PETER Butler and Dulce Garcia were having breakfast when the Tsunami hit. Peter said: "There was no big wave, no warning of any kind.

"The sea just started to rise and did not look like it was going to stop. Within two to three minutes it was five metres high and into our room.

"There were people being swept past us in the street but we were powerless to help them."

Peter, who with Dulce is five months into a year of travel, managed to grab a first aid kit, passport and tickets and as much fresh water as he could fit into his bag, and they waded through waist deep water, as locals directed everyone to a small hillside village.

The villagers gave their beds to the worst of the injured, and found herbs which they chewed and put into the wounds of some people.

Peter said: "A doctor later told one of my friends that she could not have given him anything better and was impressed with how his wound was healing.

"The villagers also gave some clothes to those that were naked, either having had their clothes torn off with the strength of the current or having been washed out of bed as they slept."

As the afternoon drew on the villagers collected coconuts to hand out to the 150 or so people that had taken refuge in the village.

In the evening, the villagers began to cook large pots of rice and lentils for everyone to eat.

And as night fell they gave all the blankets and cushions they could find even removing the curtains from the windows for people to lie on.

Over the next couple of days, some people, including Peter, went back into town to fetch a few more belongings. People still needed clothes and bedsheets for makeshift bandages.

Two British medical staff on holiday assessed the condition of the injured and moved the worst cases to a hotel that had been unaffected by the tidal wave.

Peter said: "Some later told me the doctors did not sleep for three days, continuing to treat people as more injured found their way down to them.

"With the worst of the injured cases now in best hands available it became easier for our camp to insulate ourselves from the horrors of what had gone on and so we concentrated on trying to keep morale up."

He added: "The locals continued to care for us, cooking what little food they had and insisting we eat first.

"These people had nothing left. Most of them had lost friends, family or both but they gave what they had so freely. Their main concern, after our safety, was if we would came back once they had rebuilt the town."

Peter said that although it sounds strange, when the rescue team arrived on the third day, they were all sad to be going.

He said: "We did not want to leave behind the families that had been so kind to us, but we knew we could not stay. We were just a drain on their already over-stretched resouces.

"I know everyone in the UK and many other countries are giving all they can now for this tragedy, and I thank them for that.

"But it does not stop there. In the future, when they have rebuilt, they need to know that people are going to come back here on holiday. So when they are ready, consider Sri Lanka for a holiday. I don't regret coming, and I will be going back."