Tidal Wave - Alive in Thailand

I am alive and well in Bangkok, although I've spent a pretty rough couple of days. I was on Phra Nang beach in southern Thailand when the tidal wave hit. We were in a small boat when our Thai guide said "I think there's a big wave coming", rather casually. Then he said "GETOUT! GETOUT!" and we got the hell out. We watched as the first series of waves wreaked havoc on the longtail boats. Then the next waves started coming, larger than the first ones, and we ran for shelter. We ran up the mountain, every man, woman and child, some of them in bare feet. I was looking out for another JET, Richelle, and she had no shoes which was hellish. We ran over sharp rocks and through slashing bushes. Some of the tourists had been picked up by the wave and thrown through the bushes, and were now cut up. We waited a long time in the mountains - six hours - and there was a lot of panic and misinformation. They kept urging us to go higher, though we must have been about 150 metres up. I kept thinking "what kind of wave could possibly get this high?", but I followed the crowd led by Thais. Some had walkie-talkies and they were in contact with emergency personnel who kept warning of further tidal waves. But in fact this had never happened before, and the emergency personnel didn't know much more than any of us. It was a 9 on the Richter scale - an earthquake of this magnitude has happened only four other times in world history.

We spent five hours in the mountains. An American-Thai woman was helpful in translating. Her husband, an American, was all cut up as he had been thrown through the trees. She sometimes talked about the boats full of people that she had seen out on the water, and cried. The wave had hit around 11 am and we stayed on the mountain till 5:30, when we began our treacherous descent down the other side. It was really unsafe, almost vertical in some places with no foothold - only the water pipe and a rope which they had tied to a tree on the top. I helped Richelle over the most difficult spots as she didn't have shoes.

That afternoon we followed massive groups of emigrating tourists and locals. The resorts were smashed and flooded. We eventually congregated at a very posh resort up a long path in a high valley between mountains. There were about a thousand of us there, and they were operating the resort as though it was business as usual. They were selling beer and overcharging for food. All my money was away at my guest house, and Richelle was hurt. She's hypoglycemic and needed food, or she would start shaking and getting ill. I was pretty pissed off at the attitude, but I asked at the bar and they said food would be coming in one hour. They were giving out free water, and said we'd have to sleep on the lawn. We ended up spending the night on the wooden deck draped in a towel borrowed from some friendly Thais. My back was on a concrete block that was cleverly built into the deck. The tourists were very wealthy and several had cellphones. One guy was talking for about half an hour to his friend, describing what had happened. After he finished I asked him if I could make a short call to my home to tell them I was okay. He refused! He said he wanted to save batteries. I kept asking and finally he relented, saying "as long as it's literally just one second". Fucker. I left a message with my father - as it turns out he was in Ottawa and my family remained worried till I phoned again, about ten hours later.

The next morning we tromped off to the beaches, hearing different reports about rescue boats. Although we were on the mainland, it's inaccessible by road because of the mountains, so it might as well be an island. We waited on one beach but the waters were too dangerous on that side, so we all marched off to the other side. Several hours later two large boats moored out a ways in the bay, each with a capacity of 250 people, and the migration of hundreds of tourists began.

I only just made it to Bangkok this morning, 48 hours after the tidal wave hit. I'm going to Vien Tien, Laos tonight by bus. I'll try to make it to Hanoi, Vietnam on my remaining money, then back to Bangkok on January 8th to catch my flight. If anyone knows how to get cash from a credit card (td visa) please tell me.

I hope you are all safe and sound.

Love, Anthony