Navy Boat (picture above)
This is the moment when you get an idea of the savage power of the tsunami. If you have not been to Bang Niang beach, go there first. Walk back to the Navy Boat. Get an idea of the power it would take to carry a boat of that size two kilometres to its final resting place. The boat was on patrol, guarding the King’s grandson as he jet-skied in front of La Flora Resort. The grandson died despite efforts to save him but his mother, Princess Ubolratana, and sister survived by running for their lives to the upper storey of La Flora. The boat, also known as the police boat Tor 813, was carried past La Flora and up past the market and main Phang-Nga - Takuapa road to the fields opposite, stopping just short of a small hamlet. Find it opposite Bang Niang market.
Bang Niang Market (right)
More tourists died in Bang Niang than anywhere else. Their bodies were hurled inland by the waves and left in the area either side of the main road. They were found, wrapped and taken to the market where they waited to be moved to forensic sites and disposal. Today, when you see the market you will marvel at the vibrancy, the life – the people have reclaimed one of the tragic sites of the post-tsunami weeks. Held Monday, Wednesday and Saturday afternoons and evenings ... picture shows how the locals arrive.
Grand Diamond Resort (right)
This was the area’s latest resort and spa, designed for tranquility and drawing staff from around its owner’s chain of resort hotels. It had been open to tourists for only five days when the tsunami struck. No one survived the 15-metre-high waves that smashed through the beachline, the trees and greens and destroyed the Diamond Resort. Today, you can see nature reclaiming the area where the shell of part of the resort still stands.
Laem Pakarang (right, below)
This was an area outstanding even among the beauty of this part of the Andaman coast. The sea was rich in life and beach was stunning, even more so as the sun set. A road was built along a raised area into the sea and the visitor could be almost surrounded by the ocean – and bamboo restaurants offered diners the views of water all around. Then came the tsunami, destroying everything, dumping tonnes of coral on the shore and dredging up huge basaltic rocks and leaving them on the gently sloping shore. The restaurants simply disappeared. Today this paradise lost is bare (picture shows this) – you can walk out to see for yourself and wonder at what it once offered. On shore, only the trees survived and can be seen today.
Ban Nam Khem (right, below)
This is ‘the Village of the Sea’ where countless generations of Thai fishing families lived their whole lives. It was a community of 5,000 people and, at the time of the tsunami, also hosted another 1,500 migrants from Burma. It once had a sand beach stretching 1.5km into the sea, forming a bay where trawlers could anchor. The tsunami simply picked up the beach and destroyed it. Every family lost someone to the tsunami - it was the site where more Thais were killed than anywhere else. Afterwards, many local families felt they had to move away and rented out their homes, those not destroyed, to migrants who now work the boats. Today, you can see the sea front area and, in the distance, the new homes (picture) built by international and Thai volunteers. See also Saori and Children's batik centre
Blue Angel & Red Devil boats (right)
Both boats were docked at piers at Ban Nam Khem. The Blue Angel was at Por Songpoi pier with several passengers aboard. A Burmese sailor saw the incoming tsunami and tried to get the boat out to sea but it was hurled back, racing through Ban Nam Khem for a kilometre without destroying a house or taking a single life. A man carrying his young daughter grabbed at the boat as it passed and was saved. The Red Devil boat was docked at Pho Noi pier when the tsunami’s first wave tossed it against the pier and into a nearby lagoon. A second wave carried it into a crowded market road, destroying everything in its path and killing about 100 people before it found a final resting place. Today, you can see both boats together at the place where the Blue Angel came to rest. You can climb on and photograph them.
Tsunami Memorial Park (right)
The park was built at Ban Nam Khem with a huge monument, two long walls facing each other. The bigger black wall represents the tsunami and the smaller represents the victims with names and photographs as part of the memorial. It is a tranquil place that encourages the visitor to linger, to look at a photographic exhibition, buy items made by tsunami survivors and just rest in the landscaped gardens by the sea. Read more
Baan Sunetra (right)
This is a living memorial to the kindness of people - Sunetra rounded up the homeless dogs after the tsunami and took them back to her hotel. Today, she still has 27 and feeds another 15 street dogs. Read more
Saori Workshop (right, below)
The workshop was started by a Japanese monk to give employment to women who lost their husbands, and their support, in the tsunami. He taught them weaving and helped them develop a range of saleable accessories like bags, phone pouches, T-shirts and wristbands.
Tung Wa Village (bottom right)
This is the home of Moken people, the Sea Gypsies whose ancestors, just a few generations ago, lived their whole lives mostly at sea. Their small community, which lost almost everything as well as 42 of their people in the tsunami, has been fighting its way back to normal life. Its members have opened a Moken Museum in the shape of a Ka Bang boat, the kind they once lived on.
Tsunami Sculpture
The artist says he did not want to build in any meaning and he invites you to find one. A place for contemplation. Find it signposted on the Khao Lak side of Bang Niang.
Tsunami Volunteer Centre
The centre, on the edge of the Lam Ru national park, was once a very busy place. Today, you can see the building but it is no longer used. TVC is a Thai-led relief organisation set up by the Mirror Art Foundation, a Thai non-governmental organisation. Since early 2005, it has organised a total of nearly 6,000 international volunteers ranging from a 15-year-old to an 81-year-old. In the first year, efforts were directed at cleaning up, rebuilding and helping the traumatised population survive and regain some normality. In addition, many Thais also joined the effort. Today, that work is done and the focus is on education and commercial projects to empower the local people and leave them in control of their own economic lives. The TVC operation is due to close in September 2008 but some of its work will continue.
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