Thailand was just one of the many countries affected by the tsunami last December and I, like almost everybody else in the country contributed to the disaster appeals.

Nine months on and what the country needs now is people. Tourism is Thailand’s biggest industry. Millions of people depend on visitors for their livelihoods. If holidaymakers stay away from its hotels, an economic disaster could soon follow.

So, for a good cause and some good weather, I decided to visit ‘the land of a thousand smiles’ earlier this year.

After a couple of days sightseeing in Bangkok, girlfriend and I booked a flight to the island of Phuket, one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations and also one of the places struck by the tsunami.

We stayed in an area of Phuket called Patong, which could be described as the ‘Tramore of Thailand’. During high season, the place would be expected to be thronged with revellers, attracted here by the combination of sun, sea and salacious nightlife. We arrived in the low season however, so tourists were in short supply.

Much of the damage caused by the tsunami has been repaired in Patong, but we didn’t have to travel far to see the legacy of last December. On nearby Kamala, one of the prettiest beaches in Phuket, disaster struck during the middle of the night destroying all the dwellings in front of the beach. Property and lives were literally washed away under 5 metre high waves. When sunrise came, 2,000 people were dead or missing. There was nothing left of Kamala. It felt a little strange to sunbathe in the shadow of such a tragedy, but what the Thais need more than anything now is some sense of normality to return.

The next day was our last in Phuket so we decided on a day trip to nearby Khai Island. Thailand has dozens of such isles spread along its long, narrow coastline. Many of them are spectacular locations with limestone crags looming over the island like giant sea sculptures. People flock to these offshore havens to swim and snorkel amidst warm, emerald-coloured waters teaming with brightly coloured fish and snow-white coral.

Moviemakers are also drawn to these parts. There’s an island called James Bond for obvious reasons. We also visited an island where Leonardo Di Capro’s ‘The Beach’ was filmed.

On Khai Island itself, we were offered sliced pan to feed the banana fish. The yellow-coloured creatures swim around in their hundreds in knee-deep waters, waiting for you to feed them their daily bread. Feeding the ducks in St. Stephen’s Green will never be the same again!

From Phuket, we moved back to the mainland and the coastal resort of Krabi. As this was the rainy season, we were able to stay in a luxury bungalow, set in a tropical garden with a swimming pool at our doorstep for roughly €60 a night between us. We had eight days to stay in Krabi and it was a real joy to slowly discover a place, which was low-key, charming and very relaxing.

On one particular day trip, we went kayaking to a mangrove swamp. A tribe of Machau monkeys dangled from the trees and then proceeded to swim across the water, jump up on our kayaks and take chunks of pineapple from our outstretched hands. It was a magical moment and one of several joyous encounters we had with monkeys in Thailand.

We ran into our little pineapple-loving primates a couple of days later when we visited Phra Nang beach, a ten-minute boat journey away. The monkeys were fed by traders, who served fruit and other food to tourists on the beach. The scenery and the setting in Phra Nang was so beautiful, we decided to forsake our room in Krabi for the night and spend two nights there.

Ko Phi Phi is the name of one of the most popular islands in Thailand. About an hour and a half boat ride from Krabi, it was also one of the first places to face the onslaught of the tsunami. In high season, with the hotels and guest houses full of foreign visitors, Phi Phi was hit. Some of the lucky ones were able to make their way to higher ground in time, but a lot of the people here last December never made it home. The scene when we landed at Ko Phi Phi, the larger of the two islands was a strange one.

Behind the beach was an area of land the size of several football pitches. A shrine has been set up to remember those who perished here just nine months previously. There’s also a series of before and after photographs which revealed the total extent of the damage. The place is now a cross between a building site and a bomb site. There’s lots of reconstruction going on and international aid has arrived here along with dozens of volunteers only too willing to lend a helping hand to the mammoth task of rebuilding Phi Phi Island.

One of the first and lasting impressions of Thailand for me was the friendliness of the people. Like Sri Lanka, its near neighbour across the Andaman Sea, the country is predominantly Buddhist. Almost everywhere we went in the country, we were greeted with open smiles and genuine warmth. Respect is a fundamental part of Thai people’s make up, so invariably when leaving a restaurant or hotel, staff would line up, clasp their hands together as if in prayer, bow their heads to us and say ‘Khawp khun’. Thank you never sounded so charming.