Today began a little differently: with an 8:30am guided bicycle tour. I love bicycle tours – they’re a great, low-key way to experience the local area, so despite the already-hot and humid conditions I was looking forward to this one. It was described as a way to “explore the local charm of Nam Kem Village”, including the “surrounding scenery” and experiencing “a glimpse of local life along the way”, and “a fun way to explore the local community”. It didn’t really meet the description, but it was still worthwhile.
Our bikes had definitely seen better days, but they were more-or-less fit for purpose – a
very leisurely pre-breakfast meander through the local streets.
After a ride of about 1.4km we stopped at the Tsunami Museum. I had been wanting to visit and so I was not unhappy at all that we spent about half an hour there, which was ample time.
We began our time by being shown a genuinely moving video about a European tourist’s return to Khao Lak as he sought to find the local man who rescued him from the 2004 tsunami as a boy. It also covered a little of what happened and went through what’s involved in an evacuation drill (which is practised by the local community every year).
The rest of the museum focuses on the events of December 26, 2004, the consequences, the aftermath, and what steps have been taken (early warning detection, evacuation procedures) to ensure that in case of a repeat, the loss of life will be zero, rather than many thousands.
We then continued our cycling through the various streets of the local town…
Before stopping again at the Tsunami Memorial Park. I had already visited this park, so I walked over to the sea which was beautiful and tranquil.
We then returned to the Pullman, and I had a very productive few hours writing. I’m not sure how much I wrote because a lot of it was re-writing and expanding on previous chapters, but it felt productive, which was satisfying.