Nature Strikes Again
The BBC News homepage is so full of disasters and conflict of late that Thailands own crisis only warented the bottom story on the Asia Pacific page. 100,000 people affected, 20+ confirmed dead, thousands stranded on islands; in 2011 it seems this just isn’t a big enough story. Of course I’m not in the UK and it could have made the televisual news but after us being aware of the flooding in Thialand for two days there was still almost no mention on any non-Thai websites.
There are essentially two coasts in Thailand, and whilst the most damage was to the Gulf of Thailand, there have still been roads and villages destroyed on the Indian Ocean side to the west. I’m currently on Koh Lanta (on the west side) and while as of yesterday there are no problems getting off the Island, a day or two ago the sea was too choppy for boats and the roads were too flooded for cars, so we were stranded on here. Not such a problem for me having no real schedule, but for my friend Alex who needed to get to Phuket to fly out by Friday it became at least a bit of a worry for a while. But we were the lucky ones as on Koh Tao there was real damage and real problems of food and water shortage; on Lanta we were untouched and it was quiet enough that no one needed to freak out. We’ve had a few power cuts but apart from that all seems to be well. Not far away though other parts of the Krabi region were destroyed. Another friend was meant to be flying in to visit the islands on the east but as they’re all in a state right now she’s cancelled her trip. And so now I’m trying to figure out what to do next, where to go and how to do it. I’ve made friends with a lot of locals in Koh Lanta so i’ll probably spend some time here applying for teaching work online and then figure out where to head.
Another strange week. When you’re living on an island thats main attraction is its beaches and its storming all week it kind of limits what you’re able to do, but we made our way through every restaurant and bar on the beach, playing ping pong and guitar here and there while befriending locals. Its been a good week but probably not what my friend was hoping from a beach holiday near the equator.
Please send fake tan donations to Alex Boughton.
