Ko Pu (Pooh) Adventure

We left Ao Nang struggling to find a boat to take us to Ko Pu, a nearby island that was recommended to us. Of course, we had to go there cuz it's pronounced Ko Pooh! Anyways, myself and a very hungover Tanya make the journey, which was supposed to be very simple. Well, we found out that there isn't a 1:30pm ferry, only an 11:00am ferry because of the Tsunami. Then, we were convinced to take a taxi to a nearby port (1 hour away) and get the local ferry. Since the time we left the boat dock I felt like we were in a Twilight Zone or a time warp. We went to this little village to get the ferry and met these people who were telling us that we couldn't go to Ko Pu, it is still destroyed from the Tsunami and there is no where to stay. But, the guy who recommended it was there 2 weeks ago. The people told us to go to Ko Jum, on the other side of the island and it is better and there are places to stay. What we didn't know at the time is that these people were the owners. Don't get me wrong, they were very sweet and helped us a lot, but it was very strange. One look at Tanya and I knew we needed to get somewhere. So, we took a longboat to the Ko Jum village and hopped in the back of their pickup through dirt roads until we hit Woodlands Ranch. That was it...Nothing else. There were maybe 10-15 people staying there and no one said a word to us. I was convinced we were getting ourselves into some sort of cult. Tanya was laid up for 2 days while I wandered around up and down the beach trying to find something to amuse myself. I found out that the tsunami hit the resort pretty hard and they lost 10 bungalows and are reconstructing other things. I listened (overheard!) to one man's story of how he survived. It's amazing how lucky people can be. He just hugged a palm tree with the waves high over his head. Anyways, so after being stuck on the island for 2 days, we needed out. Tanya is now feeling better so we hitched a ride with a couple going to the airport. Finally, we got somewhere.

We are in Phuket at the moment. The Patong area is the one that got destroyed by the tsunami...We just can't get away from it. We just came here to meet up with a friend that we met in Bali. The buildings along the beach and so many resorts are destroyed...Basically, hollowed out. Everything else looks back to normal. Tons of tourists and shops. Tanya and I hit the beach during a big water festival today. As soon as we sat down on our $1 lawnchairs and got some drinks, I looked up and clouds were cruising in. I told Tanya and when we looked back, the winds kicked up and sand was everywhere. We made a run for it and everything was blowing around...It was quite scary. We were standing out of the wind with about 100 other people next to a pavilion. We decided to make a run for it and try to get under some better shelter cuz we knew the rain was going to come soon. We took off and of course the rain came, hard. We heard a man call us over for cover so we ran over to him. We were now standing in a hollowed out and destroyed resort that the tsunami took. He said the water came almost to the roof. All of the bungalows were trashed, only the concrete walls were left. We stayed there for about 30 minutes while the rain calmed down. It was very creepy to be sitting there and smiling to the security guard that saved us from the storm. There was a bikini top on the floor covered with sand right next to me. It was hard not to think of what happened there. But, everyone seems in high spirits and tourism has definitely not ceased. Tons of people are here and enjoying the beautiful beaches. I will be doing the same for a few days until we decide what our next move will be. Until then...