Khao Lak, Thailand

After Bangkok we flew an hour south to Phuket and then drove an hour north to Khao Lak, a small village along an amazing coast line. Our hotel was incredible, it looks like it cost us a million bucks but it's in Thailand so we stayed for about the price of a Motel 6 in the US. It's a huge resort with a lazy river that winds past every room and connects to the main pools so you can come out of your room, jump in the pool, and swim anywhere. We had only a few days here.

The resort is new (built in 2009), sadly this is because the original was lost in the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. It's unimaginable to think how such a calm and pristine place turned to such disaster so quickly and without warning. In Khao Lak alone, 10,000 recorded lives were lost with 2,000 of them being tourists. We couldn't find much evidence left of the Tsunami, most things seem to have been rebuilt, and with all the rain in the region, the vegetation regrows quickly. There is a large police boat that was washed 2km inland and still sits where it originally landed. Lack of transportation and time prevented us from going to see it but there are a lot of pictures of it online. Today an advanced warning system is in place which will hopefully provide people time to get to higher ground should it ever happen again. Some of you might have seen a movie this past award season called, The Impossible based on a true story about a family that experienced the horrific disaster.

On a much much lighter note, an elephant visited the beach while we were there. What a contrast from the African elephants we saw earlier in the trip. Elephants in Thailand have been domesticated and form a strong bond with humans. African elephants are still wild and humans could get never get this close to them without being trampled (unless you're an elephant whisperer like author Lawrence Anthony).