Nebur's World

On Mon, 27 Dec 2004 15:46:43 +0700, John Thompson wrote:

Hello all,

I am extremely happy to report that Tam and I survived the tsunami without a scratch. We are now in transit to Bangkok, in a small town which we were finally evacuated to. I can still hardly believe I made it out of there in one piece. I spent the night last night on the top of a hill in some half built bungalows with some English people and one American. There was no communication between our encampment of about 100 people high above the sea at Ko Sok and the outside world. This morning after rescue was looking hopeless the American and I decided we would try to hike out instead of wait where we were with no food or water and our energy quickly draining. So we hiked down the mountain and made our way through piles and piles of rubage and some dead bodies strewn about to Tim's hotel. He was staying at the best place in the area on the top floor. All the other floors were destroyed, with all the belongings washed out of the building. Luckily most of his stuff was intact save for some looting. We gathered all the drinks out of the mini bar and got some fruit he had in his bag,. We also got some extra clothes and a few other things. Then we set back out through the wreckage to try to make it to the nearest town. Luckily we found an English speaking Thai who told us the army was near by with evacuation buses. So we changed plans and caught a motor bike and pickup going up the hill to the evac center. We found tam when walking to tim's hotel. I thought she was dead since she was staying at a very small bamboo type bungalow right on the beach. But not, she was okay as she had stayed the night at a dive shop. So we got up to the hill and some military people took us to the town we are at now. We already bought night bus tickets to Bangkok at which we should arrive tomorrow morning about 5am. I hope to stay at chateu de Bangkok

As for me when the tsunami hit i have attached several photos and a video I took right as the wave was crashing in. I had rented a motor bike the night before and planned on exploring the area. The wave hit about 10:20a. I had breakfast at my hotel about 9a then drove to pay for one more day of motor bike. Then I drove south a bit past my beach. At that point i was deciding whether to go to the beach or go check out a local waterfall. Unfortunately i chose to go to the beach for an hour or so (that was the plan) and then go to the waterfall after a swim. So when I arrived at the beach I saw what appeared to be a huge white wave way in the distance. At first I thought I was seeing things, or a white poster or something, but when I parked my bike right at the beach I did not see the wave anymore. What I saw was all the water in the bay had been sucked out. People were out walking around in the drained area. Then I saw a long tail boat struggling in the current. I watched as 2 foreigners got out of the boat just before the boat flipped and sunk. I started to walk over to the boat to take some photos. I luckily had most of my elextronics with me. I looked in my bag for the camera and then when I looked up several seconds later the whole bay was full of water and the waves were coming fast. At that point I stood in disbelieve and then about 2 seconds later started running for my life as the wave swept up and over the shore. One of my pictures shows just as I started running and you can see the water coming,. I was running with about 20 people.

I quickly decided that there was no way I would be able to outrun the wave so I looked for the highest tree or building I could jump on to. I was VERY LUCKY that I was right next to the biggest hotel in the area. So I ran up the front entrance and up the stairs to the second floor. All the other people kept running, i am sure they were unable to make it out of the water.

About 10 seconds after I got to the hotel the water rose to the second level. The water was breaking all the glass, pushing all the furnishings out of the building. There were some big desks that were pushing against me. I was able get out from under then and climbed up on the wooden railing. The water kept rising, but just as the water got to the railing, it started to fall and i seemed safe. The water took forever to drain away, but when it did the few people that had managed to stay in the hotel, we all climbed to the roof to wait for the water to keep draining. All this time we were very scared that another wave was coming. I saw another small wave but nothing as big as the first one. As I was clinging to the tile roof of this hotel I started to go into shock with my whole body tingling and feeling like I was about to faint. All around us now were very hurt people that were coming out of the water. The water was the most dangerous because of all the glass, and things floating. I saw people with huge cuts in their legs and arms, one guy with a bone sticking out of his foot. When it finally seemed safe we all climbed down from the roof and made our way out to the road. At the road the hurt people got in a truck and tried to go to a hospital. I frantically waved down a passing pickup truck and I climbed in and she took me back towards my beach. At my beach everything was gone. Only the biggest cement buildings were left. I was lucky as I had my small daypack with me containing my camera, mp3 player, gps, binoculars, and moneybelt, and a small amount of logan fruit. I did not have my passport since the hotel kept it and my drivers license was with the motorbike rental place. All the rest of my clothes, glasses, electronics, souvenirs, etc, were back at my bungalow which I am sure was destroyed. I never made it back that far to see, but I am sure. It was a fairly flimsy place and although my room was on the 2nd floor the building probably was washed away. So then we went through numerous false alarms where everyone ran for the hills. finally i made it to the top of a tall hill where i spent a sleepless night. This morning we tried to venture down and I was able to convince the motorbike rental place to give me back my drivers license. but then everybody started screaming another wave was coming so all ran back up to the place we were originally at. But it was a false alarm so then tim and I ventured down again determined to get out for good. This is most of the details. It was hard seeing all the very badly hurt people all over blood everywhere. I saw several bodies, but I tried not to look at them as I tried to just follow tim and not look up. Hopefully I will make it to BKK by tomorrow morn and get a new passport. I also lost my plane tickets so will try to replace those also. I don't really want to rush home, so I will reassess how much time I have left after i get the paperwork straightened out. Also will try to get new glasses in BKK,. Will call doctor at home to get prescription since I lost that also. Will write more when we get to BKK. Am traveling there with Tam and Tim. Tim cannot locate his wife or her parents or brother. Tim was on a dive boat when it happened. he came back to land about 5p with no idea of the devastation that awaited. I also lost my shortwave radio which would have been extremely useful last night. I did have my headlamp with me though. OK, now go to bus station and wait for VIP bus. I hope you are all well.

-John