We finally arrived back in Trat after a long and horrible journey. After spending a good two and half hours at the border, we then had a long and arduous drive in a cramped, sweaty minibus. Both of us were really dehydrated and in our hurry had forgot to take any water when we left.

We checked into a nice guesthouse but that evening I took a turn for the worse, as my symptoms from the previous night came back, but a lot worse. Kirsty rushed me to the hospital as I was in a full blown panic attack, scared to wits because I thought my throat was tightening up. Within minutes I was on a drip and within half an hour I was feeling a bit normal again. They put me in a private room and decided to keep me in overnight. When they finally let Kirsty in to see me I was then able to relax. It felt like the horror of the past 24 hours was over and a relieve swept over me.

I ended up staying in the hospital for another two nights, before returning to the guesthouse where we had originally planned to relax and recuperate. This went well for a few days, where I did gradually get better, but in a typical twist of fate Kirsty began to get ill with a sore throat. She saw a Doctor and got diagnosed also, with acute pharyngitis. The tables had turned, it was now me feeling better and able to do things and Kirsty not feeling well at all and sleeping lots of the day.

We were both getting very tired of this 'being ill', and it seemed like it had been forever that one of us was feeling well. We were starting to think if we would ever feel normal again and get back on with our travelling.

It was only to get worse. One lunchtime when we were eating in a cafe, planning to leave Trat the following day for Bangkok, Kirsty had a scare. All of a sudden her chest became very tight and painful and uncomfortable to breathe. Both of us being very scared I took her to the hospital. This was after having to haggle with a taxi driver over how much we would pay him, despite Kirsty standing there in obvious distress.

Like me, they decided to keep her in overnight. Only overnight turned into six nights! They put her on an intravenous drip straight away to help the infection. Then after a few days of wondering why she was getting worse, yet showed clear in tests and x-rays, one Thai nurse noticed Kirsty had a red swollen vein from the sight of the drip and it was then discovered that Kirsty was, this whole time, having an allergic reaction to penicillin (which was causing the breathing problems). The drip was immediately removed and she was put on a nebuliser and she then made a slow recovery.

This was a scary shock for both of us, and by this time we had both had enough and just wanted to be in the security of home.

After a very long week in hospital our morale was very low and I was paranoid we were going to get ill again the minute we left the hospital. On the day we left the hospital we went straight to the bus station to catch a bus back to Bangkok. We had been in Trat far too long and despite it being a lovely little town, it will now always hold bad memories for both of us of probably our lowest point in our travels.

Bangkok bound, with my Dad arriving in a week for his birthday, we hoped things would only get better from now on.