TV9 - THAILAND FLOODS 2011...........! As rescue efforts get underway in flood-hit Thailand, Michelle Jana Chan speaks to tourists caught up in the chaos. The pictures caught on their camera phones were not what they had been expecting to show off after a holiday in Koh Samui, one of Thailand's most popular tourist destinations. Instead of golden beaches and romantic sunsets, stranded visitors were sharing photographs of flooded hotel lobbies and landslides. Stephen Chun and Justin Smith, from the United States, showed me video footage of a taxi ride from their flooded hotel to local shops. "People were walking their mopeds and bikes through a metre of water," Smith said. "You needed a pick-up truck more than a taxi." With confirmed seats on a flight to Bangkok, the pair were two of the lucky ones. On Thursday morning the standby queue at Koh Samui's airport was snaking around the terminal. A week of torrential rain and strong winds has left at least 21 dead in the country's southern region, and thousands of tourists are stranded after flights and ferry services were cancelled or disrupted. On Koh Samui there were power blackouts, fuel shortages, and increasing concerns about depleting food and water supplies. Without mains electricity the Banyan Tree hotel had been operating on a generator for days and rationing supplies to guest rooms. "I have never seen conditions like this," said Fredrick Arul, the hotel's general manager. "Nor have my staff, some of whom have been ...
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