Posted on 12/27/2004 7:18:09 AM PST by dead
Obviously you have never been to the Maldives...
Do you dive? I've been there 19 times with a 2 more trips scheduled for May and September in 2005.
Check in with us when you can, let us know you're safe. My prayers are with you
How very sad, Prayers for all.
Thank God she decided to stay in bed.
Heart wrenching story, I could not even imagine the horror of such a sight.
I think I will have to take a refresher dive to see some of these great dive sites. I haven't been diving in 11 years since I was stationed off of the Azores islands in the Atlantic. I was originally planning on doing a dive tour in Phuket but instead took the tours of Phi Phi island with some stops for snorkelling with my fiancee. That was her first time snorkelling and she loved it--there's some neat tropical fish in the Andaman.
I really would love to check out Roatan or Cozumel. I don't like the cold water around here. (Northern California)
There is a reason for my 19 visits to CCV with 2 more planned to Roatan and only 2 trips to Cozumel over the same period of time. Better diving dollar...Roatan's only drawback...sand fleas whereas Cozumel doesn't have that problem.
For the additional 25-30 minutes in the air...go to Roatan for diving...for beach lounging go to Cozumel.
Which is why I said "In most parts of the world."
Take a look at the shots from Phuket...every single person there could have easily simply gone up the hills that are right behind the beach and avoided the tsunami, if they started when the water receded (tsunami can be a bit funky, at times you won't have the recession before the waves start, though)
The bottom line here is people are looking to blame someone for this and no warning systems. You just can't.It is mother nature and she will always prove us wrong and in the end...WIN.
Glad to hear you were not there....Race Bannon is over there now, but is OK...we have not heard about Incindiary as yet.
Thanks!
I think Incindiary was in Indonesia. Hopefully she would not be in the parts hardest hit as those are militant areas as well. Jakarta was far enough away to avoid damage.
When I was in Phuket, there was a rush of people bidding up prices, buying second homes there. I'm really curious what will happen to the value of those properties now. I really hope the island recovers because so many people are dependent on tourism for their livelihoods.
I'm going to run until I see the Himalayas
I was looking at properties in Samui and Krabi a few weeks ago.
I still want to retire there, the place to move will be Vietnam soon. Phu Quoc is going to be the next big place.
Carolyn
I agree. I think I will retire in Thailand and the medical care is excellent (and cheap) there. It has some of the most beautiful places in the world and the people are very friendly.
Of course part of that depends on if the government can keep the insurgency in the South from spreading. I think the Thai government is serious about the war on terror, unlike the Philippines which has failed to stop their in insurgencies in Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago. Part of the problem is corrupt generals selling arms donated by the US to the rebels. (Did you hear about their comptroller, General Garcia, whose sons were caught by customs smuggling $200,000 cash into this country? It turns out this guy, who made less than $800 US per month, stashed $1.4 million US here in the United States. I saw guys in our military go to jail for stealing as little as $1000 through fraud) I think we will be much more careful with our military aid to the Philippines in the future.
American tourist Moira Lee, 28: "Our paradise turned into hell ... We saw a massive wave coming toward us and our waitress freaked out. She told us to run for our lives. So we just turned and ran for about a mile up the hill."
I wonder if they returned to find the waitress to give her a nice tip?
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