Small but mighty...

by Karin Tang (Canada)

I didn't expect to find Thailand

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Thailand doesn’t need any introduction when it comes to its treasures both on land and in the sea. It is known to possess both the smallest mammal and largest fish in the world. I first visited Thailand in December 2015 while on a cruise. The hospitality of the people, the pristine white shores, the turquoise waters, the luscious vegetation and fresh sweet fruits totally captured my heart. I knew that a round 2 was a must. Two years later, my sister and I were back in Thailand and our first stop was Krabi with its huge limestone mountains. Once we reached the resort, I went on a discovery walk with my handy dandy companion, my camera. Krabi offers an eclectic scenery with a huge variety of fruit vendors, shops and little alley restaurants whose inviting and aromatic smells consistently stopped me in my tracks. The shops were narrow which is not something we see in North America. After roaming the bustling streets for hours, I was pooped and went back, took a shower and hung my wet clothes on the guard rail of the little patio. The next morning, it was drizzling so I went to get my clothes. I was horrified to find little red ants all over them. I quickly got a bucket of water and tried to wash them off but Thai ants are not easily intimidated. Desperate, I dumped all of my clothes in the bathtub. The pressure of the water helped me fight off the ants and made it in time for our tour. The highlight of that day was climbing 1237 steps to the Tiger cave temple. The stairs were very narrow and of different height. It was quite a workout as I lugged my camera all the way up but the view is worth it. On my way down, a cheeky little monkey extended its hospitality and grabbed my bottle off my backpack. Then it decided that it was still thirsty and grabbed my bug spray. It made a grimace as it tasted the bug spray. To avoid poisoning the little thief, a fellow tourist distracted it and we were able to retrieve the spray. The rest of my stay in Krabi went well without any incident. Our next destination was Phuket with its endless shores of white powdered sand and crystal clear blue water. As soon as we got to the hotel, I changed and hit the beach. The water was so clear, cool and refreshing. While in the water, I felt that something stung me but didn’t think much of it. After a couple of hours, I headed back to the hotel and took a warm shower. The next morning, I woke up with reddish bumps all over my body. At first, we thought it was ants or a bug then thought it was food poisoning. So we went to the pharmacy and the lady was just opening the shop and didn’t speak fluent English. I showed my bumps that seemed to be oozing with a liquid. She took a picture and sent it over to the pharmacist who was not in yet. After a while, she turned to me and said: “You have chickenpox.” My sister and I both stared at each other and were like impossible as I had it twice already. We thanked her and walked out. My sister was like go ask for a second opinion so I went to the next pharmacy. Pharmacist: “Did you go swimming?” Me: “Yes” Pharmacist: “ You got bitten by sea lice aka tiny jellyfish.” My sister and I gasped and were totally taken aback. She gave us an ointment to apply and advised to remove the swimsuit once out of the water. For the rest of our vacation, we didn’t really swim and since it was so itchy, the heat didn’t help either but the ointment was pretty effective. On that trip, I came across some small creatures that are often underestimated but mighty and can do a lot of damage. People often ask me if I would go back to Thailand again after all this? My answer remains unchanged: YES.