I run downstairs, call my dog LongKong into the house... Luckily, she's nearby... come on sweetie, but she knows something's wrong. I run upstairs, I run downstairs, upstairs, camera, downstairs, In moments of panic, you don't think, you just do, and a lot of what you do, makes no sense. Ok think think think... what am I going to do, I'm assessing the wave, continually sizing it up as it approaches. Boats are bobbing wildly the sound is getting louder and louder, the sound of a thunderous waterfall approaching... very unsettling... all in super slow motion. 

Just as it approaches the concrete breaking wall separating my house from the beach, a distance of 3 meters, it goes completely flat. Like a giant vacuum cleaner just sucked it straight down underneath itself with the most distinctive and terrifying sound, ccccssshhhhheeeeiiiiiitttt! and it's gone! Like an Olympic swimmer turning off a wall, I'm now watching this wave from behind, looking at the back of it as it moves away from me and back out to sea. Huge sign of relief.
 
Khun Ginari comes out from hiding, pale and shaken, frantically closing down the Yacht Club, I say "wow. that was intense... hey, you closing down?"...  "Yea, close down close down... I think not safety here". She takes off and a couple of yachties Tony and Gerhard arrive to witness the mayhem. I don't think any of us said anything, but I can't recall. We just looked out at the sea, amused at the swirling chaos. I wondered, "hmm, I should get out of here, but well, if they are here, they don't seem worried, Nam is still drinking, seemingly enjoying it. And anyway, the wave is rolling back out to sea.. Wrong... all wrong.

CNN didn't talk about a possible Tsunami much less multiple possible sunami's. After a couple minutes of watching the sea whirl around we all come to realize there is another one coming at us, but this one is bigger, and now it's not possible to outrun. Number 2 hits and the shit hits the fan. I recall watching my neighbors wooden gate get smashed in and almost 4 feet of water slamming straight into her front door. I look straight down and between the wood planks of my deck, starring in awe at the water rushing straight through under my house, less than a foot below the bottom deck planks. I watch as a fuse box on one of the electric poles sparks, then hissing then buzzes wildly before going up in flames. I'm fixated and completely mesmerized by the phosphorescent colored flames.  Bobby's boat is in front of me, it's stern punctures the side of a speedboat, chhhunkkk, then proceeds to slice it down the side like the unrolling of a sardine lid, scccrrreeeeeeaaa. Nam is sitting on one of the Yacht Club chairs, water, sand and diesel oil splashing wildly all around him, and he's pestering me to bring out a bottle of booze, "Jep, Jep..." then making bottle drinking gestures after getting my attention. 
 
Tony and Gerhard perform some sick Chinese acrobatics jumping from rail to table to rail to roof on the other side of the Yacht Club, The water level's not going down, it keeps rising. I'm looking straight down, it's churning violently, churning and swirling. Again I find myself fixated, completely mesmerized, just staring down between the deck floor boards with all the fascination of mixing a thick chocolate shake in a blender. I come to understand that this water depth now exists all around me and my entire house in front, back and both sides... violently churning, and continuing to rise. I scan the horizon, looking for another one, I am certain more this is just the beginning, that more is on the way. A profound sadness hits me as I watch my dogs fear and curse myself for being so careless in not protecting her. We are completely and hopelessly trapped at the mercy of the sea. It hits me as strong as any feeling I've ever had, "this is that moment before death.".

I continuously scan the horizon on the look out for another wave, complete chaos, as far as I can see, flipped boats, sideways boats, boats on top of boats, ricocheting waves hitting one another creating huge flumes of spray, 40 foot boats rolling upside down, catamarans splintering to pieces, and Nam is still at it... "Jep, Jep.." sitting in his submerged plastic chair, pointing at my kitchen then gesturing like he's pouring a drink. This state of pure 100% panic goes on for about 5 minutes, although I have no understanding of time. Then the water begins to recede, and still, no new waves coming toward me, little by little, panic turns to hope. I keep wishing it down, down down... no new wave, no new wave... nature hears my wishes. The water now recedes enough to allow passage, come on Long Kong... We start making our way out but Long Kong's not used to deep water along the 50 meter pathway much all kinds of debris and flipped dinghies... I yell, Long Kong! Come Here NOW! and she gets scared and starts heading back to the house... Long Kong!... I run her down and fireman carry her out and through the carnage.
 
We make it to my car, grateful I didn't park in my usual spot, which would have submerged it. I drive, don't know where or why, I go one way, then the other, then the other, ok think think... Gas station, I go and fill up.  It's only then that I overhear someone talk about the Sumatra earthquake that I make the connection and understand what had just transpired and why. A third Tsunami hits, fortunately It's smaller, and I'm inland. Supermarket, water, I think of everyone else now, Martin out somewhere on his sailboat, Jes, her last words to me, "my car have water", Chaya at Surin Beach , Nichol in a Kata Noi resort on the beach, Konrad, my former High School teacher at a Patong hotel right on the beach, Darrell out over in Krabi, did it hit Krabi also? So many questions, so much misinformation.. " another one's coming at 1 o'clock, no, 2 o'clock, no 4:30, no, there was an earthquake also in Sri Lanka, there was a car bomb in Patong...

The numbers in my phone are outdated, so I can't call my parents or brother, I can't call period, network is down. I SMS everyone I know, "Please Contact my parents tell them I am ok". A call comes through, it's Jes... I'm relieved she is ok. I pick her up, and she tells me her friend is missing. They got out of the car, start running away from the rushing water, holding hands, they fell down broke grip and her friend got sucked into the sea. The guy driving the car was struck in the head and bleeding, went to the hospital. I drive her and her relatives to various homes with other relatives, inquiring about the missing girl and others. I take particular notice of how elegantly the Thai's deal with grief and sorrow. There is no hostile negative-energy angry fist fueled grievance, theirs is especially touching, soft and kind, sweet and gentle. 

We are packed to the hilt with water, park on a side street up about 100 meters in elevation, it's calm and peaceful, and there are several others doing the same, camps of people all lined all along the mountain street, picnicking. It's 3:00pm, Slowly calls are coming through and going out, Martin is safe on his yacht Rhythm-Stick, hit by the waves right out in front of my house where he had his boat anchored, battled the first Tsunami and won, then headed out to deeper water before #2 and #3 struck. Nichole SMS's me, she's ok,  Chaya, ok.. moods are lifting, then Jes gets a call that I immediately recognize to be that of her missing friend.. good news, "Farang (foreigner) pull her out of water". Huge emotional weights are being lifted one after another. I'm now much more at ease with my fellow potpourri of refugees 100 meters up the hill, all not knowing where to go or what to do but relishing in the level of safety elevation provides. But countering any real relief is the growing realization of just how many wouldn't survive this. 

Ken calls in his Norwegian accent, "hey, we still doing that sexy full moon party?" Ken, I gotta go.  I had planned the night previously, to pick up Konrad at his Patong Beach Hotel at 3:30.. now. Now I didn't know if he was dead of alive, and I don't say so rhetorically. Stories came in that West coast beaches were hit by waves 30-40 feet high, compared to the 8-10 foot swells I encountered in Chalong. He has my number, but hasn't called.. why?. His hotel's number isn't working. I drive up to Patong to look for him. (Subsequent personal examinations of high water lines validate the swell heights I mention. If you look at the MAP OF PHUKET, you will see that with a Tsunami approaching heading due North-East, I was super lucky only to have my house only side swiped with richochetting waves. My house is located at the "C" of the word "Chalong"... had I been at the "G" location, I would have been completely enialated without a moments question. Had the earthquake occured further east, same thing.).

I now see the devastation of the west coast beaches, Kata, Karon, then Patong, debris is everywhere. But people are amazingly calm. There are groups of people inland huddled around watching BBC sipping cokes, while others watched soccer drinking beer, but just about everyone is displaced. I reach Konrad's hotel, which is set back about 100 meters from Patong Beach, one of the hardest hit areas. I pull into the hotel driveway, abandoned smashed cars show muddy water lines at window level, about 4 feet. I don't see a single person, it's completely abandoned, it's too risky to stay around here, I head back to higher ground. Just after making my ascent up the hill leading to Karon, I get a call... it's Konrad. He saw me drive by and borrowed a phone. I pick him up. He was poolside when he started hearing explosions, most likely blown power boxes, then screaming and people running, then water everywhere. 


We go back to my house Phuket Beach House  to collect a trunk full of life's what matters stuff.  While the house is still standing, The entire bay smells and looks of Diesel, gasoline, and sewage, the electricity is out and no water. I'm at a hotel now, very very high up on the hillside. Yet the the air conditioner sounds like waves crashing in and I can't sleep. 

Thanks everyone for your concern about me, I heard from you though haven't been able to reply yet. I am grateful to have friends like you, happy to be alive, fortunate that all my close Phuket friends and dog survived. I am incredibly humbled by the stories of others who made it out in situations that makes my experience downright trivial. And of course, I am heavy hearted with sorrow for those who didn't survive, who's spirit I'll always know and carry around with me, for they were my fellow beach goers, my neighbors, my kin. May they continue to live out their dreams at the world's greatest tropical beach paradise, Phuket Thailand.