We leave the cave island and head to our next destination, about an hour away. Suddenly, the boat stops. The driver and his mates point to the water – over 50 dolphins are circling the boat. They jump and spin in the air, splashing us. It’s magical and fantastic and we snap picture after picture, toasting with cold beers to the “BEST DAY EVER!”

The next island is my favourite snorkeling spot in the world. But on this day, the water is unexpectedly cloudy, not clear. The tides are rough, not peaceful. Standing on the shore’s edge, water is at your ankles one minute, the next, your neck. We leave, disappointed.

We jump in the ocean a couple of times on our way back inland but the water is too rough. “Strangest tides I’ve ever seen” says the friend’s brother-in-law, a scuba instructor.

We head back home in the glorious afternoon sunshine, still reveling in a near perfect day.

As we approach the shore of our island, we notice things in the water. Strange things, like a cooler. A lawn chair. A whole palm tree. What the hell? A baby bottle. Oh god.

There is no one on the miles of beach. No one. Not a soul. What happened here? What is happening here?

The boat is silent.

We come upon our beach and see crushed bungalows. The once white beach is now black – wet with dark sand; covered in debris. The entire place is deserted, except for one man who owns the beach bar next door.

We run to him “What happened Rocky? What happened? Where IS everyone?”

“Gone”, he says. “All gone. Earthquakes, all over the world. Everything. Gone. Everything. Everywhere”.

My heart stops and a shiver runs through my entire being. I look at my brother; we cry and hold each other close.

I count my blessings that I didn’t see worse that day and pray (in my own way) for those who didn’t make it through, who weren’t as lucky as we were.

It turns out Rocky was wrong. It wasn’t everywhere and everything, but in his world, it was. It was December 26, 2004 on a small island in Southern Thailand.

I’d like to thank the always kick-ass Linda at All & Sundry for giving me permission to snag the comment I left on her site about a year ago that formed the basis for this post.

Cambodia — this is a link to a collection. There are several different sets within the collection. Hopefully I have the right temples in the right sets…it’s been a while since I looked at these pictures!

Thailand — another collection link. This collection also includes the set from my most recent trip, which most people have probably already seen.

The set with the most pictures is here. This set includes pictures of Somewhere Else in the days after the tsunami.

There are links in this blog (over to the right) to individual travel categories for Cambodia, Thailand and India (obviously India is the most complete, since I started this blog for that trip) if you are looking for stories that go with pictures. I’m still working on updating the blog with pictures from the 2003/2004 trips.

I went for a massage at Blue, it was pretty good until she was doing my lower back. She had my bikini bottoms down a bit farther than normal and out of the blue she SMACKS me on the bare right cheek. Oh! Then on the left! Eeeeek! And again! And again! She was having a great time, laughing and smacking my ass. Hmmm. Maybe she likes me…

After she was done spanking me, it was time to roll over. In Thailand, they always offer to massage your boobs as well, but I always say “nooooo, it’s ok, thanks…” I guess she missed the “no” part of that sentence and the next thing I know she’s got my top right off and I’m getting a hot oil tit massage.

The massage place is just a platform on the beach, with people walking by and a restaurant/bar overlooking. So I’m lying there wondering “how many people are seeing my boobies right now…ok this shouldn’t last too long…hmmm well it actually feels pretty good…but not in THAT way…although it HAS been a while since I’ve had a boobie massage, hot oil or otherwise…does this mean I’m gay?”

Anyways, she finished the rest of the massage and I was all like “so umm, are you gonna call me?” and she was like “ya” but then she didn’t…

I guess I have about as much luck with the ladies as I do with the men…damn.

When I got back I was absolutely soaked. I showered the sand off me and put on some clean clothes and lied in my hammock. It felt so good, it reminded me of one of my favorite things at home…having a hot bath and then curling up in my pj’s…I am looking forward to having a home of my own again soon…missing the simple pleasure of home, as much as I love this hammock…

After dinner we had to RUN back to the bungalows because it was pouring down so hard. As I was running across the grass my pants fell down around my ankles. Am elegant AND sophisticated.

Well. Now I have nothing to say.

Umm, I really miss red wine, so anyone reading: please start clearing your calendars for me now, I’m home in a week. Thank you very much.

I have a few journal entries about Lanta, but not one for every day. Pick up a pen? So hard…Most days were spent like this:

The only two times I had shoes on was on the two times we went into town. Once to arrange our tickets home, and once to buy books.

Public Service Announcement: Do not drink copious amounts of Kahlua & milk AND champagne on the same night. It will make you dance around your brother’s hotel room at 2:30 am singing “Rasputin” at the top of your lungs. And then puke.

Thank you, all my family and friends, you should get a medal for putting up with me this year. Love you all. Hopefully 2007 will be happy and fun and shiny and sparkly. And smell good.

Napped a lot today actually, all that doing nothing in Bangkok tired us out I guess. We eventually managed to head down to the beach for the festivities and wandered over to Mr. Wee’s for pizza. Now with cheese! Yummy.

Sat on the beach watched fireworks and paper lanterns that people were lighting on fire and sending up into the sky. Very beautiful.

It’s hard to imagine what this place looked like two years ago. Everything is re-built and everyone is happy again. It’s so nice to be back. Happy New Year!!!

Uneventful flight down to Krabi and the usual drive from Krabi to Lanta, other than waiting waaaay too long at the first ferry (over an hour – an eternity when you’ve been waiting years to go back to Lanta…)

Finally arrived and “snuck” over to Best House so we could drop off our stuff (and pile on the bug spray) before being spotted by the greeting crew.

And then – yay! Mr. Dang and Dieu and Mr. Tom and little Wem and Mann…hugs hugs hugs hugs hugs and then Garlic Pepper Prawns and several Changs. Oh and a gecko shat on me. But still, perfect. Perfect.