10 Year Aniversary of the 2004 Tsunami

These experiences during the SE Asia tsunami were put up on the main EZboard forum by our Member "Ajarntrade" in the form of 3 separate postings. The 3 have been incorporated into one post and copied here to the Resource Forum so this important and extremely interesting memory can be easily found.

Thank you, Ajarntrade for taking the time to describe his experiences.

THE REPORT:-
I was at Club One Seven on the day the tsunami hit.

HOW I SPENT MY CHRISTMAS VACATION PART 1:

December 24th ( Christmas Eve Day )

My boyfriend Pong and his friend Joy and I went to Patong Beach Phuket in southern Thailand for what was to be 5 days of rest and relaxation and fun.

We arrived on December 24th in the evening and I booked a room in a guesthouse right on the beach. I thought we were very lucky to have even found a room, as I tried 4 different places before finding a room at Club One Seven a small gay owned Bed and Breakfast Inn. They arranged a car and driver to take us directly to the hotel. We arrived, settled in and went out for dinner. We played a few hours of pool and then went back to the hotel to sleep.

December 25th ( Christmas Day )

On Saturday the 25th we rented motor scooters and zipped around the island. We had a great time even though I had never ridden a motor scooter before I felt fairly confident that I would be ok. I was wrong. I crashed the scooter twice that day and have to scrapes and bruises to prove it, Look. The motor scooter was pretty well banged up too. Scratches and a bit of body damage I mentioned that we had the scooter for 24 hours and we should enjoy them as much as we could even though mine was damaged, Pong said, " If you can survive driving out of the parking lot." Smart ass. Joy and Pong joked that today I will have fun with the scooter but tomorrow I would pay. I would pay because I would be sore and in pain and I would have to pay to get the damages to the bike fixed.

On that day I also had Daniel (the manager of the hotel) book the three of us to take a speed boat tour to Phi Phi Island. Pronounced Pee-Pee. We were set to be picked up at our hotel at 11 AM the next day on the 26th.

That night we went out for a very nice fancy Thai dinner and to a few night clubs. I felt tired and left the boys to go back to the room to sleep. They said they would be back to the hotel in a few hours. At 4 AM they came in. I asked what they had been doing. They went to shoot some pool for a while then went out onto the beach and did donuts on the scooters for a while and went swimming in the ocean in the nude... And I was asleep in the hotel room, I missed out on all the fun. Both Pong and Joy are very sexy guys and are into body building. I've known Pong for over a year now and we've been together for 9 months, we've lived together for just over 6 months. Joy hangs out at our condo all the time. We are all fairly close.

December 26th ( The day after Christmas )

I got up at around 8:00 AM. I was sitting on the toilet when I felt what I thought was an earthquake. I am from California and I know earthquakes. It was a VERY small quake and I didn't think much of it. Back home if an earthquake is smaller than a 5.0 on the Richter Scale, we don't even bother getting out of bed or mentioning it over breakfast the next day. I showered and woke the boys up reminding them that we had to return and pay for the motor scooters before we were picked up to go on the speed boat cruise and they needed to have breakfast and pack up because we were having to move to a different room that day. We were on the ground floor for 2 days but the room was booked for our third through 5th days so we were having to move to a room on the 3rd floor. I figured the hotel staff would move our bags to the new room while we were out on the speed boat tour that day.

I went to have breakfast on the patio which is right in front of the french doors on our balcony. It is also where the small swimming pool and jacuzzi are and the de facto living room for the guesthouse. While having breakfast I got a SMS text message from my friend Howard in bangkok. He asked if I had heard about the 8.5 earthquake off the coast of Sumatra? I stopped eating breakfast and went to check the internet ( The registration desk and office of the guesthouse was down a flight of stairs in the basement of the building, I saw the story about the earthquake. So that was what I felt while in the toilet earlier. I thought, Wow 8.5 is a BIG quake. Then went back to finish my breakfast.

December 26th continued

When I got back up to the patio to finish my breakfast all the other guests were standing near the edge of the street. The guesthouse is directly across the street from the beach. You walk across a narrow 2 lane street and you are on the beach. There is no sea wall, just a small curb. I went to look and saw the strangest thing... The ocean had disappeared. It had receded about 3/4 of a mile. It was like it was low tide but REALLY REALLY low. I saw several Thai people running out onto the sand, an area that used to be under water and they were picking up fish that were just laying there on the extended beach. There was a tourist couple sunning themselves on beach chairs and they sat up to see what was going on.

Then out of nowhere the water returned. It came quick, covering the distance of that 3/4 of a mile in about 15 seconds. I realized what it was and when it hit the street I ran screaming toward the hotel. I screamed for Joy and Pong to wake up and go upstairs. The guesthouse is 5 stories tall and our room was on the ground floor. Joy was up and looked out the door and saw the water coming. I ran down into the basement still screaming Pong's name. Pong was in the bathroom sitting on the toilet with the door locked. The bathroom door is frosted glass. Joy was banging on the door to get Pong out and Pong was yelling at him to be left alone and to be able to take a shit in peace! Joy is a big joker and is always doing goofy crazy things to get a laugh. I arrived in the room and yelled at Joy to grab his bag and go up stairs as high as he could. I pushed him out of the door and Pong came out of the bathroom. At that point the ocean had filled up the registration office / basement and water was coming up the stairs. The french doors of our room were about 3 feet open and about 1 foot of water had already entered our room.

I yelled at Pong to grab his bag and go up the stairs. He said, " What's happening?" I yelled, " Go Go up up up..." And pushed him out the door. I saw Pong's wallet on the bed and grabbed it and followed him up the stairs. He went up one flight and I pushed him yelling, " more more go higher... up up up!!!!!!" He obeyed. He was stunned and dazed and still didn't really understand what was going on. When I left our room I was in about 2 feet of water and it was rising fast.

We got up the stairs to the 4th floor and went to the balcony to see what was happening. Up and down the street there was nothing but water for as far as you could see. Cars and motor bikes were floating by. The pink SUV that I mentioned earlier in the single photo of Pong was in the swimming pool of the guesthouse, later it ended up going down into the basement.

We saw the water continue to rush in. It was NOT a 50 foot wall of water. It looked to be maybe 7 to 10 feet tall and spread out all along Beach road. We heard the sounds of metal being crushed and watched the tin roof of the street side restaurant next door crashing down into the water. We watched many boats trapped in the under tow of the waves being forced onto the beach. Then when the next set of waves came in they would be carried farther up the beach closer to the road. There was not only one big wave. There was the first REALLY big wave then when that wave receded about 1/2 mile out it would be followed by another wave just as big but over the 1 and 1/2 hours we were trapped on the balcony the waves got smaller and less frequent.

Several times we decided to pick up our things and try to make it up the road to the bridge and the hill beyond the bridge but just as we were about to head down the stairs we would hear people on the balcony yell for us to come back because another wave was coming in. 4 people left the relative safety of the balcony and tried to run the 5 blocks to the bridge, We saw them disappear into a wave about 3 blocks down from the hotel. We waited until the water had receded and did not return for about 15 minutes. That was when we decided to head for the bridge. Pong was not wearing shoes and his had been washed away in the first wave. I found a pair of shoes in a room that was occupied but the people in the room were missing. I took them and told Pong to put them on. Yes, technically I stole those shoes and it was wrong. There was broken glass all over the floors and the street so I didn't feel bad at the time taking the shoes. My Boyfriend needed them and I took them, problem solved.

I am diabetic and need insulin. I take shots twice a day, every day. Before we left the building Pong wanted to search the wreckage of the furniture on our floor to find our refrigerator that contained my insulin. After climbing over beds and cabinets for about 5 minutes Pong was unable to find our refrigerator. Joy did find my suitcase. I emptied it and put what I needed into a sarong I had bought the last time I was in Phuket (March 2004, the first trip Pong and I took together). I made a sack out of the sarong and carried it out of the building and out into the street. That is what you see Pong carrying as he is running up the street to the bridge.

We ran the 5 blocks toward the bridge stopping a couple of times to take photos. Thai security guards and police officers were yelling at us to run up the street to the bridge. We crossed the bridge and stopped on the road leading up to a resort. Daniel, the manager of Club One Seven came with us all and tried to give us directions. He was trying to keep us all together so he could do a head count. I told him that the 3 of us in our room were accounted for. He could not find the Assistant Manager and feared he had been trapped in the basement. Daniel said that we should go further up the hill to a resort called Baan Yee Dee and that we would re-group up there. I started walking up the hill followed by Pong and Joy. I flagged down a passing truck and the 3 of us jumped in the back and got a ride to the top of the VERY steep hill. From there we could look down on Patong Beach and watch what was happening.

Baan Yee Dee Resort was crowded. It seemed almost everyone from the beach area made their way to this resort up on the hill. The resort staff were giving out water as people arrived and showing them the way to a breakfast buffet they had set up. There was no charge for any of this and we appreciated it VERY much as Pong and Joy had not eaten since the day before. Joy claimed not to be hungry, I told him that we could not tell when the next time we would eat would be and he should eat while he could. He ate a few spoons of potatoes and had some fruit. Some Thai people arrived with rice and home cooked Thai food and were giving it away out of the back of their truck, again... no charge. It was very nice to see people being generous in a time of crisis. Thai people can be very gentle and giving, they are very kind and polite... At least most of the ones I've known and met.

While we were eating Pong said in a dry matter of fact way, " Now you don't have to pay for wrecking the motor scooter." Joy and I looked at him and broke up laughing. I mean we were rolling on the side walk laughing and people around us were looking at us as though we were insane. It was the perfect stress reliever. Pong has the strangest sense of humor.

We stayed at the resort for an hour or so. I sent Pong and Joy out to mingle with the Thai people to gather information while I listened to the foreigners for information. They were announcing on Thai radio that another big wave was expected to arrive around noon. Pong and I talked about trying to get to Phuket Town. Phuket Town is inland and surrounded by mountains in a nice valley. If a big wave came chances were it wouldn't hit there. To get to Phuket Town we had to go down the hill, into Patong Beach and through the town over the mountain pass and down into the valley. A distance of about 5 miles and we had no way of knowing how bad the next wave would be or when exactly it would hit. We decided to wait until 1:30 or 2:00 PM and if the wave had not hit we would start walking through the town to try to get to Phuket Town.

I saw Daniel, the Manager of Club One Seven, the guesthouse we were staying in. I asked him if there was a doctor in the resort. He asked me if I was injured and I said no, but I am diabetic and needed to get some insulin around 5 PM. He checked, and they had none at the resort. My insulin was in the refrigerator in our room. Our room did not exist any more. An ambulance came by and Daniel flagged it down but they would only take me to the hospital to buy insulin alone. I refused to be separated from Pong and Joy so the ambulance left. About 20 minutes later a police officer drove by in a pick up truck. Daniel told him I needed to get to the hospital and the officer said for me to get in the front seat while Pong and Joy rode in back.

The main hospital was down in Patong Beach about 3/4 of the way to Phuket Town. I figured that from there we could get over the hill fairly easily. When I got to the hospital I went straight to the pharmacy and bought insulin and needles. The hospital was total chaos. There were people laying on gurneys and benches and on blankets on the floor. Blood was all over the place smeared on floors and walls. It looked like some one had gone through the place splattering blood randomly. In a room near the emergency entrance was the make shift morgue. I looked in and saw around 10 or 12 bodies in there. The youngest looked like a 3 or 4 year old boy, there was one older foreign man in there also. I got my insulin and left the hospital. Pong and Joy were waiting for me outside. By this time it was around 4:30 PM.

December 26th Late afternoon

The hospital, I found out was only 700 meters from the beach. Fortunately it was 700 meters up a hill. I still didn't feel safe there. Pong, Joy and I walked further up the hill a few buildings up from the hospital and found the Nipa Villa Hotel down a long driveway. It was full and the Thai woman working the registration desk wouldn't rent us a room because she had them all booked but the people had not arrived yet. I said to put us in any room and if we needed to, we'll move to another room if anyone shows up. I offered to pay extra for this and she agreed.

We got a room and dropped our stuff there. Pong and Joy wanted to go back to the hospital to see if they could help. Pong's English is very good and Joy's is just a little bit worse than Pong's. Joy thought they could help translate from Thai to English. The hospital staff spoke Thai and communication would be a problem. I agreed but urged them that if another wave came they would get to the highest floor of the hospital that they could and stay there until I arrived. They agreed.

I decided that we should get food and water. Pong thought I was worrying too much. "It is impossible to run out of water and food", Pong said. I told him that I had been through the earthquake in 1989 in San Francisco and in California we learned how to prepare for an emergency. He thought I was being dramatic. I knew he really had no frame of reference and no experience with disaster situations. I let him and Joy go help at the hospital and I was going down the road to the 7-11 and Family Mart to buy supplies.

The 7-11 and Family Mart were closed. Vendors were selling the usual Thai fare off of street carts. I bought 6 servings of rice and 3 bags of soup, some fruit and then went in search of bottled water. Down a side street I found a small mom & pop type store and bought 3 toothbrushes, tooth paste, soap, spoons, 6 cans of tuna and a box of crackers. I also bought a big jug of bottled water.

As I was walking back to the hotel near the hospital hundreds of people were running up the hill away from the beach. People on motor scooters were driving on the wrong side of the road and they were all going the same way. I looked around and saw the chaos and decided to get off the street immediately. There was a 5 story hotel about 1/4 of a block down the road and I went in and went up the stairs to the roof. I was surprised that the mobile phone networks were still up and working, but they were. I sent Pong a text message asking if they had seen an increase in people at the hospital and telling him where I was. He sent a text back saying, " We are ok. DON'T WORRY. YOU THINK TOO MUCH." This kills me. He's always saying I think too much and I tell him that he doesn't think enough and so together we will cover all the bases. We help even each other out. But this was one of those times where THINKING TOO MUCH might end up saving our lives. I sent another text message saying to go back to the hotel and that I had food. They were there in front of the room waiting for me when I arrived. You can always count on Thai guys to come running when you tell them you have food for them.

Why all those people were running I never found out. I assume they heard another wave was coming and were running away from the beach.

The Nipa Villa Hotel had electricity and phone line and a computer. I decided to send an email to my family in California to let them know I was ok. I also made a couple of quick entries into my blog, doubting that anyone would even read it. We ate dinner and showered. By this time it was around 7:30PM one VERY long day, December 26th. Pong and Joy decided they would take a nap and I went out to the common area / registration lobby to watch the BBC news that was on. I heard that Thai radio was announcing another big wave would hit around midnight. I saw that around 10PM hotel staff started setting up to cook food. I went back to the room and Pong was just waking up. We sat outside on the patio and talked about what to do next. He still thought that we were going to try to get to Phuket Town the next morning. I told him that I wanted to change the plan and get us all off of the island as soon as possible.

How to do that? The town furthest south on the main land was Phang Nga. There was a long bridge connecting Phang Nga and Phuket Island at the northern most part of the island. We had heard rumors that the bridge had been destroyed in the wave and there was no way to get from Phuket to Phang Nga. The airport was still closed and most likely under water because it literally is next to the beach. I decided the best bet was to try to get to Phang Nga and in the morning maybe we could find a boat to take us over to the main land.

I was tired and wanted to try to get some sleep. But what if the next wave hit and it was big enough to reach the hotel? Again, we had a room on the ground floor. Pong offered to stay awake. I told him that if he saw more people arriving at the hospital ( we could see it from the patio of our room ), or he saw people running and motor scooters heading up the hill, or the canal between the hospital and our new hotel started to fill with water... he should come and wake me up.

I went to the bed and tried to sleep. A couple of times I heard sirens coming and going and woke up from a very shallow sleep. By this time it was midnight. At about 12:30 AM Pong came in and woke me up, he said, " Tirak, you should come and look." Tirak is Thai for "My love". I got up and saw that the number of people, scooters and sirens had increased dramatically. I thought to myself," Ok, this is it, we're getting of this damn island NOW!" I walked out to the street and within 5 minutes saw that the increase in traffic had increased even more! I waved down a taxi and amazingly, he stopped.

"Bi Nai?" He asked
I said, "Bi..." and hesitated a bit
He intrerupted me and asked, " Kreung Thep? mai dai."
Which means, " Bangkok, can not."
I replied, " Mai ow Kreung Thep, Bi Phang Nga."
Which means, " I don't want Bangkok, I want to go to Phang Nga."
The taxi driver switched to English and said, "Ok, 3000 baht."

I agreed without hesitation. He followed me down the long drive way to the hotel and waited while I went to get Pong and Joy (who was still asleep). I swear to you Thai people can sleep through anything. It's funny that many times on busses and the Skytrain in Bangkok many people miss their stops because they fall asleep. We packed and were on the road in less than 10 minutes.

The drivers name was Matt. He was Thai but spoke pretty good English. I don't know why he had the name Matt and I didn't bother asking. Matt had lived all his life on Phuket Island. I asked about the bridge to get across to Phang Nga and he said that we couldn't use it. I asked how we were going to get to Phang Nga and he said, " Don't worry I can get you there." I had my doubts. From Patong Beach to the bridge was only 90 kilometers, about an hours drive. The ride should have costed no more that maybe 400 or 500 baht. I was paying 3000... and this guy better actually take us to the other side and onto the main land like he said he could.

On the ride north he complained that he had bought a small bottle of water that usually cost 10 baht for 35 baht. I mentioned it would be worth 100 baht by the end of the next day. Then I noticed the road. It was empty. There were no other cars going in our direction or in the opposite direction. I thought that was unusual. I mentioned it to Matt and he said no one was going to the bridge because they couldn't cross it any way. I still was wondering how we were going to get across the bridge.

Matt slowed down the taxi and moved over onto the opposite lanes of traffic. So now we were driving on the wrong side of the road! After about 5 minutes he turned off onto a dirt road. I thought, " Great, now he'll take us out onto some deserted dirt road and rob us at gun point. I'm glad I have 2 body builders with me (and both Pong and Joy had been Muay Thai kick boxers when they were younger) Maybe they'll kick his ass before he can shoot any of us." I asked Matt, "Where are we going?" He answered in Thai and Pong told me that Matt knew that a new bridge had been built but that the roads leading to the new bridge were not finished yet and that was the road we were on at that point. Up ahead I saw a newly constructed bridge. We crossed it but half way across Matt stopped and tried to get us to get out of the taxi to look at the water below us and the damage it had done to the old bridge. We all loudly told him that we did not want to see the old bridge and to get back into the taxi and drive!!!!

We got into Phang Nga and Matt took us to 2 different hotels to find a room for the night. We were going to take a bus at 7:15 the next morning. We couldn't find a room for the night, everything was full. Matt took us to the police station on the main road and left us there. I gladly paid him the 3000 baht and thought it was money well spent.

We had about 5 hours to wait until the bus station opened. It was now around 2 AM. I saw a nice patch of lawn in the traffic circle and decided to lay down and try to get a bit of sleep. Pong came over and sat near me and said I should sleep and he would look out for me. He can be very sweet at times.

I couldn't sleep and so we decided to walk the 6 blocks or so to the bus station and wait there. Over the next few hours Joy talked to a few people driving by, asking if they would give us a ride to Bangkok... that didn't work. At 7:00 AM we walked to the bus station and got 3 tickets to Bangkok. It would be a 12 and a half hour ride. Along the way I got phone calls from friends checking in with me to see where I was and to update me on the news. DTAC, my mobile phone company sent me an SMS Text message saying they were hopeful for everyones safety in the tidal wave and gave me a free 50 baht credit so I could make more phone calls. When we left Phang Nga the death toll for all of Asia was 5000 and in Thailand 250. By the time we got to Bangkok that night the news was reporting the Asian death toll to be 20,000 and the Thailand total to be close to 800.

Those numbers kept rising. Fortunately we were not included in those numbers.

Ernest, Pong and Joy