After spending a couple of days in Phuket Town, finding my feet again, I travelled up to Khao Lak on the West Coast yesterday morning.
My time in Phuket Town was made so much more fun by meeting up with Rob's girlfriend Lisa and her friend Bridget - spookily they were not only staying at the same hostel as me, but in the room next door but one. The girls took me under their wing, and we headed off to Patong for the beach, and went out for dinner in the evening - life seems so much more cheerful when you have people to hang out with!
Phuket also introduced me to the world of the dorm room - when I decided to stay an extra night, the only space they had was in the top bunk of a dorm. Those who know me well will be astounded to hear that I managed to spend the night without falling out.
I managed the journey up here quite simply, with a combination of 2 tuk-tuks and a bus - the bus journey only cost less than two pounds for an hour and a half journey - it's super efficient too: leaves on time, and you basically have to jump off as it's still moving.
My hotel here is lovely - it has: A shower! Air Con! A balcony! A pool! A proper double bed! How exciting. I need to swap hotels tomorrow though before I bankrupt myself.
Khao Lak is primarily a dive resort - the jumping off point for the Similan Islands. I did consider doing my PADI here, but I feel a bit educated out after my sailing, so have instead decided to spend 4 days dossing about relaxing and recharging my batteries.
This morning I met two American ladies at breakfast who made my day year by thinking that I was 20 :-) And no, they were not blind - they originally thought I was a college dropout!
Khao Lak was badly affected by the Tsunami, and of all the places I've been, the Tsunami is ever present here. All resorts on the Andaman coast have Tsunami evacuation routes. Here they have signs marking how deep the waters were on Boxing Day 2004. My hotel is about a 20 minute walk from the beach, and even there the waters were 3 metres deep.
Rebuilding is still going on - the school was rebuilt with monies donated by Bangkok hotels, hotels are being rebuilt slowly and so are the restaurants. Prior to the Tsunami, Khao Lak was experiencing a gold rush of tourism, whereas now it still seems fairly empty, despite being high season.
I was pondering, as I was walking around this morning, at what point a tragedy becomes a tourist 'attraction' - here there's a 'Tsunami craft centre' and a 'Tsunami museum' and you can buy Tsunami DVDs - it still feels a little ghoulish to me, especially when on the beach there is a tree with photos of some of the victims and offerings, but at the same time, the local people here are the survivors, and they need to make a living.
It's very sobering.
I move on on Monday, to spend a few days in the jungle, before Jules (hopefully) flies out for a visit on Friday. Assuming Bangkok airport re-opens.
On which subject - thank you to all of you who've been concerned about me - I really appreciate all your thoughts, and I promise that i'll be careful and sensible about where I go.
