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Khao Lak 100 Days after the Tsunami
In Thailand a loved one will be mourned for one
hundred days. After which a ceremony of remembrance takes place, and then you let go...
Khao Lak was ground zero for Thailand during the Boxing Day Tsunami. It was a beautiful long stretch of unprotected beach facing the sunset. Behind the beach in the coconut palms was a warren of small roads and foot paths connecting small hotels, guest houses, restaurants, beach shops and homes. The land runs flat a half a mile or so inland before the hills start. The wave trashed everything between the hills and the sea. Khao Lak was washed away, hundreds of people simply gone...
One hundred days after the tsunami people gathered in a dusty
patch that had been dozed cleared of rubble. People would arrive, pick up a white rose, walk to a small shrine, leave the rose and a prayer. Everyone was given a white helium balloon with a string and a paper tail to tie on. The tail had block prints of all the animals of the Asian zodiac. "We don't know many of the people who died here, so we don't know what sign to give them. So we gave them all the signs..."
At the appointed time we all took our balloons, and let go...
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