Tsunami!

I wrote this poem December 28, 2004 after the massive 9.0 earthquake and tsunami two days earlier across the Indian Ocean. It claimed over 225,000 lives in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Maldives, India, Somalia, Kenya and Seychelles, among other countries. The devastation was horrifying, and it claimed lives indiscriminately, from the poorest to the richest. Among the dead was 21-year-old Prince Poom Jensen (พุ่ม เจนเซน) of Thailand, grandson of King Bhumibol Adulyadej (ภูมิพลอดุลยเดช, 1927-2016), the third-longest-reigning monarch in history. The quote at the end of the poem is from Psalm 46:1-3.

This seemed appropriate to post now, in light of the recent devastating earthquake in Syria and Türkiye. The death toll for that is in the thousands last I heard. I can't begin to fathom the devastation and loss from either disaster.

Image by Viks_jin, Adobe Stock

The sun shone bright on the tropical sea
The palm trees swayed gently in the breeze
As the waves brushed softly against the beach.
Who could know what was about to happen?

His Highness the Prince set out on his jet skis
An old beggar asked for money to buy his next meal
A monk knelt before a statue of Buddha
While someone else, facing Mecca, said a prayer to Allah
A mother put her child down for a nap
And tourists lounged lazily on the beach
Snorklers took in the splendor of the magnificent coral
As the sun beat down on Asia and Africa

Then it happened.

The waves grew suddenly large
The rising water engulfed the beggar
As the trembling ground felled the ancient Indonesian temple
And the mosque collapsed in the force of the quake
As a great island shifted 100 feet to the southwest

The earth stopped shaking
But the disaster was far from over
The waves rose higher
Great walls of water threw His Highness into the sea
And dashed the snorklers against the rugged coral
The angry ocean crashed into the beaches
And took the tourists by surprise
3000 miles the water traveled
To wash away African villages
As countless mothers and children across the coasts of Asia and Africa
Were swept from their homes into the raging sea

The sheer force of the tsunamis
Lifted many off the ground
And hurled them far inland or out to sea

How many were lost that day?
How many more will be lost to disease?
Who can say?
But this I know:
God had a reason for this
May His Kingdom be advanced through this,
The worst tragedy of the young century

May this be our comfort:
"God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging"

Let us run to Him
And take shelter in His loving arms
God will be exalted.
Praise His holy Name!

The Tour Guide of Chiang Mai

สวัสดี ครับ (Sawadee khrap!)*

Hello!

Thailand is a stunningly beautiful country with a very long history. Our adventure there in 1990 was memorable for many reasons. The beach in Huahin in the south was stunning (though we had to avoid stepping on or touching the jellyfish that had washed up on the shore). It was fascinating exploring the palaces and other attractions in Bangkok. One evening we ate at Tum Nak Thai, the largest restaurant in the world at the time (the servers used roller skates to get around).** The intricacy of their architecture blew me away. Though we didn't learn much Thai, the first thing we learned was ไม่เผ็ด (approximately pronounced "my pet"), which means "not spicy" (or "zero stars"). It is a very important thing to know when ordering in Thai restaurants and has been useful to know in years since when I've gone to Thai restaurants in surprising the servers. 😀 I've only had to translate into English for a server once in a Thai restaurant in the US.

Old Market in Bangkok

One thing I will always remember is the kindness of our cab driver in the northern city of Chiang Mai. If I remember right, his name was Wic. (I'm sure that's short for something.) We came to Thailand using frequent flyer miles, and we weren't with a tour group. I'm not sure how all the arrangements were made, as I was 12, but Wic became our official tour guide. He arrived at our hotel every morning and took us all over the place, in many cases to places that were not frequented by tourists, but were incredibly fascinating.

We got to ride samlor (สามล้อ), or tricycles (the word literally means "three wheels"). We also got to ride the similar tuk tuks (ตุ๊ก ตุ๊ก, not pictured - the main difference is that samlors are pulled by bicyles, and tuk tuks are motorized and have a roof over the whole thing). That's Wic standing on the right in the top picture. He took us to visit Buddhist temples. We had to take our shoes off at the door, and we marveled at the intricacy of everything. He took us to the Maesa Elephant Camp, where we got to ride elephants. I remember being surprised that their dung is green. (TMI?) They are majestic and highly intelligent animals. It was fascinating.

Perhaps the most fascinating part was when he took us to see the ancient ruins of the palaces. His English was limited, but he explained that Chiang Mai was once the capital, and the palaces were destroyed in an earthquake around 1000 years ago. The grounds were deserted when we were there. If we had gone with a tour group, we may not have gone there, and it was a highlight of the trip.

Chiang Mai is the home of many different kinds of factories, and Wic took us to many of them. The silk factory (he's holding a basket with silkworms in the lower left picture) had fascinating exhibits of the entire process from the silkworms hatching to the end product. The umbrella factory had incredible paintings on their very large umbrellas. There were factories for lacquer trinkets and sculptures, for jade sculptures, for statues, and several others. They were fascinating.

We could not have asked for a better tour guide if we had paid a lot more for an "official" tour. He was a cab driver, and he took it on himself to take us around for several days. Wic went way above and beyond the call of duty, and he made it a very memorable, educational and fascinating time.

My mom and a friend in Chiang Mai
(Said friend was much nicer than
another monkey I could mention!)

* The formalities in Thai are interesting. In Tagalog, formalities depend on the person you are speaking to, so if you are talking to someone older, you add po to what you are saying. French has two words for "you" depending on who (and how many people) you're talking to. English has "sir" and "ma'am", depending on who you're talking to. But in Thai, these formalities depend on the gender of the person talking. Males say สวัสดี ครับ (Sawadee khrap), and females say สวัสดี ค่ะ (Sawadee kha). That said, I just did a little more research on this and found they have other greetings that vary depending on how close you are to the person you're talking to. Languages fascinate me.

** A little research just now tells me that Tum Nak Thai is no more, and there is a Carrefour there now. I guess they aren't just in Europe, as I thought a few days ago!