A flood of awareness

Kids came for the fun, adult vols were pruning congesting vegetation 

Greetings, all. It's been too long since I last wrote, but I've been trying to avoid Catholic or Jewish guilt, though, really, why should I have to? I'm neither Catholic nor Jewish. Maybe guilt is just flat-out part of human nature.

Anyhow over the last months I've had so many thoughts and experiences I felt needed to be laid out and articulated properly for interested people to see that I just . . . felt . . . GUILTY AS HELL about not doing it. Hey, now what do I do with the "hell" part of this? Metaphysics again. See, writing is just too hard! (But the translation project is doing great guns, giving me some real focus). See, I'm still just plain doing too much stuff!

But now, with the floods, I suppose it's inevitable.

This, even though I am just recovering from a mild second bout with pneumonia. I contracted it down South in tsunami country, where I've been for the past couple of weeks immersing myself in another writing project (an eco-volunteer program, that's where these 2 pictures are from.)

Me w/Youth International Volunteers and Andaman Discoveries Staff on Koh Phrathong

The only other time I got pneumonia was three years ago, in exactly the same southern places, doing the same sorts of things. Exciting, productive, fun things, but that somehow exposed me to a tropical germ my body hasn't learned to handle right. Some freaky coincidence.

But I'm over it now, breathing freely and full of energy, and here to tell you about another naturally destructive event I'm now perfectly positioned to report on: the imminent Bangkok flooding.

I'm a latecomer to the topic, because of my trip and consequent derailment, but maybe I can give some perspective, since I've got two properties of my own on the ground here and am watching them closely. One is a townhouse towards the very furthest northeast boundary of the city, and the other is a 12th-floor condo a kilometer or two from the Chao Phraya River, which sluices and twists through the Bangkok Metropolitan Area very much as the Mississippi does for Greater New Orleans, each ending in a nearby ocean.

New Orleans had Katrina. Bangkok is about to experience the worst flooding in all of Thai history.



Brief background: If you've been following the news, you'll know the flooding has actually been going on since mid-September. The rainy season here started late, but came in with an unheard-of intensity in August, and just didn't stop coming. The tributary rivers of the northern mountains swelled to record-setting volume, first flooding the beautiful northern city of Chiangmai, and scaring the bejeezis of everyone downstream. Downstream fears became a horrible reality, as water poured from everywhere into the Chao Phraya basin and had no way to get out quickly enough, so they spread out . . . and out . . . and out, engulfing huge chunks of Central Thailand, and now is just sitting there, dribbling slowly out as even more water comes in to push from behind.
Hundreds have died, but the pace of the water gives time for plenty of warning, so the greatest loss has been to homes, belongings, crops, transport, and commerce in general.


Many major cities and towns are still in great distress. And these are all waiting for the water to drain out . . . through . . . Bangkok, of course!


Bangkok, of course, has had some history of flooding, and because of this has built around itself an elaborate system of canals, dikes, and drainage canals to divert floodwaters around the city--ironically at the same time as filling in most of the canals which more than a century ago gave rise to the moniker of "Venice of the East," turning them into impressive congestive, polluted, and poorly-maintained city streets.

This system worked pretty well at keeping the levels down, and was steadily becoming more efficient. The problem now is that there is just too much water behind the walls, and this is combining with a seasonal tide surge, highest of the year, which is predicted to come in from the opposite direction over the next four days and breach the defenses, inundating Bangkok.

The government is trying to control things somewhat by opening floodgates in certain areas first, telling everyone well beforehand when and where. It's now pretty generally accepted that some effects of the flood will reach everywhere in the city, but heroic steps are being taken to protect power supplies, and the SkyTrain and  subway transportation systems.

Right now it's dry most places, but it's also definitely here in some places, witness the "minimart" and "styrofoam" photos posted here which another former Peace Corps guy shared with me.
Anyhow today areas around both my townhouse and my condo are bone-dry.

It's late. I started late, and have been writing this thing entirely off the cuff, after being released from the hospital today. I feel fine, thank you, just a little tired. I'll continue talking about developments tomorrow, and hopefully have time to touch on some other topics as well. Be well. I wish I could talk to each of you in person . . . you're welcome to comment here, or e-mail me, for that matter . . . ! Till soon, then.

Next installment: Real or imagined?