Tending wounds in paradise

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Trip Start May 15, 2005 Previous
Entry Trip End Aug 20, 2005

  Kata Beach, Thailand
Wednesday, June 29, 2005

The first day on the beaches of Kata resort brought some serious pain! We awoke well before the street merchants and shop owners. It was like 6 am and we were in jet lag mode so the calm and quite of these gorgeous beaches was a pleasant start to our first day. We spent part of the walk on the beach with a local fisherman who we approached on a set of rocks that were prodding out into the glassy Andaman sea. Upon reaching him and introducing ourselves we exchanged some pictures and then began to ask him about the tragic waves that "emptied" the area on the day after Christmas. He showed us how high the water had reached on the rocks that we were standing on and explained the effects of the tsunami.We were completely amazed by these facts because the sea was so calm and what he described was a strong, massive surge of water that totally contradicted the present state of this mornings tide.

When the afternoon sun came upon us we found our way to the shadows of an umbrella and two reclining beach chairs in front of this trendy resort. After multiple dashes and splashes into the tropical water we finally felt like we were in vacation mode. Adrienne was listening to her IPOD, and I was firmly fixed in my book. The heat was evident in the pools of moisture that formed on top of our sun screened stomachs. At this point, I invited Adrienne for another dip. She declined the offer and said that she would watch me as I played in the ever increasing waves. With full fledge excitement to play in the waves and cool off from the beaming sun i swam out quickly to the playground of energy.

In these first 20 seconds of bliss I was whipped and stung powerfully by a blue headed jellyfish. In a lot of pain from the many stings that I received on my back & shoulders I jolted like a possessed torpedo to the shore (we have reenacted footage of this bolt to shore on video for those who are interested...)

Anyway, the pain was nerve wrenching and nurse Adrienne quickly sought help and received several suggestions from locals. With some local herbal weed, and some vinegar the pain and swelling decreased through out the afternoon. I had an unwanted tattoo of a 'z' on my back which made me forget about the vacation mood for a bit. But within a few hours, the paradisal beaches of amazing Thailand healed me, and gave me the peace of mind to feel the fortunate experience that we were living.

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