Bangkok. To the west and east of the city, the land is flooded, roads and rail are blocked. To the north, massive amounts of water are slowly moving south and flooding the suburbs, bringing misery to thousands.
In the city itself, which is still dry, an air of uncertainty hangs in the air, faces are drawn and the stress is clear to see; these are people living on borrowed time whose lives are about to be seriously disrupted. Err, no. After a couple of days in Bangkok I can confirm that life goes on as normal. The skytrain is packed with smiling, chatty Thais. The roads are busy and the shopping malls are rammed with locals and tourists. Thirty kilometres away and people are forced out of their homes by deep, stinking water; but people in the city are determined to keep on living life until they are affected.
There is some evidence of preparation. Sandbags are prepared at many places….
..and some people have gone as far as walling up their driveway entrance. Must make parking the car difficult:
No sign of flooding though. So your massively intrepid reporter risked live and limb to travel on the skytrain to the river to capture Getty-ready shots of the drama. But there wasn’t any. The river was certainly flowing fast, but it had not reached the top of the barriers.
I gave up in my hunt for devastation and headed for the latest Bangkok mall, Terminal 21. Packed out, mainly with young Thais strutting their stuff and showing no signs of shopping for rubber boots or inflatable boats. What’s wrong with these people, don’t they know that a flood of “biblical proportions” is about to hit them (thank you CNN)?
After attending a wedding yesterday, we packed up she who must be obeyed’s possessions and headed back to Pattaya. Good to have her home again; but Pattaya is extremely crowded with Bangkok refugees and I wouldn’t mind popping back to Bangkok next week for a quiet meal and a bit of shopping.
If you want a view of what is actually happening within Bangkok, I recommend following @RichardBarrow on Twitter, or via his website http://www.thaitravelblogs.com/.
Comments 🔗
2011-10-29| Ivan saysGreat, I have been hoping you would risk life and limb to report on the story behind the story..
Ivan
2011-10-29| Spike saysIt’s what I do, putting my lunch on the line to bring you the news from the danger zone.
2011-10-30| Jeff Savage sayswhat a hero u r shame u were not as brave as ur fellow media mates who were in bangkok being shot at not so long ago where were u playing laptop games or with urself u wanker
2011-10-30| Spike saysI don’t have a laptop, so I must indeed have been playing with myself; hence your very accurate use of the word “wanker”.
2011-10-31| Jeff Savage saysr u skint isnt there one of ur volley ball playing lady boys friends who would give u a free hand down at the beach. oh well better a wanker than a twat or a motherfucker so i read. unless u r being sarcastic that is always a good defence even in court.