Friday, June 19, 2009

Could Somebody Please Pee on the Girl!

An excerpt from today's journal entry:
What a day! First of all - the place I'm sitting in as I write this is unreal...cliffs and greenery surround a cove of turquoise water. The sun is going down. The sand is white. Boats are bobbing in the water. I'm sitting in a cloth beach chair next to a girl who's covered in jelly fish stings. What?
Let me explain...
We got up a bit late today...had a bit of a hard time sleeping last night cause I'm coming down with a cold. Kelly and Julie (our friends) came to get us for breakfast and we discussed our plans for the day: rent kayaks and snorkeling equipments and paddle out to some good spots.
We got our equipment and the lady who rented to us suggested some good spots on the other side of the island. So glad we came over here cause this beach is really nice! The water is shallow a long way out and as warm as bath water!
We rented 3 kayaks for 3 hours and headed to our first spot. We put on our masks and fins and backward walked (ie. stumbled due to the fins) into the water. Visibility was a bit poor, just cause the sand was stirred up a bit. We were hoping it would be nicer farther out, so we kept going. All of a sudden I heard screaming, and looked up to see Laura thrashing and screaming about 20 feet from me. She was yelling something like, "it's burning me, they're biting me". I started swimming towards her as she thrashed her way towards me saying, "it's still on me". I took a quick look, saw nothing on her, and told her to swim to shore. Lor grabbed my hand and we back-paddled to the sand. We got to the beach and there were red bumpy gash marks all over her legs, bum, ankle, side and hand. There were little blue things all along the gash line so I pulled her to the water and started washing them off (Note to self: when cleaning stingers from a jelly fish bite, never touch your face...the spots I touched on my face instantly started to burn). Lor was in a lot of pain and nothing was helping, so we all decided that someone had to pee on the sting. I offered to do it, and asked the guys to cover me, but we decided that it would be easier for a guy to do it. Tim graciously volunteered...and proceeded to pee all over Laura's legs! Sam was geering up with the 2nd round of pee, but Laura said it didn't help, so his services were deemed unnecessary (he still says he wishes he got to pee on Laura!). We decided that Tim would put Lor in a kayak and book it back to the pharmacy on shore. I guess as soon as they got back to shore some locals saw what was happening and ran to get certain leaves that they ground up with water and put on the stings. Took awhile, but it worked!
Lor wanted the rest of us to keep kayaking, so we went across the cove to one other spot (the water was so rough that I got a bit sea sick...but it was a cool spot to snorkle for a bit...about 15 feet deept, but perfect visibility to the coral and fish below).
After that we headed back to find Tim and a green Laura (from the leaves rubbed all over her) lounging on the beach. And that was where we stayed all afternoon. Some walking, some swimming, some chatting, some sleeping. It was very relaxing!
Laura's pain has gone from a 12 (out of 10) when the sting happened, to a 6 when we got back to the beach after the leaves were applied, to a 3 or 4 right now.
Exciting day in Thailand!


Above: the stings on Lor's hand and belly...notice the lines of bumps (if you look close)

She was quite the trooper...


The sting on the back of her legs...


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those bites sure look bad. Please watch her carefully....
love you all
mom

gdiener said...

Hey Becky and Sam,
Missed you at the staff conference, but I am sure the both of you are having more fun on the beach in Thailand. Sorry about all the stings.
Grant

Mobachs said...

poor little LG.... we are praying that the pain goes away and that you can still enjoy your trip... but what a story!! and the locals were so nice to take care of you .. and now you and tim share an even stronger bond!!
miss you
annie

meganmenzies said...

oh man, sounds like quite the day. But glad Laura is good. Looks and sounds like you guys are having an amazing time. Missing you at home.