Khao Lak's Police Boat

Mentioning the town of Khao Lak in any conversation immediately brings up the tsunami of 2004. Khao Lak was hit the hardest of any place in Thailand, killing more than 5,000, injuring a countless number of people and completely devastating the town in the process. Videos are sold of the natural massacre but I've never watched it, heeding the advice of those who have. The explicit video is a compilation of home videos showing the wave steamrolling through the town burying everything in its path. Today most of the town is rebuilt but standing as a permanent reminder of the sheer power and magnitude of the tsunami, nearly 2 kilometers from shore sits this large police boat.

It has now become a tourist attraction, one that demands attention. It's truly unbelievable that the wave had the strength to carry such a huge boat that far inland. Unable to fathom of such a wave, the boat shows the travelers who go to Khao Lak today that the tsunami brought destruction beyond most imaginations.

A Family Day, Then Remembering Dave's Great Fall

Living in Khao Lak nearly two years ago, I loved the place because there was never a lack of things to do. A motorbike can get you to one of five national parks, four waterfalls, or an innumerable number of beaches. Even more exciting can be a ride down some unknown roads enjoying a scenic drive and looking for something or nothing at all. With my parents in town with such a short period of time, I drove them to the highlights of these places, another grand tour of Thailand's Andaman coast.

On the way to the grandest of waterfalls in the south, I made a quick stop to this waterfall, reduced to cascading trickles during the hot season. Still, when you're from Michigan, any waterfall is beautiful and it was worth the short detour through the countryside.

The roadtrip to Nam Tang waterfall goes north along the coast to the small town of Takuapa before turning east and winding through the mountains thickly covered in forest. Along the way you'll always see some rainfall and you'll never know if it's raining at the waterfall until you get there. The rain on the way was barely enough to necessitate using the windshield wipers and when we arrived we could have used some clouds in the sky to help reduce the sun's mid-day heat.

The falls are in a national park and it's a small hike to get back to the cliff. Along the way is this bridge, a rebuilt, safer version of what spanned the gap in the rocks a year or so earlier (see: pic with me standing above the bridge). I mention this because on a fateful day when the bridge was no so safe, I walked the trail with two friends on a violently rainy day. The winds and the sharp rain made the waterfall powerfully beautiful but unbearable, with no place to hide from the elements. We watched the water gush down from the cliff and shoot down from the sky for a mere 5 minutes before leaving.

Then, walking back through the rain my friend Dave in mid-conversation slipped on the slippery wood surface of the bridge, grabbed at a weak railing, and pulled it down with him as he careened off a large rock and fell to the stoney creek at least 4 meters below. The fall was no joke. I remember being petrified, having no idea what to do. Dave had landed below into rocks sitting in very little water. In a fall like his, he could have -or should have- broken several bones and in all truth, given a horrible landing, could have died. His landing was, given the circumstances, almost ideal. A painful, whimpered, "I'm alright" came from underneath the bridge. Niether I nor my friend could actually see Dave below. After lying in pain for several minutes, he managed to climb through the brush back up to the trail in extreme pain. He luckily only suffered a broken rib and countless cuts and bruises.

These days the bridge is much safer and has a railing that appears strong enough to prevent someone from falling below. During Dave's fall he lost a watch and I actually descended down to the creek below looking for the long-shot chance that it could still be down there waiting to be found but I had no such luck.

The trip with my parents was much safer and went on without incident. The waterfall had less water than before but the weather was perfect. These pictures hardly capture its height or natural beauty. I've been to these many times now and the story of Flume's fall is one that never goes untold. Standing on top of the bridge the new visitors always grimace looking down, contemplating the prospect of slipping and falling below. A great fall, but an even better story.

Tour of Suan Long Kong, Werachai's farm, and my former residence

Werachai’s farm grows more fruits than I can name and several of them, I’ve never seen before in my life. On the farm sits three lakes (two fresh, one saltwater), rubber tree fields, a greenhouse and a large terraced hill they call a mountain. In the back of their pickup truck, we toured the farm with Werachai and his best best friend Wiset as tour guides. Here, I am eating a tiny little fruit the size of a marble that first assults the taste buds with a striking sourness, then dries out your tongue with intense bitterness.

Adding to the farming business, Werachai has plans to make a eco-resort out of his land. He’s already built one impressive hand-built bungalow and has begun to clear the mountain for bungalows with panoramic views on both the Andamen sea and the coastal mountains. This picture is of our tour of the resort's main office that’s being built by the workers on the farm when it’s not fruit picking season. Their on-off building schedule makes the construction an extremely slow process, but none of them seem to mind: they have a vision.

In the back of the pick up, Ron and Linda with the master carpenter. In the back ground are the fruit trees, deliberate rows of different fruit trees growing together.

Here's one of the fresh water lakes on the farm. Behind me is their irrigation pump watering to most of the property. The floating "bridge" is sturdier than it looks.

Werachai picking some strange bell-shaped fruit with a large cashew-like nut growing out of its core. The fruit is a mix of a peach and a juicy apple. Behind us are betel nuts drying in the sun. When they’re totally dry, they’ll peel off the husks and sell the nuts to Burma and Northern Thailand. Betel nut is that red stuff old Thai people chew and let the red stain their teeth and drool down their chin. It’s gross but they seem to like it. We didn’t get to try any.

In the greenhouse there were only a few flowers in bloom. My mother wished she could have grown the same plants back at Michigan.

Werachai showing off his big wood. It’s number two, behind teak, he said.

The tour took us to another garden of flowers grown to sell and to the so-called mountain.

Behind us is his farm, almost extending out to the bright white Andaman sea. Up here is where he plans to hand build bungalows.

Down to the villages surrounding the farm, we stop by a fishing community. Most of the other boats out at sea, but there was one man in his boat painting the bow.

It was low tide at the time and all these boats will float once the water comes back. Except for the green one in the distance, still wrecked from the tsunami.

Werachai shows us the tsunami evacuation plan. Signs are posted all over the coast directing people to safe areas in case the sirens warn of another tidal wave.

We stopped at several houses in the village and this guy’s yard was the cleanest I’ve ever seen in Thailand. I’m pretty sure he sweeps his dirt yard everyday. Every other yard was a mess, an example of local entropy. The man sat on his porch weaving thatch roofing that he sold for 7 baht a piece. He said he averaged making 50-60 a day.



Floating fish farms in the village. We didn't brave the walk out to get a closer look.

After lunch we drove out to a coastal national park for a walk on the beach. The sun was so hot I felt like it was burnt the second it touched me. We made it a short walk and went back to the shade.

In a couple months it will be my parents 25th wedding anniversary. If you haven’t bought them a present and a card yet, you better get a move on. Ron would like a new airplane and my mom wants a waterfall built in the back yard.

Me and the family. Wiset, Werachai and Noot. I was pooped. What a great day.