Phuket

Paddy · #1 17-01-2005, 13:39

I was in BKK a couple of days after the tsunami and I read this amazing story in the Bangkok Post. Apparently there's an elephant farm (or maybe it's an elephant tourist attraction) somewhere on Phuket and a couple of hours before the wave hit, all the elphants started trumpeting. The handlers had never heard them make a sound quite like it - one of them said it sounded like they were crying. And they kept nudging the handlers, trying to push them in the direction that was farthest from the sea.

It was the same at a buffalo farm on Phuket. The buffalo were all really jumpy and they herded themselves onto the highest ground away from the sea.

hugos · #2 17-01-2005, 13:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paddy

I was in BKK a couple of days after the tsunami and I read this amazing story in the Bangkok Post. Apparently there's an elephant farm (or maybe it's an elephant tourist attraction) somewhere on Phuket and a couple of hours before the wave hit, all the elphants started trumpeting. The handlers had never heard them make a sound quite like it - one of them said it sounded like they were crying. And they kept nudging the handlers, trying to push them in the direction that was farthest from the sea.

It was the same at a buffalo farm on Phuket. The buffalo were all really jumpy and they herded themselves onto the highest ground away from the sea.

Yes. The same happened in Sri Lanka. There`s a National Park where they found only dead people. No dead animals. They felt it and ran away earlier.

tintin · #3 17-01-2005, 15:59

Yep, we think we are intelligent, but we even do not have sences of some animals!

aussie dollar · #4 17-01-2005, 16:10

on tonights news
in sri lanka the elphants have a tracking system (micro chip or what ever)
they will be able to run a check and see there movements before and after
the wave results will be interesting i think.
if i hear more will let you know.
other interesting point is Mokin people of the surin islands have a look at this article
http://www.bangkokpost.net/en/Outloo...2005_out10.php
I wonder how many humans would have this ability still if the world wasnt "devolped" as much as it has been.

LivinLOS · #5 17-01-2005, 16:21

Elephants communicate with subsonic frequencies (african ones do anyway) that are well below our hearing..

Makes sense that they would be able to hear the rumbling or either the quake or possibly the noises from the ocean..

jimholio · #6 17-01-2005, 16:50

Yea i was amazed about that article aswell. The first thing that i thought of was, Buddhism, you know someone reincarnated as an elephant, that wanna do a good deed. bleh.. well you get the point.

Either way we got alot to learn from the animals

Ozskin · #7 17-01-2005, 20:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paddy

I was in BKK a couple of days after the tsunami and I read this amazing story in the Bangkok Post. Apparently there's an elephant farm (or maybe it's an elephant tourist attraction) somewhere on Phuket and a couple of hours before the wave hit, all the elphants started trumpeting.

A couple of hours before the wave hit, well that was when the significant tremor that was felt in phuket (i felt it too) it lasted 3-4 minutes. I dont buy into the idea that the elephants knew the wave was coming, i think they were just they were reacting to the tremor, as LivinLOS said they are super sensitive to this sort of thing.

r3aps · #8 17-01-2005, 21:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ozskin

A couple of hours before the wave hit, well that was when the significant tremor that was felt in phuket (i felt it too) it lasted 3-4 minutes. I dont buy into the idea that the elephants knew the wave was coming, i think they were just they were reacting to the tremor, as LivinLOS said they are super sensitive to this sort of thing.

people said to me the tremor was felt in phuket,i was up at the time,i felt nothing.what was it like ozskin?strong,weak?i didnt no anything was wrong other than a lot of traffic as i was returning the car i hired to the beach road,it was when i tried to turn left down the road parallel with bangla and a huge amount of water was rushing down the road that i realised anything had happened.even then i thought a bomb had gone off for some reason.it wasnt til i finally managed to park the car in the temple before the hill going to phuket town that i managed to walk back to my hotel and find my mate and girl and find out exactly what had happened.
steve

Ozskin · #9 17-01-2005, 21:20

I was in a ground floor room near the paradise complex. I woke up at 8am (i was due to go out early and watch the cricket). As i lay half awake, my girl rolls over and says the bed has been moving for a couple of minutes. WTF ?

Funnily enough we had watched The Exorcist that night, so my first thought in my half awake mode is we have some fcukin ghost in the room having a go. So i lay there trying to feel it shakin. All of a sudden the bed starts moving like someone is standing at the end of the bed gently shaking the bed in all directions. Definately could feel it. I lay there for about a minute, then it stopped. Honestly earthquake never crossed my mind (i come from an area thats never had one). I thought it might be construction in the area.

When i arrived at the bar at 9:30am, a guy said he had been having breakfast in a cafe somewhere in patong. He said the building had moved a little bit, with things in the shop swaying etc. He reckons some people were running out of the shop.

Another guy in the bar during the tsunami was standing there with us and watched his car go floating past at a rate of knots, smashing into all and sundry as it went.

Ill always remember his response... shrugs his shoulders and says "oh well the cars fcuked!"

muddyhoop · #10 18-01-2005, 02:41

I was led on my bed christmas day(afternoon) nursing a major hangover. Twice I felt as if i was on a water bed it was really weird but I knew this was impossible so I thought it was an effect of my hangover. The second time I felt it i actually got off the bed and stood up, I remember thinking to myself I 'hope there isn't gonna be an earthquake', but then quickly put it out of my mind.
After the wave I told this to my friend, he said he had felt the same on his bed, he called it the snake effect!

Mav · #11 18-01-2005, 09:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ozskin

I was in a ground floor room near the paradise complex. I woke up at 8am (i was due to go out early and watch the cricket). As i lay half awake, my girl rolls over and says the bed has been moving for a couple of minutes. WTF ?

Funnily enough we had watched The Exorcist that night, so my first thought in my half awake mode is we have some fcukin ghost in the room having a go. So i lay there trying to feel it shakin. All of a sudden the bed starts moving like someone is standing at the end of the bed gently shaking the bed in all directions. Definately could feel it. I lay there for about a minute, then it stopped. Honestly earthquake never crossed my mind (i come from an area thats never had one). I thought it might be construction in the area.

When i arrived at the bar at 9:30am, a guy said he had been having breakfast in a cafe somewhere in patong. He said the building had moved a little bit, with things in the shop swaying etc. He reckons some people were running out of the shop.

Another guy in the bar during the tsunami was standing there with us and watched his car go floating past at a rate of knots, smashing into all and sundry as it went.

Ill always remember his response... shrugs his shoulders and says "oh well the cars fcuked!"

Where you watching it from that Aussie Bar up the stairs (guess they would have had the boxing day test on live)...that would have been some eye opener

How far did the water actually get up banga Road....all the way to Rat-u-Thit Road and further ?

Ozskin · #12 18-01-2005, 10:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mav

Where you watching it from that Aussie Bar up the stairs (guess they would have had the boxing day test on live)...that would have been some eye opener

How far did the water actually get up banga Road....all the way to Rat-u-Thit Road and further ?

Correct Mav we were there watching the boxing day test. The water went to about Rat-u-thit road and maybe a couple of metres up but not much further as all the side sois along bangla were taking alot of the water too.
The water height along bangla was level with the bar tops of the bangla bars like Shipwreck and Kangaroo Bar. Useful indication next time you are there.

junkhouse · #13 18-01-2005, 17:39

Was sound asleep but spoke with a guy from Cali that evacuated Patong Resort and he told me he felt it and even asked his gf and staff there if there would be a tsunami, they of course didn't know what the guy was ramblin on about.
Being from Cali he is prob sensitive to such things and he also told me he felt a 3.2 shake on an previous tour that the local thai ppl did not feel at all.
After all he was lucky he had a room on second floor and not ground floor as usual.
Like I feel pretty lucky that I stayed at Vech and not Safari Beach as usual, or even took the manager at Victoria up on his offer, which would be a even worse place to be when the tsunami hit.
Funny staying so many times at Safari and just this once switching to another place..