June 9 Phuket

In the morning we went to see the resident baby elephants. The kids fed them bananas and we got some pictures.

The breakfast buffet is spectacular. The chef made Brendan some special pancakes and he was thrilled. I so greatly enjoyed the dim sum. Joe and Ryan aren’t too adventurous when it comes to trying out new things for breakfast so stuck to their American style breakfasts of bacon, eggs, French toast, fruit and coffee.

We were disappointed to learn once again that we couldn’t swim in the Andaman sea due to rip tides and under-currents. The entire western side of Phuket, at this time of the year, is rife with drowning. The undertow and currents are extremely strong and even the best swimmers should not venture out. We were not about to tempt fate and resolved not to go into the water at all during our stay here.

The boys spent the day swimming in the pool while I went to the travel agency to book some onward flights. There I met the owner, Robert, who is married to Odd, a Thai. They have an eight-year old by the name of Vasco. We immediately hit it off. Swapping travel stories and discussing adventures. We agreed to meet later on in the evening with Joe and the boys present so that we could get consensus on our details onward.

I went to the hospital (ten minutes from the resort) and met the local doctor. Once again, we put an emergency plan in place for Brendan – straight to the small hospital nearby where he would be transferred by ambulance to the main hospital in Phuket if necessary. I then went to the convenience store next door and bought some soy milk and Oreo cookies.

When I got back Brendan was thrilled to see the treats that I had bought. I rechecked the ingredients on the Oreo cookies and offered him some with the soy milk. He had them and then went off with Ryan to play ping-pong. Joe and I walked over to the restaurant for lunch. Brendan came running up saying that he felt a tingling in his throat. We gave him Benedryl and watched him for a couple of minutes while I went back to the room to check the ingredients of the cookies. Surely I couldn’t have overlooked a milk ingredient! I read the package again and saw nothing. I then checked the soy milk. 1% milk! We had been drinking soy milk since coming to Asia and I had assumed that I had gotten the same brand, except in a tetrapack. Neither Brendan nor I had checked the ingredients – something we always do. We took Brendan back to the room where we made him induce vomiting. Once we were satisfied that he had emptied the contents of his stomach we gave him some oral cortisone tablets and monitored him. Though he was fine we feel badly that he had even got this little bit of exposure. Brendan, being Brendan, told me to stop feeling guilty and get over it. He is determined to ‘live is life’ despite the challenges on this trip.

When we met over travel plans that night, Robert treated our family to drinks. The adults chatted while the boys went off to play games on the internet.
When we finished, Robert and Odd invited us to have dinner with them in their restaurant bordering the lagoon. The ambience was beautiful – sea breeze, palm trees, twinkle lights, and candles. Robert selected traditional Thai dishes along with a divine dish of sauteed shrimp, mushrooms, and tomatoes in spiced oil. We feasted and got to know one another. Robert was in the hotel audit business and has lived all over the world. Odd was also in the business and each had amazing stories to tell. We couldn’t believe when they said that they would be treating us – so very kind and generous! When they learned that we were tennis players they invited us to to play the next day. It was such a beautiful evening!