We had a lovely day today with a relatively relaxed start to a very hot morning.  I had a cooling body wash and we both had cereal with nice cold milk.  The border exit and entry were no problem at all.  On the Malaysian side we drove through the immigration section, stopping at a small booth to have our passports stamped and then we parked the car and went into the captain's office to have the exit stamp in our carnet.  There was another diversion through an older customs section, where people had stopped to have their papers checked, but we just drove slowly through.  On the Thailand side we queued to get entry forms (then discovered we could just have walked into the main building and got them there) and we had our passports stamped, by a civil, but not very friendly officer.  Then we wandered across to a customs booth to have the carnet entry stamped.  The lady knew what needed to happen and advised her senior officers, they did what she (and we) told them, smiled, said welcome and we were on our way...

We immediately sensed a different look and feel to the place.  I can only describe it as somewhat less assuming.  It was strange to see the Thai script, but thankfully most road signs have English written underneath.  The houses each have a little shrine outside (normally a mini version of a temple standing about 1.5m from the ground).  They have a variety of adornments including burning incense, candles and pots of flowers.  There is more cattle alongside the road and it looks like many households own their own cow or bull, which is tethered to a tree or garden furniture in front of the house.

There are still loads of scooters and motorbikes, some with the addition of a frame and extra wheel to one side, to provide more carrying capacity and they are often used for food hawking.  We haven't seen any of the famous three-wheeled tuk-tuks yet, but we have seen songthaews (small truck with two, sometimes three, rows of bench seats in the back, which ply regular routes between towns).  There are lovely little Pagoda style bus shelters at regular intervals along all the roads and most towns make an effort to have neatly clipped shrubs and borders, as well as centre islands on the main roads leading into and out of the town.

As with Malaysia I think there are problems here with effluent too as every now and again we'll pass a section of road which is particularly stinky.  Today we had the (dis)pleasure of being behind a pick-up loaded with some type of dead animal, we're not sure  what, but it stank and we couldn't wait to overtake it!

We stopped at about 13h30 and I made a tuna fish salad for lunch which we wolfed down with Provita biscuits.  It was nice to have something cool for lunch for a change, instead of chilli chicken.  The road has been very scenic with a mixture of green open fields, rubber plantations, palm trees and limestone hills covered in thick forest.  We drove past lots of signs for waterfalls (surprising many in the flat areas) and than we saw a sign for a wildlife breeding centre, so we decided to have a look see.  We drove over  bridge with a lovely clear stream running underneath and followed a tar road up through the forest to the entrance of the Phattalung Wildlife Breeding Research Centre.  We wandered over to a little shaded lapa (shelter) where a bunch of workers were sitting.  Sadly, they didn't speak any English and the only Thai we have mastered so far is sawaat-dii (hello) and khawp-khun (thank-you), however, with sign language we asked if we could look and around and they said yes.

What a surprisingly little place.  The enclosures were all remarkably clean, with foliage and shade and the birds and animals generally looked in good condition.  We saw some amazing birds including a variety of spectacularly coloured pheasants and a small peacock-type bird (most of the enclosures were named in Thai, English and the scientific names - but we've forgotten the majority of them).

Other birds included bulbuls, and some hill mynas which were incredibly noisy and full of song and speech!  They spoke a number of Thai words and even said 'hello' - they were quite mesmerising.  On the mammal side, there were barking deer, hog deer (which were very timid, even at feeding time) and some large antelope which reminded us of waterbuck and caribou. There were a number of different macaques, as well as some cute, furry white handed gibbons, sadly, one of which was looking very timid in the corner sucking his finger.

They also had lots of little small antelope cross rodent animals which had two fang-like teeth protruding from their mouths - they weren't 'marked' so we're not sure what they were.  We also saw a single leopard cat, a small and large civet and two porcupines.  We spent a very pleasant time wandering around and left a donation in their suggestion box.

We drove down to the stream and went back along a sand road we'd seen from the main road.  We found a nice little spot next to the road up above the stream.  One car passed us and the local herder with his cattle, whom we offered a coke, but he declined.  Michael tried out our new Thai words on him, but he didn't understand a thing.  He just smiled at us and went on his way.  One car of friendly locals drove past a little later and after that we didn't see a soul.

We had a slow start to the morning.  We drove through Trang and a number of other towns which were all busy with people doing their daily activities, from food hawking and motorbike sales to sweeping and pig transportation.  We soon discovered the scenery became more spectacular with huge limestone outcrops standing proud above the palm plantations.  We decided to drive along some of the smaller unmarked roads in search of a quiet idyllic beach to laze at.  We soon found ourselves on a dirt track in a rubber plantation so did one of our few U-turns for the day.

Further along we saw people drying the rubber in sheets outside their house...

We tried another road a bit further north which was tarred and heading west.  There were some magnificent limestone karsts alongside the road.  They were carved into some amazing shapes and stalactites hung down menacingly, threatening to drop to the ground below.  Patches of mountain were draped in a veil of green creepers, which gave it a lush tropical look.  It really was fantastic to look at! We came across an intersection that looked a little more promising as it lead to the royal palace.  As a result all the villages are very well maintained and we thought the beaches may receive the same loving care.  Unfortunately, the road became quite major and there were some big signs to beaches and one to a big hotel chain resort, so we decided this wasn't what we were after.

Another U-turn and along a road which threatened a dead end, but we went to investigate anyway.  The well maintained tarred and painted road came to an abrupt halt in the middle of nowhere, so we did a 6-point turn and then we met a Dutch man called Duke, who had a timber stilt house backing onto the mangrove swamps.  We chatted to him for a while (he was very entertaining and knew a lot about local politics etc.). We asked him where we could find a nice quiet beach to relax for a while and he told us about a place called Coconut Home (which he said would be nicer than the other place we were heading for south of Laem Sak).  He gave us directions and off we went.  The road we went down was under repair and we could cross the rickety bridge suitable only for bikes, so once again we did a U-turn and decided to just wind our way through the villages and head west toward the ocean.  We drove past more limestone karsts surrounded by fields of pineapples...

Eventually we stumbled upon the entrance to Coconut Home and drove down to find a lovely little place with grassy beach frontage, a number of little bungalows on stilts and a small restaurant.  The place was very quiet and we only saw two other tourists.  We asked if we could camp (the English/Thai conversation wasn't great) and managed to agree to B200 (Baht) per night and use of the toilet and showers.  There were no bungalows available and we found out later that they are busy renovating the place, which is why it was so quiet.  We parked Nyathi on a concrete platform about 50m from the beach.  We took out the chairs and table and settled in.  I saw two back packers arrive and walk off, north, into the forest so I decided I'd take a walk along the beach to investigate what else was about.  There is only one other set of bungalows further up the beach, which is apparently managed by a German guy.  I wandered back taking photos of the beautiful beach, calm (almost flat) sea and the rocky islands jutting out from the ocean  in the distance.  We would have struggled to find a nicer place.

We met Leslie, who manages the place on behalf of the owners and has done a tremendous amount of travelling all over the world, and Richard who comes from Singapore, and is helping the owners, who are his friends.  They both speak excellent English and Leslie has just had team here build the beach bar in time for Christmas.  He was telling us the place lay dormant for years and they have only recently opened it up for business, refurbishing the bungalows, neatening up the grounds and providing meals.  They have done a good job and they deserve to succeed.  We spent some time lazing in our hammocks with the cool sea breeze wafting over us.

In the evening we went for dinner and had a delicious dinner of sweet and sour chicken and a spicy cashew chicken with rice, washed down with a few beers.  A couple from Stuttgart, Oliver and Angelika, joined us and we spent a lovely evening chatting to them.

I went for a run along the beach first thing this morning followed by a lovely cooling swim in the sea.  You can only swim here when the tide is in, because the slope is very gentle and at low tide the sea recedes way into the distance revealing a muddy bottom and all the fishing people come to collect their spoils from their fishing nets.  They catch crabs, prawns and a variety of fish and we watch them walking back to shore and then driving off on their motorbikes and scooters, generally with a passenger on the back balancing their heavy (and probably rather smelly) load.

We both spent the rest of the day relaxing.  I did girlie things like painting my toe nails, cutting my finger nails etc..  I tidied Nyathi a little and we sat and watched the sea creeping slowly back to shore. Oli and An came across to see the vehicle and had 'tour'.  They spent quite a while looking at our photos.  Oli has always been very keen on visiting South America, and in particular Bolivia, so we did our best to whet his appetite.

The people who work here at Coconut Home slaved away the whole day preparing for the Christmas Eve party.  The place was a hive of activity with extra drinks coming in on the back of motorbikes, frenetic cooking in the kitchen, decorations erected, the beach bar having the final touches added with beach sand poured on the ground, fairy lights, tables and chairs moved to the sea front etc.  The turkey was put on the braai (bbq) in the afternoon and slowly cooked over a number of hours.

Michael didn't have such a good day as he cut his head open when he walked straight into the bathroom door lintel.  It bled quite a lot and probably could have done with some stitches, but I used some stick-on sutures instead.  I gave it a thorough clean with disinfectant.  Shaved his head and tried to push the wound together and keep it closed with six sutures in a row, just 4mm apart.  I stuck a bleeding wound plaster on the top for good measure and he took it easy for the afternoon as his head throbbed pretty badly.

In the evening Oli and An joined us for a glass of red wine before we joined the party.  It was a lovely start to the evening.

The Christmas dinner spread was impressive.  There was the traditional turkey and potatoes, but more more besides including grilled prawns and squid, a Malay curry (cooked by Richard, which was our favourite), rice, vegetables, bread and sweet pineapple and watermelon for dessert.  The food was good, but a bit pricey at B500 per person!  Nevertheless, we had a great evening, although there were only six tourists, and the rest of the people were local family and friends.  Michael and I were given a table right on the beach front softly lit by two candles and we invited Oli and An to join us as they were on a small table further back.  We were serenaded by two local guys (Khang and Sean) who played the guitar and sang a mixture of English and Thai songs (with Sean giving some rather amusing translations).  Then Michael played a couple of songs and the children gathered around too - it was a very pleasant evening, but by the end of it we were pretty exhausted.

The four of us decided we'd like to go island hopping tomorrow for Christmas Day, so Michael spoke to Leslie and he organised a boat to come and collect us at 09h00 in the morning.

Unfortunately we didn't sleep too well as it was almost full moon I think the local fishing folk took the opportunity to retrieve their catches in the early hours of the morning (or maybe they just came down to the beach for a walk), either way there was some motorbike traffic which woke us up every now and again.  Still, when you wake up to such a spectacular view, everything else pales...

Our long boat, skippered by Leo, arrived shortly after 09h00.  We clambered in and the staff brought along our lunch, water, life jackets etc.  The kids were keen to come too!  By 09h15 we were making our way across the sea towards the islands.

It was glorious - the wind our faces, the odd splash of sea spray, just what we needed to feel refreshed.  Leo took us to a small island where, a golden sand bar jutted out into the sea and on the other side of the channel was another larger island.  I went snorkelling along with Oli and An, but Michael decided it was best not to get his cut wet, especially as it was still bleeding.  The water wasn't the clearest and there were stinging plankton in the water which wasn't so nice (but not painful enough to make me get out).  I saw one yellow and black striped angel fish, some long, skinny fish with pointed snouts, what I call mud suckers, prawns and a few larger schools of fish too.

For the first hour we were the only 'inhabitants'.  Then one or two more boats arrived, but it wasn't over crowded and we were lucky to have secured the best shady spot available.  A couple from the first set of new comers were from Castle Marina in Nottingham - what a small world!

Michael and I wandered over to the end of the spit of sand and considered swimming across to the other island, but we waded in up to our hips and could feel the current was pretty strong, so we decided against it.  We spent the next few hours reading, soaking up the sun and then we had a delicious lunch of rice, fried chicken, sweet chilli fish and vegetables, followed by watermelon and bananas!  Then we packed up, got back into the boat and Leo took us to some rocks in the middle of the ocean, where Oli and I did the best snorkelling of the day.

There was some superb coloured coral and the variety of fish was good, although nothing particularly big.  The current around the far side of the rock was quite strong and it was hard work swimming back around to the boat, especially without fins.  Meanwhile, Michael and An took pictures of colourful rock crabs.

Our next stop was at paradise island.  Unfortunately the tide was already on its way out so we couldn't snorkel, so instead we went for a walk along the Nature Tail (sic) through the jungle forest.  We heard some lovely bird calls, saw some beautiful butterflies and scared a large monitor lizard off into the undergrowth.  I'm not sure who got a bigger fright, him, or us?  There were quite a lot of boats anchored just off shore, to avoid the coral - it looked like the Krabi fleet...

On the walk back along the bay we met an English family who had hired a catamaran and were sailing around the islands for a few weeks - what an innovative way to see the place!  Our next stop was the island with all the swallows which are famous for their nests which make the SE Asian delicacy of bird's nest soup.  Apparently the best quality nests sell for between B50 - 70,000 per kg ($1,800).  It was all academic though, as our skipper Leo couldn't (or we suspect wouldn't) understand where we wanted to go, so at 17h00 we went back to the boat pier at Kayak Krabi, where we were collected and driven back to Coconut Home.  We had a wonderful Christmas Day and rounded it off with a warm shower in Oli and An's bungalow.

We phoned friends and family to wish them Merry Christmas and then Michael said he wanted to collapse into bed as his head was throbbing and still bleeding a bit (good thing he didn't snorkel).  We watched the sun dip below the horizon and the fishermen bringing in the last of their catch.  Michael said he would like to have a relaxing day tomorrow (Boxing Day) and that we should head for Phuket on the 27th.  So I went and got a delicious dinner which Michael and I ate at Nyathi and then we watched Helen of Troy and fell into bed, a little sunburnt and in need of the cooling fan!

Today started off like many others...  I went for a run along the beach, had a swim in the sea and floated gently on the water with the sun beating down.  Then I had a cold shower and came back to Nyathi to find Michael with the laptop on the camping table just next to the vehicle, but then things changed...

I was surprised to look out across the sea and see a long line of a wave coming in to shore.  The sea here is always remarkably calm, so it seemed strange when I looked at the beach to see waves crashing on the shore.  I commented to Michael that I'd seen a wave out in the distance and walked toward the beach where I saw the sea was incredibly choppy, a bit like water sloshing back and forth in a bath.  Then I noticed the staff standing on the beach and I shouted to Michael to come and have a look, because this was really strange.  He came across, armed with the camera and we were amazed to see the waves rolling in.  Not particularly big breakers, but long, solid waves coursing across the bay.  Some of the staff were still standing with children on their hips when one swell reached right up to the grass line.  Then people began to look seriously worried and said they had never seen anything like this before.

Michael was taking photos and the small keel boat further along the beach which normally stands way above the tide line was being pushed back into the trees by the waves.

I wandered if it was volcanic activity because we'd seen a tremendous amount of air rising from the sand off the beaches we'd visited yesterday.  Michael said perhaps a large chunk of island somewhere had broken away and fallen into the sea creating a kind of bow wave (much like the huge chunks of ice which fell off Perito Moreno Glacier).

The sea seemed to die down a little and I could see that my usual pole markers between which I swim hadn't in fact been washed away, but had been fully submerged.  The waves began to crash on the shore again and before we knew it the sea had swollen to such an extent that it came right up the beach and onto the grass, stopping just before the beach bar, but again it subsided.  We took a few more photos as the water was subsiding and were commenting that we were glad the beach bar was still OK.  Then yet another swell came, this time, much more forceful and reaching up to my thighs and pushing forward across the ground.

Photograph taken by Christian Klasen

Photograph taken by Christian Klasen

I shouted to Michael  (who was further in land than me) to rescue the laptop and I ran as fast as I could, with the wave pushing in behind me toward the restaurant.  There were bits of debris knocking into the back of my legs.  Michael thrust the camera into my hands and told me to get to higher ground and he ran toward the vehicle to start moving Nyathi - that was when the adrenalin started pumping.  As I was pushing through the water to get to one of the bungalows on stilts further back I lost my flip flops and the camera case and all the while bits of palm tree, grass and all sorts of muck was swirling about in the water around me.

Photograph taken by Christian Klasen

Then it started to subside and I took some video footage, which was quickly abandoned when I could hear some chicks in distress and tried to find them (two hens were 'swimming' about in the water) but I couldn't see the babies.  So I ran toward Michael, barefoot and feeling all sort of yucky stuff under my feet.  He had untied the hammocks, got the computer inside and was ready to move Nyathi.  The water had begun to rush back into the sea leaving fish flapping about in the grass and crabs scurrying about the place.

Photograph taken by Christian Klasen

One of the local people brought back our cool box which had been washed away.  Michael rescued one of our chairs out of the water and we began to manoeuvre the vehicle.  It wasn't looking so bad anymore, but we decided better to be safe than sorry and we wanted to get Nyathi on the road facing in a 'quick escape' direction, so if another wave came, we could safely evacuate.  Michael had to drive out 'blind' as the ground further back was still submerged in water and he could not see any obstacles.  With a bit of sliding in the mud on the last stretch before the campsite road he made it out, but I fear we have left some deep tracks across their lawn!  I collected the table from the concrete platform where Nyathi had been parked and sloshed through the campsite up to the road.  I also took down our washing line of clothes, some on which had got rather wet!  Here you can see Nyathi in the distance in among the trees...

Oli and An walked across to us.  They had a small backpack of all their essentials which we locked in Nyathi and we pulled the back seat down for them to sit on if we needed to leave in a hurry.  Then we walked back to the restaurant area to see what we could do to help the staff.  It was then that I spotted our picnic blanket lying in amongst the debris and one of my running shoes which I had put out on the concrete to air.  We looked about for my other shoe, but no luck.  Michael lost both the flip flops he was wearing, as well as his strops (sandals), so he had no shoes at all.

It was incredible to see that although all the staff and locals were panicked and scared they weren't doing much to clear stuff out of harms way.  (The children had thankfully all been taken to safety after the first of the bigger waves hit).  They said there was nothing we could do, but when we asked about news of surrounding villages they told us the pier at Krabi Kayak (where we had been dropped off yesterday) had been destroyed and that two tourists were missing and a little boy had been washed away.  We decided to drive there to see if there was anything we could do to help.  We parked up and offered to help by using our winch and asked if anyone needed medical attention (there were only a few people with very minor cuts and scrapes).  The pier had been badly broken up and the majority of boats destroyed (including the one we went in yesterday - who would have thought it would be her last voyage).

Nobody was particularly interested in our offer of help and then someone told us they were all leaving as they had heard another wave was expected in 40 minutes.  So we jumped back into Nyathi and went back to Coconut Home to tell them what we'd heard.  At this stage someone had told us there were 1,000 people dead in Phuket, but then we heard around 50 from Leslie, so we decided not to believe anything, as rumours are always rife in this kind of situation.  The frustrating thing was that the only news we had was via radio (which none of us could understand) so we were reliant on the few English speaking Thais for info.

It was also only then that it dawned on me that I had felt the earthquake this morning at about 08h00!  I was lying in bed in Nyathi and Michael had just got out of bed and was wandering about outside.  It felt like he was rocking the vehicle.  I asked him if he was touching the vehicle and he said he was just tying up the washing line, but I felt the movement again and when I looked, I could only see the hammocks moving ever so slightly, yet I could feel small shifts of motion, or shuddering through Nyathi.  I thought it was strange, but then I got up and forgot all about it.  It turns out the others had seen the lights in the bungalows swaying in the morning and had put it down to a number of more plausible scenarios other than an earthquake (like someone working outside etc.).

Oli and An went and packed up the rest of their things and the two other German tourists, Christian and Julia, also came back to Nyathi with their suitcases in hand.  Oli packed all the luggage on Nyathi's roof and lashed it down.  We parked Nyathi near the restaurant, facing the exit, so we were ready to leave in a hurry if we needed to.  Then both Christian and Leslie had international calls on their mobile phones to say the news had hit Europe, so we got out the satellite phone to call home.  There was already a message on the phone from The Leas saying they had heard about the earthquake and tidal wave and for us to please contact them to let them know if we were OK.  Later on when we saw the television footage we could understand how worried my family must have been.  When we called Michael's mum, she hadn't seen the news yet, so that was OK.  I called my family back a number of times, mostly to get reliable news and to ask them to contact people we hadn't managed to get hold of.

We were all hungry and the staff told us we could still have lunch cooked.  We told them not to be ridiculous as the kitchen was still flooded, but they insisted.  As Michael said, they could probably do with the income now more than ever and I think they were reluctant to do too much clearing in case another wave hit.  Nevertheless, the six tourists all got hold of brooms and started sweeping all the water out of the kitchen.  A few of the staff helped out, while others starting cooking lunch!  It was quite a sight to see us all in ankle-deep water wielding brooms.  The kitchen looked much better when we were finished and we all had a welcome beer and lunch as reward!

We all sat around the table debating the likelihood of another wave.  We felt if it did come, it would be smaller than the previous one, so it would be OK.  Then the news of the incidents related to the quake began to come through, which were quite shocking, but we still weren't sure quite how reliable the information was.

We moved Nyathi back onto the concrete slab, but left everything packed inside for a fast getaway, if required.  We agreed to hoot our horn if we saw a wave and the staff kept a watch throughout the night to give early warning if required.

When I made the final call to Karen at 22h30, the statistics reported on television and the internet were:

Deaths: SE Asia - 6300, Sri Lanka - 2,500 and India 1,600.
Earthquake: 8.9 on the Richter scale, the 5th biggest ever recorded and the largest tidal wave almost 10m high.

It was surreal speaking to her via satellite phone to get information on what was happening around us.  All I can say is that we were extremely fortunate to experience the tidal wave in such a protected bay, without any immediate human harm (and for our hosts, little permanent property damage).  Our thoughts go out to all those people in other areas who have suffered as a result of the earthquake.

Michael's head was still sore so we decided to lay low for the day and leave tomorrow.  It was sad to look out across the bay and see debris of all sorts floating on the water, including a capsized boat.  We scanned with binoculars to see if we could see any people, but we couldn't see anyone.  The staff at Coconut Home started clearing up all the debris and Leslie supervised the repair of the bar.

I spent most of the day writing diary and cleaning up Nyathi and the things that had been washed away and retrieved from the tidal wave.  Which reminds me - An found both of Michael's strops as well as my second trainer (I'd found the other one yesterday in a different spot at least 100m away).  So our only material loss was flip flops.

In the late afternoon we discovered that the hospitals needed blood so we agreed that tomorrow we would drive the 30km down to Krabi to donate blood and volunteer our services.  In the evening we had dinner with Oli, An, Christian and Julia.  It was very pleasant, but we interrupted it to watch a televisions programme which was being broadcast in English!  Only then did we become aware quite how disorganised the rescue efforts were.  We had heard that the Thai government had turned down the assistance offered by Japan, but it certainly looked like they needed it!

We got up and packed up camp.  Oli and An came over to ask if they could come along with us to Krabi to give blood.  We had a quick breakfast, paid for our bill and took a quick photo of everyone before we said our goodbyes.  Michael gave Leslie a CD with all the photos that Christian, Oli and we had taken of the tidal wave and its effects.  It was sad to be saying goodbye to all the staff as they were very friendly and helpful making our stay and Christmas particularly special - thank you!

The four of us set off for the Krabi hospital.  It appeared to be organised chaos when we got there.  We went along to give blood, but when she took out the testing 'pricker' the needle was already in place.  I told her I wanted to see the needle come from a sterile package, so she popped it back in the draw and took out another one (which wasn't sealed).  I told her I'd go back to the vehicle and bring my own needles, but then she told us that they had been told they no longer needed blood and showed us the fridge looking rather full!

There were loads of tourist volunteers with the names and the languages they speak pinned on A4 pages to their chests.  In fact, there were so many of them Michael and I decided to find out if there was another area that was more in need.  We were introduced to Eddy from GSEI (Good Governance for Social Development and the Environment Institute).  He spoke impeccable English and was really helpful.  He told us that he thought the real area of need was north of Phuket in the Khao Lak area.  Apparently there were still lots of bodies trapped there and he said if we were up to it, it would be helpful to search for survivors and to locate the dead.  He made an announcement over the intercom to ask if anyone else was prepared to join us.  Three others came forward - Martin (from Sweden) and Harry and Sunit (from Holland and Thailand).  I went off with Eddy to get a more detailed map while the men went off to get supplies.  Michael bought a whole load of gloves, but Martin and Harry (armed with volunteer 'badges') managed to get loads of rope, axes, a pick and wellies donated from the local stores!  We cut the ropes into manageable sizes and loaded everything onto the top of Nyathi and Michael lashed it down, along with lots of bottled water (this was going to be thirsty work).  We all wolfed down a donation lunch of rice and meat and hit the road.

It was a bit squashed for the three in the back and it took us about three hours to get to the Khao Lak area.  When we stopped at the 'emergency centre' they could give us absolutely no direction, so we decided to set about it ourselves as a team, along with Adam and Chan (from Ireland and Thailand) who had also arrived to volunteer in whatever way they could.  We drove along the road until we came to Khao Lak Paradise Resort and saw there was a road leading toward the beach, (though blocked by debris).  We drove Nyathi down with all the kit and set to work using the last of the light and then into the night with our torches.

The destruction was far greater than we had anticipated and the smell was particularly bad in some places.  We tried to apply some method by splitting into two teams and worked through each of the bungalows searching for survivors.  We knew the chances were slim, but we tried anyway.  Many of the bathrooms were sealed, so we smashed the windows to gain entry from the outside.  Sadly we found nobody, but we did see a number of dead bodies exposed, but trapped in debris that was too dangerous for us to get to at night.  The resort dog, which sadly had a dislocated leg, followed us around frantically and when Chan fed it some leftover lunch food, it scoffed it up ravenously.  At about 21h00 we decided to call it a night.  The roofs of the bungalows were very unstable (many completely washed off) and with all the broken glass and other hazards such as furniture dangling from the roof struts, we thought it best to return in the morning at first light.  We located a number of identification documents which we took up to the hotel reception.  We had a meeting for an hour and tried to formulate a plan for the morning along with what further equipment we would need.  We agreed the priorities were (1) to clear the road down to the bungalows to provide easier access for hauling bodies out, (2) get a detailed plan of the resort from the manager, (3) to locate the bodies in each bungalow and mark the bungalow with the number of dead and (4) to look for identification documents.

Then we drove back to the emergency centre where they told us rescue teams would be coming first thing in the morning.  We washed ourselves with the hose behind the centre and they gave us bread, croissants and rice meals, as well as drinks so we sat down on a patch of grass and had something to eat.

Chan managed to find a place for us to stay for the night.  We went along to the Khao Lak Nature Resort where they kindly gave us a bungalow for the night with a shower!  They also gave us hot food and drinks.  The donation of food and supplies has been very generous.  The pile of donated goods outside the emergency centre was impressive and it grew and grew.

Michael and I slept in Nyathi, parked nearby the bungalow and the others settled down (cosily) in the bungalow.

We were up at first light after a broken night's sleep.  We had a little to eat, though none of us felt particularly hungry.  Michael and I feel intensely frustrated that we didn't come here on the day after the tsunami as perhaps we would have had more chance of finding survivors and getting a bit more organised.

We drove down to the emergency centre to see if the rescue crews were there and we were told they were about 2km further along the coast.  We decided it would be a good idea to try and find them to see what methods they were applying and see if we could work with them.  What a waste of time - they had no clear leadership and we decided we were better off going back to the resorts we'd searched last night and trying to stick to our original plan.  I have to say though, that they had already progressed quite a lot with repairing electricity lines and clearing the debris off the main road which had been completely blocked!

When we arrived back at the resorts there were already some body recovery teams, but they hadn't cleared the road to get further down so we got some of the resort staff (who were all very friendly, but lounging around in the hotel foyer doing nothing) to go down with Harry who worked with them to the clear all the debris to make it easier to bring the bodies up.  It was incredibly useful to have Chan and Sunit with us as translators and they did a sterling job of roping in assistance from a fairly apathetic bunch of locals.  I parked Nyathi at the entrance of the hotel near the main road and we stuck up the large banners in English and Thai on the side of the vehicle appealing for volunteers to come forward and help!

Meanwhile, Michael, Martin, Adam and Chan had started looking for documents to keep with bodies when they were wrapped up and carried away.  All in all it was a particularly gruesome task.  Just looking through the debris and being near the bodies, smelling the stench was bad enough, but Michael, and I think some of the other guys actually helped the recovery teams to wrap up the bodies.  It was unbelievable how discoloured and swollen the bodies were, almost unrecognisable.  It was very frustrating to see that not much was done to try and mark the bodies as coming from a specific bungalow to help with identification, but then the manager hadn't arrived with the resort plans either, so that made it a bit complicated.  I suggested they mark the body and then mark the bungalow with the same mark, so at least when they got copies of the plans they could try and reconcile things and narrow the search a little, but trying to explain that to the teams was impossible.  So, we just did what we could, which at the end of the day didn't feel nearly as much as we would have liked.

Martin had a text message from his parents and wife to say that all Swedes were being evacuated from Phuket airport at 17h00 so he had to leave,  Harry also said he'd done as much as he could and couldn't stomach much more , so he and Sunit were going to leave too.  I went back up to Nyathi with them so they could collect their things and drove them back to the emergency centre to catch a bus back to Phuket.

When I got back down to the resort Michael told me that he had seen quite a lot of pilfering going on.  When he was looking for identification documents, some local people, were blatantly removing the cash from wallets and taking any beers and drinks they found.  He said that he had been in the top floors of some of the bungalows where bodies were found and there were still camera bags etc.  It'll only be a while before the looting is on a more major scale...  It is so depressing, but I suppose the money is being fed back into the local community, still, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth and it's unlikely the most deserving people will benefit from it.

We carried on for a while finding more passports etc. It was incredibly hot and past lunchtime, when we decided to call it a day.  The rescue teams were leaving (perhaps their brief was only to clear the most accessible bodies), and we didn't feel comfortable digging deep in the rubble for bodies.  So, we went back to the top and sat in the foyer of the hotel and made a list of the passports we had found.  We will email it to the embassies and let them know we handed them in to the police at the Khao Lak emergency centre.  It was really hard seeing the pictures of the people - it made it more human.  Sadly, Michael found some unopened Christmas presents from a Swedish family along with some identification and contact details, so we will try and contact the family to return the gifts.  We said our goodbyes to Adam and Chan who were going to offload some of the gear at the emergency centre.  Just afterwards a group of tourists stopped to say they wanted to volunteer in some way and had clothes and donations to make (they had seen our signs on Nyathi).  We told them where to leave the donations, but they were dressed in flip flops and shorts, which wasn't suitable for walking through the rubble.  They had come from Phuket, as they had also been asked to come up to Khao Lak where the need for volunteers was greatest, but there was simply no co-ordination to use the resource effectively and with the language barrier it was even more difficult.

Michael and I stopped by the emergency centre and dropped off all the equipment we'd been using along with clothes and  blankets.  What brought a little light to our day was reading through the survivors list and recognising some of the names from the passports we had found.  We went back to the Khao Lak Nature Resort to ask if we could have a shower and once again, they were lovely, even offering us lunch, though neither of us felt like eating.  We both had really long, cold invigorating showers, which made us feel much better and then we hit the road, north...

That was a mistake!  The two lane road become log jammed with three lanes of traffic heading north and just one south (half on the verge) and eventually with everyone trying to push in and create new lanes, it came to a complete halt.  It was 37°C and we sat for about an hour moving about 300m.  It took us about 2 hours to drive 25kms.

Still, the people were all friendly, getting out of their cars to talk to one another and offered donated food and water to hot and hungry drivers and passengers (which, by then, we accepted).  The snarl up ahead was further complicated by what we then discovered was a visiting dignitary coming in by helicopter, which added to the congestion.  Uncharitably, I think the reason they had made such an effort in clearing that particular area and stretch of road (the same section we'd seen earlier in the day) was because they had an important official arriving.

Eventually, the police got themselves sorted and started forcing people to keep to two lanes in each direction (even though the road is only meant for one each way). We got moving and it was so good, particularly as further up the road they had about a hundred wrapped bodies lying in the sun which were creating an awful stench.

We kept our masks on the whole time and I surveyed the scene through the viewing hatch as we moved slowly forward.

It was unbelievable.  Cars in trees, inside shops, entire buildings wash away on the far side of the road from the beach (over 1km inland), an overturned bus in a lake.  Though proof of strong construction shows this Landie stood the test better than others...

Telephone and electricity poles and cables lying all over the place (although they were working hard at erecting new poles and we watched some workers pulling up new lines), loads of people wandering about with mask covered faces, emergency teams and vehicles standing randomly about.

Inefficiently - trucks and buses going in one direction with food, water, clothing and supplies and then others going in the opposite direction!

A huge truck full of wrapped bodies with what looked like people (doctors/morticians?) in  scrubs hanging on the truck top and sides trundled by, prefaced by a smell that warned us something bad was coming.

When we drove into Takua Pa, we could smell the temple before we got there.  The coffins were piled higher than the perimeter wall and we saw massive trucks turning in with more coffins.  Never before have we witnessed such devastation and death and I can cannot begin to imagine how hard it must be for those looking for missing loved ones, or coming to identify bodies.  I am so thankful for our health and lives.

We began to head inland into more forested area and away from the scenes of destruction.  We found a nice petrol garage with space to park for the night.  We had a cooling ice lolly and then I wrote the journal while Michael played on the laptop upstairs.  One of the local land owners, Anan, came over in his car and offered for us to stay at his place and use his toilets and shower.  I thanked him and said we'd love to take him up on his offer in the morning!  We really wanted to be on our own for the evening to veg out and watch a movie, clear our minds and head to bed, which is just what we did.

We both slept well last night and were awake at just after 07h00.  We went along to Anan's place and had a cool shower and freshened up, which was most welcome.  He is busy completing construction on a little eco resort, so we were the first tourists to use his facilities!

We did a driving day today. The first 100km were still parallel to the west coast, but slightly inland, so we saw some signs of tidal wave devastation, but not much.  Just south of Ranong we headed east along a a lovely winding, hilly route with plush vegetation and palm plantations.  We stopped off at some waterfalls which gave a relaxing leg stretch.  It was more of a cascade than a waterfall, about 60m high and beautifully falling down grey granite into two splash pools (the one higher up a lot more turbulent than the one at the bottom).  The homesteads en route were drying coffee beans which had a pleasant aroma when we drove past.

We stopped in Chumpon for lunch.  The waitress and restaurant owner only knew how to say 'Hello' in English so it made food choosing a bit more complicated.  It all looked a little weird and nothing recognisable as chicken so we eventually settled for fish curry which was tasty, if a little too spicy for me.  Afterwards, even with my phrase book in hand, asking where the toilets were was entertaining.  I got the 'where is' bit right, but not toilets (suam).  She through I was asking which town so she wrote something in Thai script and I recognised she said the town name.  So I resorted to saying suam in as many different ways as I thought possible and eventually she recognised the word and we both packed up laughing!

When I was doing my afternoon shift I saw at least eight aid convoys (one with 31 big trucks) as well as an assortment of trucks filled to the brim with coffins, heading south.  Eventually the sight became part of the landscape.  I also saw about half a dozen Tesco lorries, which were no doubt filled with food for the injured, homeless and volunteers.  The number of companies and enterprises which have given support has been tremendous.  Just some of the ones I recognised were Nestle water (and a whole lot of other local bottled waters), Coca Cola (including trucks to transport coffins), Tesco (we had some of their delicious croissants), numerous food companies, airlines (free flights and catering boxes) , hotels and guesthouses (accommodation), bus companies, local stores and so the list goes on...

One very entertaining thing we saw today was a macaque (monkey) riding on the back of his owners motorbike.  It was comical to see his fur blowing about in the breeze and he was not the least bit phased.  We suspect he is one of the ones trained to climb coconut palms to break off the coconuts and drop them to his owner below.  Apparently they can pick as many as 1,000 a day!

In the evening we found a quiet campsite in amongst the bush about 200m from the road.  We think it is part of an Agro Tourism initiative.  A few people have gone past us and simply waved hello, so we should be good here for the night.  I think another movie will be in order and hopefully, a good night's rest before heading into big, bad Bangkok tomorrow...

We had a goodnight's sleep broken momentarily when we could hear a wild dog scavenging outside.  When I got out the cab in the morning, a very scruffy looking dog ran away as soon as he saw me.  We followed him and fed him a left-over croissant and some milk.  I had cereal for breakfast, we had a refreshing wash, brushed out the cab and headed for Bangkok.

As with any big city, it's sprawling outer edges start miles and miles before you get there.  We saw some rather sad looking crop fields and lots of shanty houses build from scraps of corrugated iron and wood, many of them looking precariously balanced on stilts.  Still, it was not as dirty and smoggy as we had anticipated.  We took (inadvertently) the motorway for a short section around the city and then the off ramp we needed to take was closed, so we found ourselves backtracking a fair distance.  The traffic was busy, but not too bad (I think our timing was fortuitous - we'll see how it is when Monday comes...)  We made our way to the Tourist Authority offices, where the ladies were friendly, but not particularly helpful.  I really had to coax the information out of them and was surprised at how poor their command of English was.

Whilst Michael was driving in a holding pattern in the area, he found a hotel which looked like it had suitable parking.  They charged B450 for a deluxe room with air conditioning, so we decided (after driving briefly and slightly stressfully through the more touristy areas near Ram Butri and Khaosan Roads) to stay for the night and suss out other options on foot tomorrow.  The room was old, but clean, with a hot shower and good air conditioning.  When we first opened the door it had that overpoweringly spicy sweet air deodoriser smell to it, but that faded after a while with the windows open.  We brought some clothing up from Nyathi and Michael spent some time trying to synchronise the computers so I could use the laptop in the room for diary writing, but he had no success.  While I was waiting I met Peter, an expat who has lived in SE Asia for 30 years.  His girlfriend, Ni, works at the hotel and together they gave us some good advice on where to go for the evening to see in the New Year.

To start with, we went for dinner at a little restaurant across the road called The Lamp.  We were a little taken aback to see it decorated with swastikas, alongside the profusion of lamps of all sorts from the antique to the tacky - a 3D framed elk picture back illuminated and featuring twinkling stars to lights with seven different colour changes.  The food was mediocre and the service a little strange as the owner stood by and watched us eat - perhaps it because we were very early and the only diners.

We had some reaction to the photograph featured below and we thought we would clarify that we in no way support what the Nazi symbols represent.  We included the photo because we thought it was so bizarre and we were surprised that the restaurant had them as part of the decor.  If it offends, we apologise.

Technically, Thailand was on the side of the Axis during the war, and consequently there would have been quite a lot of German and Japanese paraphernalia in the country.  However, Thailand's participation was reluctant, (in fact there was a significant Resistance movement), and it seems likely that the majority of the people were ignorant of the wider issues of the war, especially those regarding far-off Germany. We suspect the restaurant owner has no idea of the depth of feeling surrounding Nazi "memorabilia". 

Then we caught a tuk-tuk down to Ram Butri Village a narrow semi-pedestrianised lane where we had squeezed through with Nyathi earlier in the day, leaving only inches to spare on either side.  It was great to wonder about and took our minds of the images of the previous days.  We checked emails and sent responses to our friends who had been worried about us.  We also got the very exciting (and surprising) news that our friends (Trevor and Sonya) in Australia are having a baby next April!  At about 19h00 we came back to the hotel to have a sleep to help keep us going later on.

We headed out at just after 23h00.  Khaosan Road was absolutely heaving.  Although the city had cancelled the big New Year events in sympathy with the dead and mourning, the city was still alive with people and activity.  We wandered up and down the street and then went into a 7-11 to buy some drinks.  We stood at the edge of the road, slightly out of the way and watched all the people drinking, laughing and hooting when it hit midnight.  I was amazed at how relaxed everyone was and I didn't feel remotely threatened despite the thousands of people jostling past.  We stood next to a street seller with silly string and he cleverly kept starting wars with people, who then purchased more cans from him!  The mix of people was incredible, we heard at least seven different western languages and saw Chinese, Korean, people from the hill tribes, punks, lady boys (who were often incredibly beautiful).  The only 'problem' we saw the whole night was a tall blonde guy who stripped naked, but the police were there within seconds sorting him out!

We ended up talking to an Australian couple, Kevin and Brooke who have also travelled extensively and worked for an overland company as driver and tour leader.  They were so easy to talk to and we had so much in common.  We went for a late dinner together and Kevin and Michael both put away more beers than they should have!

Still, they weren't as crazy as the guy we saw eating a local delicacy of fried locust.  I was quite intrigued to see that quite a few of the locals dug in too, though no-one I saw went for the scorpions...

On the whole, we had a fantastic night and it was great to tie up with Kevin and Brooke.  We swapped details and said we'd get together at about midday.  We hopped on a tuk-tuk back home and crawled into bed at about 03h30.