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As I sipped a tropical drink seaside at Mom Tri's Boathouse at Kata Beach, gentle waves lapped at the sand, and a couple walked hand in hand along this horseshoe-shaped bay. From here, all seemed idyllic on Phuket, a well-loved resort island about 500 miles south of Bangkok. I spent time in early November in southern Thailand to see how — indeed, whether — the area had rebounded from the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami that slammed into the Andaman Coast, leaving about 220,000 dead or missing, including about 8,000 in Thailand. I wanted to know what tourists would find when — and if — they returned.

Many places on Phuket have made a remarkable recovery. Hotels and restaurants are open, and the beaches are clean, the water clear and green. Tourists will see little physical damage, but economic damage is significant. "We lost about half of our [tourism] income" in 2005, compared with 2004, Pattanapong Aikwanich, president of Phuket Tourist Assn., told me. "And we had to repair everything."

But then there are places like Phi Phi Don island, a 90-minute ferry ride from Phuket, where the waves' full fury was felt. Rebuilding on Phi Phi Don has barely begun; the tragedy's legacy is all too apparent.

Officially, 721 people died in Krabi province, most on Phi Phi Don. Many bodies were never found.

That fateful day

FLASHBACK to the morning of Dec. 26, 2004: Some guests were asleep, others taking a Thai cooking class when two waves hit at Mom Tri's Boathouse, a 36-room low-rise hotel. One wave almost reached the top of Koh Pu island a short distance offshore, where diving students suddenly found themselves sitting on the bottom of the sea.

The Boathouse Grill was inundated with seawater and sewage. "Total devastation," said French-born managing director Louis Bronner. "The grand piano was found in the street in 16 pieces. The long-tail [fishing] boats landed in the ground-floor rooms," where water was waist-high.

Three people on this beach were among the 279 people killed on Phuket, but there were no casualties among hotel guests or staff. The Boathouse mopped up, refurbished and exactly two months later held its grand reopening. Today it's as good as new.

At Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort at Relax Bay near Patong, Phuket's popular beach city, construction work in the parking area and some ongoing re-landscaping are the only visible reminders of the tsunami.

The waves destroyed the beach bar and restaurants. It smashed tiles in the enormous swimming pools and flooded ground-floor rooms in one wing. Water reached the lobby and shops, which sit back from and above the beach.

No one was seriously injured, but damage, including destruction of the below-ground central operating facilities, kept the hotel closed until Aug. 15.

Locals feel overlooked

IBRAHIM NGANKAENG, 64, sat on the beach at beautiful Ton Sai Bay on hard-hit Phi Phi Don island southeast of Phuket. Behind him hung a sign, "Return to Paradise." But this is no longer paradise.

Before the tsunami, this, the southern side of the island, was a magnet for divers and snorkelers, typically, 2,000 a day. They are returning — but slowly: Now about 600 a day come. Locals complain that the government has been slow to help them, making recovery in Phuket its priority.

"I wonder how I can survive," says Ngankaeng, who lost his livelihood when the water swept away his shops and bungalows together with his restaurant, Arida.