Christmas morning December 25th, 2004, I was set to leave Phuket after staying there for 2 incredible weeks. My adventures in Phuket consisted of staying at Vijitt Resort Phuket (also known as Phuket Bungalows before the remodel.) From there we did all the fun tourist things to do that is offered in this southern amazing island of Thailand (Hawaii of Thailand). We visited a local Atving course, Gun range, went island hopping and snorkeling adventures to Goh (Island) Phi Phi, rode on an elephant up a mountain (no seat belts, only hang on to your dear life metal cage), visited old town Phuket and Patong beach of course.
When I stayed at
KataThani Beach resort there were some monsoon winds that were picking up and I spotted a guy renting out surfboard and body boards. I rented one off him and went surfing, people thought I was crazy but I had a blast anyways. KataThani is a west facing resort more open to the effects of a tsunami, compared to
Vijitt Resort Phuket which faced east on the island and was protected by the Island of Goh Lon. I found all of this out after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that struck and killed over 230,000 people. Other names for this is
Indonesian tsunami, Boxing day tsunami, South Asian tsunami, Sumatara-Andaman earthquake. It had a magnitude of 9.1-9.3 and is the third largest earthquake ever recorded.
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami struck on Christmas morning. First off, I was glad I did not get stuck out on the Island of Phi Phi during the tsunami because stories came back saying people were running away from the waves on one side, but since the island was so small there was a wave on the other side. They had no where to go except to get to higher elevation. I'm also glad I was not snorkeling that day because deep scuba divers would of been safer from the waves but not snorkelers. I would have been washed ashore probably somewhere far away from my current location. That night of December 24th I was offered to stay another night at this beautiful luxurious resort KataThani, but I declined knowing my Uncle who was my very sole purpose of even visiting Thailand was sick. So that night I decided to stay inland at his house and we visited a local pub and called it a night. The next morning this is the pictures I took.
Sttuck?
Deep sea eel?
Did someone lose a boat?
Trash in the ocean is horrible but i'm glad nature has worked its' way to using what we trash them with.
R.I.P the souls who have perished in this tragic event, for everyday I am living in search of another level of happiness that I can bring to myself and the world around me.