I’ve spent the last 5 days in hospital after having my arm generously broken by a Thai guy with a baton.
Was my first day on Koh Phangan. Got to my bungalow called Coco Garden mid afternoon to find it was run by a couple of English lads. Dumped my crap in my room and went to the bar for a well deserved beer. Met these 2 english guys at the bar one of whom I recognised. Turned out to be a guy named Chris who plays Mickey on the Bill and his mate. Spent the arvo and most of the evening with those guys at the bungalow and then at the Amsterdam bar which was loads of fun.
We had planned to go to the Halfmoon party together but after an afternoon in the sun drinking they weren’t up for it so I decided to brave it alone. So I hailed down a pickup truck full of half drunk canadian backpackers and off we went.
After paying for my ride and the cover I realised I didn’t have that much money left for drinking or getting home. The party was located in the middle of the jungle somewhere. I had no idea where my bungalow was or how to get back there from where I was. It was great insentive to meet as many people as possible, in the hope that one of them may offer me accommodation or at least point me in the direction I should be heading when I left. All in all it made for an awesome night. Until I was leaving.
Now this is what I “think” happened but I’m not entirely sure for several reasons; It being very dark, very late (about 6am), very- well at least a little “tipsy”. . I was arguing with a girl who I believe was german or drunk but difficult to understand either way. I don’t remember what we were arguing about but I know it was something petty. Next thing I know I’ve got three (could have been two, could have been four) Thai guys yelling at me in Thai which was only mildly less intelligible than the german girl. Then I’m being grabbed and pushed and suddenly hit with what I think was a metal baton. There were heaps of people around leaving and I managed to get away pretty quickly. I think the whole thing was over in about 10-15 seconds! Next thing I know I can’t move my arm!
Getting to a hospital is not as straight forward as you’d think- especially when you have no money and no ID (I’d left my wallet at the bungalow so I didn’t lose it or have it stolen). I boarded a songthaew (ute with a cab on the back- like a local bus) and told the driver to take me to the hospital. Instead he dropped me outside a doctors surgery somewhere and told me to wait an hour and a half until it opened. It was about 6.45 at this stage and there was no one around and I had no idea where I was. Finally a woman started to open her shop. After about 15 minutes of asking her how to get to the hospital I got a little desperate and a little upset (and a little teary) at which point she realised that I wasn’t having her on about my arm and I was in a fair amount of pain. So she finally got this nice guy to motorbike me to the hospital.
Had an xray, and yes my arm was broken. Well at least it was now an established fact and it wasn’t all in my head. All I needed to do now was have it fixed. Easy eh. Nope. They didn’t have anyone at this hospital who could do anything about a broken arm. I had to go back to Koh Samui (the island I’d come from the day before) to get it sorted. They also weren’t going to let me leave the hospital without paying. I told them I needed to go and get money from my bungalow but they were convinced I’d do a runner so I had to leave my phone as guarantee.
To cut the rest of it short I had an operation in Koh Samui where they reset my arnm and put a compression plate between the bone, holding it together with screws. I’m back on Phangan now but have to hang around for a week before I have a get my stitches out and have another x-ray. There isn’t really much to do here with a broken arm. Can’t swim, can’t snorkel, can’t ride a motorbike can’t really hike. Better get more books!! I’ll post the x-rays when I get them. I am pretty proud of them for some reason. I’ve never broken an arm before. Sort of like building your first playdough brontosaurus.