We’re staying two weeks in Thailand for family holidays.  After a few days in Bangkok we’re beach-side in Phuket.  Our room is 10 metres from the beach on the ground floor.  It was re-built after the tsunami as this hotel lost everything on the ground floor.

It’s hard to forget the tsunami when you come to Phuket.  There are few visible signs any more - that was three years ago.  What are new are the signs showing tsunami evacuation routes and the towers with loudspeakers on the beach. 

My first night I dreamed of the giant wave.  By the third day it was hard to remember anything ever happened.  Does lightning strike twice in the same place? I go to LA and still think of earthquakes.  Maybe it’s the oddity of massive natural forces.

Adjacent to our hotel is a hillside.  (Note to self: This flight has one emergency exit.)  On top are a series of road-side shrines.  These don’t commemorate automotive fatalities.  When we drove by all the adults in the car noticed and one began to say something.  The rest cut them off with nods of the head and wise “I know”s.  We didn’t want the children to hear. 

This morning we walked the length of the beach.  On our return lap I noticed the waves had wiped away all our footprints.  Yet every once in awhile I found sand-ground tiles or concrete chunks.  The ocean took away great segments of Phuket and is now offering them back bit by bit by bit.