As you probably already know by the news, yesterday's earthquake, for reasons that even experts cannot explain, didn't create a tsunami as the previous one in the same area 3 months ago. So I and everybody else in Thailand is perfectly find, and if you have friends travelling on this area you should have nothing to worry about.
Despite that, I must confess that last night news were very confusing and at the beginning it was a bit scary. After taking a day off in my work to go diving, we returned and around 11 pm got the call from a friend's friend in Phuket saying that they had felt a recent eartquake. Asked the guys in the bar to turn on the news, but nothing was on. A few minutes later we found out the earthquake magnitude was supposed to be 8.5, certainly smaller than last Christmas' but just as certainly big enough to make you worry. And when you've seen the destruction and death a tsunami can cause, you do take seriously these type of news.
We started telling people around about it as asked them to go to higher ground, and requested the bar to tell on the speakers what was going on (and also that people should remain calmed because the wave, if any, should be much smaller) but they refused. Anyway, we kept telling everyone and made sure all our friends knew. A few minutes later, Thai News were requesting people to stay away from beaches and go to higher ground, and then people starting taking it more seriously. Some people (drunk, in many cases) just went under panic attacks and started screaming for no reason, since there was more than enough time to reach a safe area.
Some people walked to the highest peak, but we stayed at a friends house that the previous tsunami had not reach. News were confusing, practically all was based in rumors and we had no TV or radio. Suddenly the lights went off in the island, not helping keep people calmed. We supposed they stopped the generator to prevent electric shocks if a wave did come. We knew that if there was a tsunami it would hit other places before Ko Phi Phi, but had no way to confirm what was going on.
At around 2 am, it seemed to be obvious there was no wave coming and a Thai guy told us that the news had ruled out the possibility of a new tsunami in Thailand, so I walked back to my appartment to prevent the other tragedies that ocurred after the deadly tsunami: the frenetic looting of houses and dead bodies by thieves.
So everything is back to normal and I'm still planning to stay in the island working, although the diving operations were cancelled today due to lack of people.
Thanks to all of you that wrote me or tried to call me to find out how I was. As I said, everything is Thailand seems to be unaffected by the earthquake.
Take care!
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Brief comments from Ko Phi Phi
Well, again a brief message just to let you know what I've been up to lately. And brief not only because Internet prices over here have increased after the tsunami destroyed most internet cafes (3 times the price inland), but because I've been truly busy working and having an absolutely great time over here.
The island, 3 months after the tsunami, is still in terrible conditions. Garbage absoutely everywhere, buildings destroyed or about to collapse in every corner and just that disturbing sensation of being in a place that used to be teeming with live and tourists and now it's not. I've been part of the snorkeling team that is cleaning the bay, and it's just unbelievable all the things that are still under water. We've found complete houses, bicycles, washing machines, speakers,... and more personal stuff that is a bit unpleasant (a bit for me) like jeans, clothing, children shoes, CDs, toys,... It's impossible to find more 4 square meters of sand with no garbage on them, and we are working from 2 to 500 meters from the shore.
Anyway, I don't have time now to tell you all my impressions and sensations of volunteering here, but I will definitelly dedicate a full posting to this issue in the future.
But there's many more positive things going on here, where I've meet one of the greatest groups of people in my trip, perhaps more so because everybody here is dedicating their free time to doing unpleasant jobs in very bad conditions instead of getting a tan in a nice beach. And that brings together a very special type of people. We work hard during the day, and have the best of times when we finish. I'm hanging out with a group from Germany, England, South Africa, Brazil, France, Canada, America (a couple days ago 6 of us went out for dinner and each was from a different country, representing 3 different continents),... and all of them (well, most of them) are some of the greatest people I've ever met. Compromised with helping other people, but always ready to have a great time and lots of laughs. I was expecting to find a lot of travel wankers or people that were doing this to be popular or so they can tell it back home, but even though I have met a couple like that, it is certainly not common.
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I'm fine, truly enjoying contributing my 2 cents to making this island a little better after the terrible disaster and having some of the best time I've had on this trip. I was originally going to be here for 4 or 5 days, but I've decided to probably stay 2 more weeks, even if it means shortening my trip in the rest of Thailand. And, unfortunately, I don't think I will be able to post pictures and full length stories or answer emails until I leave the island as, as I said, Internet prices here are prohibitive.
Hope all of you are fine.
The island, 3 months after the tsunami, is still in terrible conditions. Garbage absoutely everywhere, buildings destroyed or about to collapse in every corner and just that disturbing sensation of being in a place that used to be teeming with live and tourists and now it's not. I've been part of the snorkeling team that is cleaning the bay, and it's just unbelievable all the things that are still under water. We've found complete houses, bicycles, washing machines, speakers,... and more personal stuff that is a bit unpleasant (a bit for me) like jeans, clothing, children shoes, CDs, toys,... It's impossible to find more 4 square meters of sand with no garbage on them, and we are working from 2 to 500 meters from the shore.
Anyway, I don't have time now to tell you all my impressions and sensations of volunteering here, but I will definitelly dedicate a full posting to this issue in the future.
But there's many more positive things going on here, where I've meet one of the greatest groups of people in my trip, perhaps more so because everybody here is dedicating their free time to doing unpleasant jobs in very bad conditions instead of getting a tan in a nice beach. And that brings together a very special type of people. We work hard during the day, and have the best of times when we finish. I'm hanging out with a group from Germany, England, South Africa, Brazil, France, Canada, America (a couple days ago 6 of us went out for dinner and each was from a different country, representing 3 different continents),... and all of them (well, most of them) are some of the greatest people I've ever met. Compromised with helping other people, but always ready to have a great time and lots of laughs. I was expecting to find a lot of travel wankers or people that were doing this to be popular or so they can tell it back home, but even though I have met a couple like that, it is certainly not common.
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I'm fine, truly enjoying contributing my 2 cents to making this island a little better after the terrible disaster and having some of the best time I've had on this trip. I was originally going to be here for 4 or 5 days, but I've decided to probably stay 2 more weeks, even if it means shortening my trip in the rest of Thailand. And, unfortunately, I don't think I will be able to post pictures and full length stories or answer emails until I leave the island as, as I said, Internet prices here are prohibitive.
Hope all of you are fine.
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Fourth photo of the day!!
That's right, my friends. Another one of my pictures has been selected Photo of the Day of ImageStation, making it the fourth one. So, as you probably imagine, I'm extremely happy.
And to celebrate it, I will be incorporating in my blog (or trying to) direct links to access some of my pictures to make it more user friendly. And of course, starting with this fourth winner. Let's see if it works.
I also take this opportunity to give you again a short update on my travelling.
After a lovely stay at Cameron Highlands, visiting the interesting city of Georgetown and spending 3 very relaxing days at the Perhentian Islands, I am finally in Thailand. In Krabi, to be precise, that is located on the coast severely damage by the tsunami a few months ago. Luckily, this place was hardly affected by the tsunami and, to my surprise, is thriving with visitors.
I will spend a few days here exploring the beautiful surroundings before heading for Ko Phi Phi, an island which was absolutely devastated by the tsunami. I will try to work there as a volunteer, helping with the reconstruction efforts.
I will try to post new pictures and the full story of the Malaysian leg of my trip in the next days.
And by the way, I would like to announce that in 4 days is my "name day" (Dia del Santo), celebrated by some Spaniards as myself, and, most importantly, 6 days later will be my birthday. Needless to say that all messages from you will make me extremely happy in this far away land, even if I can not reply to all or take a long time to do so.
And to celebrate it, I will be incorporating in my blog (or trying to) direct links to access some of my pictures to make it more user friendly. And of course, starting with this fourth winner. Let's see if it works.
I also take this opportunity to give you again a short update on my travelling.
After a lovely stay at Cameron Highlands, visiting the interesting city of Georgetown and spending 3 very relaxing days at the Perhentian Islands, I am finally in Thailand. In Krabi, to be precise, that is located on the coast severely damage by the tsunami a few months ago. Luckily, this place was hardly affected by the tsunami and, to my surprise, is thriving with visitors.
I will spend a few days here exploring the beautiful surroundings before heading for Ko Phi Phi, an island which was absolutely devastated by the tsunami. I will try to work there as a volunteer, helping with the reconstruction efforts.
I will try to post new pictures and the full story of the Malaysian leg of my trip in the next days.
And by the way, I would like to announce that in 4 days is my "name day" (Dia del Santo), celebrated by some Spaniards as myself, and, most importantly, 6 days later will be my birthday. Needless to say that all messages from you will make me extremely happy in this far away land, even if I can not reply to all or take a long time to do so.
The fine city
There's a general joke around Singapore that you can see in lots of T-shirts. It says "I love Singapore, it's a FINE city". Of course, "fine" makes reference to the fact that in this country you can be fined for almost anything: jay walking, throwing stuff on the street, putting your feet on the seat in the subway, spitting or even chewing gum. Yes, chewing gum is not allowed in Singapore and it's not sold anywhere. Locals and tourists alike complain about these strict regulations, but the result is a clean, modern and safe place like few others in the world. If I ever become the major of Madrid (and that's one of the employment options I will seriously consider on my return :) you will definitely see some of these regulations (and many more) being strictly enforced. Ha!
Singapore as we know it today was founded by Thomas Raffles, who in 1818 was authorized by the governor of India to establish a British colony at the tip of the Malay Peninsula (something not very well received by the Dutch, who had been around that area for a few years). This colony would be the third one in the Strait of Malacca, together with Georgetown and Melaka.
Surprisingly, little is known about Singapore during the 200 years prior to the arrival of the British, after the Portuguese forced the Malay leaders to flee southwards at the beginning of the XVII century. When the British arrived there were probably more tigers than people in the island, which I think is the main reason why the relationships between the different "cultures" that form Singapore (Malay, Chinese, Indian and Indonesian) seem so smooth: no one can really claim a higher right to the land than the others, since all of them have arrived here at the same time.
This blending of different cultures is certainly one of the main appeals of this country. You can find colorful Hindu temples, monumental Chinese buildings and austere Muslim mosques, frequently without changing streets. Not to mention food. In one of the typical food courts of Singapore you can find as many varieties of Asian food as you could almost find in all Madrid. And everything quite cheap, specially if you compare it to the price of real estate in the island.
I spent a total of three days, certainly enough to see the main attractions. But since it is certainly one of those places that I doubt I will come back in the future (at least on holiday), I decided to see everything I wanted to see here. I spent a couple days exploring the city itself at a slow pace and witnessing the end of the Chinese New Year (here called Lunar New Year, perhaps so the other groups don't feel left out) celebrations, and the third one enjoying some of the parks inside and outside the city.
During our city explorations I misundertood the indications from one recepcionist, and ended up at the 30th level of the wrong building looking for a public lookout of the city. Luckily for us, there was an empty office in that level that we used to enjoy a wonderful (and free) view of the river and the colonial quarter. And I say we were lucky, because we later found out that the actual lookout in the correct building had been closed for security reasons for now 10 months.
The "nature" section of visit included nothing truly exciting. I climbed to the top of Fort Canning Park to discover that either the trees surrounding the hill were a lot smaller when the writer of my guidebook visited the place or he was under the effects of some illegal substance when he described the views as "brilliant". The Bukit Timah National Reserve, in the middle of the island, is a beautiful piece of virgin rain forest (and not many cities can claim to have one), but having seen my share of beautiful rainforest in this trip I was not particulary impressed. Except, of course, for the very cute macaques at the entrance of the reserve, that I could have watched for hours. Remove some of their hair, make them a little bigger and put them in a pair of nikes and you would be suddenly surrounded by a bunch of restless kindergarten kids.
I ended my stay in Singapore with a visit to the acclaimed Night Safari that, frankly, I found a bit disappointing. You ride in a Disneyland-like little train at night and you see, or struggle to see to be precise, exactly the same animals that you would see at day time. Yes, the zoo is magnificently designed and it doesn't feel as a zoo, but I just didn't get what the big fuss was about visiting it at night: the tigers were laying down, the giraffes eating from the trees and the hippos taking a swim. Just as they do at daytime. Anyhow, I fulfilled our train driver's wishes and I did "come back alive" (though the nachos I ate certainly looked threatening)
And that's Singapore. A very small country or a big city, a mix of different cultures with more stuff to do and see that you would expect, but certainly not the most happening place on Earth. Very clean, very safe and very modern, with lots of shops and 5 official languages. I guess it's like a tropical Switzerland :)
Singapore as we know it today was founded by Thomas Raffles, who in 1818 was authorized by the governor of India to establish a British colony at the tip of the Malay Peninsula (something not very well received by the Dutch, who had been around that area for a few years). This colony would be the third one in the Strait of Malacca, together with Georgetown and Melaka.
Surprisingly, little is known about Singapore during the 200 years prior to the arrival of the British, after the Portuguese forced the Malay leaders to flee southwards at the beginning of the XVII century. When the British arrived there were probably more tigers than people in the island, which I think is the main reason why the relationships between the different "cultures" that form Singapore (Malay, Chinese, Indian and Indonesian) seem so smooth: no one can really claim a higher right to the land than the others, since all of them have arrived here at the same time.
This blending of different cultures is certainly one of the main appeals of this country. You can find colorful Hindu temples, monumental Chinese buildings and austere Muslim mosques, frequently without changing streets. Not to mention food. In one of the typical food courts of Singapore you can find as many varieties of Asian food as you could almost find in all Madrid. And everything quite cheap, specially if you compare it to the price of real estate in the island.
I spent a total of three days, certainly enough to see the main attractions. But since it is certainly one of those places that I doubt I will come back in the future (at least on holiday), I decided to see everything I wanted to see here. I spent a couple days exploring the city itself at a slow pace and witnessing the end of the Chinese New Year (here called Lunar New Year, perhaps so the other groups don't feel left out) celebrations, and the third one enjoying some of the parks inside and outside the city.
During our city explorations I misundertood the indications from one recepcionist, and ended up at the 30th level of the wrong building looking for a public lookout of the city. Luckily for us, there was an empty office in that level that we used to enjoy a wonderful (and free) view of the river and the colonial quarter. And I say we were lucky, because we later found out that the actual lookout in the correct building had been closed for security reasons for now 10 months.
The "nature" section of visit included nothing truly exciting. I climbed to the top of Fort Canning Park to discover that either the trees surrounding the hill were a lot smaller when the writer of my guidebook visited the place or he was under the effects of some illegal substance when he described the views as "brilliant". The Bukit Timah National Reserve, in the middle of the island, is a beautiful piece of virgin rain forest (and not many cities can claim to have one), but having seen my share of beautiful rainforest in this trip I was not particulary impressed. Except, of course, for the very cute macaques at the entrance of the reserve, that I could have watched for hours. Remove some of their hair, make them a little bigger and put them in a pair of nikes and you would be suddenly surrounded by a bunch of restless kindergarten kids.
I ended my stay in Singapore with a visit to the acclaimed Night Safari that, frankly, I found a bit disappointing. You ride in a Disneyland-like little train at night and you see, or struggle to see to be precise, exactly the same animals that you would see at day time. Yes, the zoo is magnificently designed and it doesn't feel as a zoo, but I just didn't get what the big fuss was about visiting it at night: the tigers were laying down, the giraffes eating from the trees and the hippos taking a swim. Just as they do at daytime. Anyhow, I fulfilled our train driver's wishes and I did "come back alive" (though the nachos I ate certainly looked threatening)
And that's Singapore. A very small country or a big city, a mix of different cultures with more stuff to do and see that you would expect, but certainly not the most happening place on Earth. Very clean, very safe and very modern, with lots of shops and 5 official languages. I guess it's like a tropical Switzerland :)
Saturday, March 05, 2005
Brief update
Since many of my loyal readers (thank you all of you for making the effort of writing all this absolutely worth it) are justly complaining about the lack of information for the last two weeks, I'll give you a brief update until I'm able to write the full stories (unfortunately, internet is not as available over here as it is in other countries).
After a short break in my journey for family matters (nothing to worry about, all positive things) I arrived in Singapore, where I was to meet Victoria. Well, a VERY different Victoria that seemed to find in anything I did, said or even laughed at something to complain about. So, after a while of unhappily traveling together, we've decided to split up and each follow their own way.
Singapore was a beautiful place. Modern, clean and cheaper than I expected, although a bit dull. We visited the main areas of the city (Colonial district, Little India, Arab Quarter and, my personal favorite, Chinatown), went to the Bukit Marah National reserve where we saw some macaques that were as cute as they were unfriendly and travelled to the Zoo to join a Disneyland-like (and a bit deceiving in my opinion) Night Safari.
It was then time to leave civilization and enter Malaysia, a country that was meant to be a transition to arrive to Thailand (in fact, that's what it is for most travellers) but that I loved quite a lot and decided to stay longer. My first stop was Melaka, a lovely city where Portuguese, Dutch, English and, of course, Malayans have left some of their culture. After that was Pulau Tioman, a beautiful island with no less beautiful beaches where I dived, snorkeled, enjoyed the scenery and had some deliciously inexpensive seafood.
Next stop has been Kuala Lumpur, where I'm writing these lines. An unexpectedly quite modern, clean and safe city that I have really enjoyed. And next, Cameron Highlands (I'll be catching the bus tomorrow morning), to escape for a few days from the asfixiating heat over here (truly asfixiating) and enjoy some nice treks in the mountains.
Most of the pictures have already been uploaded, so you can check them out. About the texts, as I said, just a little pacience, I promise you I'll do it :)
Oh, and by the way, a third picture has been selected as ImageStation Photo of the Day. You can check all 3 of them out using the links on the left, under the albums.
After a short break in my journey for family matters (nothing to worry about, all positive things) I arrived in Singapore, where I was to meet Victoria. Well, a VERY different Victoria that seemed to find in anything I did, said or even laughed at something to complain about. So, after a while of unhappily traveling together, we've decided to split up and each follow their own way.
Singapore was a beautiful place. Modern, clean and cheaper than I expected, although a bit dull. We visited the main areas of the city (Colonial district, Little India, Arab Quarter and, my personal favorite, Chinatown), went to the Bukit Marah National reserve where we saw some macaques that were as cute as they were unfriendly and travelled to the Zoo to join a Disneyland-like (and a bit deceiving in my opinion) Night Safari.
It was then time to leave civilization and enter Malaysia, a country that was meant to be a transition to arrive to Thailand (in fact, that's what it is for most travellers) but that I loved quite a lot and decided to stay longer. My first stop was Melaka, a lovely city where Portuguese, Dutch, English and, of course, Malayans have left some of their culture. After that was Pulau Tioman, a beautiful island with no less beautiful beaches where I dived, snorkeled, enjoyed the scenery and had some deliciously inexpensive seafood.
Next stop has been Kuala Lumpur, where I'm writing these lines. An unexpectedly quite modern, clean and safe city that I have really enjoyed. And next, Cameron Highlands (I'll be catching the bus tomorrow morning), to escape for a few days from the asfixiating heat over here (truly asfixiating) and enjoy some nice treks in the mountains.
Most of the pictures have already been uploaded, so you can check them out. About the texts, as I said, just a little pacience, I promise you I'll do it :)
Oh, and by the way, a third picture has been selected as ImageStation Photo of the Day. You can check all 3 of them out using the links on the left, under the albums.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)