Checkin in

I was always well-prepared.

For all of you waiting with bated breath for my next words, all two or three of you, I suppose I must not disappoint. Even if you never write, you never call. But ah, yes, the flood.

As it was slow in coming, so will it be slow in going. My only personal experience of it was when I rode my bike around the edges of the city, now nearly two weeks ago, and got my feet wet going through Nuanjan Road near the townhouse. The water was about a foot or two deep, and rising, but very slowly. It rose a bit more, then just stopped. Now it's trickling out, but verrrry slowly.


"They" say it will be a month before things are more or less dry. Who knows? Haven't been able to trust much of anything they've said. But it seems to me things are inching back to normalcy. Schools are supposed to open Dec. 1. Other things besides the flood are reported on TV. Cars are leaving the high-rises and, I suppose, going back where they came from.


Fallout from the events: 1) environmental . . . polluted fresh water pours into the sea and destroys a lot of marine life. 2) political . . . as usual, when there's a crisis, the party in power gets hammered, no matter what. I have no love for the Pheua Thai party or the Chinawat family, but I do feel some sympathy for the PM, she was over her head with this, but I don't think she deserves quite all the grief she's getting. 3) planning for the future . . . at least a few are trying to figure out how to deal with flooding in the future. I'll give you some links to articles dealing with this.


For the environmental fallout, check out this article in The Nation. I wonder not only about the marine environment, but what after-effects there might be right here on the ground. So far haven't had any raging cholera epidemics, that's good.


The political problems: there's a decent article in the Wall Street Journal you might want to look at. A little more depth is provided in one written for the World Politics Review, but I had to sign up for a free trial in order to read it.


Most interesting was a plan put forward by the Science Faculty of Chulalongkorn University. It proposes construction of a HUGE flood bypass system starting at Chai Nat, well north of Ayutthaya. Map below:

 Also, parliament is now considering moving the capital! A study on the feasibility of moving out of Bangkok altogether is being proposed. This comes on the heels of all sorts of experts saying that Bangkok is sinking, and in 50 years will be underwater no matter what! Hah! Maybe I shouldn't have bought property here, after all. But . . . 50 years . . . at my age, I don't think there's a real problem here. 

I expect my next post will be on another topic. I sure hope so, this has been a long haul. Slow water torture, think I used that phrase. It works. But in general, I'm doing fine, life is good. Jes' chuggin' along, here, at least for now on all cylinders. Till soon, ta ta again!