Bangkok To Krakow

We knew Chiang Mai Ram Hospital existed. Did not have any plans to visit it though. At the outset let me say everyone is doing just fine. Last Thursday afternoon our little angel came down with a tummy bug. It was just days ago that I was thinking “Wow she’s done really well, five weeks and not even a sniffle”… I guess it is thoughts like these that should have the alarm bells ringing.

Zofia came down with a slight fever in the afternoon. We attributed it to teething. When she went to bed early we thought we would keep an eye on her temperature while she slept it out. Her temperature kept rising and at after an hours sleep she woke feeling completely out of sorts. Then followed a major case of the collywobbles. We cleaned her up and headed off to the hospital. The security guard that hangs around our guest house must have been off on a snack run but luckily the local hairdresser was in. We were just going to use her phone when her friend, Moht (meaning Ant in English), said that she will take us to the Chiang Mai Ram Hospital. Not only did she drive us to the hospital, but she waited with us, interpreted for us and brought us home. Extremely kind.

Within an hour of us deciding to go to the doctor we were home safe and sound with our angel re-hydrated, medicated and sound asleep. Zofia was registered at the hospital, seen by nurses, prodded, weighed and measured by an English speaking doctor and found to have a stomach bug. All of which Zofia found highly amusing.

The last 3 days have been spent in our room. Now that Zofia is getting better we’re dealing with a slight case of sleep deprivation and cabin fever. Ho hum.

It has been another good experience within Thailand’s health care system. The whole experience set us back just under $30 AUD, including the medication, and at all times the hospital staff have all been highly helpful and professional.

It has reinforced our decision to stick to the main tourist route while we travel with a baby.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

by Robert Frost

Everyone has a tooth story. Mine is the painful tale of 3 root canals, 15 injections in one sitting and an aching pocket. My teeth have been the biggest bane and pain of my life. For as long as I remember every check up would have the dentist rattling of a sequence of numbers and letters that would make a code breakers ears bleed. I would cringe with anticipation, awaiting each pronouncement “Root canal, root canal, major cavity, infection, etcetera, etcetera”. Then my calendar would be booked out for the next year.

Someone once told me that Europeans have bad teeth because of the poor water quality at the time we were growing up. Not sure how true that is but my mother, brother and I all have bad teeth. My father doesn’t. Maybe the water was better on his side of the street. Either way, my teeth suck so when we decided to go to Thailand, I thought I’d further research the rumours of good dental care in this foreign land.

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Zofia not refusing solids… will wonders ever cease! Her exotic tastes are making their appearance, and although she still picks her days, she has taken a great liking to mango, papaya, paw paw, croissant, eggs, noodles and rice! Oh and there is the humble cucumber and the new favourite, mango and yoghurt shake.

It has been such a blessing to be still breastfeeding. I can not imagine this journey with bottles, sterilising solution, formula and the rest of the laboratory. In addition to breastfeeding, we offer her a range of non-chokeable foods, albeit coughable, from the meals we order when we are out. All of our food haunts are especially helpful with providing us with extra cutlery, plates and the fall back banana. They are very understanding of the sticky mess left behind!
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After our first week in Bangkok we decided to skip the southern beaches and head for Chiang Mai, the “Rose of the North”. We had decided ahead of time that we would stay for at least 4 weeks in Chiang Mai and use it as a base to explore the surrounding country side and also to allow us to ease into our travels with Zofia!

“Why skip the beaches?” you may ask, well, we originally wanted to go to a beach somewhere and relax for a couple of weeks, however after the first few days in Bangkok we realised that with Zofia around, theres not going to be too much relaxing going on. So we decided to get straight in to it!

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Character, Comfortable, Compact, Convivial, Cool…

We chugged into Chiang Mai on the overnight sleeper, arriving at approximately 8 in the morning. The difference in climate was one of the first things that Madzia noticed! The pace was also noticeably slower, as we walked down the platform, preparing ourselves for a barrage of tuktuk touts, and instead meeting a trickle.

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Well one week in Bangkok definitely humbled us. Our senses were stimulated and our awareness took a battering. At times it was hard to keep up so we slowed right down with the relief of a fan, an iced coffee, a herbal juice and free baby sitting (Thais absolutely love babies!).

We saw a city of extremes, of street food culture, of tourism and of tuk tuks! I guess Bangkok is like most cities. You have your glamorous, glitzy super shopping complexes and your cultural heritage attracting tourism, and then around the corner you will find half finished developments, dust and grime, hyena type looking dogs (dead and alive) and parked street food vans! We were glad to see where the food vans were being stored before deciding to try the street food on the next street from us. The food looks so tempting (except for the fluro coloured condiments!) but I think our taste buds can hold out for now. Till then its your one million and one tourist restaurants and cafes.
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Security, Smiley, Steamy, Street Food…

When we walked through the doors at the Suvarnabhumi airport the reality of what we were doing finally hit home. Up to that point the romanticised version had played out in our minds preparing us for a major culture shock. Although there wasn’t an army of mosquitos waiting for me at the gate, neither Lonely Planet, personal accounts, nor all of the research and reading could have prepared us for the oppresive humidity, the inability to communicate and the crash course in being a fish out of water. The first hour in Bangkok will be imprinted in our memory for the rest of our lives.

As we bid farewell to the Antipodes we are beginning to understand exactly how much we are giving up in our quest to expand our “weltanschauung”.

A month of moving house, selling a majority of our worldly possessions and a hectic week in New Zealand has made the time fly, but it has only masked the anticipation and uncertainty that we have been experiencing in our preparations. However as Great Nana Betty, who has spent the last forty years in a wheel chair with MS and battled Polio as a child , told us on our visit - “you’ve just got to keep going”.

So with our bags packed, books stowed away and adventure in our hearts we say good bye to a life of family, friends and familiarity and head into the unknown… to us anyway

P.S. A special farewell to my sister Danai and Family on Bikes who are all departing on their respective adventures today!

Out of the night that covers me,
      Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever Gods may be
      For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of Circumstance
      I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of Chance
       My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
      Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
      Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
      How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
      I am the captain of my soul.

By William Ernest Henley