When our plane touches down in Thailand, Clyde’s cell phone immediately reverberates with text and voice messages. While we’ve been suspended over the Pacific, the largest earthquake in forty years occured deep beneath the Indian Ocean.
The messages, of course, come from friends and family who know we’re on holiday here in Bangkok.
We’re all just fine. The earthquake is a terrible tragedy, and thousands have died in coastal areas around the Indian Ocean. Here in Bangkok, however, we’re hundreds of miles north. The tsunami, or tidal wave, that impacted the Phi Phi Islands and Phuket (all on the extreme southern coast of Thailand), struck hundreds of miles south of here. We’re so distant, in fact, Bangkok felt nary a tremor.
(As we checked in to our rooms tonight, worried callers were phoning in to the front desk, terrified that the Shangri-La had been damaged. Again: all damage in Thailand is from the tidal wave, perhaps four hundred miles away from us here in the capitol.)
So: thanks for thinking of us and for alerting us about the disaster. (Thanks to your messages, we knew before the pilot told the flight crew!)
Our hearts and prayers go out to all those who have been harmed and killed by this disaster … and we’re thankful that our group is safe and sound here tonight.
Side note: Joe and Joyce, who traveled on a seperate flight, have been delayed, and won’t arrive until tomorrow night at 9:00 local time. Weather and mechanical issues conspired to keep them from making a critical connection … and so they’ll join our little adventure a day late.
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