A friend of mine was on a beach in Thailand on Dec 28th of last year and got seriously jacked up when the Tsunami hit. Today she is back in Thailand. She is a journalist (imagine that, me friends with a member of the 5th estate) and has an interesting blog you might enjoy.
http://evelynrodriguez.typepad.com/crossroads_dispatches/
http://evelynrodriguez.typepad.com/crossroads_dispatches/