Living In The Land Of Smiles: How Not To Manage A Crisis

Bangkok Post, Saturday, October 15th:

PM: Bangkok is well protected

15/10/2011 : Bangkok is well protected and the capital will not be flooded, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra told people on Channel 11 on Saturday morning.

Bangkok Post, Thursday, October 20th:

20/10/2011 : Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said Thursday that it was impossible to protect all of Bangkok from the country's worst floods in decades, describing the situation as a "national crisis".

Enough Said.

Thankfully, nothing has really changed since yesterday. Flood preparations continue. I must sound like a broken record but there is still so much activity in Nichada and all of the barriers and flood walls that have been put in place continue to be heightened and strengthened. Caitlynne and I went out in the golf cart today and I took some more photos.

The Embassy has located about six buses in Nichada to provide transport in the event we need to evacuate. Since everyplace seems to be either flooded or threatened with flooding, I wonder where we would even evacuate to. There is very little dry ground left in Thailand.

The photo below is interesting in that, at first glance, it appears to be cars stopped in traffic. However, Kevin reported to me (after his drive downtown this morning) that there are literally thousands of vehicles parked on the expressways to keep them out of flood waters. In some areas, there are cars parked 3 deep!

Edited to Add: This was just posted on the Bangkok Post website...
When Bangkokians panic...

Published: 20/10/2011 at 06:30 PM
Online news:

Normally it takes about 10-15 minutes to travel from Chaengwattana expressway entry (note: this is where we enter the expressway) towards the toll gate at Ngam Wong Wan, this afternoon it took 1.05 hours as there are thousands of cars double parking or even triple parking on the expressway to escape the possible flood in Bangkok.

Back to our reality. Last week, I posted a photo of the concrete block/sandbag barricade that was constructed on the street outside of our neighborhood in Nichada. Yesterday afternoon, a dirt berm was added as fortification...

Then, this morning, the berm was raised by about 1 foot.

One entry to the road that encircles the lake has been blockaded.

The photo below shows a barrier (under the blue sheeting) that has been constructed to prevent flooding from that canal into Nichada.

Barriers that now have been heightened.

And reinforced. I think they must have used all of the bamboo poles from the paint scaffolding.

A low lying entrance to a neighborhood in Nichada that has been closed off. You can see the guard house behind the barrier.

Another berm...

And another. Since this photo was taken this morning, the berm has been heightened considerably.

So, although nothing has really changed as far as our chances of being flooded, protections are still being installed. School was cancelled for today and tomorrow and the kids were happy to have the extra days added on to their Fall break.

Yesterday, I attended Christopher's presentation of his group's synchronized swimming performance. This isn't a great photo but it was all I could manage... it also wasn't very synchronized but the PE teacher said the purpose of the project was to develop teamwork.

And teamwork they had.

This was our dinner last night. I really wish I knew the names of these dishes. PeePorn tells me the Thai name but it does not always translate into the English name. I have been looking through my Thai cookbooks trying to match recipes/photos with what she makes but haven't been too successful. My Thai cooking class is in November so I will take the photos and show the instructor to see if she can identify. This is an omelet with a ground beef/tomato/onion filling on a bed of cabbage. It was so good!