Epilogue
Home again, home again, jiggety jig…
We left Koh Chang Island early Sunday afternoon, carried away in a van crowded with other returning tourists. We crossed over to the mainland in a ferry and soon were at the lovely Trat airport, which offered us free food and drink while we waited for our Bangkok Airways flight, which departed close to 6:00 p.m. and landed us safely back in hot, crowded Bangkok an hour later, still managing to serve us a lovely dinner with real silverware (I was impressed).
After collecting our stored luggage (at Airportel, where at first they couldn’t find our luggage and then added a $10 surcharge even though we’d prepaid “because the prices had gone up in the meantime”), Phil and I found a taxi to take us to our budget hotel, WJ Residence at Suvarnaphumi ($15/night), about a 15-minute drive from BKK airport.
The taxi took us past a stand of street food stalls and down a small soi (lane) to a standard Thai budget hotel (read: a bit disreputable-looking establishment) that caused my heart to quail for a moment. Dogs lounged in the doorway, and we roused a porter to lead us to our room. The hotel itself and the room, however, were clean and very adequate. We had a double bed with the usual hard mattress (what is it with the mattresses in Thailand?) and our own toilet and shower, plus plenty of room for our suitcases and a place to hang clothes. So I’m not going to complain, because what do you expect for $15? But maybe next time we’ll splurge on a $30/night room.
The next morning we met the same taxi driver at 6 a.m. and soon were standing in line at Korean Airlines, waiting to check in. We were given free passes to the Air France lounge, which was an unexpected treat. Phil heaped his plate with delicacies several times, but I wasn’t feeling super (in fact, starting to feel tired, chilled, and queasy).
Unfortunately, due to our early check-in, we missed seeing a dear friend, Nui, who came to the airport to see us off. We did a video call with her instead. It’s just as well, because I might have passed my flu bug on to her if we’d met in person, and I would have hated to do that.
By the time we boarded our plane to Seoul, I was definitely feeling ill and simply drank soda water while Phil enjoyed his meal of Korean beef. We had two hours in the Seoul airport, so when we reached our gate I found a place to lie down, and slept for an hour.
Two hours into our Delta flight to Minneapolis, I was well and truly sick. I went through three air-sick bags. It was a most miserable flight. The 13 hours felt like an eternity. It was wonderful to step off the plane, into a Lyft, and finally into the door of our home.
And now we’ve been home almost four days. It’s an odd feeling, and a bit of an empty one. We’re working hard to readjust our sleep hours, but I still fight to stay asleep at night, and to stay awake during the day. I know I should get out and walk this afternoon, but all I want to do is crawl into bed. We’re also getting over the stomach flu (yes, Phil got it after we got home).
But…we are home! Walking the dogs, I bundled up warmly to brave the 30-degree morning air and watch the sunrise.
It was lovely to feel the icy chill on my face, to see the vapor of my breath, to walk in clean and bracing air again. Minnesota!
It will take us a week to readjust, to rediscover our energy and purpose. But I’ve already started seeds: peppers, cantaloupe, watermelon, kale, hollyhocks, cabbage, Brussels sprouts—with more to come.
We are praying for other seeds we have planted in Thailand to take root. Our hearts are still there, in a sense. We leave those plantings to God, the giver of life, who loves to garden and will bring them to grow and blossom in his own time and way.
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