Yes... I survived the killer waves aka tsunami during
the day dated 26 Dec 2004. I just arrived with my friend
to one of the more popular island Railay Beach, 15min
boat ride from Ao Nang, Krabi. In less then 10min, before
we had a chance to settle down, the first wave approaches.
People were screaming to the swimmers and kayakers.
At first, I thought it was sharks, but sharks in shallow
water?? or is it because its a private beach owned by
the very expensive hotel, Rayavadee?
But as the 1st waves approaches, the smaller boat were
overturned.. but the waves did not hit any beach-goers.
In less than 10mins, a second , higher, fiercer waves
approaches.
This time , the resort Manager ran out shouting "Everyone
get into the hotel now!!" I was still standing,
motionless, fascinated by the waves that I thought at
that point would be a good surfing waves... but as the
huge Chinese junk boats overturned, everyone knew then
it was not a normal waves.
Chaos broke out as the entrance to the hotel was very
small.. There were also alot of other smaller resort
that is not build of bricks near to the open water.
My friend and I were very lucky as we were still standing
inside the hotel ground, we started running towards
the middle of the resort.. but there were also people
running from the west side towards us.
So, most of us stayed in the middle of the resort
which was the highest ground.. Children were crying,
but overall, the situation was not as chaotic as those
stuck in Khao Phi Phi or Phuket.
After 30min, the resort management ushered some 400
people, including people like me who did not stay in
the hotel up the mountain. We did the best we could
climbing up fast as we never know when the next waves
will hit us. The locals (Thais) were the most self-sacrificing..
Giving the tourist like myself the headway towards the
mountain..
Rayavadee Resort, known for its very expensive rooms,
live up to their name as the best resort hotel in probably
Thailand. After all the people are safety up on the
mountains, the staff unstirred by the fact that there
might be a third more powerful waves coming, started
going back down to the resort... to bring all of us
food and water.
My friends and I promise when we are back home, we
will write emails thanking them.. We were then up on
the mountains making phone calls back home... trying
to stay calm... for the next 4-5 hours.. which seems
like eternality...
After that, we thought the worst was over.. But what
we saw on the ground was devastating.. Boats that were
once the locals only means of livelihood, was destroyed
beyond recognisition.. Street peddlers sellings sarongs
and shells-made bracelet and necklaces lost their means
of money for the entire month.. We were very fortunate
that there were only 1one death (God rest his soul),
and no serious injuries for the rest of the 400 people.
Another challenge came for a lot of us who came from
neighbouring island Ao Nang, Krabi. There were no boats
to take us back to the hotel.. Althought there was this
very generous young couple that offered us their room
to crash, my friend and i decided that it will be the
last resort..
We needed to get back to our island, back to our hotel.
For about 30min, we were wondering around, taking pictures
and asking people on how to get back.. Finally, we saw
alot of people, both tourist and locals, walking towards
what it seems like endless road by the open water.
We heard.. it was low tide, thus there is a way to
walk back to the Holy Land, which from there we could
easily hitch a ride back to Ao Nang. The walk was not
easy at all, as we were walking on mud and rocks.. and
tons of dead fishes.
Another challenge came to us shortly as we heard the
locals shouting. We managed to ask and found out that
the high tide might come back anytime. We still did
not see any dry land. My friend quickly grabbed the
next life jacket he found and was holding it. It took
us more than 3 hours and alot of pain to reach back
the dry land, in time before the high tide came back
for us...
We managed to survive that and also managed to get
a flight out on Monday, where still countless number
of tourist are sleeping and waiting by the airport,
for the next available flight.
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