Hi again. We are in Phuket now, safe. Thanks sarahu for your offer. We went to nai yang and it looks like a war zone. Nothing is really standing, apart from the only big resort. The one we had been in next door, when we first started our holiday is destroyed. The water came up over the roofs, but thankfully everyone seems to have survived, although many have only the clothes they stand up in left. We got to nai yang beach, and climbed out, and the first thing we saw were the friends we had made who work there. They rushed up to us, threw their arms about us and burst into tears. They were worried about us ffs! These people who had lost everything had been checking for news about ko lanta because they thought we had been swept out. It was very emotional. The woman who was renting us the house we should have stayed in has found us accommodation on the neighbouring beach (nai thon) which miraculously has been mostly untouched, apart from a few plants washed in. We are not going to come home early, call us crazy, we would like to stay longer, but have too many committments in the uk to change, although we have discussed it.dd2 is 8 today, and our friends wont let her or dd1 out of their sight. They have been hugging and kissing them, buying them gifts from the market etc. They have ordered a cake for dd2 as a surprise later today, and her and dd1 are working in the sister restaurant atm on nai thon beach, taking orders and clearing away etc, and they are ecstatically happy to be doing so. We feel so very blessed to have survived intact. A woman farang in ko lanta had her baby swept out of her arms and found it dead some hours later. It chills me to the bone. We have had the stories from our friends about how they all had to just run as the water surged through in a big swell, rather than a wave, see them trying to rebuild the beach and the restaurants and get on with life again, it is really humbling. Local radio was asking for ab blood, as it is not very common here, and they need it for the farangs (tourists). I've given some of my clothes, I had too much anyway. People are cancelling their trips left right and centre which is also going to cripple the thais who have lost everything as well. The ladies who give massages on the beach are now set up by the rubble still insisting on carrying on as it is the only way they can make money and eke an existence, but it looks so surreal.
So we still plan to land in the uk on the 4th , but we are fine. You wouldn't know phuket had been hit looking at nai thon, very weird as nai yang beach is only a couple of kilometres along. patong and kamala beach have been destroyed apparently, but surin beach was left alone too.
I still have no news from my friends in libong which is worrying me more and more, so am off to try and find out news online.