So here we are at last, at the hotel in Krabi, Thailand. After a few uneventful days in Bangkok that saw a us lose more than our own body weight in sweat and get asked twice by locals in the street: “Whyeeee youuuu sooooor whieeeete?” we traveled the 12 hours by bus to the “heaven” part of TEFLHeaven. As the sun rose golden this morning, we got our first glimpse of limestone cliffs spearing their way to the sky, stunted only by lush green hats of tropical brush. Stumbled off the bus after not much sleep into the bliss of a large, cold, clean, white hotel room with huge beds, cold tile floors and no roommates except for something scuffling and squeaking in the roof. (We shared a mixed dorm room with 6 other people in Bangkok). Managed a swim in the pool and a brief walk to the stunning beach complete with swaying palm trees, before gorging on some particularly suspicious street food (more on this in another email) and crashing into bed.
After about 4 hours of delicious
sleep I awoke to the bed doing this strange jiggly movement. Thinking that Pete
was maybe twitching in his sleep, I got out of bed only to find the floor and
TV making the same jelly like wobble. And then it stopped. Woke Pete up, opened
the door and saw the hotel staff on their cell phones turning off the pool pump
looking for ripples in the water. After eventually confirming that it was an
earthquake (which wasn’t as easy as it may seem given the massive language
barrier) we then started worrying about the likelihood of a tsunami. Turned on
the TV to catch the 4pm BBC news which had as its breaking headline: 8.2
magnitude earthquake just hit a town in Sumatra. And then the sirens began.
Fortunately, after the devastation of the previous tsunami the locals and alarm
system is a lot more prepared. We even had a guy on a scooter zipping round the
pool tooting his horn to alert everyone! We were told to grab anything
important and meet at reception. Pete and I grabbed our passports, all cash, computer,
phones and water, donned a hat and some shoes and joined the hordes who
literally were heading for the hills!! Our group was split up quite a bit by
the panic of some and the calm of others. We stayed together and after getting
dropped off along the road by the hotel tuk-tuk (local version of a minibus) we
kept walking along the road, following the traffic up, wherever “up” may be. We
were passed by wonderful locals offering us rides on the back of their bikes
and in their trucks. Some of the group panicked and grabbed this option which
led them to a shopping mall in Krabi Town, about an hour inland. The rest of us
found a dirt farm road that hiked up the side of a cliff and decided this would
make a very decent and not too distant escape. We climbed to the top (about
150m above sea level) and discovered a sap tree farm with an exquisite panorama
of the coastline and a little tin roof shack. If this wave was coming we would
be able to see it!
Unfortunately, we were quick to
learn that running from a tsunami has little to do with running away and more
to do with waiting somewhere safe until the danger passes. But “safe” can be a
fluid concept, particularly when black thunderheads are rolling in from behind
you and lightning is forking across the sky towards the very direction the
tsunami is supposed to be coming from! Yup, Zeus had met Poseidon’s challenge
and it began to rain. But not “rain” as the English like to call it. More of a
monsoon type downpour with raindrops the size of ping pong balls and thundering
crashes of lightning that made us think sheltering in the tin hut with a bunch of locals was probably not the smartest idea.
Oh well, it was this or getting soaked under the sap trees outside.
By now it was about 5pm. With
modern technology most of us had made contact with home and were receiving
regular updates about the progress of the tsunami warnings via news channels
across the world. Pete was
fantastic in liaising with the main group leader, who was stuck at the airport
picking up the last of the guys to join our group.
Zeus and Poseidon would continue
their “argy bargy” for another few hours yet. We were told a second earthquake
had hit Sumatra and Phuket airport had been closed. Tsunami warnings were
maintained and we would have to wait another few hours until it was safe to
return to the hotel. The rain eased a little and we decided to head down the
hill to locate the others or at least find a more populated high area for some
food. After faffing about for a bit, Sid arranged for the hotel transport to
pick us up. Eventually we reached the same shopping centre the others had been
dropped at hours earlier and were able to get some food. After dinner we found
out the warnings had been officially lifted by the Thai government and it was
safe to return. I guess Zeus had won because he showed off by drenching us in
the back of a tuk-tuk with one final downpour that is only now fading into the
distance.
10pm and we are safe and sound
back at the hotel. Internet is frustratingly slow and keeps dropping out as
everyone tries to contact home and let family know we are ok. It’s been a hell
of a day and wouldn’t have taken much convincing for us to think that the Mayan
prophecies about the world ending in 2012 were true! But now we are safe and
praise God once again for his miraculous hand in protecting us. Only a good
night’s sleep awaits now….but only if our squeaky friends in the wall keep it
down!
Oh no wait, actually the
electricity has just gone out. Maybe we’re not done just yet…
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