Back to Krabi

During a short vacation in 2003 while I was already working in Thailand I went to Ao Nang in Krabi to refresh the nice memories of my first trip here in 2000.
The place is really marvelous and the accommodation was really cheap as I got a good bargain booking in Bangkok a room in the Somkietburi Resort, really a nice place surrounded by jungle!
I had with me my glorious Canon EOS 300 and the wide lenses so I got much better images of Krabi then in my previous trip.

I could not imagine that few years later what it was a paradise turned in to hell. I was in Chiang Mai on 26 December 2004, I was sleeping, and I woke up feeling something strange and my bed moving. It was just a sensation, but after few hours I opened the TV. I have been in Phi Phi Don two times and the hell was in front of me. When the tsunami hit, at 10.37 am, it did so from both bays, and met in the middle of the isthmus destroying everything. The wave that came into Ton Sai Bay was 3 meters high, the wave that came into Loh Dalum Bay was 6.5 meters high. At the time of the tsunami, the island had an estimated 10,000 occupants, including tourists. After the tsunami, approximately 70% of the buildings on the island had been destroyed. By the end of July 2005, an estimated 850 bodies had been recovered, and an estimated 1,200 people were still missing. Of Phi Phi Don residents, 104 surviving children had lost one or both parents.

Posted on September 29, 2003

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