Another Burton Tradition

Well, we have had yet another Burton adventure to check out a local hospital in some foreign country! This time it was Megan, rather than Jim and I am thankful to say, nothing was broken. Last night on the way back to our rooms, it was raining and the steps were very slippery. Megan's crocs slid wildly and she fell down several stairs and really bruised and sprained her ankle. Her other ankle and leg is still black and blue from her retreat for her confirmand the weekend before we came, so now she has a matched pair. This morning it was really swollen and by tonight, we felt she needed to have it checked out to be sure it was not broken. So Ya took us to the ER here and was it ever a pleasant experience. We were taken right in, saw an orthopedic specialist, had the foot xrayed, and got his verdict and 3 prescriptions for $37!! We were back at the hotel in about an hour and 15 minutes. Unbelievable. It is a real relief to know it is not broken as it does look awful. But knowing it is not, we can relax now and she can do what she can do.
Today was a day that was spent on the bus driving from the west of central Thailand toward the north. We rode for about 6-7 hours but we stopped at lunchtime for a walk through a local market that was very different from the others we've seen. Then we got on a rice barge boat, which they no longer use in the growing and transporting of rice. This one has been converted into a scenic restaurant and so we cruised slowly up and down the river while we ate lunch. I saw some more kingfisher birds as well as several others. It was such a relaxing and pleasant way to eat lunch. We stopped at a sapphire mine and looked through some rocks to see if we could find any they missed -another discovery event. We finally got to try the famous durian fruit-the one that is known for having a terrible smell. It was not as bad as I thought it would be to smell, and it was not a bad flavor but not as good as I had heard either. But it was fun to try. Ya has been great about getting us to try all the fruits here and other local things. We had tapioca pudding last night since that was a big crop in that area of Thailand.
Our hotel here is very nice. This is a much bigger city than I thought it was going to be. We are only here overnight on our way up to the cities farther north. This was our longest driving day. Tomorrow we have more driving, but we go see the ancient capital of Thailand and the 13th century ruins that are left of that. Today was sunny all day-wouldn't you know it!
We had a tree frog come in our room this morning first thing and jump around and he climbed up the wall a bit and finally got into the bathroom where he had more nature to explore as we had one of the bathrooms that has the shower in the middle of the wall with rocks on the floor next to the tiles and wood beams. Very neat.
I will post this and try to get some more photos on-the internet is slow and so it kicks off if it takes too long. But at least I got a couple of the tiger shots on there. Eleanore's were excellent too but I don't have hers downloaded yet. I will try to get one of Megan. She had a different camera person who was not as good, plus the tigers were not as happy when she was around them. That was a real highlight of the trip for me.