Just thought I should write another wee post about the flood waters that are currently surrounding Bangkok and threatening to march right through the city. I’d say the most common element that everyone shares right now is stress; mental fatigue. The whole city is on edge – you can feel it. I said to my friend it’s kind of like Max Brooks’ excellent book World War Z – an army of zombies is marching toward your city – some of them are already here – and all you can do is build walls and wait. I’m very lucky in that I live and work in inner Bangkok, so for me, it’s business as usual. Indeed, if it wasn’t all over the news and the shelves weren’t cleared out, I’d have no idea anything was amiss. But you know what? Despite all this, you’ll never find a more upbeat, smiling group of people in a crisis than Thais – generally speaking.
‘Panic buying’ has certainly had a toll. Two weeks ago, the instant noodle section in many stores was severely depleted. Last week, the water was getting pretty low. This week, noodles and water are totally cleaned out, and people have moved on to second-tier survival food – canned tuna, soda water, cereals, etc. Supply chains have been broken, but new supplies are on their way from Malaysia and Cambodia – only a week later than a responsible management structure would have responded with, but better late than never, I guess.
The grocery store at Central Chidlom, courtesy of @in0nymous.
As for myself, I’m extra-nervous because I’m getting married in less than two weeks. Family and friends are flying in, everything’s been booked and reserved, and the entire thing just has too much momentum to postponed or pushed back – it’s going to happen no matter what the situation. In Canada, this would be a much bigger deal, but I guess my 10 years in Thailand have calmed me down a bit. Sure, I’m stressed about it, but you know what? My grandparents were married in the middle of WW2 a day after a German air blitz blew up half their town. If they can do that, the water can kiss my ass. I’m getting married even if it has to be in hip-waders.
The latest estimates of what will happen if things go tits up.
Our wedding location is in the 21-50cm zone. Could be worse.Of course there’s the usual bitching and moaning one could do about the government’s handling of the situation (much of it warranted, some of it not) but really, we need to keep things in perspective. Remember that there are people who have been homeless for months now; people whose businesses and houses are still underwater, and who have lost everything. Entire crops wiped out, factories destroyed, family members killed. All the attention seems to be focussed on Bangkok now, but I hope we don’t forget the poor bastards upstream who have been hit much harder than we will be.
At any rate, there is still a ton of water waiting to get to the ocean, and only one thing is in the way – Bangkok. Click to see it full size!
Holy crap.
Well, this will certainly delay my flight over there for a job interview.
Congrats on the wedding, man. Hope that everything goes off smoothly. You know, in a relatively speaking sense.
Thanks Steve,
Bummer to hear about your interview, but things'll be dry and back to (mostly) normal in a month, as they always are. I'm constantly amazed at how Thais can just deal with a massive problem and move on.
Thanks for the wedding wishes – check back mid-November to hear how it all went down. Hopefully without a snorkel. 🙂
Wow. Amazing that in your picture of the grocery at Central Chidlom there are what appear to be beer bottles lurking on the top shelf…. I would have thought those essential supplies might have been the first to go…..
My thoughts and good wishes are with you, Greg. I really like your attitude about your wedding – you have a very healthy perspective on it, especially the amazing story about your grandparents' wedding.
I remember listening to a talk by Ajarn Brahm and he said that sometimes when things don't go as planned, it can create memories that will last a lifetime. Perhaps a wedding in hipwaders will indeed be the one marriage everyone remembers and talks about in your circles.
Let's hope it doesn't come to that though. Thanks for the update. 🙂
Lovely post Greg and nice to see some perspective being put on things after all the crapola flying around. Good luck with the wedding and hope you don't need those hip-waders, but if you do maybe you'll start a new trend ('interrr' as the Thais would say).
Roy.
Thanks everyone. Now holding our breath that the wedding will go off okay. Nothing to do but wait and see.