We had planned to arrive in Phuket Airport at 10:30 pm, so we arranged to be picked up from the Poseidon Bungalows since we had booked a snorkeling tour with them a few days later. We called from the Bangkok Airport to confirm that they would meet us and were surprised to hear that they would not be doing a snorkeling trip on March 11. Some religious figure had predicted another tsunami on the 12th and since the trip was a 3 day trip which was based out of Khao Lak (which was heavily damaged by the tsunami), they could not get a crew that was willing to go. With that change in plans and since we didn’t have any reservations, we decided to stay in Phuket town since we were unsure how much damage the local beaches had sustained.

We arrived in Phuket town around midnight and a local travel agency affiliated with our airport minibus offered us a hotel at a highly inflated rate which I promptly turned down in favor of a hotel I got from the guidebook. The van dropped some other guests off at the hotel from the agency and it looked nice so I asked the driver how much it was and he said only 600 Baht ($15), nearly half the rate of what I had been quoted earlier. Since it was so late, we decided to stay at the hotel and naturally went straight to bed (without our dinner).

The next morning we decided to have a look around town and inquire about getting a boat to Phi Phi Island the following day. We were only out and about for 10 minutes when we bumped into Gino and Tobi, our friends whom we originally met in Cambodia and crossed into Laos with. We had a similar itinerary in Laos and kept bumping into each other all over the country. We were surprised to see them since when we last talked in Luang Prabang, they had been on their way to Malaysia but their plans changed and they were wrapping up their trip in Thailand instead. Amie had emailed them a few days earlier wishing them well and letting them know we were going to Phuket, and they had just emailed us the day before letting us know where they were staying and were now looking for an internet café to see if we had replied when we happened to bump into them. Phuket town is quite large so it was no small coincidence that they happened to be the first foreigners we bumped into that day.

They were staying at Kata Beach and suggested a few places to stay so we hopped on a bus and found a nice hotel not too far from the beach. We looked around Kata for a bit and realized that this was the beach we stayed at 4 years ago when we did our whirlwind tour of Thailand. It was still early in the day so we decided to check out the beach and we were very impressed with what we saw. I’m not sure what a beach is supposed to look like after it’s been hit by a tsunami, but I didn’t expect miles of beautiful sand, warm turquoise water and some very inquisitive fish. We heard 9 people were killed on this beach on December 26, 2004 and many more were injured, but the beach is still beautiful and nearly every place is open for business. Yes it’s very sad that so many people died that day but there are so many people in this area who depend on tourists for their livelihood that it would be a wrong to stay away. In January there was only a 10% occupancy rate but we’ve heard recently that it’s up to 40%. Unfortunately, this is the end of peak season and many businesses will lose a lot of money this year. Gino & Tobi hired a motorbike and checked out the other beaches around Phuket and they said that everything seems to be up and running. We also passed by Karon Beach and, other than a few construction projects near the beach, everything looked fine.

I don’t think that it is possible to come to Phuket and not have the tsunami in the back of your mind after watching all those images on TV. I was lying in bed one night and I heard this noise and though it might be a wave, but of course it was nothing. A few days before we got to Phuket the weather was bad so people thought it might mean more disasters and of course the prediction of another tsunami on the 12th did not help.

Overall, we had a wonderful 2 days in Phuket and I can recommend it to anyone who is thinking of traveling to this area. There are hotels to fit all budgets and you can have a relaxing time on the beach or spend your days jet skiing or parasailing, the choice is yours. There are also day trips to Phi Phi Island as well as other islands in the vicinity. I cannot be more clear: Phuket is back in business and looks better than ever. If anyone is planning to travel to this area and has any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask as I will gladly give you any help I can.