Post 363: Swiming in Lak Si

Bangkok Floods 2011 ...

Walking from the Lak Si apartment this morning, I noticed that the little Mira car was now an island. The waters were still rising and everywhere was quiet. The usual morning chaos was absent  ....... People were either asleep or gone.

At the entrance to the car park, the usual collection of Taxi Bikes had been replaced by a boat .... and that's not really a good sign.

Paddling along the Soi with a small bag of rice and a bottle of water .... there was just a single monk. His bowl was full but he accepted my small offering and provided the usual blessing ... 'koon wai nahm mai?' ...  he then asked if I could swim .. and I returned the question .... but he just smiled.

The only scooters on the Soi this morning were being pushed ... but their owners still smiled.

Large trucks and small boats were the vehicles of choice today ......

At Wat Lak Si ..... the Red Cross were evacuating the local population ..... and in my limited experience, once the Red Cross become actively involved in a situation, that situation is probably a little more serious than it looks. Flooding in European cities can be devastating, but in comparison to Bangkok, the water involved in European floods is probably a little less hazardous. By the time the waters reached the district of Lak Si, they'd been traveling for quite some time. During that journey the waters had collected a certain amount of debris, a huge amount of sewage, numerous snakes and at least a hundred crocodiles from a flooded farm in Pathum Thani. On Chanel 3 this morning they interviewed a young boy in hospital. His legs were heavily bandaged after accidentally interfacing with a group of five crocodiles in the flood water ...... less than 100m from my apartment.

Alongside the main highway, which was still passable with care, evacuees waited for collection ..... and maybe it's now time for me to follow them .... mai pen rai kap