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Samui International Bodypainting Competition, Koh Samui, Thailand

Mar. 26/2011

The tourist authority of "sunny" Thailand had invited us to this prestigious Bodypainting-Competition on Lamai Beach, Koh Samui. Approx. 20 bodypainting artists from all around the world competed in this 2 day festival. On day one the theme was: Underwater World on day two: Garden of Eden.

The competition was a wonderful success for the participating "CREACHIEFS", Birgit Mörtl, Bella Volen, Lena Pock and myself. We placed 1st,2nd and 3rd!

BUT...Nobody had expected what was to follow!

Above: my work...

Above: artists helping to "re-forest" the severely damaged reef at Lamai Beach

CREACHIEFS rocked...:)

Mike Shane Bodypainting CREACHIEFS Koh Samui

The catastrophy...

Ever since the first festival day it was raining cats and dogs, forcing the organizers to feature the presentation show inside the hotel. What a pity, for the crew had been working like hell to build up a beautiful stage outside the hotel lobby.

The following days the rain-situation became much worse and by now the streets around us were already flooded.The thai people told us that these were the monsoon showers that came in extremely early this year and that they had never experienced anything like this before.

Unfortunately things did not improve at all...in opposite, the rain became even more intense, palmtrees were falling, rocks came down the hills. And the news we got didn't help too much. "Airplanes cannot enter or leave Koh Samui"...!

At a certain point we were confrontated with a very scary situation. The hotel was without power...no more lights, no more water from the tap. No internet, no telephone...no more news for us.In the end, the whole island of Koh Samui was ruined. 22 people had lost their lives and we were more than happy to make it on the plane to get out of this chaos.

Above: Koh Samui under water...22 people left their lives!!

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