Alistair's Thailand Safari

My wife, Carole, and I decided during 2005 that we would like to do a trip to Thailand during 2026. With Carole doing all the research we decided to try our hand at volunteering and managed to get ourselves accepted at a dog shelter on Koh Chang Island in the south of Thailand for 3 weeks and then at an elephant sanctuary in Kanchanaburi for retired working elephants for four weeks. They needed a landscaper to redo some of their gardens, a Carole job, and a tourist guide to show tourists around. Well, that was the plan.

Carved Face Overtaken By Tree Trunks In Ancient City Outside Bangkok

We duly arrived in Bangkok on a beautiful Saturday afternoon after a 24-hour journey on Singapore Airlines with a long 8 hour layover in Singapore. A friend of ours who is in the hotel industry in Bangkok had very kindly offered us a room in his apartment in his hotel in the middle on Bangkok and he also arranged transport from the airport. We spent an intriguing and fascinating 3 days in Bangkok visiting areas by boat and walking. The ancient temples were something to behold as where the very large statues of Buddha and some of the temples. We even got to see a national tournament of kick boxing, Thailand's national sport. Our last day was spent at the Royal Palace. Absolutely magnificent.

The next day saw us on a 90-minute flight to Trat, before catching the ferry across to Koh Chang Island, a short 45-minute ride across the South China Sea. We were met at the ferry by our hosts at the animal sanctuary.

We very quickly settled into our very comfortable if somewhat basic accommodation. We were soon introduced to our 30 doggy charges. Some were allowed free roaming others were in large runs of about half hectare each. There were about 10 who had paralysed back legs, so they each had their own two wheeled chariots that they scooted around on, all were in very good condition, very well looked after and very much loved. The other volunteers were a young Turkish couple; this was their second visit to the sanctuary and were obviously very dedicated to their charges.

Day two was spent learning the feeding routine and other daily routines.

Day three, Thursday 15^th. January, the wheels came flying off. I was watching Carole feeding the dogs when I slipped off a stepping stone I was standing on, as I stepped off, I twisted my hips. Pain was instant so I went to lie down. By late afternoon the pain hadn't subsided. However, I decided to see how the night went. Next morning was Friday 16^th. January, Chinese New Year. The pain was still there. Around 15:00 an ambulance was called to take me to the local clinic. Which happened to be attached to the main private hospital in Trat part of the Bangkok Hospital Group.

X-rays soon revealed that I had broken my right pelvis and the doctor on duty advised that I would need to get to the Bangkok Hospital in Trat on the mainland and that the break was severe enough that he was sure I would need a complete hip replacement.

And so the fun began, fortunately my dear wife took over. The staff at the clinic were amazing and before long we were in touch with the insurers in South Africa. A report was sent through to them within 90 minutes and then the wait began. Eventually some 9 hours later the insurers came through with the authority for me to be transferred to the main hospital in Trat. Transfer was by ambulance boat. Quite an experience to find yourself speeding across the South China Sea at three o'clock in the morning. 20 minutes later found us at the quay side Trat with a new electric ambulance waiting and 15 minutes later I was in the Emergency Centre, Bangkok Hospital being attended to by a very efficient and highly qualified orthopaedic surgeon. The hospital and its staff would stand proud amongst the best in the world.

To cut a long story short I was operated on the following evening, and a full hip replacement was done.

Houses Along Side The Chao Phraya River Bangkok

At the end of the day I spent 11 days in hospital 6 of which were in ICU. During their investigations the doctors found I had a touch of pneumonia, blood clots in my bladder which were extremely painful because of difficulty in inserting a catheter. So, a specialist urologist was called in and he soon had the pain under control and bladder flushed. I was then given a full MRI, but nothing found.

The physiotherapist soon had me up and 'walking' with a walker. Once the doctors were completely satisfied that I was well on the way to recovery and that the implants were secure I was released into the loving care of my wonderful wife who had found us accommodation at a delightful self-catering villa on Eastern Side of Koh Chang, the non-tourist side of the island, called Beach Side Pool and Villa apartment. The swimming pool was about 5 meters from our door and the sea about another 10 meters. The chalet was built on a reclaimed mangrove swamp. Right next door was a small coffee shop that delivered good Thai food and hamburgers.

The owner of the villa and his staff were amazing, helpful friendly and the lady who looked after the garden and cleaned the villa, Neh, was an absolute gem. Nothing was too much trouble, she took Carole shopping on the back of her scooter, to the ATM to draw cash. Organised a driver, Pik, who owned a very good Toyota Fortuna. So, for the next few days we explored Koh Chang in style. We went to the very Southern tip of the Island and managed to find a good seafood restaurant right on the waterfront, had a wonderful lunch of prawns and crab and tuna. Total cost for two of us R260. We were then taken to a resort on the Western Side of the Island, which was beautiful, surrounded by four small islands so one could hire a Kayak and paddle out to an island with its white beaches and crystal-clear water ideal for snorkelling and safe swimming. To get there the road took us through beautiful jungle and alongside mangrove swamps and then beaches.

The next day we were taken to the very touristy side of the Island. There were hundreds of tourists walking the streets, lots of beautiful beaches, coffee shops and restaurants. Our final stop was at a ''shopping mall' built on stilts going out into the sea. Small shops of every description were to be found here lots of seafood restaurants, one with a sign “if it swims, we have it”, coffee shops (we had a good coffee here together with croissants.) Really good. Eventually it was time to stop dreaming of what paradise must look like and make our way back to our Villa.

Two days later I had to go back to the hospital for a full follow up. Once again, all four of the specialist surgeons that were involved in my case checked me over and gave me the all clear, the physiotherapists swopped out my walker for some very fancy French designed crutches. I was told I needed at least another three weeks before I could fly home. So back to our villa on Koh Chan. Unfortunately, our villa only had accommodation for ten of the next 14 days. Fortunately for us the travel insurance company said they would pay for the final 4 days at a resort on the mainland that they would book. Our last few days at Koh Chan were spent relaxing and getting very bored as there wasn't too much to do and my mobility was severely restricted although getting better every day.

Great seafood restaurant on the southern tip of Koh Chan Island

Eventually the day arrived for us to return to the mainland. Our trusty driver duly collected us on time and within the hour we were deposited at a very large resort in the middle of a mangrove swamp on the mainland. Our room was very comfortable overlooking a very large expanse of water with great birdlife.

At the most I think there were only about fifty people checked in on one day the rest of the time there were between 6 and 10 people, and this was over Chinese New Year and Valentines day, total capacity was about 200 guests!

Unfortunately, although there were great walks through the mangroves the whole resort needed some TLC with a lot of plastic bottles to be cleared out of the water, plants needing attention etc. the food from the restaurant was good, typical Thai food.

Nethertheless our time here passed quickly and before we knew it we were on our way to Trat Airport to catch our connecting flight from Bangkok to Singapore and then Johannesburg to Cape Town, 26 hours of travel. Fortunately for me I was upgraded to Business Class but due to a mix up with doctors in Trat and the insurers Carole didn't get an upgrade, but even cattle class on Singapore Airlands is not too uncomfortable.

Instead of spending two and a half months on holiday we spent six weeks on a very different type of holiday but it was a great experience and we saw a different side of Thai Culture and way of life that we would never have seen.

One tip that we did learn from this experience was do not depend on the 'free' insurance offered by banks or credit card companies if you use their cards to pay for your tickets. We did pay for our tickets using a bank's credit card when we contacted them to advise of my situation they took 72 hours to respond, they then did 'follow-ups' and we had calls from various call centres situated in Canada and Australia all asking for the same information, some six weeks later we still haven't had any response to all the Information we sent them. We did take a top up insurance, through a well-known South African insurance company, through our Medical Aid and although they initially took nine hours to authorise my treatment, whilst I lay on a hard plastic board, we had no complaints about how they handled my case except for the mix up with upgrading Carole's air ticket to business class.