23rd June 2005

Hi everyone. Got to Phuket yesterday, now I have slept a bit, eaten a bit and woken up a bit, I thought it was time to tell the tale so to speak.

After a wonderful Thai meal and litre of beer each costing just under a fiver, we managed to get dragged into every taylors going to try and buy a suit.
'The Tsunami came to my shop but I wouldn't let it in' The shop keeper told me proudly as he pointed out his damaged shop front still with sandbags at the front. Alot of the shops are still damaged and the smell of raw sewage is overpowering. We were also told of the cholera outbreak that has killed lots of people. Locals everywhere trying to get you into their cafe, restaurant or shop and when we gave them something stupid like the changed from the money used to pay our bill, they were so grateful it could make you cry.

But the bit I must skip to is this morning. Went for a walk on the beach and I noticed we were followed by a couple of wild dogs, hubby went one way and I went the other. 'He is staring at me' I said to hubby as this angry looking dingo/wolf thing glared at me thinking 'give me the food'.

Suddenly this local woman comes out and tells me to throw a stick at them. 'Are you sure?' I mumbled thinking how hard that is as an animal lover. '3 people bitten yesterday by wild dog - dog rabies' was all she said. Chucking the stick as far as I could, the dog ran off and I could swear it stuck its fingers up at me. I never realised in the UK how lucky we are being a rabies free country being able to walk past a stray and not be in fear.

You should see the locals, here they squeeze 3 people onto a moped and tie up a couple of dogs in the basket. Tsunami damaged buildings and businesses have been placed together in a haphazard kind of way to look normal for tourists. Anyway, walking along the beach, you can see the devastation. Deck chair sellers try desperately to tidy up the broken wood as you go past to get your custom. 'What are all these flip flops?' I ask hubby as at least 30 wash up on the beach with the tide. 'They from Tsunami, they get washed up every day' A little man tells us. Then he adds 'But we are OK now'. And with that he smiles at me. Because that is what the Thai people are like. They have suffered this natural disaster and their shops are in tatters but they still frantically try and tidy it up for you to get your custom.

We went into the local supermarket where she still hasn't been able to replace her stock. Buying some sugar and coffee from her, she beams at the small amount of cash we put in her hands. As you walk down the streets, the pavements are smashed, the smell is bad and its conditions that we in the UK would moan about if we found them on holiday. But the wonderful nature of these people and how they deal with it has humbled me. They smile at you, they are polite yet friendly and when they talk of the Tsunami, its how many people survived and not how many they lost. The DNA testers are still here trying to identify people, they sit in the bar sometimes chatting to the locals. The volunteers are still here helping with what they can. And a few tourists are here too, not many. There were just 30 people in our hotel last night.