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Thailand 27 December 2004 - 7 January 2005 |
airlai.com ericlai.com |
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26 Dec 2004:
disaster
strikes Southeast Asia 27-29 Dec 2004: LAX to Anchorage to Taipei to Hong Kong to Bangkok 30 Dec 2004: Ayutthaya, Khao Yai 31 Dec 2004: Phetchaburi (Imperial Lakeview) 1 Jan 2005: Cha-am, Kaeng Krachan Dam, Hua Hin 2 Jan 2005: Wat Khow Temple, Khoa Hin Lek 3 Jan 2005: Bangkok 4 Jan 2005: Damnoensaduak Floating Market, Samphran Elephant Ground, Rose Garden 5 Jan 2005: Phra Pathom Chedi, Erawan National Park, Sri Nakharin Dam, Kanchanaburi (Bridge over the River Kwai) 6 Jan 2005: Grand Palace, Suan-Lum Night Market 7 Jan 2005: Bangkok to Taipei to LAX back to the AirLai.com homepage |
Sunday, 26
December 2004 Even though I left L.A. on Monday, December 27th, the story of my Thailand trip really begins the day before -- on December 26th. As we all now know, the morning of the 26th brought untold devastation and tragedy to Southeast Asia in the form of a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and a resulting series of catastrophic tsunamis. All day Sunday, my family was glued to the TV screen, taking in the horrifying images from Phuket, Sri Lanka, Chennai, and other Southeast Asian locations. Needless to say, my parents strongly encouraged me to cancel the trip entirely, and I nearly did so (As a side note, recall that on December 26th, the regional death toll was estimated to be around 10,000... a number that ended up not even close to the final death toll of over 200,000. The fact that I nearly cancelled the trip based on the 10,000 figure just hints at the scale of destruction and fear left by the disaster's wake). Avishek, anticipating correctly that my parents would be worried, saved the trip with a phone call from India. He had been planning to fly from Calcutta and meet me in Bangkok, where we would both arrive on the 29th. His call asserted that, tsunami or no tsunami, these plans would not change. He pointed out that Thailand is a big country, there'd still be a lot to see, and I should go despite the images on TV. Reassured by Avi's words, my parents relented and left me to decide whether to go. From disaster's brink, the trip was back in commission. Just to point out how fortunate I am to
be here, check out the following itinerary (handwritten by
Avi): Puts life in perspective, doesn't it? |
Phuket is an
island just off Thailand's western coast.
Avi and I had planned to stay three days at a hotel on the west side of
the island; the hotel was destroyed, and these
images represent a small fraction of the chaos we would have faced
if we'd survived.
In reviewing those images, take note of
the numbers of cars and other large objects strewn about by the tidal
wave. Jeffrey Terry, manager for the L.A. County Office of
Emergency Management, points out that the vast majority of tsunami
victims died not from drowning, but from trauma and collisions.
Autopsies revealed injuries not unlike those of pedestrians hit by
cars. |
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