Arrival in Bangkok was fairly hairy as a massive thunderstorm was bearing down on the airport. We think we were pretty lucky to get in as flights after us were diverted and our luggage was really delayed coming out to us. We climbed in a taxi and directed him towards Bangkok hospital.

This place was something else the foyer was like a hotel and we were met out of the taxi by one guy with a wheel chair for Tom and a bell boy with a cart for all our luggage! We were quickly taken into the ER where nurses started peeling off all of Toms dressings. A Doctor called Dr. Prasert soon appeared and took charge. He had new x rays taken of my Hand and shoulder and chest and soon found two peices of gravel that were lodged deep in my shoulder.

I was rushed into the Operating Theatre where they put three screws in my broken Metacarpal and Debrided my hand and shoulder wounds. Following a stay in the recovery room I was taken to the International Ward where Charlie was waiting in our own private room. It was 3Am by this stage and we were both shattered so fell quickly to sleep.

We soon fell into a routine in Hospital with the amazing nurses taking very good care of us both. Tom was on a massive amount of antibiotics as Infection was a massive concern with the wounds going so long without proper treatment. The hospital was great though very modern and we had our own room with TV (although only about 4 english speaking channels) and amazing view of Bangkok as we were on the top floor.

It had been three days since the incident and the insurance company had been worse then useless refusing to help at all untill all the details were confirmed. It was that day they decided to deny my claim on the grounds I didn't have a UK motorbike driving license. Apparently their cover is confined by UK law and since I was not legal to drive in the UK they would not support my claim. We were pretty disgusted by this since they had been useless for the first three days of my injury and the idea that I needed a british license to drive in Cambodia where they dont seem to give a stuff what you do seemed ridiculous. I honestly believe if we had stayed in Kampot waiting for the insurance company to decide if they would pay out I probably would have lost my arm to Infection at a minimum.

The first evening the doctor came to change my dressings and I got the first look at the damage. The suchers put in my hand to close it up had cost me a lot of skin during the operation and removal of the gravel from my shoulder had also enlarged the wound a fair bit. The biggest concern though was the shoulder wound looked very gray which was a concern that it was not healing properly. Apparently a healthy wound is a pink one!

The routine of the hospital took hold pretty quickly in Bangkok mainly centred on meal times and the massive antibiotic drips I was recieving. I found by the second day I was able to start walking around and regaining my strength, the doctor said I would be OK to fly home but we kept having problems with me bleeding through my shoulder dressing. After a few false starts because of the bleeding shoulder we were eventually booked on a Thai airways flight back to Heathrow. Departure from the hospital was a fairly sad afair saying goodbye to all the lovely nurses who had been really nice during our stay and then we were in a taxi back to the airport.

The Thai airways flight was easily the worst flight I've ever been on. We were forced to take economy seats as they only had one business class seat and my certificate to fly required me to be accompanied at all times. The cabin crew were all pretty unsympathetic even when my leg swelled up with the early stages of DVT fortunately there were some amazing passengers on the flight who really helped us a lot!

It was a massive culture shock but we were finally back in UK and headed straight to an NHS hospital!