"Phuket After the Tsunami" a Phuket Travel Page by stappm

I was there Dec. 31 to Jan 15th 2005 (visiting friends.) And again Jan 2006. It is still beautiful. If you planned coming here and are not sure. Go! The pace of recovery is amazing and the Thai people are working very hard at restoring thier beautiful place. www.phuket.com for more info. The places that had begun recovery a year ago are going full steam!

They are making an incredibly fast recovery, don't let my photos sway you from going! No doubt, one of the most horrific events of our life time has occured, and I am deeply saddened for the loss of life.

The media sometimes concerns me- one night I drove by a media crew, on the way to my hotel - when I got in and turned on the TV - there he was on FOX news saying "LIVE in Patong, the biggest concern here now is getting the people clean food and water." I was soooo mad, I wanted to drive back down there and ask which hotel was he staying in that was having "clean water and food issues?")

Also, they are planning a re-development of Patong that will probably be better. And right now there aren't that many tourists - so things are cheaper and riding a motorbike around is less scarry (about 150 to 200 bht a day.) But the tourist dollars can really help the locals return to thier normal pace of life.

the beach in Surin was not effected by the Tsunami (although the town between Patong and Surin - Kamala was and rebuilding is VERY slow going)

Kata is a great place, very beautifal with fewer people and less "woman for hire". Makes it a very nice spot! Again very little Tsunami damage and most all of the tourists I met had been there during the Tsunami and had stayed...