PHUKET: Lynne and Peter Olson are back home in New Zealand this week, most likely telling family and friends about their Phuket trip of a lifetime.
It's a trip they never want to repeat.
Most people talk about their holidays but for Lynne and Peter, conversation is all about The Trip, as in the tumble, the fall, the unintentional collapse to the ground.
''Peter's sandal got caught under this metal bit sticking up in the Patong road and down he went,'' Lynne said. ''And that was the end of our fun.''
''I couldn't get up,'' Peter said. ''We found out later in hospital that I had broken my hip.''
Talking about the hip is even more painful than conversations about the trip.
A kind tuk-tuk driver - a combination of words that some find difficult to believe - helped out immediately and took the Olsons straight to Bangkok Hospital Phuket in Phuket City for the best care.
He did it without charge.
''Pa-pa, I take you to hospital,'' the driver said. Peter sat on the floor, which is as far he could get. It was the end of their Sunday morning walk.
This was April 7, just five days into the Olson's regular holiday jaunt to Phuket to enjoy the kind of sights and sounds that seem exotic from the perspective of Metameta, New Zealand.
The retired couple quite enjoy their breaks on Phuket - well, with the exception of Peter's big break - because it's such a change from a week consisting of six Saturdays and a Sunday, as Peter put it.
The photos of what they did on their holiday will include a furry image of the metal peg that Peter's sandal snagged as they walked up Prachanukhro Road from Patong beach, near Rat-U-Tit 200 Pi Road.
People walk on roads in Phuket all the time. The footpaths have usually been gobbled up by vendor's stalls or are for the exclusive use of motorcycles.
''We like walking,'' Lynne said.
''If I had been wearing flip-flops instead of sandals, the metal peg wouldn't have taken such a grip,'' Peter said from his bed.
The surgeons had to order the largest titanium screws in Thailand to insert in his hip, then wait for them to be flown from Bangkok.
''The hospital excelled, didn't they?'' said Lynne.
Meanwhile, Lynne's plan to enjoy her first Songkran water festival on Phuket went out the window as she became a 24-hour carer.
This week, Peter was making his medical evacuation trip home with Lynne, living testimony to the usefulness of travel insurance.
''Patong is where Peter proposed to me in 1995,'' Lynne said. ''After that it was my job to save for the holidays, his job to pay the bills.''
Offers from Phuket resorts that they can't refuse keep them coming back.
Right now, as Peter's hip heals, they're probably already planning their next Phuket trip. Their next break. Their next holiday.
It's a trip they never want to repeat.
Most people talk about their holidays but for Lynne and Peter, conversation is all about The Trip, as in the tumble, the fall, the unintentional collapse to the ground.
''Peter's sandal got caught under this metal bit sticking up in the Patong road and down he went,'' Lynne said. ''And that was the end of our fun.''
''I couldn't get up,'' Peter said. ''We found out later in hospital that I had broken my hip.''
Talking about the hip is even more painful than conversations about the trip.
A kind tuk-tuk driver - a combination of words that some find difficult to believe - helped out immediately and took the Olsons straight to Bangkok Hospital Phuket in Phuket City for the best care.
He did it without charge.
''Pa-pa, I take you to hospital,'' the driver said. Peter sat on the floor, which is as far he could get. It was the end of their Sunday morning walk.
This was April 7, just five days into the Olson's regular holiday jaunt to Phuket to enjoy the kind of sights and sounds that seem exotic from the perspective of Metameta, New Zealand.
The retired couple quite enjoy their breaks on Phuket - well, with the exception of Peter's big break - because it's such a change from a week consisting of six Saturdays and a Sunday, as Peter put it.
The photos of what they did on their holiday will include a furry image of the metal peg that Peter's sandal snagged as they walked up Prachanukhro Road from Patong beach, near Rat-U-Tit 200 Pi Road.
People walk on roads in Phuket all the time. The footpaths have usually been gobbled up by vendor's stalls or are for the exclusive use of motorcycles.
''We like walking,'' Lynne said.
''If I had been wearing flip-flops instead of sandals, the metal peg wouldn't have taken such a grip,'' Peter said from his bed.
The surgeons had to order the largest titanium screws in Thailand to insert in his hip, then wait for them to be flown from Bangkok.
''The hospital excelled, didn't they?'' said Lynne.
Meanwhile, Lynne's plan to enjoy her first Songkran water festival on Phuket went out the window as she became a 24-hour carer.
This week, Peter was making his medical evacuation trip home with Lynne, living testimony to the usefulness of travel insurance.
''Patong is where Peter proposed to me in 1995,'' Lynne said. ''After that it was my job to save for the holidays, his job to pay the bills.''
Offers from Phuket resorts that they can't refuse keep them coming back.
Right now, as Peter's hip heals, they're probably already planning their next Phuket trip. Their next break. Their next holiday.
It's a well known fact the hospitals pay commission.
Posted by Vfaye on April 25, 2013 13:34