priceless!
The rest of the day was spent with my cousin Bruno whom I had not seen for quite a while. He loves Asia and has started a web site business.
Koh Chang: a lovely and less visited island. It is a lot cleaner and the water is clear, warm and turquoise and the jelly fish are smaller here. Our hotel was on the beach and we enjoyed our evening dinners on the sand sans cats. What fascinated me were the minute hyper-active sand crabs that zoom on the beach during the day. They laboriously and continuously swallow grains of sand to extract food particles and spit them out in perfect little balls. They create the best "Pollock" and "Seurat" designs all over the beach. This island was worth a longer stay.
