Tsunami or no tsunami, "The Russians don't cancel"

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5435927

"Mad" tourists arrive in Phuket

PHUKET, Thailand (Reuters) - A trickle of determined tourists have jetted into the devastated Thai resort island of Phuket, arriving in
almost-empty planes to the bewilderment of hundreds of survivors fleeing the tsunami disaster area.

"Our friends think we're mad," said Englishman Paul Cunliffe, an engineer from Manchester, as he sipped what looked like a gin and
tonic on a short, lonely flight from the Malaysian capital on Wednesday.

"The only risk we face I think is if there's another quake...," he said, adding that he and his two companions were booked into a
beach-front hotel that escaped serious harm. Hotel staff had assured them they would have a "wonderful holiday". snip

"The Russians don't cancel," Phuket taxi driver Apichart observed dryly, recalling how he had ferried four of them to their beachside hotels on Wednesday. "They have so many problems where they come from, they don't care about tsunamis."

more

[Sporadicus]

1. Sure Hope Their Holiday Isn't Spoiled By

typhoid fever, cholera, leptospirosis or hepatitis.

[MercutioATC]

4. Or the thousands of "floaters"....

What are some people THINKING?!?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

2. How nice.

I'd think that if I had the time to go do Indonesia, I'd spend it on something more usefull than drinking. Like, oh I don't know, help people recover from the worst natural disaster in recent history.

[tanyev]

3. Hope they're bringing

lots of food, water, and first aid supplies along. Geez.

[happynewyear]

5. wow that is REALLY weird!

I wonder how they pronounce the name of the place Phuket? Is it pronounced as it appears to it could be?

My God, better yet ... these people really are living in a dream world! Zombies amidst the dead bodies!

[bossfish]

6. poo-ket

[Piperay]

7. The Russians have problems

but I still can't believe things in Russia are so bad that going to where a tsunami has killed 70,000 people is better. :wtf:

[aneerkoinos]

8. Tourism

The livelihood of many survivors is dependant on tourism, and one of the main priorities is to get tourists to return. I don't understand the moralistic condemnation.

[tanyev]

9. Please correct me if I'm wrong,

but it seems to me that the biggest problem in their immediate future is having enough food, clean water, and medical supplies to take care of the people who live there. Tourists coming in will be a drain on those resources. Hence my moralistic condemnation.