Dream trip that turned to nightmare

The three young Kiwis were staying in room 518 of the Downtown Inn in Chiang Mai when they became ill. Photo / Brett Phibbs

It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime. But, tragically, when three Kiwi girls checked into a Thai hotel 10 days ago they never imagined only two of them would be checking out.

Best friends Sarah Carter, Amanda Eliason and Emma Langlands, all 23, arrived in Chiang Mai on February 2 and checked in to the Downtown Inn in the heart of the central Arnusan Markets.

By day, the markets do not exist, aside from a few open-air eateries. But by night, after stallholders drag their wheeled trolleys through the city by bike to their sites, the area comes alive.

You can buy almost anything: Thai food from simple street stalls, silk scarves for less than $5 and plenty of knock-off designer wares.

It is easy to see why the girls chose the inn, only 100m from the vibrant atmosphere and spicy smells of the night bazaar.

Thailand was to be their last stop of their Overseas Experience before heading home. Sarah and Emma were due at a friend's wedding in Napier today.

Hotel manager Thanthep Bunkaew said the girls checked in and spent the day exploring.

By 9am on February 3, the dream trip had turned to disaster. Sarah called the manager asking for a doctor to be sent to their room.

Mr Bunkaew went to room 518 where the girls told him they had eaten at a market in town the night before - chicken or pork - and became sick after that.

"One would throw up and go back to bed and then the other would go. They looked very tired," he said.

Gravely concerned, he advised them to go to hospital. But they said a doctor was all they needed. A local doctor was brought to the hotel and they were all examined and put on drips. Still they refused to go to hospital.

By midnight, with their situation worsening, Sarah called the doctor back directly. Soon after all three were loaded into an ambulance and rushed to Chiang Mai Ram Hospital.

In New Zealand, their parents were told. Sarah's parents, Richard and Anna, were "shaking" as they listened to the call.

"They got to the hospital and were on the mend. We had a talk to Sarah and she was good ... Apparently within an hour it sprang from their stomachs into their hearts and that's where the trouble started," Mr Carter told the Herald this week.

"Anna knew more than I did because she's a registered nurse. I was thinking, 'It can't be too bad because it's only food poisoning.' But Anna immediately realised she needed to get on that plane."

Mrs Carter caught the first flight to Bangkok while Mr Carter stayed at home, checking regularly with the hospital on his daughter's condition.

He said he spoke to her on the phone but "she couldn't speak back because she had tubes in her mouth ... we never thought it would come to this. I just told her she was a strong girl, with a strong mind, and that she could get through. I told her I loved her."

Then late on Saturday night, while Mrs Carter was still in transit, her husband got the "dreaded" news that Sarah had died.

"I had the horrible task of calling Anna at Bangkok Airport. It floored her. She then had to fly to Chiang Mai. Not to meet up with Sarah, but to collect her things."

Mr Bunkaew met Mrs Carter at the hospital. He had been visiting the girls daily, driving more than 70km from his home outside Chiang Mai on his days off.

"Sarah said to me, 'I'll be fine.' She was saying she would be all right. Then on Sunday, she was gone. It made me crazy ... it happened so quickly."

He took Mrs Carter to the girls' room, where she gathered up Sarah's things. She made the heartbreaking discovery of Sarah's diary with a list of presents she wanted to get her family while in Thailand.

"All she did was think of other people ... Even before she left, all she could think of was the presents," Mr Carter said. "But she only managed to get a few."

As the Carters made plans to bring their daughter home, the other girls remained in hospital.

This week Amanda was moved from intensive care to a room with Emma on the hospital's 10th floor.

Made up of several general wards with a waiting area in the middle, the floor the girls are on is quiet and calm. They told hospital staff on Thursday they were too tired for visitors and needed their rest.

However their families have been coming and going from their room after rushing to Thailand.

Emma, the least affected by the food poisoning, had hoped to be discharged in time to fly home with Mrs Carter and Sarah's body. But it is understood Mrs Carter left Thailand on Thursday afternoon and Emma was not quite well enough to go.

Sarah's funeral will be on Monday, although it is not known if Emma and Amanda will be back in time.

Mr Carter said his daughter was excitable, friendly, unbelievably loving and always put others first.

"They all left on their trip and we just saw them off with best wishes. We never expected this to happen." Sarah attended Auckland's Macleans College before heading to university in Wellington, where she met Amanda and Emma.

Emma's father, Richard, said he could not understand how the girls' dream holiday had ended in tragedy.

"We've just been on a rollercoaster from hell. Three of them went over, but one's not coming back ... It's a terrible, terrible tragedy."