No Christmas break for volunteers

Koh Phi Phi, Thailand: For 28-year-old Canadian nurse Sandra Hodge, Christmas was spent just like every other day over the last 10 months sweating away under a tropical sun cleaning up debris from the Indian Ocean tsunami.

But on the eve of the disaster's first anniversary, Hodge, veteran of a foreign volunteer movement instrumental in rebuilding the Thai paradise isle of Phi Phi backdrop to cult backpacker movie The Beach finally has her eye on the exit.

"It's been fantastic," she said, mopping the sweat from her brow with a pair of grimy workman's gloves.

Under a blazing sun, around 30 volunteers of all ages beavered away picking up litter, erecting tents and cleaning chairs in one final push to ready the island for today's planned mass commemoration of its estimated 700 tsunami victims.

One of the worst-hit parts of Thailand, where 5,395 people died, Phi Phi received little to no official help in rebuilding, leading to rumours of the government and businessmen conspiring to turn the entire island into a $1,000-a-night luxury hideaway.

As word spread along the backpacker trail and across the Internet that an iconic tourist playground was under threat, an army of everybody from Australian computer boffins to Irish plasterers emerged to clean up the island for free.

At its height, the volunteer movement, which effectively operated as colony for hippies with a work ethic, boasted more than 120 people at any one time and over the last 10 months roped in around 5,000 people, Hodge believes.

Even though things have slowed down since August with the island gradually regaining its mantle as an "anything goes" retreat for young European travellers, the desire of tourists to "do their bit" remains.

At its height, the volunteer movement boasted more than 120 people at any one time and over the last 10 months roped in around 5,000 people.