Dealing with the deaths of my PLHIV clients

I lost another client recently. Just one week before her death she sent me a text message informing me that she had not submitted the back-to-school expenses for her youngest daughter yet because her daughter had applied for admission to Kolej Vokasional and so they were waiting for the results of her application before they start buying her school stuff. I just replied with a short "OK". 2 days later another message came in from her number, this time calling me "Puan Afizah", which seemed weird to me because this client would usually address me as Kak Afizah. Turned out the message was sent by client's daughter, informing me that her mother was hospitalised and was unconscious. Apparently earlier in the morning client had seizures repeatedly. The family had initially opted for traditional healing by bringing her to see an ustaz, but the ustaz instead told them to immediately bring her to the nearest hospital. Client never regained consciousness. One week later, her son called, to inform me that their mother had passed away.

At least this client's death came after her older son had started working. Only the youngest girl is still in school. Since she's covered by our Education Sponsorship Program, she will still get assistance under the sponsorship. But at least I don't have to worry about who's taking over as guardian. The girl herself is big enough to contact me directly if need be.

For some other cases of deaths of my clients, the children were all still in school. I had to follow up with family members to find out who's the guardian I needed to deal with, and whether or not we needed to continue giving them financial assistance.

The first ever case that I was assigned to was Rose, who, by the time her case was passed to me, was already in stage 4 of cervical cancer. I helped her around for the last 2 months of her life as she was too weak to get around on her own, while her 3 children were all still in primary school. When her sister called me one morning to inform me about her death (which didn't come as a shock because she was already in the Palliative Care Unit), I immediately informed my fellow buddies who mostly knew Rose because she was one of Buddies' earliest clients. I was still relatively knew to Buddies then, and so the main concern the chairperson had then was how well I could cope when dealing with death. She was afraid I might break down like a few other volunteers had experienced before. Well, she found out that she didn't have to worry about me. Death is inevitable and something we must all learn to accept, and so emotionally I was okay even though Rose was the first of my clients who died.

In Rose's case, I had to follow up with the family members as to who would be taking over guardianship of the children. Rose had issues with her own siblings before, and I knew many of them weren't willing to take over the financial aspect of raising Rose's 3 children. When they told me that the children's paternal grandparents were to take over guardianship, I made it a point to visit them to assess if they needed financial help. They seemed financially stable, and the grandma assured me that they were more than willing to take care of the children.

Then there was Lily's death. Her death came quite sudden as she actually died of dengue. All her 3 children were still in primary school. Their dad passed away earlier in the year. When her body was brought back to her kampong in another town, I followed the van from behind as I needed to find out which family member would be taking care of the children. I finally managed to get to speak to an uncle who said he'd be taking care of all 3 children. Later on he did call me to express his concern about how he should take care of the youngest boy, then only 5, who was born with HIV. While I assured him there shouldn't be any worries about the boy infecting others in the family, the uncle ended up listening to people around him who encouraged him to send the boy to a home for HIV kids, away from the boy's own siblings. I wonder how the boy is doing now. He should already be 18 or 19 this year.

Then there was Shila, another unexpected death. She died at home one morning of cardiac arrest. Nothing to do with her HIV. Shila had one child, then only 12. Initially when I went to visit at her kampong house which Shila had been staying all the while with her mother, I was just paying my respects and again, to find out who would be taking care of Shila's one and only daughter. I ended up with another role, handling the body of an HIV+ person, including bathing her. While I'm used to doing that for my own family members, that was a first for me doing so for a HIV+ client. Anyway, as I had expected, Shila's daughter continued staying at the same house, with her grandmother. And we continued helping her with her schooling needs until she completed her SPM. I did offer some help if she wanted to further her studies, but she gave all sorts of excuses and decided to work at a minimarket instead.

Another case was that of Sofie. Sofie's death quite frankly did not come as a shock to me. From day one I was introduced to her, she had always been this physically weak lady (but with high spirits). By the time she was diagnosed with HIV, her condition was already quite bad, and although she did try to fight it, it wasn't long before she finally succumbed to AIDS-related diseases. When she was alive, she already told me that if anything happened to her, there was only one sister she could trust. And yes, we did continue with financial help for the education of Sofie's 4 children through that sister. But when the sister moved back to her kampong in another state, together with Sofie's children, we lost contact. I did manage to get some updates on the children by searching on FB, and since one of the boys had set his FB privacy status to "public", it wasn't a problem for me to find out what's going on in their lives. I am happy to note that despite all the problems they had earlier, the kids are doing okay now.

Then there's Yah, another one of my problematic clients. Thank goodness life had improved a lot for her in the last few years of her life. Once she moved to her parent's kampong further away from Ipoh, I'd only see her and the children during December's back-to-school shopping, and once or twice during the Buddies Annual Family Day. But one of her daughters called me one morning to inform me that their mother had passed away the day before. I didn't go to visit this one. I knew the youngest girl, the only one still in school, was in the good hands of the older girls. We still continue with educational assistance for the youngest girl, given through the eldest sister who started working not long before their mother passed away.

So yes, for me, in dealing with the deaths of my clients, my main concern, and the main thing I need to follow up on, would be the children's wellbeing, especially their educational needs.

Wawa's story

When Ipoh ID clinic first referred to me Wawa's case slightly over 2 years ago, the girl was only 19+, a few months short of 20. She was then warded for a miscarriage (unwed pregnancy), and it was only then she found out she was HIV+. Apparently just the year before she was also pregnant, and safely delivered a baby, but the baby was given up for adoption. Before I went to visit Wawa, the nurses from the ID Clinic cautioned me to go visit outside of visiting hours so that I wouldn't bump into her boyfriends (yes, plural). So yes, with special arrangement by the nurses, I went to visit the girl earlier, before visiting hours.

I had initially prepared myself to be meeting a girl who may be the "wild" type, given her background told to me earlier by the nurses (twice unwed pregnancies, multiple boyfriends etc). But when I met her, she seemed to be so polite, soft spoken and showed respect to her elders (at that particular time, I was the "elder" lah). After listening to her family background, I began to understand why.

Wawa came from a broken family. Her parents were divorced since she was in her early teens. Parents went separate ways, both remarried new partners. Wawa had actually wanted to be with her mother, but her mother left her. She had been deprived of tender loving care since she was 14. Yes, she was still in touch with her father's side, but being in touch did not mean she got the much needed love. And so, she sought "love" from outside.

I'm not really sure if she finished schooling, but by the time her case was referred to me, at such a tender age, she was already staying on her own, renting a room in Ipoh. When I asked her how she managed to support herself, pay for rent, food etc, she said, "Adalah cara saya. Tu yang sekarang jadi macam ni." Yes, she "sold" herself for a living. To her, it was something she didn't want to, but had to do anyway to survive.

I was pleased when she told me that she'd be staying with her father (in another state) once she got discharged from the ward. Even her grandma offered her a home after finding out that the girl was infected with HIV. I reminded her that there's always a blessing to everything and that if she ever needed help, she could contact me.

She did stay with her father, but not for long. I guess having had her freedom for so long, she did not feel comfortable staying with her father and stepmother. She was back renting a room in Ipoh. And then... she started missing her hospital appointments... and she went missing from our radar... old number no longer in use.

The nurses did express their concern to me that the next time they'd get to see her, she'd be pregnant again. Given her lifestyle, that wouldn't be a surprise. And true enough, the next time they met her, which was last year, she was referred to them by the O&G department. She was pregnant again, and yes, another unwed pregnancy. At such a tender age of 21, she had been pregnant 3 times. This last one with a totally new boyfriend, who started to accompany her for her hospital appointments. He needed to be tested as well, and the last test done showed he was -ve. They then got engaged. Wawa by then had started working as a shop assistant at a shoe store.

Well, she was back under our radar. I kept reminding her not to miss any of her hospital or clinic appointments. We were all concerned because her viral load was very high, which wasn't a surprise given that she had defaulted her earlier appointments and treatments. This time not only her contact number was taken, but also the contact numbers of her father and her fiance.

A few months later, a doctor from a Klinik Kesihatan called me, asking if I could help find a shelter for a patient of hers, a pregnant HIV+ girl who had no money to go anywhere. After listening to the description given by the doctor, I thought the story sounded too familiar. I asked the doctor for the name of the patient she was talking about, lo and behold, it was this very same problematic girl. I told the doctor that I knew the girl and that I'd be calling the girl personally later.

I called the girl and she told me about how her fiance forced her into having sex. She wanted to run away but by then she was no longer working and didn't have any money to go anywhere. She wasn't too keen about going to a shelter home. Remembering that her grandma once offered her a home, I asked if she'd like to stay with her grandma (the grandma stays in Perak but in another town). I offered to personally send her to balik kampung if she wanted to. But her grandma didn't know about her pregnancy and so she asked me to give her a few days, so she could talk to her grandma first.

I waited for a few days, she didn't contact me. I sent her a message, asking how she was doing. Apparently she was still staying with her fiance. The nurses at ID clinic, who weren't aware of the Klinik Kesihatan story, even told me that she went for her ID appointment together with her fiance, and they looked so manja together.

Apparently they officially got married some time late last year. She no longer referred to him as "tunang saya" but instead "suami saya". But marriage didn't seem to be any better for her. She was still always seeking help for transport money when she needed to go for her appointments. Earlier this year I found out that she had missed her ID appointment despite asking me for transport money. When I asked her why she missed her appointment even after I had given her some money for her transport, she said she balik kampung after a fight with her husband.

Aaahh... I get it. Everytime they fight, it's a "I don't want to see you anymore" situation. Then the next day she'd fall in love with him again after listening to his sweet talks. Repeat.

I got fed up of her asking me for transport money every time she had a hospital or clinic appointment. So I decided to give her a small but fixed amount at the end of each month to be used for her transport money. It seemed to work. She stopped asking for money for every single appointment.

Then suddenly she texted me today, asking if I could spare her RM10. She hadn't had anything to eat since morning, she didn't have any money in her hands and there wasn't any food at home either.

Sigh...

A different kind of Ramadhan

I joined Buddies of Ipoh some time in 2004. Initially I was just a trainee volunteer, following the senior volunteers in their visits. By 2006 I started visiting my clients at their homes on my own. Gradually I started to bring along trainee volunteers in my visits.

Since then, every Ramadan, without fail I'd be visiting the poor PLHIV families assigned to me, delivering groceries courtesy of donors. Since most of the clients assigned to me were from poor families, there were quite a number of homes I had to visit. The more clients I was assigned to, the more homes I visited.

Gradually, some of the families started to become more independent. The number of visits then reduced. After I became the Buddies chairperson, I did not visit the clients as often as I used to. But every Ramadan WITHOUT FAIL I would be visiting the poor among my clients to deliver them some goodies before Raya. I always made it a point to buy groceries and deliver, rather than giving them cash, unless it was totally necessary.

From 2006 to 2019, every Ramadan would be a busy month for me and my Kenari, visiting clients all over Perak. My Kenari's mileage was always higher in Ramadan (the other high-mileage month is during December's back-to-school-shopping). Frankly, I always enjoyed the visits. I always looked forward to my Ramadan visits. Not only did I get to reach certain places in Perak that I hadn't been to before, every visit was an eye-opener for me. Seeing for myself the trials and tribulations some of these families had to go through, always made me feel humbled, and thankful for the life Allah gave me.

Then came 2020. The Movement Control Order came into effect in March, and is still on-going now in the month of Ramadan. No home visits. No visits even to the nearby Masjid. My tarawikh prayers are done on my own at home. My Kenari's mileage this Ramadan is the lowest ever recorded. The longest journey it made was to a hypermarket about 3 km away from home.

So what happened to the poor PLHIV families I usually visit? Well, I still get money coming in from donors to be distributed to these families. While I usually make it a point to NOT give cash, this year I had to make an exception. My clients are after all, from all over Perak, and I can't be delivering groceries to them like I used to. I too had to stay home. This year, for the first time, I had to transfer cash into their bank accounts, and hope that they wouldn't be using the money for anything other than necessary. Since quite a number of them had been depending on daily wages to survive, having to stay at home meant they had no income. So no, I doubt they'd be using  the money for their wants instead of their needs. Besides, I don't give them the cash in one big sum. After a reasonable time, when more money came in, I gave the clients some more. I doubt they'd have any "extra" to spend on anything else.

I guess 2020 is my (and my Kenari's) rest year. I am sure there is a hikmah to all these. Whatever it is, I am thankful that I am still able to communicate with people from all over despite having to just stay at home.

It's up to us now to not make the situation worse. Let's continue to do things we've been trained to do during MCO (social distancing, washing of hands etc). Let's all pray that things will get much better soon, insyaaAllah.

The Success Stories

Way back in 2004, I was looking around for NGOs I could join so that I could give back to the society in whatever ways possible, however small. I did join a few NGOs earlier but their activities weren't really what I was looking for. When someone told me about a support group for People Living With HIV (PLHIV), desperately looking for female Malay volunteers, I was intrigued. Apparently at that time, Buddies of Ipoh, did not have a single female Malay volunteer, yet they had so many female Malay clients (clients here meaning PLHIV who agreed to accept the support service from Buddies). Not that my non-Malay colleagues didn't want to become the assigned buddy to these ladies, but sometimes these ladies themselves, being sensitive about their HIV status, would feel more comfortable talking to another female Malay, and especially so when they wanted to talk about religious matters. Not that I'm that highly knowledgeable when it comes to Islam, but at least the clients could talk about it if they wanted to.

I've been with Buddies for 15 years now. I've lost track of how many clients had been assigned to me in total. Some have passed away. Among others... Ros, Lily, Rina, Shila, Sofie... and most recently Zana & Yah. They were among the first few cases assigned to me.

Ever  since I was put in charge of the Education Sponsorship program, I got to know even more clients, including those who had been assigned other volunteers as their buddies. For those with children covered by this sponsorship program, I'd need to follow up with them so I could give a progress report to the various sponsors. While not all of the sponsored children completed their studies, today I'd like to share a few success stories.

When Fuzi's case was first assigned to me, her eldest child was still in primary school. Fuzi had to face so many difficulties, including getting MyKad for her kids. While their father was Malaysian, the marriage in Thailand was never registered in Malaysia until after his death. When the kids needed to get their MyKad done, being accompanied by an Indonesian mother didn't help. Thank goodness after a whole lot of trouble, the marriage got registered and the children got their MyKad (except for the youngest boy, but that's a different story altogether). Fuzi's eldest child, Wina, had always been the responsible type. She was among the first 8 children covered by the education sponsorship program when it started off in 2008. And the girl certainly made good use of the sponsorship. After SPM, she was offered a place at a matriculation college, and then later she was accepted at a local university. I personally sent her to register at the university up north. She graduated with a degree in accountancy, and even invited me to go for her convocation. I had something else on, so I didn't go. Besides, I wanted it to be more of a family affair for them, to celebrate her success, and hopefully, to inspire her younger siblings. Now, she's capable of taking care of her family, and I no longer have to visit the family on monthly basis to send them groceries, like I used to do some years ago.

Then there was Aini, who had 3 kids still in primary school when she was first diagnosed HIV+. Her husband died not long after he was diagnosed. Although initially Aini was working and able to financially support her children, her workplace later shut down and she was left jobless. Things then became worse when she was also found to have kidney problems as well, needing dialysis. Needless to say, her children too were covered by the education sponsorship program. After SPM, the eldest girl always sought my advice when it came to the courses she could apply for. She was finally offered a place to do a diploma course at a polytechnic up north. I remember one year, when she was still studying, she texted me, saying "Mama dah tenat". I was at the airport then, about to go for umrah, so all I could offer her was my prayer. Even the doctors told her that her mama's condition was 50-50. Seriously, I thought I would be getting sad news before my flight back to Malaysia. But guess what? Aini actually got better and even attended the girl's convocation a few years ago. As for her 2 younger boys, they didn't do well academically but did go for short skill-training courses and are both working now. Aini no longer has to worry about financial problems.

Another case identified for the education sponsorship was Mala, who was first diagnosed with HIV way back in 1997 when Buddies was still a wing under the Perak Family Health Association (Buddies registered as a society on its own only in 2004). She had 2 little boys then, both not even old enough to enter school yet. Based on public perception back then, nobody (not even Mala herself) would have thought that she would live long enough to see her sons finish school. I must give her credit for bringing up 2 well mannered boys. Both boys did well in school and although I'm not their mother's assigned buddy, both of them would consult me when it came to their higher education. The older boy even called to thank me before he boarded the bus to go to a matriculation college. He later entered a local university, graduated with an accounting degree and is now working with a highly reputable company. The younger boy also consulted me after SPM about his studies. He later took form 6 and was later offered a place at a local university, doing Electronic and Instrumentation Physics. Before he left to register at the university, he texted me to thank me for the help given, and promised to keep me in the loop about his progress. Just yesterday I was informed that he too has graduated with a degree. Mala not only got to see her sons finish school. She had already attended her older son's convocation a few years ago, and will be attending the convocation of her younger son this month!

These are a few of the success stories that have kept me going with this voluntary work. We do have a few other children who used to be under the sponsorship program, who are now studying at various local universities and colleges, so yes, I do expect more good news in future. Hopefully the 30 children who are currently being covered under the sponsorship program will also become successful one day and will be able to not only support their own family, but also to assist other children in the same predicament they had been through.

A 4D3N Nature & Adventure Retreat in Khao Sok

When my adventure-loving friends joined me for a 4D3N trip to Khao Sok recently, I got asked how I found out about the place. It started some time back when AA had their RM0 airfare promo. I noticed that one of the destinations with such offer was to Surat Thani. I then started to google for “things to do in Surat Thani” and top on the list was Khao Sok National Park. So I googled more about Khao Sok National Park and “treehouse accommodation” attracted my eye. That was how I found out about Our Jungle House, our place of stay for the 3 nights we were in Khao Sok recently.

By the time we decided to make this trip, AA no longer had direct flights to Surat Thani. The nearest airports with direct flights from KL would be either Phuket or Krabi, with another 2 – 2 ½ hour drive to Khao Sok. We opted for Phuket. However, beginning September this year, you can fly direct to Surat Thani from KL via AA. If you love nature & adventure, then I’d certainly recommend you to this place. 

Day 1, 30^th August 2019: Due to the recent system breakdown at KLIA & KLIA2, passengers were advised to get to the airport as early as 4 hours before our flights. Our flight was at 7.10 am, and so based on that logic, we should be at the airport by 3 am. I had however booked my Ipoh-KLIA2 bus earlier, expected to arrive KLIA2 at 4.45 am. I had ample time to print my luggage tag & check-in my luggage before meeting up with the rest of the gang. By 5.30am, we started moving in to the International Departure hall, went through immigrations etc and performed our subuh prayer.

Our flight was on time, reached Phuket International Airport earlier than ETA, but as we landed, it rained heavily, thus began our Let’s Get Wet holiday in Thailand.

I had earlier arranged with Our Jungle House for airport transfer so we wouldn’t have to worry about getting lost. As we had 10 pax in the group, the person I was liaising with via email, advised that I should take 2 vans. I was told that someone will hold a card with my name on it. As we exited the airport, we saw this...

I was expecting 2 vans, but instead we got a single 11 seater van which was comfortable enough for us and despite our luggage being full of food stuff (mostly instant noodles & rice – we knew there wasn’t any halal restaurant in Khao Sok), there was enough space for all of us plus our luggage. After about a 2 hour drive, we reached our destination... Our Jungle House.

My first impression? Love it! My kinda place.

We arrived around 11.30 am, and initially we were told that our rooms weren’t ready yet (check in was supposed to be at 2 pm), but as we were making plans to walk around the place, we were told that our rooms were ready. So off to our rooms we went. 4 of us at Half Moon treehouse, and the other 6 at Happynest treehouse. It rained on and off, so after checking into our rooms, and after our zohor/asar prayer, we just relaxed in our rooms, waiting for the rain to subside.

When we thought that the rain had finally subsided, we planned to walk to Khao Sok town, about 20 minutes walk from Our Jungle House. But just as we were getting prepared to go out, it rained again. We were not going to let the rain dampen our holiday spirits, and although the treehouses we stayed in had beautiful views of the cliff and soothing sounds of the jungle and the river, we decided to put on our raincoats/ponchos and take that walk to town. One of the gang even brought along her umbrella. Those without raincoats/ponchos, could easily buy one at the reception for only 40 baht.

After maghrib/isya prayers, we started preparing our dinner of either instant noodles or rice. Knowing that no kettles are provided in the rooms, I brought along my collapsible travel kettle (capacity 600ml). I personally only needed the kettle to prepare hot drinks. For food, I only brought along Kembara’s self-heating rice with either beef or chicken. The 4 occupants of Half Moon then headed over to Happynest  (with our instant food and all) to join the gang there for dinner. And since it was the eve of Malaysia’s National Day, we took a group photo together with the Malaysian flag which I had brought along for the trip.

Day 2, 31^st August 2019: Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka! At the reception as we were getting ready to go for our first tour, the Full Day Lake Tour, we met the GM of Our Jungle House, Gonthong, or GT, who’s married to a Malaysian and has stayed in Malaysia for quite a number of years before moving back to Thailand. Having stayed that long in PJ, she certainly sounded like a Malaysian when she spoke. When she found out that a group of Malay ladies were staying at Our Jungle House, her main concern was how we were going to survive without any halal restaurants around. Little did she know that we came fully prepared! GT was kind enough to offer to snap a group photo of us, again with the flag, but this time by the river. (the night before I had the help of my mini-tripod and used the timer to have a group photo taken)

We then started our tour in a 14 seater van. Other than the driver & the 10 of us in the group, we had Ed, our guide for the tour, and 2 other tourists from the same resort, an Italian guy and his Turkish girlfriend/wife. Before the journey began, we were asked about any special food requirements, and we were happy to note that they would provide halal food for lunch. And since the Turkish girl doesn’t eat pork, she was also a perfect match for our group.

After about an hour drive or so, we had a short stop at a small town before heading to the pier of Khao Sok National Park, to buy some tid bits. We bought some Thai desserts and a few also bought langsat. Upon reaching the pier, we had to purchase the entrance ticket to Khao Sok National Park @ 300 baht each, before getting on to the boat.

Halfway through the boat ride, the boat stopped in the middle of the Cheow Lan lake, and Ed the guide told us to put on our raincoats/ponchos, as we could see heavy rain looming ahead. Yep, just like day 1, day 2 was also going to be a wet day for us. Ah well... Let’s Get Wet was printed on our tshirt, so whaddaheck... LET’S GET WET!

At the next stop where we got off the boat, we had to pay another 200 baht each to hike up a hill. That was also our toilet stop, and we could also leave our bags there. I decided to leave my backpack (with my telekung in it) and only brought along my smaller dry bag to protect my camera from the rain. For those who didn’t come with proper shoes, shoes (something like the kampung adidas I was wearing) were available for rent. Hiking sticks were also available for free for those who wanted it. I decided to not use the hiking stick as I felt it would be easier for me to take pictures without the hiking stick.

We then reached another pier where we had to leave the hiking sticks and went on a bamboo raft to head to the next stop, the Pakarang Cave. Initially a few of us thought of skipping the cave and just wait on the bamboo rafts, but after a short hike up to the opening of the cave, I noticed that all 10 of us (and the 2 tourists from our resort) all made it up. Nobody wanted to be left behind.

The tour inside the cave didn’t take long as it was just a small cave, but it was an interesting tour nonetheless. Ed even asked us to switch off our headlights he provided us earlier, and told us to imagine how the group of Thai soccer boys trapped inside the cave managed to survive in total darkness for 13 long days.

After the cave tour, we headed back, first by bamboo raft to where we had left our hiking sticks, then we hiked back through the same trail we came earlier. Initially during our hike the rain had subsided, but as soon as we reached the starting point where we started our hike earlier, it started to rain heavily again. From there, we had to get on to the boat again, this time for just a short 5 minutes ride to the floating bungalows for our lunch.

Getting hot freshly cooked food for lunch was bliss, especially since we were wet & cold. The omelettes, the fried fish with Thai chilli sauce, the vegetables and whatever that was served were swiped clean off the plates!

We were told that we could swim or use the kayak available at the place, and we could also relax in front of any of the empty bungalows (those who opt for the 2D1N tour of the lake would spend one night in the bungalows). Since we knew that by the time we’d get back to Our Jungle House, it would be too near to Maghrib, we decided to do our zohor/asar prayer in front of one of the bungalows. Praying on a floating bungalow – checked!

Before leaving the place, we were served again with another Thai dessert, sticky rice with banana inside. And langsat.

By 3.30 pm, we got back on to the boat, and it started to drizzle again. Ed joked that the “Let’s Get Wet” that was printed on our t-shirt was the reason. We all then decided that for our next t-shirt, we should print “Let’s Get Rich... Quick” instead.

On our way back to the pier, the sun finally came out and we could finally see blue skies. Ed was kind enough to get the boat to stop and he even offered to take a group photo of us.

By the time we got back to Our Jungle House, it was 6 pm. Maghrib was about 6.30 or so. Thank goodness we performed our zohor/asar prayer earlier at the floating bungalows.

That night, the 4 occupants of Half Moon were too lazy to head over to Happynest for dinner, so we had dinner in our own treehouses. Good thing it wasn’t raining, so we were able to go out on the open deck  to enjoy the view outside. It was the night of Awal Muharram (new year in the Islamic calendar), there was no moon, but as I looked up to the sky, wow! What a beautiful sight of stars! (Sorry, my camera wasn’t good enough to get a good photo of what I actually saw.)

Day 3, 1^st September 2019: As we were having breakfast in the room, with doors to the deck widely opened,  a monkey appeared right in front of our windows. We quickly closed the doors, only to realise that there was not one, but 3 of them, including a little one. (Apparently the Happynest treehouse had more visitors than our Half Moon treehouse.)

Our program for this morning was the Canoe Tour. The good thing about this tour was that we didn’t have to paddle the boat. The local guides themselves would paddle, and so we were able to enjoy the views and take pictures as we liked. We even had a coffee break where we got down from our canoes. The guides boiled water and made coffee/tea for us, served in bamboo. They even gave us the bamboo cups as souvenir.

The fact that the guides didn’t understand much English, and we didn’t understand Thai, didn’t make the tour any less interesting. The guides (mostly in their 20’s) who initially seemed shy finally did seem more relaxed after a while seeing that the aunties (oh well, speaking for myself and a few other seniors in the group) were laughing away almost throughout the tour.

End of canoe tour, we headed back to Our Jungle House. The next tour was only due at 3pm, so we had ample time for lunch, prayers and to have a short rest in our rooms. By 3pm, we were already back at the reception, ready for the next tour, the Elephant Experience. This time only 9 of us went. The other member in the group, who had similar experience before at Kuala Gandah, decided to go for a 2 hour massage (which is also available at Our Jungle House). Just after we left the resort, the one who decided to go for the massage called me to inform me that GT (the GM) has agreed to drive us to a town about 45 minutes drive away so we can get freshly cooked Thai laksa for dinner.

On our way (for the elephant experience), we stopped by a nearby resort to pick 4 other tourists, 2 French couples, who were also joining the same tour.

Upon arrival, we were briefed by the guide, Dream, who introduced us to the 2 elephants,  Seenin & Watsana, (which we later changed to Wassini & Wassana – just to make it easier for us to remember) and told us about their daily routine. Both were rescued elephants, one from doing logging work, and the other from being used to give rides to tourists.

After a round of feeding the elephants with sugar cane, we then walked together with the elephants for their mud bath. We joined in the pool of mud to scrub mud all over the elephant’s body. One of the elephants even ended up peeing in the pool (yep, the same pool of mud we were in). And this was an elephant we’re talking about, the peeing was more like a gush of water coming out of a broken sewer pipe! Seriously!

After the mud bath, we all walked over (together with the elephants of course) to the river to rinse off the mud. Again we joined the elephants in the river and had fun. If earlier on we experienced the elephant’s pee, this time at the river, the elephant pooped! Ah well, the name of the tour is “elephant experience”, so might as well experience everything elephant, including the pee & the poop.

After the river bath, it was another round of feeding time for the elephants. And thus ended our Elephant Experience tour.

We got back to Our Jungle House quite early, around 4.30pm. Thinking that it was still early, and since the next morning we were already checking out, we decided to go for a walk at one of the nature trails at Our Jungle House itself. One of the resident cats even followed us up to the beginning of the trail.

We got out of the nature trail around 5pm, and lo and behold, GT was already there to take us out for dinner! Errr... and none of us were ready. We didn’t want to go out for dinner smelling like elephants! So we rushed back to our rooms, did the mandi express, and all 10 of us managed to get ready by 5.30pm.

By the time we reached the restaurant GT wanted to take us to, there were no tables available. So GT took us to the nearby stalls to buy some Thai desserts and some ayam percik. We also got a few pieces of fried chicken for free because we greeted the seller with salaam.

Later when we finally managed to grab a table at the restaurant, we were obviously the noisiest customers there. Loved the Thai laksa, especially since we were served with “take all you want” vegetables to go with the laksa. After having meals of instant food without vegetables for the past 2 nights, the vegetables were like treasure.

On the way back, GT stopped by a fruit stall by the roadside, selling rambai. A few of us did go down to buy, but guess what? We ended up getting a whole bunch of rambai, free!

Back at Our Jungle House, since it was our final night there, we had to start packing. We had already sought GT’s help, not only to arrange for a van to transport us back to the airport the next day, but also to make a few stops along the way, namely shopping & lunch stops. Since the drivers don’t speak English, we needed GT’s help to tell the driver where to stop before sending us to the airport.

Day 4, 2^nd September 2019: Our final morning in Khao Sok, and finally it was a bright and sunny day! Since I had an extra ration of instant food meant for dinner the night before, I decided to give my Kembara meal beef rendang with pilaf rice to GT, so she could give it a try, and maybe something she could recommend to future Muslim visitors in need of halal food. 

Before leaving, a group photo together with GT was a must. Hey, even the resident cat decided to join us for the group photo!

After saying our goodbyes, off we went. When the van driver made a stop at the town that GT had brought us to the night before, we realised that he probably was sticking to the original plan of taking us for a Thai breakfast before heading to Phuket. We had changed the plan because GT had already brought us out for Thai food for dinner, but I guess there must have been a communication breakdown somewhere. So the driver called GT who then talked to one of us just to be sure we didn’t want to stop for breakfast (we already had breakfast in the room with whatever balance of food we had).

So the journey continued, without stopping for breakfast. Our mistake was we did not specifically ask GT for the plan, we thought the driver would be taking us shopping first before lunch. We tried to ask the driver, without success. One of us even looked up an app on her phone to translate Malay or English into Thai, so we could ask the question in Thai. Wasn’t much help either, the only thing it did was to get us all bursting into laughter. The only word we could understand was “tesco” which to us meant shopping was in the itinerary.

Finally we got a message from GT that the driver would be taking us for lunch first at Markprok Seafood Restaurant (the halal restaurant I had googled for earlier, which is about 10 minutes drive from the airport), before taking us to Tesco Lotus (closer to Phuket) to shop for some Thai stuff (tomyam paste, green curry paste etc).

As we were talking in English to the girl taking orders at the restaurant, we found out that she could speak Malay! (She’s from Narathiwat.) Thank goodness, no more struggling to ask for what we wanted. We even sought her help to tell the driver to take us to a nearby mosque after our lunch, before taking us shopping. (we could hear the azan from where we were having lunch).  For lunch, we had seafood tomyam, fried prawns, ikan tiga rasa, kerabu pucuk paku etc. They even played Malay songs when we were there.

After lunch, it was just a short drive to the mosque. Then we headed away from the airport, towards Tesco Lotus. Gave everyone an hour to buy whatever they wanted to buy. Everyone was on time. By 2.30 pm everyone was back in the van.

There were no more stops after shopping. We headed straight to the airport, our flight was at 5.10pm, so it was perfect timing to go to the airport. Even the 4 who decided to take the later flight at night went with us to the airport so they could leave their luggage at the airport before taking a cab to Phuket town for a final round of jalan-jalan.

As for the other 6 including myself, after checking in our bags (I must mention that the AA staff at Phuket Airport were very helpful) we went straight in. There was a long queue at immigrations but the process was quite fast. Then when it came to where we had to scan our carry-on bags, for the first time ever, I was asked to take off my shoes to be placed on the scanner (this was before I went through the body scan). Then I had to do a whole body scan (hands above the head, feet apart and all those stuff) followed by a body search. When I went to get my carry-on bag, I was asked to take out the power bank I had in my bag. They wanted to check the capacity of the power bank. It was the power bank I had always brought along with me in my travels without any problem whatsoever, and after checking they gave it back to me.

And thus ended my 4D3N holiday in Thailand. I had a wonderful time with like-minded nature-loving friends.

Would I recommend Our Jungle House to anyone else? A definite YES but only if you love nature and adventure.