An ISU student narrowly missed a close encounter with last month’s tsunami in the Indian Ocean, only to find out about the devastation days later.

Mark Tekippe, junior in electrical engineering, flew into Bangkok, Thailand on Dec. 20 for a study abroad program in Singapore. On Dec. 23, Tekippe headed south from Bangkok to Koh Phi Phi, an island off the coast of Phuket. On the way, Tekippe changed his destination to Koh Phangan, on the eastern side of Thailand. The decision took him out of the path of the tsunami.

“It was bizarre,” Tekippe said. “Little fluke things happen that save lives.”

Tekippe said he went to a travel agency in Koh Phangan around noon the day the tsunami hit, intending to book tickets back to the west side of Thailand. The travel agent told him he couldn’t travel because of “a wave.”

“No one knew at that point what the extent of the damage was,” Tekippe said. “I didn’t know what to think because the travel agent could barely speak English. I thought it was just a wave and that it only affected a small area.”

Tekippe then tried a different travel agency that also told him travel was suspended for that area. He decided to wait until the next day and try again, never realizing a national disaster had occurred.

“I overheard it on the news that night,” Tekippe said. “Hardly anybody knew about it. I remember thinking about how different it must be only a short distance away. One side paradise and the other side hell.”

Tekippe traveled back through Bangkok on his way to Singapore and saw a completely different city than the one he had passed through days before.

“In Bangkok on the way back, I noticed that much of the relief effort was just beginning,” Tekippe said. “Outside the police station were thousands of e-mails and photos from people who were missing loved ones. Restaurants and hotels were covered with notices, too.”

Bangkok, he said, was filled with people arriving from washed-out islands and being released from hospitals.

“I saw several people who looked like they had been injured and saw one man who was extremely bruised with several casts,” he said. “You can’t compare this to [Sept. 11], but there is the same sense of fear and people missing.”