Fish Tale

These guys were everywhere. Never could find out the background, not even on the internet.

We visited a free aquarium/hatchery. It was nothing fancy, mostly big concrete holding tanks full of salt water fish but the fish themselves were fascinating. There was a boardwalk which went out over a pond full of fish the length of my niece plus an extra hundred pounds! We heard a large smack in the water and turned to see a large sea turtle surfacing! There was an eel and starfish with patterns we had never seen before.The fish swam beneath back and forth beneath our feet.

mandachino

Who Has Barricaded the Sea With Doors?

This picture reminded me of a question asked several thousand years ago: "Who has barricaded the sea with doors...that this far you may go and no farther?" Unfortunately, events above and beneath the ocean have triggered devastating hurricanes and tsunamis that wreak havoc all over the world. The Asian tsunami on December2 6th, 2004 killed over 220,000 people. 5,000 of those were in Thailand. Most of the damage has been repaired and after 6 years you might never know what happened here. However, on a few of the smaller islands, you can find the skeletal remains of boats that were carried far inland, pushed through forests and left to rot. These below were left as testimony, a reminder to always respect the power of the sea.










































A friend here told me that despite the damage, the Thai people kept their sense of humor about them and as early as days after, were making jokes. One man was jogging along the shoreline when suddenly a local started yelling, "Tsunami coming! Tsunami coming! Run! Run!" Then the local burst out laughing. There are now evacuation routes all over the island and even on hiking paths you can find directions to evacuation sites, a cave or a high flat rock to climb to for safety.

mandy