In spite of the incident, we left Cambodia pretty confident that Rita would now heal in no time, and as we landed in Bangkok I told her – look you’re barely limping anymore.

We split at the border controls as she went to get her Visa on arrival. It took a while and when she was finally out, she was in panic and her right leg was swelling from heel to knee! We grabbed our luggage, hopped on a taxi, dumped the luggage at the guesthouse and rushed to the nearest hospital!

At first the driver took us to a fancy private hospital, but when Rita had to sign a blank check stating she would support any cost, it smelt very fishy and we asked to move to the nearest public hospital. There the vibe was very different! We had to wait for a while, but eventually the doctor and nurses were very nice and efficient. They realised Rita had not taken a tetanus injection -which they provided- and cleaned up the infection. Now she had a big bandaid to be changed everyday but she was ok again!

We spent a couple of days in Bangkok, resting and wondering where we could go with Rita’s condition. Eventually, our host suggested Hua Hin, a relaxing beach town, just 3 hours south of Bangkok, so Mary booked a guesthouse and we took a taxi there. It was comfortable, there was a pool where Leo and I could practice our backflips and Rita could keep working.

On the second day there, Rita’s left leg now started swelling and look infected, in spite of her antibiotics! So we rushed to the hospital once again. They checked for diabetes, luckily it was ok. They cleaned up the infection and now she had a big bandaid on the left foot to be changed everyday. Luckily, by now, the right leg was almost healed.

We left Rita to rest at the hotel one day and we went to the nearby Pa La-U waterfall. It’s a very nice spot with many basins and falls at different levels. The bassins are full of thousands of catfish all coming to you to be fed as you approach the water so getting in is a bit scary 😅 But we mustered the courage and went in to swim with the fishes 🐟🐠

And with that, it was already time for the two girls to return to Bangkok and fly to Bombay, leaving Leo and I alone for a month of father-son bonding experience.

As the girls went back north to Bangkok. Leo and I continued to the south, to Bang Saphan, a smaller beach town along the eastern coast. It was weird to be suddenly without Mary after 10 months of traveling together. The weather was grey, but the sea was warm. The next day we took a scooter to Bo Thong Lang Bay, a lovely little beach. It’s low/rainy season in Thailand, so many times places are closed and the beaches are deserted. We had the beach to ourselves, swimming under the rain 🙂

Only a few days left before our flight to Indonesia, so instead of pushing further south, we came back north, to the Sam Roi Yot national park. We found a nice little bungalow on a small lake, with a view on the mountains, and from there we went exploring the Phraya Nakhon cave, with a temple built inside. Khao Kalok was our favourite beach in the region. We also visited the mangrove forest in Pranburi. These trees look like giant entangled rib cages!

After 4 days in Sam Roi Yot, we took a bus back to Bangkok for our last two days in Thailand. We walked around China town, the river banks near the Grand Palace, the Lumphini park where we saw large monitor lizards, the arts and culture center, the Siam mall (because Leo looooves malls!), Khaosan road and Wat Saket for the panoramic view of the city. But the highlight of the trip for Leo was the fact that the hostel had a Playstation where he could play FIFA!

And that’s it for Thailand already. It was mostly a weird transition time for us. Off we go to Indonesia for new adventures 😛