My friends and colleagues have moved to various places temporarily - Pattaya, Cha-am and Chiang Mai.

Quote |

-- My Enthusiastic & Am. Friend claims to have seen some unconfirmed report that now it might take up to seven hours to drive from BKK. to PATTAYA - such is the exodus, flight of the lemmings, rush of the Gadarene Swine,(Matt VIII:32.), or call it what you will.

-- For an aerial view -
> http://yfrog.com/z/mezmdsej <, (courtesy of > http://www.baht-stop.com <),.

-- For an Aussie. 'paper's. view-point, (I must allow that until after I'd read the below-mentioned article I hadn't realized just how important TH. appears to be in the manufacturing processes of somany & world-wide industries, [blush!].), -
> http://www.theage.com.au/national/th...028-1mo4a.html <

Quote |

Hello to y'all. Arr at Swampy-dead quiet a few days ago, stayed 1 day in BK and left-flood anxiety. Tossed with going Pty but all those reports of full places made me change mind and go further east. Buses to PTY were only half full and a plenty at Ekamai. Road-via free=no toll elevated BangNa went fast and smooth-here also many parked cars (how would they get off there after parking?). This 7-hr warning has passed and was just for 1 day. However-if you intend to go PTY very soon, rec. to have a solid HTL-res for the time being!
Another aspect was the emptyness of gay places in BKK; the massageshop which mostly has 20-30 boys lining up, now had just 4-and had to wake them from their sleep.

Quote |

BKK today 34 C , sunny and dry. High tide passed, central BKK and airport dry - no extension of 5 day public holiday - crisis over! (unless you live in the already flooded country areas where drainage expected to be another 4 weeks.)

The Pattaya hotel situation will be easy after today as "refugees" return to BKK tonight.

Jomtien beach deck chairs quite full over the weekend .

- and Qantas flying again. Come on down !!

Quote |

"BKK today 34 C , sunny and dry. High tide passed, central BKK and airport dry - no extension of 5 day public holiday - crisis over! (unless you live in the already flooded country areas where drainage expected to be another 4 weeks.)

The Pattaya hotel situation will be easy after today as "refugees" return to BKK tonight. ..."

Suggest you look a little more broadly than this, water is still rising in many parts of Bkk. My office just down from Don Muang Airport has 1.5 metres of water, yesterday had 20cm of water.

One of my staff lives alongside San Saeb khlong close to Mah Boon Kong shopping complex. So far the water hasn't gone into homes but late yesterday houses close to the khlong were ordered to evacuate because within 24 hours the govt. will be using that khlong to carry a lot more water in the master plan to get water to the sea.

You seem to be assuming 'it's just a long week-end, everybody will go home when the long week-end finishes'. Not true, many Bkk folks have a long wait before they can return home. One of my colleagues has a house in a major housing development going towards Korat, the family fled more than two weeks ago, whole village still has 2 metres of water today. When the water goes, it's estimated will take at least two weeks for the house to be made habitable, and for gov't agencies to reconnect electricity etc., get local roads usable, etc.

If you want a broader picture, go to thaivisa.com/forum, then click on Thailand news, lots of details. Free to join the forum and easy to sign up.

Quote |

For most cruisers contemplating whether or not to visit, the water level around Don Muang is not a concern. They want to know that Silom, Suriwong, Sukumvit are dry, Babylon is open and Siam Paragon is open. They want to know its safe to fly into Suvarnambumi and the drive to Pattaya is clear. They want to know there's no problems in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phuket, Koh Samui. etc.

I know it's still hell for many many thais, but visitors confining their stay to the central area of BKK or to Pattaya should not be put off visiting this great city / country.

Quote |

-- Today, (31 oct. & Hallow E'en.), my YM. & I looked-in at a couple of s'mkts. -
1.- 7/11. at Tee-jun. Si lom & Convent rds.-
1.1.- No supplies of drinking/potable water on shelves;
1.2.- All shelves of 'Instant.'-type - put plastic bag into boiling water - foods empty; but 'fridges. of frozen products stll fairly full;
2.- TOPS - Silom Complex Shopping Plaza. -
2.1.- Fairly well stocked-up: plenty of fresh fruits & veggies., same for fish & meat counters;
2.2.- Apart from plentiful & F. 'Evian.' water no other brands of drinking water seen;

3.- Today forenoon, & ret'g. along S'wong. rd. to my app't., I saw some opportunists selling 330ml. bottles of potable water for 10.Bh. each..;
3.1.- Most of the usual, lunch.-time & food-vendors, opp. to LE MERIDIEN HTL., were quite busy.

4.- Back-tracking to sat. & to sun. - 4.1.- Most, but not all, of the usual poor but honest b'fast. vendors along Si Lom rd., by BKK. XTN.HOSP'L., were OUT selling their cooked items;
4.2.- In the evenings most of the usual street-side stalls seemed to be OUT. Many food-vendors were busy with most tables fully occupied with Happy Eaters..

--

Quote |

-- Sat., 29 oct., a'noon. my YM. & I went-to SIAM PARAGON, wch. wasn't all that busy - in a gen'l. sense, although its Food Ct. & Gourmet-Mkt. were quite busy;
- I was interested to note that some of the Maint'ce. staff were ocupied still in building anti-flood walls: four rows of blackish & cinder-blocks - say approx. 2'.08". high. Made me wonder if it was 'Locking the stable-door ... . ' or another & possible inundation is expected in that area?
- According to a recent poster in > http://www.baht-stop.com < the next very HIGH tide will be on or about thu. 10 nov..
-- :-)

Quote |

Dear biggles, whatever makes you happy.

Quote |

Exactly. It is hard to know from afar how it is. Xfun and Sexytiles posts are very useful. Thanx and keep 'im cummin'. (PI)

Quote |