I was not prepared.
I had only been in Southeast Asia, Thailand for three weeks. Time to get used to the sun, the need for sunscreen and mosquito repellent every time I go out. The change in food.
It was the latter that caught me out. In my third week in Ao Nang I became ill. I did what I do when I have a diverticular attack (though I’m sure it was food poisoning,) I stopped eating completely. Then I slowly come back to a BRAT diet. BRAT stands for Bananas, Rice, Apple sauce, and Toast – and given that I never saw any apple sauce in Ao Nang – it was essentially a BRT diet.
On the 19th November I had a meet-up with some other nomads at a coffee shop and whilst they tucked into a cooked breakfast, I had a slice of toast without spread, my only meal that day. I was determined not to be ill on my five-hour bus journey the following day.
There was torrential rain that afternoon. The following morning, still raining but not as hard. I got a Grab (the local ride hailing app) to the bus station and on the way we passed a woman who was lying in the road, her scooter some distance away. She wasn’t moving. Like most riders in Thailand, she wasn’t wearing a helmet.
I arrived at the bus station in good time. The bus was going to be about 20 minutes late but I was in no hurry. I had been tempted by some of the food stalls – but knew the journey would be challenging enough and just bought some bottled water for the trip. About four hours on the bus we stopped for a toilet and snack break (though there was a toilet on board the bus) and I decided I could risk something to eat. A sandwich seemed safe and I bought one which I thought might be cheese, but was actually apricot jam – perhaps an equivalent to apple sauce. I ate it – no problem.
Just after the stop we encountered the first of the flooding. The bus had to go through a foot of water in places and I passed houses which were in danger of being inundated with people forlornly sitting outside or trying to find ways to keep the rising water out. We passed these areas in a matter of minutes and I arrived in Hat Yai just after dark. In slight rain, I found my Airbnb, got in and then decided I needed more to eat. For some reason I fixated on getting some soup and went out to see what I could find. I found a small half open-air café and saw some soup on the menu which looked okay from the picture, so ordered. The owner brought me a large glass of (what I assume was) water with lots of ice … I knew enough not to touch it. The soup was strange with lots of an unfamiliar vegetable, some chicken and pork and what appeared to be squid rings. I ate as much of the broth as I felt comfortable with and a little of the meat. I now feel this was the cause of my problems.
Here’s where the story goes dark. The rain kept falling overnight. I didn’t know it then, but it wasn’t going to stop for a week. I had to put classical music on to drown out the sound of it banging the roof, I fell asleep to Brahms. In the morning I knew I wanted to try out a ‘The Cat Around Café’ which I had seen a local’s YouTube video – link here. So I took a Grab to the water-strewn street and made my way in. I noticed there was a 7-11 nearby for the needed food shop and hoped to visit after my breakfast. I had scrambled eggs on a croissant and because I didn’t want any salad (too soon for raw veg) I took up their offer of mushrooms … yummy. I spent a pleasant time eating and enjoying the décor (I didn’t see any real cats) and scrolling social media. I wasn’t noticing what was going on outside. Others were though and some of the staff were looking out of the window and I could see they were getting worried. When I got up to go to the bathroom I did look out and could see why, the road had become a river. I quickly ordered a Grab and on the third attempt one said he would come and I went outside to wait. The café was on a pavement about a foot above the road. By now the water was lapping the pavement. Cars were still coming through and each back draft swept water over my shoes. There was no chance in getting to the 7-11 as it meant crossing a street that was knee deep in dirty water. Eventually the Grab car came and parked about 18 inches away from the pavement – I knew that to fall into the water would be disaster, I just managed the leap. And came away from the café that probably flooded out later that day.
In the evening, unable to get to the shops I ordered a Grab meal which came by motorcycle and I gave the rider a generous tip. That was the last full meal I ate for nearly a week.
My health was somehow in alignment with what was going on outside. The rain kept falling and my body kept rejecting. I was far worse than I was in Ao Nang, going to the bathroom almost hourly. I lost my appetite completely, some nausea but really I just did not want to eat food. For a few days I did try to eat what was in the house, some unhealthy snacks provided by the host and I had a large bunch of small bananas (I ate three or four.) I also tried to sip stock made from half stock cubes – from an ‘emergency’ supply and some oral rehydration salts left from Ao Nang. These drinks kept me going.
I had advice sent to my phone to move all my valuables upstairs in case of inundation. The only water coming in was from the balcony into the front room and from the roof into the upstairs bathroom and from then on I basically lived upstairs.
The days and nights passed. No solid food but still regular, less frequent trips to the toilet. After a few days the power failed for about 36 hours. I was pleased I had the foresight to bring a powerbank with me. A day after that the water was turned off. Again I had no idea this would be for a week. I had plenty of bottled water (provided by the host) for drinks. I collected rain water for washing up and to flush the loo, but couldn’t shower – luckily I wasn’t meeting people.
I tried to contact my insurance company, but my phone package didn’t cover international calls (I have since changed that) and when I emailed them it took them 40 hours to respond.
My host kept in touch but she had her own issues, a foot of water downstairs and trying to get food out to neighbours and friends, I didn’t need any.
As I was getting weaker, I decided to make a teledoc call to Bangkok and although the internet wasn’t strong enough for a video call, we were able to talk on Whatsapp and she was a great help, encouraging me to eat even though I didn’t feel like it and prescribing antibiotics. The day after the call the rain stopped for a while and I was able to get out to a pharmacy to pick up the prescription. I had to rest both ways – but I made it. That was the turning point. The rain slowly abated, the noise replaced by helicopters, dropping food and water. Rescuing people. I got stronger and felt I could now move out of the city, onto my next destination, Penang Malaysia.
So what did I learn from the worst week of my travelling life?
When I finally left Hat Yai, it wasn’t with a sense of achievement, just relief. I survived the triple whammy of illness, being solo and not being able to access health care. I feel more confident about my forthcoming journeys.
I also understood more clearly how conditional that independence is — on infrastructure, on mobility, on timing, on luck.
I was able to move on. Many people weren’t.
That knowledge stays with me far longer than the journey did.
