I remember landing in SFO on Christmas Day, very late night. Our cab ride from the Airport to our friends house in downtown San Francisco was quiet and pleasant, with little or no traffic on the road. The fare of course was a shocker, having lived in South East Asia for the better part of 5 months, it would have covered at least a week of accommodation and food for the two of us.
The house was quiet as the owners were out celebrating the Xmas season with friends. We settled in and waited for their arrival home. Once home, we arranged to drive them to the Airport the next morning at 4:00am as they were heading to Florida to family and friends on 26th December.
Rising at 4:00am was easy. I was still on Asia time and wide awake so I thought I'd check email and SFGATE for news. It was only then I saw an email from my brother asking me if I was ok after the earthquake in the Andaman sea and the subsequent tsunami. Thailand, Phuket and the North Andaman islands, where I/we had been staying had all been badly hit.
I turned on the TV and sat in shock as I watched what felt like a bad B movie. This was the same sensation I'd had when the Twin Towers were destroyed by the planes being smashed into them. It didn't feel real, therefore it must be a movie, and a bad one at that.
But it was all true.
I let my family know immediately that I and Jeff were ok - that we'd left Thailand on 25th December 2004 and were safe.
It took me three weeks to get back to Thailand. In those 3 weeks I followed the repercussions of the tsunami aftermath daily. I had close friends who were still in areas hit by the tsunami. One Thai friend didn't make it. Ae died on the island of Ko Phra Thong where I'd spent 8 days at a yoga retreat. 'She' had been going through the process of changing from a physical man to a woman. Ae loved clothes and she had an extensive wardrobe, mainly given to her by the guests staying at the Golden Buddha Beach resort where she worked.
Ae, Rachel and Khun before Tsunami
Rebecca, a Farang volunteer at the Turtle conservation project on the island and who had spent a lot of time with me explaining the work she did with the turtles, also died.
All my other friends scattered about Thailand by this time were ok.
Now, nearly 4 months later, I'm still in Thailand, still working as a volunteer for the North Andaman Tsunami Relief organization. The website is www.northandamantsunamirelief.com.
My memories and experiences are incredible. The people, both Thai and Farang, I've met have been, and are incredible. I consider myself the luckiest person in the world to have been able to be here at this time.
The volunteer organization is based in a tiny Thai village called Kuraburi and services many of the tsunami hit villages in the region because the Government and large organizations mainly ignored this area initially.
