Off On Our Next Adventure

Our plans for Thailand involve about 7-8 weeks travelling around the country. Three of those weeks will be spent holidaying on islands with friends from NZ and also visiting friends who live here. Our tourist visa exemption gives us 30 days so we needed to apply for an extension at an immigration office. Since we were flying from Bangkok to Surat Thani later in the week, we decided to book a couple of nights accommodation in Bangkok and spend a morning sorting out the 30 day extension. I found an aparthotel called The Journey Hotel Laksi, which was conveniently near the Immigration office and Don Mueang Airport. We had a lovely, clean two bedroom apartment, so it was nice to have a bit more space. The building also had lots of thoughtful, designer touches in the common areas and in the apartment itself. On reflection, it was a total steal at NZ$110 a night.

Applying for an Extension

When researching how to go about applying for the visa extension, it was hard to find clear, concise information, so I turned to the travel groups on Facebook to ask for advice. I had the most helpful response from a young backpacker who had just done the same thing.

The hotel staff were very kind and helpful, printing out a TM30 proof of accommodation form for us when we arrived, ready to take to the Immigration office in the morning.

The following morning, we got up early, and after a quick stop for 7/11 ham and cheese toasties for breakfast, we caught a Grab to the Immigration office.

Turns out we went to the wrong office (the area is dedicated to government buildings and there are several Immigration offices there, each for different purposes) but we jumped in a cab who dropped us off at the correct one down the road at IT Square, Laksi.

We made our way up to the third floor, where Shaun and I got busy with pens and 4 pages of forms for each of us. About half an hour later, after we had filled in all the TM7 forms, we got them all checked and were given a queue number to wait our turn for approval.

The wait wasn’t too long…about half an hour…and we were called in to have our photos taken and pay 1900 Baht each. With this completed, we waited another 20 minutes before our passports were returned with new stamps, giving us permission to remain in Thailand until mid-September!

We were very pleased that our morning mission was accomplished in just under two hours, celebrating with some delicious mini waffles, aptly called a ‘Waffle Hug’ and getting some lunch before heading back to the hotel for a quiet afternoon.

More Amazing Streetfood

Honestly, Bangkok has spoilt us for streetfood, with it’s huge range of options and incredible value for money. For dinner, we went down the road to a vendor out the front of the 7/11 who was selling roast pork, dumplings and greens in a clear soup.

It was run by a lovely lady and her husband, and was clearly very popular as lots of Grab drivers were coming and going with takeaway deliveries.

The woman meticulously prepared each dish, resulting in a delicious, filling, and nutritious meal for 50 baht each (NZ$2.50).

We went back to our hotel to pack, ready for our flight the next day.

An Unexpected Delay

At 3am, we were awoken by Leo saying he didn’t feel well…30 seconds later he was throwing up in the bathroom! He had a couple more episodes, and neither Shaun nor I went back to sleep. Both of us tried to rack our brains about what he had eaten to cause it, since we had all eaten the same food the day before.

At 6am, I came to the conclusion that I had to change the flight, because it wasn’t fair to expect an unwell child to fly later that morning. Initially reluctant, Shaun agreed when Leo threw up yet again. I got on the Air Asia app and luckily got an agent to approve our need for a flight change, given the circumstances, but then got cut off when I was in the hotel elevator.

We went down to reception to ask if they could accommodate us for a couple more nights and luckily they could. I got back online but after having no luck getting connected another agent, I decided to just get a Grab to the airport and go to the Air Asia sales desk in person. I arrived at about 8am, found a very helpful person on the Sales Desk, and after showing them the flight change approval email and explaining the situation, I paid the NZ$150 fee to change our flight to 48 hours later. I was on my way back to the hotel by 8.30am, ready for breakfast as I was starving!

Leo barely ate anything that day, save for a few crackers, lots of electrolyte drinks, and later in the day, a bowl of rice and a little bit of soup. By late morning, the vomiting had stopped, and by evening, he seemed much more himself but still had a slightly feverish night’s sleep.

Shaun and Anna went back to the pork and dumplings lady for dinner again and brought back takeaways for me. She was pleased to see them again and kindly let Shaun take a photo for our blog.

Another One Bites the Dust

We planned a quiet recovery day the next day. Anna and I went out for a lunchtime walk around the neighborhood and a 7/11 toastie while Shaun stayed home with Leo. Later in the afternoon, I had a bit of a headache and lay down for a while…an hour later I had the same weird feeling Leo described and ended up throwing up as well. This continued throughout the evening, and we realized that it was some kind of 24-hour bug. Shaun and I knew that it was only a matter of time before either he or Anna succumbed. Our flight was booked for 2.30pm the following day and we didn’t want to change it again, so we crossed our fingers and hoped that it would stop with me if I stayed isolated from Anna and Shaun.

That evening, Shaun took the kids out for burgers around the corner, and he got a lovely Thai dish. Leo was fully recovered and demolished his burger with gusto!

On their way to dinner, they spotted a turtle and a monitor lizard in the grubby looking pond next to our hotel.

Off to the Gulf of Thailand

The following morning, I woke up feeling much better and ok to fly that day. Both Anna and Shaun were also feeling fine, although Shaun was conscious of the fact that the axe might still be waiting to fall. We all wore masks for the flight and in taxis and made it to the Lephant Hotel in Surat Thani without any issues.

At the airport, the kids begged to try an Oreo Krispy Kreme donut…they were pretty impressive!

Not Quite Out of the Woods

That evening, after ordering our dinner, Anna asked where the bathroom was, and just as she was walking out the restaurant door to go to the restrooms outside, she threw up. I quickly pulled her out to the street, where she threw up some more. She looked shocked by how quickly it all happened. I took her back to our room and got her cleaned up and into bed, mentally preparing myself for a long night ahead. The restaurant staff were so lovely about the incident and quickly cleaned everything away with large buckets of water.

Unlike both Leo and I, that was it for Anna. She slept soundly all night long and woke up feeling fine the next day. Shaun had been feeling unwell that evening, but after a feverish night’s sleep, he too woke up feeling fine. It was strange how we all reacted differently to the same bug, but fortunately, it moved through all of us quickly and didn’t hold us up for long. We were so fortunate that our hotels in Bangkok and at Khao Sok were able to be flexible and accommodate our changed circumstances. I was also pleasantly surprised by how easy it had been to change our Air Asia flight at the last minute.