Tsunami
My sister and I were safe up north when the tsunami hit. We felt the earthquake shaking our beds gently, but we were in no danger. A lot of people I spoke to in Chiang Mai didn't even notice it, and if the earthquake didn't leave our lampshades swinging we probably wouldn't have believed it really happened.

But not four days before the tsunami hit Thailand, I was camping on a beach on an island not far from Phi Phi, dreaming about killing all the cicadas within earshot. That island must have been devestated - it was mostly flat and the only concrete structure was the toilet block. Even the resort island we stayed on after that would have been hit very hard - I've seen photos of much stronger buildings on Phuket now in rubble. I have no doubt that not only the tourist resorts but also the fishing villages and communities I saw would have been wiped out.

I feel pretty lucky, to say the least. But it's strange. When you nearly walk in front of a bus, you know that you were in real danger - 20 tons of metal swoosh by, my heart races and I panic a little - they all prove it. But I would never have known about the tsunami if not for BBC News that day. Even now when I think about the islands I saw I find it hard to imagine what they'd be like now. I went snorkelling there, I read a book about co-incidences, I played cards. That island was hit by thousands and thousands of litres of water, three days after I left it? I came that close?