I am finally ready for yet another of my mails. Unfortunately time and a military regime has not permitted me to write more often even though I would really have liked to.

As some of you know I have just ended a two week stay in Myanmar and am in Phuket. If you are following the world situation just a little bit then you know that I actually just left one country experiencing fatal battles (which erupted two days before leaving for Bangkok) and am now in one of the Tsunami battered cities of Phuket, Patong. This may sound dangerous but actually I would say it is possibly safer where i have been than back in dear old Denmark.

First of all many of you are probably curious why i would go to Phuket at this point in time. Well, we already had our airplane tickets and decided to see for ourselves really how bad it is and then continue to the other coast. To tell you the truth it has been an interesting experience and we have heard several exciting and terrifying stories from people on the streets here. We have also seen the damage done by the Tsunami first hand. As in many cases the press has biased the situation here in Patong. Everything thing is running as normal except for the business up to 80 meters from the beach (which had no walls after the blast). It is a sad story for the people here, as we are just about the only somewhat young tourists here at the moment. This will hurt the business here tremendously. There are however vast amounts of lonely Thai Girls (somewhat disturbing at times).
 
The truth is many people actually say that the best way to help the people here is not through financial aid, but by visiting the tsunami struck areas and make business resume back to its normal pace, and that is what we intend to do now. I have a hard time mentioning it, but this disaster has washed away all tourists away from the area, leaving an empty tropical paradise. All the garbage has also seemed to disappear, and they say it is as clean as it was 20 years ago.
 

There are many tales to tell, but they are better told in person and I will wait with these. I will however, send a link to some photos I have taken first hand which show the effect of the tsunami. But keep in mind just a couple of meters away from where the pictures are taken everything is quite normal.

As for Myanmar we experienced a country of high authenticity. Imagine streets filled with people wearing traditional face paint (even in the capital), men wearing there traditional dresses and vehicles about 50 years old with crammed with people to the point you would think they are gonna fall off. It is a country similar to the earlier dictatorships we have seen through history with loads of obvious propaganda, limited freedom, and limiting business of earnest businessmen. Despite this terrible government, who also deem certain books illegal and talking to foreigners about the government illegal, the people here may the friendliest in the world. Constantly, asking if they can help you, smiling to you, waving, and children running up to you.

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 Owner Peter Crawfurd