Aimee and I were working at a hostel in Koh Samui, Thailand.

As part of our nightly routine, we would take the guests (who quickly became our Thai family), out to the strip to bounce from club to club. The Green Mango was the crème de la crème, featuring multiple bars, spacious open-air dance floors and multiple bridges passing over a winding shallow river.

Another night on the town, it went much the same as any other… Until it didn’t.

Aimee was perched upon one of the bridges, when a mutual mate of ours attempted to do the whole “SAVED YOUR LIFE!” thing. He gave her a slight push, with the intention of pulling her back. No harm, no foul.

Unfortunately, Aimee swung back like a sack of wet cement – losing her balance instantly and falling from the bridge to the rocky riverbed below. Our mate promptly threw himself straight over the bridge after her (as he should), and in the blink of an eye, the carefree atmosphere of the club evaporated. The pounding music came to a halt, and people were screaming and swarming.

We managed to haul Aimee out of the river, her white dress covered in filthy water and red blood. She was much more concerned about the state of her outfit rather than the bleeding gash on her head. People crowded around her as we attempted to drag her away from the mayhem.

We pulled her into the bathroom and sprang into action, stripping her and dunking her dress in the sink. Meanwhile, a friend came in holding sterile water, which we proceeded to dump over her head with no medical expertise. Her dress was beyond saving, but she was comforted by our attempts to clean her up. We somehow managed to convince her that having a concussion meant it was time to head home.

Let me just interject here by saying Aimee ended up being okay. But let me also be clear we did not seek medical attention due to having no travel insurance.

Instead, we simply took shifts to wake Aimee throughout the following nights to ensure she did not die. We monitored her gaping wound, cautioned her to stay out of the water and applied Betadine antiseptic every time we remembered to.

I still remember Joey from Brooklyn, a bloke in his 40’s (temporary worker at the hostel), suggesting to put bleach on her head and us responding in horror (in later years, Aimee has toyed with the idea of going blonde).

She healed very slowly but surely.

To this day, you can still feel the scar on her head. And to this day, the “SAVED YOUR LIFE” game is a big no-no.