Yellowknife (Jan 03/05) - Parents of a missing Yellowknife couple received a belated Christmas present Friday, after learning their children were safe and sound deep in the interior of the Southeast Asian country of Laos.

Caribou Carnival queen Elsbeth (maiden name Fossum) Fielding, 28, and her newlywed husband Regan, 27, were 40 metres up a tree, living among Gibbon apes in northern Laos when a deadly tsunami struck neighbouring Thailand's tourist-rich coast Dec. 26, killing thousands.

According to an e-mail sent to their parents from the Laotian city of Luang Prabang, Dec. 31, the pair had no idea their parents were frantically searching for them, or that a tsunami had killed more than 120,000 people in several countries fringing the Indian Ocean the week before.

Regan's mother, Nancy Fielding, says she hopes word of their fears for the couple's safety will prompt them to communicate more regularly.

The last any of the Fielding's parents heard from the couple was via an e-mail on Dec. 7.

They had thought the pair were travelling in an area not affected by the killer wave, but grew worried when they hadn't heard from them by Christmas.

"People keep saying, 'you give them a kick in the butt,'" said Fielding from her home in Huntsville, Ont., adding that the couple reported that while they're safe, they haven't been feeling well lately.

"We're just happy that they're safe. I'm sure there will be many, many people telling them that they probably should've contacted us, but in their situation, who knows."

The couple are in the midst of a six-month honeymoon tour of Southeast Asia, and are not expected back in Yellowknife until April. Nancy Fielding said the pair are avid backpackers, and had planned to spend a good part of their trip in remote jungle regions without ready access to the Internet or phones.

After reaching Luang Prabang, they ran into -- of all people -- Yellowknife singer/songwriter Leela Gilday, who was also travelling through Laos. She too is safe, and was nowhere near the destruction zone left by the tsunami.

Caribou Carnival executive director Carol Van Tighem said she is delighted to hear the festival's queen and her mate are safe, and no longer presumed missing.

"The royalty is safe, the crown will live on," said Van Tighem, noting that her family had worries of their own when news of the tsunami broke.

Her brother-in-law, Mayor Gord Van Tighem's brother Tom, and his three children, live on an island off the coast of Malaysia, but was not affected by the disaster.