Long post, but very interesting
This letter was posted on a board my wife hangs out on. This is someone who lives in Germany, but went to Sri Lanka for their Honeymoon.
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Damn lucky
"Warm and fruity" was the idea for this trip to Sri Lanka. We spent 5 days on the beach in a small town on the south western coast of Sri Lanka. It was great! I went surfing every day. We bought some kick a$$ wooden sh!t for the house. On a boat trip around some islands, we saw bats the size of large sea gulls and huge lizards! We ate shrimp the size of medium lobsters. It was no problem getting around. Stuff was cheap. The Sri Lankan people were really nice. It was a really easy, interesting trip!
We then moved down to Tangalle. It's located right in the center of the southern coast. This place was even smaller than Hikaduwa, where we were at. We were super lucky right from the start. The idea was to stay right on the beach in these little huts / houses. Our driver stopped before we got to the place to ask someone where the place was. The person he asked said the place had shut down. So I made a quick decision and picked the place right in front of us.
The room we had was on the ground floor. It was about a 30 second walk to the beach. But, in front of the room, there was a wall. Then, once you cross the road, there was a small kind of bar building. And then in front of that, there were about 4 palm trees. All of this stuff was in front of our room.
On the 26th, at 9:30 AM, I'm a slow moving target trying to get out of bed. We hear a bunch of kids screaming in front of our room. Damn kids! They were doing that the day before too. We assumed they were just playing again. Then we heard a rumbling sound. It sounded like a wave that didn't stop breaking. So, I get up and open the door to find about a foot of water on the ground. I didn't hear anything else at that point. It was just silent. So, I closed the door and told Elena that we need to get the backpacks on the bed so that they won't get wet. A second later, the windows started breaking. Water was flowing through them. The windows were about 4 feet off the ground. At that point, we both realized that this was more than just a freak high tide. We tried to get out through the bathroom windows, but those were to small. There was a side door in our room that opened up into a larger room that was used for wedding dinners. Luckily enough, it opened without a problem. The side wall of this room had already collapsed. Elena and I grabbed on to each other and floated out of the room, to the back of the building. The water was now at least 6 feet deep because we both couldn't touch the ground anymore.
In the back of the buiding, there were a few palm trees. All of the tables that were in the wedding dinner room were pressed up against these trees. This is where things got very serious for El and I. The water pushed us into these tables. We both think that there were more tables behind us because we were being compressed against the tables on the trees. Then Elena was able to break free of the tables. She floated away. My foot was trapped in the tables. The water was still coming in and eventually rose over my head. Lucky for me, about 2 seconds later, the water went down. As the water went down, I was able to free myself. I then found El clinging to a palm tree. The tree wasn't high enough though. I was able to swim over to a roof of the building we were in. I climbed up on that and told El to follow. She then swam over and I helped her up on the roof.
She had bad cuts on the back of her leg. The main one had her tendins (??) and some muscule cut. She tied a string around her leg to try to restrict the blood flow and I wrapped my t-shirt tight around the main wound. Her foot also had a hole in it. But that wasn't bleeding as bad as the main cut.
With the help of a Sri Lankan family staying in the room right next to this portion of the roof, we were able to move Elena to the second floor of the building. There we sat for one hour waiting for the water to settle down. Elena rested a bit. I was able to view the water a bit.
The water kept going in and out, but not as hard as when we were in it. The bar building in front of our room was gone. The wall in front of our room was gone. The "restuarant / cafe" that we were going to have breakfast in was gone. All of these building were solid brick structures. The oddest thing I saw as I looked out was the beach. For about 15 minutes, the beach was 30 times wider. I couldn't believe how much water had left the area we were in.
As the water became a bit calmer, I went down to see if I could find any of our bags. Before all of this, our room consisted of three beds, a dresser, a large plant and mirror, and 4 bags. After the water ate everything, two of El's bags were left half full, and two matteresses were in the room. Everything else was gone. No windows, no doors.
The guy who ran the hotel, a Sri Lankan about 24 years old, survived the water. He was bringing up whatever he could find to the room for us. He found some soda and a pineapple. We were in the room with a German couple and a French woman who was also badly cut. After one hour, the water stayed calm enough for us to leave. The Sri Lankan who ran the hotel had to other Sri Lankans find a bike for us. We put Elena on the bike and we all pushed her to a clear road. You could no longer see the road that the hotel was on. When we hit a clear road, two Sri Lankans pulled up with motorcycles. El jumped on the back of one and I jumped on the back of another. The guys drove us to an ambulance who then drove us to the first hospital.
It was amazing. Besides the guy at the hotel, we didn't understand the Sri Lankans. It didn't matter. These regular guys on the street knew what had to happen and took charge. The motioned to us what to do and it all made sense.
The first hospital couldn't help El. They cleaned her main wounds and told us that we were being transferred to another hospital. At this point, We had about 50 US on us. We didn't know if I would be able to get in the ambulance with El or if I had to travel separately. No problem. The doctors at the first place put us in the ambulance and we went to the next hospital. The second hospital operated on El. They had to sew up her leg and put something into the hole in her foot. All the doctors spoke English without a problem. They told us exactly what they were doing.
Once again, the Sri Lankans took care of us. The put us in a really "nice" part of the hospital. They allowed me to sleep in hospital next to Elena even though it was a womens only ward. They gave us food and clothes.
The next day, the 27th, the doctor put us in another ambulance to get us to Colombo. The doctor thought it would be better for us there if we were closer to our embassies. Everything was free of charge. These guys really went out of their way to help us. This was a relief!
On a lighter note, we survived the ambulance rides. We had three of them. The fact that we survived each one was a miracle. The ambulance rides were just a little bit less dangerous than the tsunami. You had to hold on to something in the ambulance with both hands. One hand would not be enough. If you let go of something for one second to try to find another place to hold on to, you would be thrown around in the ambulance like a rag doll. I let go once. There is a huge bruise on my stomach.
In Colombo, the doctors had to once again operate on El. The performed the same procedure. They needed to make sure the wound was clean and not infected. Once again, the doctors said that within two months, Elena would be fine.
El and I are back in Trieste, Italy. She is doing fine. She has a cast on her leg. The doctors here will have another look at her in a couple of weeks to see how things are. Unless you've been to India or Sri Lanka, you can't imagine how relaxing it is to be back in western Europe.
Thank you everyone for your concern! It was really nice to hear from you all.
This letter was posted on a board my wife hangs out on. This is someone who lives in Germany, but went to Sri Lanka for their Honeymoon.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Damn lucky
"Warm and fruity" was the idea for this trip to Sri Lanka. We spent 5 days on the beach in a small town on the south western coast of Sri Lanka. It was great! I went surfing every day. We bought some kick a$$ wooden sh!t for the house. On a boat trip around some islands, we saw bats the size of large sea gulls and huge lizards! We ate shrimp the size of medium lobsters. It was no problem getting around. Stuff was cheap. The Sri Lankan people were really nice. It was a really easy, interesting trip!
We then moved down to Tangalle. It's located right in the center of the southern coast. This place was even smaller than Hikaduwa, where we were at. We were super lucky right from the start. The idea was to stay right on the beach in these little huts / houses. Our driver stopped before we got to the place to ask someone where the place was. The person he asked said the place had shut down. So I made a quick decision and picked the place right in front of us.
The room we had was on the ground floor. It was about a 30 second walk to the beach. But, in front of the room, there was a wall. Then, once you cross the road, there was a small kind of bar building. And then in front of that, there were about 4 palm trees. All of this stuff was in front of our room.
On the 26th, at 9:30 AM, I'm a slow moving target trying to get out of bed. We hear a bunch of kids screaming in front of our room. Damn kids! They were doing that the day before too. We assumed they were just playing again. Then we heard a rumbling sound. It sounded like a wave that didn't stop breaking. So, I get up and open the door to find about a foot of water on the ground. I didn't hear anything else at that point. It was just silent. So, I closed the door and told Elena that we need to get the backpacks on the bed so that they won't get wet. A second later, the windows started breaking. Water was flowing through them. The windows were about 4 feet off the ground. At that point, we both realized that this was more than just a freak high tide. We tried to get out through the bathroom windows, but those were to small. There was a side door in our room that opened up into a larger room that was used for wedding dinners. Luckily enough, it opened without a problem. The side wall of this room had already collapsed. Elena and I grabbed on to each other and floated out of the room, to the back of the building. The water was now at least 6 feet deep because we both couldn't touch the ground anymore.
In the back of the buiding, there were a few palm trees. All of the tables that were in the wedding dinner room were pressed up against these trees. This is where things got very serious for El and I. The water pushed us into these tables. We both think that there were more tables behind us because we were being compressed against the tables on the trees. Then Elena was able to break free of the tables. She floated away. My foot was trapped in the tables. The water was still coming in and eventually rose over my head. Lucky for me, about 2 seconds later, the water went down. As the water went down, I was able to free myself. I then found El clinging to a palm tree. The tree wasn't high enough though. I was able to swim over to a roof of the building we were in. I climbed up on that and told El to follow. She then swam over and I helped her up on the roof.
She had bad cuts on the back of her leg. The main one had her tendins (??) and some muscule cut. She tied a string around her leg to try to restrict the blood flow and I wrapped my t-shirt tight around the main wound. Her foot also had a hole in it. But that wasn't bleeding as bad as the main cut.
With the help of a Sri Lankan family staying in the room right next to this portion of the roof, we were able to move Elena to the second floor of the building. There we sat for one hour waiting for the water to settle down. Elena rested a bit. I was able to view the water a bit.
The water kept going in and out, but not as hard as when we were in it. The bar building in front of our room was gone. The wall in front of our room was gone. The "restuarant / cafe" that we were going to have breakfast in was gone. All of these building were solid brick structures. The oddest thing I saw as I looked out was the beach. For about 15 minutes, the beach was 30 times wider. I couldn't believe how much water had left the area we were in.
As the water became a bit calmer, I went down to see if I could find any of our bags. Before all of this, our room consisted of three beds, a dresser, a large plant and mirror, and 4 bags. After the water ate everything, two of El's bags were left half full, and two matteresses were in the room. Everything else was gone. No windows, no doors.
The guy who ran the hotel, a Sri Lankan about 24 years old, survived the water. He was bringing up whatever he could find to the room for us. He found some soda and a pineapple. We were in the room with a German couple and a French woman who was also badly cut. After one hour, the water stayed calm enough for us to leave. The Sri Lankan who ran the hotel had to other Sri Lankans find a bike for us. We put Elena on the bike and we all pushed her to a clear road. You could no longer see the road that the hotel was on. When we hit a clear road, two Sri Lankans pulled up with motorcycles. El jumped on the back of one and I jumped on the back of another. The guys drove us to an ambulance who then drove us to the first hospital.
It was amazing. Besides the guy at the hotel, we didn't understand the Sri Lankans. It didn't matter. These regular guys on the street knew what had to happen and took charge. The motioned to us what to do and it all made sense.
The first hospital couldn't help El. They cleaned her main wounds and told us that we were being transferred to another hospital. At this point, We had about 50 US on us. We didn't know if I would be able to get in the ambulance with El or if I had to travel separately. No problem. The doctors at the first place put us in the ambulance and we went to the next hospital. The second hospital operated on El. They had to sew up her leg and put something into the hole in her foot. All the doctors spoke English without a problem. They told us exactly what they were doing.
Once again, the Sri Lankans took care of us. The put us in a really "nice" part of the hospital. They allowed me to sleep in hospital next to Elena even though it was a womens only ward. They gave us food and clothes.
The next day, the 27th, the doctor put us in another ambulance to get us to Colombo. The doctor thought it would be better for us there if we were closer to our embassies. Everything was free of charge. These guys really went out of their way to help us. This was a relief!
On a lighter note, we survived the ambulance rides. We had three of them. The fact that we survived each one was a miracle. The ambulance rides were just a little bit less dangerous than the tsunami. You had to hold on to something in the ambulance with both hands. One hand would not be enough. If you let go of something for one second to try to find another place to hold on to, you would be thrown around in the ambulance like a rag doll. I let go once. There is a huge bruise on my stomach.
In Colombo, the doctors had to once again operate on El. The performed the same procedure. They needed to make sure the wound was clean and not infected. Once again, the doctors said that within two months, Elena would be fine.
El and I are back in Trieste, Italy. She is doing fine. She has a cast on her leg. The doctors here will have another look at her in a couple of weeks to see how things are. Unless you've been to India or Sri Lanka, you can't imagine how relaxing it is to be back in western Europe.
Thank you everyone for your concern! It was really nice to hear from you all.
