Well I was talking today to thus far one of the only people in the world that could stand to live with me and I realized that I have gotten to the place where the whole tsunami experience is feeling more like a dream than reality. Don't get me wrong, when I hear stories I still have this unstoppable urge to cry, but on the whole when I look back and I don't get the glazed, stunned, unspeaking playbacks of what it was like. My first few retellings of the story involved a lot of that.
And then I decided to look back at the Lanta Divers Website and felt inspired to write about it. But before I start here's the link to pics and here's a link to their story. Pretty uplifting on the whole. And frankly more interesting to look at then mine. But I digress.
So, yeah, the tsunami. I have to say that right off the bad I have to fault myself for being "A Stupid American Tourist" we always here about them and I was one. So Jamie and I woke up about 10ish and were getting ready to go round the island and check it out. I was in the shower and I heard this amazing rush of water and then some screams. I threw on some clothes and ran onto the porch to be greeted with a flooded courtyard.
My response? "Ooh I better get my camera and take some pictures!"
So there I stood on the porch looking at water about a foot deep and people in their right minds with their packs on their backs while I waited for the next wave to come so I could get a better shot. Bout the time we saw/heard the next wave coming in Jamie and I heard panic screams for us to "Hurry!" and "Get in, come on!" To which we reply, "But we don't have any stuff?! Let us get something!" That's when people started looking at us like we were crazy and if we didn't comply they were going to drag us by our ears into the truck. So we jumped off the porch, ran through the water and climbed into the truck before the 2nd wave got to us.
As I, arm around a complete stranger, sat on the edge of an F-150 sided truck filled with backpacks, people and a silence that only intensified our worst fears it began to dawn on me what REALLY was going on. No, this was not a flooded basement, or a river that had risen, this was the ocean and it was pissed! And I was scared. Ton was driving was like a madman up roads to a place that was safe and dry.
When we got to high ground I realized the predicament that Jamie and I were in. We had the clothes on our backs, shoes (more than some had) and a camera. A camera! of all the dumb things to be carrying around. EVERYTHING we had was at the resort and for all we knew that didn't exist anymore and at very best everything was drenched in seawater and debris. So we sat, tried to calm down and thank God for the fact that we were alive. In the midst of worrying about passports and arriving in below zero Korea with a swimsuit and flip-flops on it dawned on me I was worried about things that, though expensive and sentimental, were replaceable. The people that had saved us and been so kind the last week had potentially lost everything and would have to start with nothing.
Now for a brief tangent;
As an American when I think about having my home, business and family destroyed I then think of insurance, government aid and back up plans. There is none of this in Thailand or Sri Lanka or India or any of the other places that were hit. This is something that we are privileged to have in the States and something that I took for granted until this event. End of rant, return to story.
After that the potential loss of my belongings really meant nothing and I just sat back and let the tears flow. But you can only cry for so long and then you have to laugh to keep yourself sane. So laugh I did and then Jamie and I were blessed beyond measure when all of our belongings were returned to us, dry and untouched by the tsunami. Now despite this blessing we still didn't know what was up or what we could do so we spent the next few hours hanging out, bonding with strangers, reading and eating. All with an edge of tension and a somber mood that we couldn't shake.
Sometime around 4 o'clock Noh and Ton told us they were going to take us to a place that was safe but closer to the resort to spend the night. The place they took us made me laugh because it SO reminded me of being in Mexico. The building was a 1/2 finished house with concrete floors laid, brick walls and a roof/porch with rebar sticking out of it. Ah, home sweet home. Ton and Noh went back to the resort quite a few times that day to get peoples luggage, lunch and then blankets, mats and one of the best meals that I have ever been able to eat. So there we were, close enough to the ocean to see it but out of harms way.
Ugh, so tired. Have to continue later. Hopefully even with grades due soon, I'll make it back before you all loose interest.
