Thailand

Recently, I attended an emergency medical conference on the island of Ko Samui. Most of the attendees were Australian nurses, paramedics, and doctors craving a hot beachy getaway, but there were also 25 State Department colleagues from all over the world there too! Meeting new embassy colleagues made the whole sweating, eating, and learning sessions feel extra special. The Australians were as interested in our collective health unit specialty of working within an embassy, as we were of them, but some did think we were spies, trying to collect intel on Australian medicine. Or maybe they were joking? It was hard to tell.

Most of the speakers were engaging, sharing their stories and medical expertise, but what ended up being my favorite session, took me by surprise: “Hand and Finger Injury Management in the ED” led by two nurse practitioners who reminded me of Frankie and Grace. They were funny and grody, but still delivered meaningful information on assessing and managing things like ruptured hand tendons, finger amputations, or hand fractures. These two women were so inspiring, that by the end of their session, I was looking into grad school options to find my special purpose. 

It was a fun week, but it was also lonely without the family. I took myself on one excursion to snorkel, see pigs, and hike around several beaches collecting shells, but mostly I spent time walking around the island on the main road, trying to avoid scooters, cars, and trucks, and people-watching at the night markets. I also spent a lot of time washing my underwear in the sink, I was sweating so much. Normally I like hot, and maybe it’s my age, but wow, Thai hot is something else.

Spring break was the following week, so the kids, Mark, and I rendezvoused on Ko Tao for scuba diving and snorkeling, and a whole lot of steep hiking, because our Airbnb was situated on a mountain top. Parts of the road had a 20-25% incline, getting my heart rate to 180 beats per minute trudging up the hills. We did hire a taxi (the back of a pickup truck) for some of the commuting, but for the most part, we hit the pavement/beaches/trails on foot. We fueled ourselves on mango smoothies, coconuts, and as much Thai food as we could eat. Every day we’d get home, salty and sandy (and terribly uncomfortable), and immediately jump into the pool to cool off before we could even think about doing anything else. Usually that “anything else” was drink gobs of water and Netflix, then bed. 

On the way back from Ko Tao, after a ferry ride, bus ride, and plane ride, we took an extra night to visit Bangkok which I immediately fell in love with. That city has a vibe. The four of us were on a bicycle tour when the earthquake happened so we were none the wiser. Only after wading through horn blasting traffic and throngs people in the streets of Chinatown did we figure out what had happened. (I stupidly thought someone famous was visiting that area, because nearly everyone had their phones out filming.) The guides pushed us along on a strict timeline, so we didn’t get a chance to think about the earthquake’s impact until after we got back to the hotel. Luckily, our Bangkok friends were okay, though a few got stranded outside of the city had to wait hours and hours before finding a taxi to get home. Some had structural damage to their apartments and others were evacuated from their buildings but overall, everyone was safe. 

Our flight home was the next day which took off without incident and got back to a totally transformed, now winterless Astana. Getting used the city’s snowless look felt a lot like seeing Mark without his beard: a little startling at first, but also… nice. 

Turtle

A less gross slide from the Hand Injury presentation. 
This hit close to home because I once had a patient who had this.

Pig Island. Gimmicky. But pretty. Also hot. 
Sand is SO hot.

Margo en route to Ko Tao

Water Taxi 

Self study portion of the conference. Subject: OB Emergencies

Honestly, it was too hot for beer.
I drank mostly soda water.

I want this logo on a t-shirt

Embassy crew, representing
London, Thailand, India, Greece, Tel Aviv, 
Qatar, Iraq, Vietnam, China… <3

Should have been a 10 minute hike.
Ended up being 45 min due to the line for the view.

Black tip reef shark

Best part of my trip: Thai food every single night with these guys.

Hiking to get a good view.

The view.

Jim View Bar with a cover charge
And mandatory food order (which we did with pleasure)

A good view.

Hiking back down from the good view.

Bangkok. I love this city.

Paying our respects.