Travel Warning about Bali - Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines and the south of Thailand
Thailand: Open arms, empty beaches
Seattle Times 03/06/05
Where
Lodging You may be able to find special deals on the Internet, but in many cases you'll do better by booking once you get to Thailand — or even by waiting until you get to Phuket or Krabi. There will be rooms available.
Lodging
Traveler's tip
The best beach-by-beach and hotel-by-hotel guide I've found is www.directrooms.com/customercare/tidal-wave-update.htm.
Another good site for hotel status is www.phuket.com/hotel-status.htm.
Other sites to check include www.sawadee.com and www.phuketmagazine.com
Also: lonelyplanet.com, with links to tsunami information, plus its "thorn tree" forum where you can post questions.
At this time in the high season, a thousand or more tourists ?most of them European ?normally would be playing in the water, roasting on beach loungers under the mid-90s sun, buying Singhas and snacks and souvenirs from vendors, or dozing under the shade of a beach umbrella.
But on this day, exactly five weeks after a tsunami hit in December, only three beachcombers passed by in the hour it took 13-year-old Top Vonganuwong to bury his 10-year-old brother, Guide, up to his neck in the cleaner-than-ever sand. Perhaps another hundred people could be seen scattered along the litter-free, mile-long beach.
Except for the absence of tourists, Karon Beach doesn't look like a place that was ravaged by the deadly waves for a simple reason: It wasn't.
Nor, I would learn in 10 days in this area, were most of Phuket's many other beaches, or those in up-and-coming Krabi, on the mainland east of Phuket. Yes, there were waves washing over beaches and roads, and damage ?most of it quickly fixed.
But even the hardest-hit areas in Phuket are rapidly rebuilding. Just take a few steps away from the beach road in Patong Beach ?the island's epicenter for tourism (and videos of the tsunami) ?and the place looks just as it did a year and a half ago on my last visit. Except for one thing.
Phuket, an island resort that ranks with Bali, Indonesia as the most popular ?and beautiful ?in all of Asia, does have a disaster on its hands now. It's what everyone here is calling "the second wave" ?a lack of tourists, which has created a wipe-out of an economy dependent on them. During high season (November-March), hotel occupancy is usually in the 80-to-90 percent range. That translates to about 35,000 visitors a day on an island with a population somewhere around 250,000. Now that occupancy rate is down to 20 percent ... 10 percent ... maybe less.
Many unaffected areas
First, they're trying to make the point that reports on death and destruction in most of their Indian Ocean resort areas ?especially Phuket and Krabi (the mainland east of Phuket) ?were, well, exaggerated by the presence of so many journalists here.
Though the figures pale in comparison to the death count on Indonesia's Sumatra Island, and even Sri Lanka and India, a lot of people did die in Thailand (officially about 6,000 ?probably higher). But most of those deaths were in Khao Lak (a relatively new destination 25 miles north of Phuket Island marketed primarily to Europeans), where more than 4,000 died, and on Phi Phi Don (an island 20 miles east of Phuket, made famous by the Leonardo DiCaprio movie "The Beach"), where some 600 died. On Phuket itself, there were about 280 deaths, mostly in Patong Beach; on Krabi's mainland, there were none.
Even seaside, some things weren't what you've heard. Phang Nga, the peninsular province just north of Phuket, was mentioned often in the news as the most devastated province in the country (Khao Lak is located on its west coast). But Phang Nga Bay on the other side of the province was well-protected by islands from the open sea and is still the most dramatic physical wonder in all of Thailand. Its karst-formation islands with their sea caves to be visited in canoes are possibly even more eerily beautiful than ever because right now you have them almost to yourself.
For the geographically challenged who don't know their Indian Ocean from their Pacific, the Thais also are pointing out that beach resorts on the other side of the Thai peninsula weren't affected at all.
Second, they stress that you will not be vacationing in a disaster area.
Thailand, with the best infrastructure ?and economy ?of any of the hardest-hit countries, is generally given high marks for its response to the disaster. Clean-up was quick. Roads have been repaired. There are no health crises. And most beaches, ironically, thanks to tons of extra sand brought in by the tsunami and all the clean-up effort, look better than ever.
Third, they want you to know that you are very, very welcome ?right now!
Fourth, they've put it all on sale.
If you're hanging out in Bangkok, you can partake of a "Never Before, Never Again" promotion with budget-carrier Thai AirAsia for 999 baht (that's about $27), per person double, which includes a one-way flight to Phuket and a night in a four-star hotel room.
Some of the bargains, like this, are intended for the local (Thai and expat) market. Others are for the foreign trade.
Americans make up only about 5 percent of the 10 million-plus foreign visitors to Thailand each year. And unlike Europeans, who come en masse on 10- to 12-hour charter flights just for a long beach holiday, few Americans need to make what is for us almost a full day's journey to find an escape from the cold. When we do visit Thailand, we're more likely to do it for other reasons ?like Bangkok, Chiang Mai and the north, the culture, the food ?then add a few days for some beach relaxation at prices you just won't find in Florida, Hawaii or the Caribbean.
This year Phuket has deals that will make you linger longer.
Every hotel is offering either low-season or lower rates ?or some kind of package deal. The most spectacular deal may be at the most spectacular resort (perhaps the most famous and exclusive resort) in all of Thailand, the Amanpuri, but deals are also being made at places that normally charge only $30 to begin with.
You'll also find restaurants offering discounts or extras. Gift shops, too. And tour operators cut deals (that all-day Phang Nga Bay cruise came down from $30 to $25) without being asked.
Stories to share
Travelers are curious. (More than one tourism official I spoke to in Phuket observed, with intended irony, that "at least people know where Phuket is now.")
Tsunami videos are discreetly for sale everywhere. A "photo memoir" ("26.12.04: Wrath of the Tsunami"), a joint venture of two English-language newspapers, is due in bookstores this month. At least five tsunami songs have been released, and one has become a national hit.
Everybody who was here when it happened has stories to tell. Or high-water marks to point to. And a need to talk.
A waiter at the Amanpuri demonstrates with a spoon lightly shaking on a coffee saucer how the earthquake that launched the tsunami was felt in Phuket. Two hours later, when the waters quickly receded from Pansea Beach, the staff made the connection ?and quickly herded everyone off the beach.
Another waiter tells how his fisherman father ?"an old man" (he was 55) ? survived by climbing a tree, while two, less agile friends next to him drowned.
A van driver, pointing out a gutted building on the beach road in Patong Beach, says something in Thai. I recognize only the Thai words for "21" ?but before my friends can translate, I know this was the site of the basement supermarket where 21 died.
We drive across the causeway to the mainland and Khao Lak. As the road climbs a hill into Khao Lak National Park, we are surrounded by lush greenery. As the road begins to descend again, we stop at an open-air restaurant/bar for our first view of Khao Lak beach. Perhaps 20 other tourists are there, taking pictures of the empty beach.
There's a sign by the cash register: "Tsunami DVDs 300 baht." The proprietor of the restaurant, Anukul Chareonkul, started taping after he noticed the water receding to "where I'd never seen the sand" and filmed continuously for 36 minutes. At first it's just the vanished ocean you notice on the video; then you see something on the horizon, rolling toward the beach. It seems to take forever to realize what is coming, then Anukul sets the camera down, and you hear him frantically phoning friends and family to warn them, interspersed with cries ? in English ?of "Run! Run! Run!" to any tourists below. After the waves hit, there's no more beach, no more people. The water churns around in the bay, finally receding with floating islands of debris ?and bodies.
Anukul's sister lost two children; their remains haven't been found.
We drive down to a resort area and roadside town that has all but disappeared. Almost everything is gone ?either swept away by the tsunami or cleared off by the dozens and dozens of bulldozers that have been brought in. Only the shells of a few sturdier buildings remain. A Thai navy boat ?flying a new flag ?sits upright almost a mile inland. Some crushed vehicles lie about, waiting to be removed. There are pits still filled with water.
And the beach ?we drive right up to it in several places. It's so clean, so gentle looking. Khao Lak beach couldn't have been lovelier. Or lonelier.
Randy Curwen, Chicago Tribune