I originally planned to do a two-month trip around SE Asia by first visiting Thailand and then on to Vietnam where I was scheduled to do a site visit of a Room to Read sponsored school north of Hanoi. After Vietnam, I had planned to continue on to Cambodia by bus with a return to Thailand for my trip home. Unfortunately, within two weeks of arriving in Thailand, I slipped on a trail and hyperextended my right knee while hiking on the coastal trail in Ko Samet.
After visiting the Ko Samet Medical Clinic, the Dr. concluded that my ACL was not damaged, but rather an injury to the right medial meniscus and medial collateral ligament with a possible bone bruise. He wrapped my leg and gave me some powerful muscle relaxants. I was unable to walk without pain or without a cane.
During the first couple of weeks, it was continually painful and when sleeping, I had to put a pillow under the damaged knee. Rather than touring about, I was limited to relaxing on a beach or pool lounge chair.
Here are the highlights of my Thailand experiences: Now that I have moved to Lacey, WA, I now have to take the Capital Airporter shuttle van at a cost of $58 to the airport for a two-hour trip rather than the light rail from Seattle at a cost of $0.75 for a 1/2 hour trip.
Using 75,541 points on my Capital One credit card, I took Eva Airways to Bangkok via Taipei, Taiwan with arrival on October 13th around noon during some big thundershowers at the Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok.
After clearing immigration and customs, I took the speedy and cheap airport Express into downtown Bangkok for just 45 Baht or about $1.50 in just 30 minutes. From there I took the Sky Train to the Sukhumvit hotel area.
Shortly after checking into my hotel, the downpour began and continued until the streets near my hotel were flooded.
While in Bangkok, I visited the Chatuchak Weekend Market, near the Mo Chit Sky Train stop. This time they had some very colorful streamers as well as parasols. While there I enjoyed browsing the crowded shops, eating at a nearby food stall, and buying another Chiang Mai-styled man bag.
My other favorite activity was taking the Sky Train to the Saphan Taksin stop where I walked a few feet to the Chao Phraya ferry stop. They now collect the money-- about 13 Baht-- before you board.
The ferry no longer stops at the Ta Tien stop adjacent to Wat Po Temple but rather stops across the river at Wat Arun. From there it was a short ferry boat ride back across the river to the Wat Po area. I enjoyed lunch at my usual waterside restaurant where I watched hundreds of locals and tourists arrive and depart on the ferry boat.
I always enjoy walking through the pavilion that houses the largest reclining Buddha in Thailand. Other pavilions contain rows and rows of identical Buddhas surrounded by guardian statutes.
In one of the pavilions, a monk was chanting to a large number of worshippers which was the first time I have seen this type of ceremony in Wat Po.
I then headed to the Ekamai bus station and bought a combination bus and ferry ticket to Ko Samet Island—about 4 hours from Bangkok at a cost of 151 Baht. The sun was setting as we approached Ko Samet Island which is a National Park.
I returned to my favorite beach resort—Ao Pudsa Bungalows where I got one of my favorite bungalows right along the beach pathway and near the restaurant.
Shortly after I had dinner at their restaurant, it began to rain along with thunder, lightning, and big winds that roiled up the surf so much that some of the balancing rocks collapsed.
The rains and wind persisted well into the night.
The following morning, I was surprised to see that there was a barge filled with the construction along with an excavator used to load the dump trucks bound for a hotel construction site mid-island. The hotel staff told me that the temporary dock would be taken down once all construction materials were unloaded. It sure destroyed the beautiful white sand beach that I used to enjoy.
While having breakfast, I saw where a tourist jet skier had to be rescued when he fell off his jet ski and they had to rescue him along with the jet ski.
That afternoon the storms returned with even greater intensity so I got a lot of reading done.
In the morning the seas were calm as the speedboats loaded and unloaded tourists. I took advantage of the beautiful weather and walked the coastal trail to Ao Wong Deuan beach which has the rickety dock I feature at the top of my blog along with the Blue Sky restaurant perched over some beach rocks.
The debris-free trail is now compared to 12 years ago when the trails were filled with litter.
On the way back, I slipped on a wet slippery rock and hyperextended my right leg. The pain was instant as I hobbled my way back to my bungalow. I hung around another day before looking for a hospital or medical clinic. I wasn’t sure whether I had popped my ACL or some other serious injury.
On the 24th I found the Ko Samet Medical Clinic and Dr. Charemtantanakul confirmed that I had injured my right knee medial meniscus and medial collateral ligament, but not my ACL. He wrapped my knee and gave me some muscle relaxant prescriptions. He indicated that if I did not experience relief after a week or two, I should seek additional medical treatment.
I then spent a week in Pattaya resting by the hotel pool or in a beach chair with slight improvement, but it was still painful to walk very far, even with a newly purchased walking cane. It also rained here frequently for a few hours every day.
I then spent a week in Pattaya resting by the hotel pool or in a beach chair with slight improvement, but it was still painful to walk very far, even with a newly purchased walking cane. It also rained here frequently for a few hours every day.
After returning to Bangkok, I decided to continue north to Chiang Mai and then further north to Pai where there were numerous adventure activities. I caught the night train to Chiang Mai. The carriages were all very new and very comfortable. My bunkmate was from Myanmar and was waiting for some medical test results so he decided to do a bit of touring before returning for further medical treatment.
The train attendant quickly made my bed and then it was bedtime. With my eye mask and gentle movement of the train, I fell asleep not wake up until daybreak. I guess those muscle relaxants are also good for staying asleep.
The train attendant quickly made my bed and then it was bedtime. With my eye mask and gentle movement of the train, I fell asleep not wake up until daybreak. I guess those muscle relaxants are also good for staying asleep.
After having breakfast at a restaurant next to the Chiang Mai train station, I found my way to the moat-ringed central Chiang Mai and the Gaps House where I had stayed about 12 years before.
The rooms and bungalows are clean and attractively decorated. In the dining area, they have several very old photos of Chiang Mai and its people. They sponsor a cooking school as do a number of other guesthouses. It is one of the more popular activities My leg was still hurting so I was taking a lot of songthaews to get around for just 20 Baht a ride.
Breakfasts are included in the room cost of 420 Baht per night.
The night markets are some of the biggest in Thailand. Some are open nightly while they have a Saturday and Sunday night market. The Sunday market was just a half block from Gaps House. Even the nearby Wat opened up its courtyard for vendors including lots of food vendors and entertainers.
The nightly market along the Th Chang Khlan street included the Soi Anusan night market. Within this market, I found the nightly Chiang Mai Cabaret Show.
This show was just 350 Baht including a drink for a fun-filled show with transgender —katoey—performers in dazzling outfits filled with feathers and sequins. Lots of familiar show tunes.
Afterward, I had my photo taken with one of the lead performers.
In addition to cafes and takeaway food vendors, I spotted this vendor offering a range of international choices in several languages.
While in Chiang Mai, I visited the large Wat Phra Singha festooned with lots of gold leaves along with worshippers—some received blessings from a chanting monk.
With my knee feeling a little bit better I decided to head further north to Pai known as a backpackers’ haven with lots of trekking, rafting, and other outdoor adventures. After a twisty 3-hour minivan ride, I arrived and got a bungalow at the Chill Lom Guesthouse. After walking around a bit, I took a break by the nearby riverside cafe.
The following morning I decided to sign up for one of the tours, but as I stepped down the stairs to the road, I felt a popping sound in my right knee and the pain was intense. After resting a bit, I headed back to the minivan terminal and booked a return trip to Chiang Mai.
Once In Chiang Mai, I decided that I needed to end my trip and return to Seattle for further treatment. It took just a few clicks to cancel my Vietnam hotel reservations, change my return flight from December 12th to November 9th, my AirAsia flight to Hanoi, and my airporter shuttle from SEA to my home in Lacey.
I went to the Chiang Mai train station and booked a daytime train to return to Bangkok just a day before my revised flight home on Eva Air on November 9th.
Once I arrived at the Hua Lamphong Train Station I easily made my way to the Metro Station and transferred to the Sky Train back to the Majestic Suites Hotel for my last night in Bangkok.
Around noon, I took the Skytrain to the Airport Express train back to the Suvarnabhumi Airport. Again the Eva Air flight was very comfortable. After having my seafood dinner, I slept the rest of the way until we began to descend to Seattle. After clearing immigration using my Global Entry pass, I quickly caught my shuttle home.
Cost of Trip
The 28-day trip in Thailand was $2,120 for a daily cost of $75 per day. Food costs were $977 with a daily cost of $35 per day. Lodging costs were $610 with a daily cost of $22 per day. Travel and tour costs were $241.
The round trip air distance was 15,242 miles between Seattle and Bangkok. Train mileage was 870 miles and bus mileage was 484 miles. Daily food costs were about $10 more per day than on previous visits to Thailand, most likely because of my limited mobility, meals were the highlight of my days. Had a 10-pound gain at that
Update on Costs
After returning home, I filed an online insurance claim with Travelguard on Nov 10th and by Nov 15th Travelguard informed me that they approved $196.47 for all medical treatment in Thailand and $140.62 for my EVA air fee for the trip interruption return ticket fee. On Nov 20th, I received the first check--how good is that! I also got my refund from AirAsia for my canceled flight from Bangkok to Hanoi--just $56.93.
Update on Costs
After returning home, I filed an online insurance claim with Travelguard on Nov 10th and by Nov 15th Travelguard informed me that they approved $196.47 for all medical treatment in Thailand and $140.62 for my EVA air fee for the trip interruption return ticket fee. On Nov 20th, I received the first check--how good is that! I also got my refund from AirAsia for my canceled flight from Bangkok to Hanoi--just $56.93.
I have recently uploaded all of my travel videos to YouTube now that they allow longer uploads and you may want to see my travel adventures there. That link is
https://www.youtube.com/c/huntforgold.
If you do go there, please subscribe to my video channel since it will help me eventually get some income there and help with my future travels. Fewer people are using DVDs so I am transitioning to streaming my travels on my YouTube channel.
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