drdoom6996

What's that Thai word for "plan" again?

Ker Ching.

Stupid me. I thought the Thai word for planning was corruption in the form of feasibility studies by hired family members. Trips outside the country for the corrupt to see how other countries manage the monsoon, and things like that. They won't spend the money in Thailand unless it goes in somebodies pocket.

A great barometer as to whether they're really going to be serious about this is what they do about Suvarnabhumi airport. I half expect that this airport will become unusable as a result of the flooding, even if the levees protecting it hold. This is because the airport was built on a swamp, and the water will seep under the levees and underneath the runways, causing them to crack and deform.

They saw that this was a problem after the 2006 flood, but from what I can gather, their solution was to simply paint over the cracks.

Long-term planning also means correcting failures resulting from short-term thinking in the past. Losing this airport is going to be a headshot to the Thai economy. They've had experts telling them for years that the runways need to be put on pilings to allow the water to harmlessly run underneath. Now is the time to listen to them.

It's particularly demoralizing when you look at traditional Thai architecture. Everything is on stilts. Why? Long-term planning. It's in the Thai DNA, but like everywhere else, the politicians have their own set of genes...

Politicians have their own JEANS. Genes imply they might have a brain to think with.

Government? Planning? What do these words mean. I live in Thailand. Government = corruption and Planning = even more corruption.

On first thought, I was also going to joke about it... invoking emergency laws to prevent beer shortage to happen... but then I remembered the hundreds of thousands of people really affected by the flood and so I refrain from joking around...

yet, you basically still told the joke...

i'm not having a go at you, just found it amusing

I DON'T find it amusing that you DO find someone's (curtailed) amusement, amusing .

I......Don't......Care.......

Just like this government. The flood is putting additional stress on their getting on with corruption.

Speaking for hua Hin the town is full of people fleeing BKK, traffic is horrendous, stores half empty of products and TAT think we should encourage farang tourist to come here ???? they really are a joke LOL land of miricles.

The same in Pattaya.

I have lost all faith in this government, her words are meaningless and her actions feeble. If she uses the 'be patient' comment again I'll puke. Its been her mantra since day 1 of office.

The Chinese would have been able to build a second 'great wall' in the same time it takes Thailand to sort this flood out.

Don't mean to be negative, but so frustrated with the inaction and the ineffectiveness of current actions. <deleted> Ask for international help, get this problem sorted in the shortest possible time, don't try to show the international community how resilient we are by needlessly enduring this disaster any longer than possible due to stubbornness in seeking assistance.

Actually having patience with the flood is all people can do. When the decision to avoid all risk to central BKK was made it was always going to delay the waters going down and guarantee others were hit far harder. One analyst put it: those who cant afford to pay for the damage are suffering so those that can afford to dont have to suffer. The wider political ramifications of this (beyond organised party politics as they exist right now) are going to resonate.

How the aftermath is dealt with will be critical to whether Thailand sees stability or not. Personally I dont think the masses will abandon PTP, but if they do has anyone thought where they will go? It certainly isnt back to the establishment or the democrat party

I don't think the dems needs the masses to go back to them, only a proportion of them (15%) or so

Just go see who is dry and who is wet. Take pictures with notations and timestamps. I'll bet the Shin clan is dry.

She didn't cry because there were no cameras

It's as plain as the nose on your face that yet again all these born again petty jobsworths are concentrating on feathering their own nest and empire building whilst ignoring the plight of the people and indeed the country.

The top down mis-management system has to date totally ignored those in need and still does totally ignores those in need from the Prime minister and the cabinet and all the involved farces forces we see total inactivity.

The cabinet parasites conspicuous by their absence visually and vocally yet still drawing their salaries are a fine example of the lack of leadership in times of crisis. Those who destroy barriers and interfere with sluice gates are taking their lead from the examples set by the self serving mindless morons who are intent on only looking after their own personal theifdoms fiefdoms and by doing so are indeed abusing the position of high office they hold due to nepotism , favoritism and in many cases their financial clout in securing those positions thus assuring themselves of a nice income whilst in their positions.

Let's have a paper-chase to cover our ineptitude.

I'm alright Jack !!!

Completely agree

Where are the pumps Thaksin claimed to buying in South Korea two or three weeks ago? . . . Well, I'm waiting. . . . chirrrp.

Maybe at the Thai customs. Somebody must pay the import duties on the items.

Actually that is not a joke. I work for an NGO and we still pay duties on all donated goods and relief supplies: No exceptions.

And that sucks. Thais continue to prove themselves unable to help themselves even when donations come in from other countries. Pay Pay Pay

If anybody could get the governor of Bangkok and FROC to resign we would all be in a better position. Better yet lets have another election and see what happens.

What the hell. SCAM THE SCAMMERS. I wouldn't live in Phuket on a bet, and I live in Pattaya.

Asked whether flood water was about to swamp the heart of the capital, the city governor said, "It depends on whether more water will be entering Bangkok."

What an expressively stupid statement. Please, don't say :I don't know", you WILL lose face.

Oh and while we are at it, make mandatory courses for drivers, teaching them polite manners and English.

Issue them a numbered license, that must be visible inside the sardine can.

Visible next to a telephone number of a complaint hotline.

3 strikes = 1 month suspension.

10 strikes = 1 year suspension.

Or something like that.

Again, any tuk tuk found guilty of not complying with that, impound the tuk tuk as mentioned in previous post.

Your dreaming, where would the local government and police get their money from? You don't really believe that these thugs can figure this out for themselves. The people in charge of these idiots are the people in charge of Phuket. Get a Grip.

Ask the Tuk Tuk(TERD TERD) drivers. They will arrange everything for you.

OH, by the way, don't forget your wallet.

She goes out to the people "It is a staged show and a publicity stunt!"

She stays away from the public "She is nowhere to be seen in times of crisis, she doesn't care for the people!

Can you decide?!

Please!

I've decided she and they are trying to figure out how to make money out of this mess for themselves. Opportunities only last so long. She should call her brother. He definitely knows how to screw his own people with corruption and scams.

It has been a baptism of fire for the PM and its easy to be wise after the event but the whole flood situation seems to have handled badly from the start. It seem to have built around save Bangkok from flooding. Indeed the PM herself guaranteed that Bangkok would not flood! To me, a casual observer, that if water had been managed better, allowed to go down south sooner and into the sea, rather than let it build up in dams and flood everywhere on the way then maybe, the flooding would have not have been so bad and maybe Bangkok would not have so much water now. When all this is over I hope that the powers that be are honest with their views of what went wrong, what could have been done better and how do we make sure we dont let this happen again. Learn from this and if there have been some bad decisions made, why were they made? Self interest, Political or whatever and action taken. Dont sweep it under the carpet, the people of this country deserve better than that. they elected you to do better than this.

If any of us on this site performed our jobs the way the current government has performed we would demoted at the very least, Fired would be more like it at my company. But they DO make the laws.

It is a pretty big mess. The Bangkok "only listen to me" governor overruling the Central Government time after time and some other uneducated hotshots show time after time that they are incompetent. THey should have let the river flow anyhow, it is political suicide to protect yellow <snip> areas and flood the poor.

The BMA is speaking sense and is being mostly logical and doing the best they can; the FROC government run centre is the one giving out totally contradictory advice and failing to manage the locals, with sabotage and negotation about water management now a new thing in Thailand (as opposed to actually running things properly with a clear plan)!

No idea why you think there are some 'yellow shirts' areas being protected; it is quite clear you are trying to make this into some sort of prai vs. amartaya debate...it isn't. Water is coming in, BMA attempts to evacuate and manage, FROC runs around like a headless chicken.

The uneducated simpletons failing to do a decent job...mostly/almost all on the FROC side. Remember 1000 motor boats; Bangkok safe; Bangkok will be flooded for a month; raising the flood gates up to 1.5m at Klong Sam Wa; rebranding donations; turning down donations of clothes; failing to hand out donations; attempted muzzling media control of NGOs; promising then failing to protect estates north of Bangkok; failing to provide basic information to citizens of Thailand? FROC/Government's filthy and mostly dry hands all over that incompetence.

The people in charge don't care. The people in charge make promises they can't keep. The people in charge couldn't control the flow of a bathtub, much less this inundation that was caused by the people in charge after Chang Mai flooded and they did nothing except put their own people in power in one way or another. The people in power have drivers, and the power to keep their hands and homes dry. And if it gets to bad Yingluck will just make another tv appearance and cry. TIT, Amazing the Miracle of Thailalnd

From Thailand Live Thursday 3/11:

Yingluck, who 2 days ago said things were improving, says today that it was getting worse everyday./via@tulsathit

But a slither of good news as well:

@RichardBarrow: Safari World is NOT closed today. Only Safari Park is flooded. Marine Park is open as normal

Was she crying again?

The mickey was "a mix of five Alprazolam pills, seven Atarax pills and five Chlorphen-Y pills".

Sounds like it would taste awful, or is it color/odorless, or were the guys just brainless?

should be cloudy and have a very bitter taste.

Why should the Tuk Tuk drivers have ALL the fun.

Hm many problems here I too have been asked " have you got a room for a month"

My fear is

they move in not only themselves but 5-6 other people into a studio room , dont want to pay a big deposit and then dissapear after the month leaving my room destroyed, what they want is a room at a 12 month price for 1 month, well it aint hapening in one of my units

You want to stay a month your'e gonna pay a 3 month price.

Pretty strange post.......

Yeah, strange dude.

Please say your not surprised by this?

I believe the contradiction is this:

From Article 1

"The Chao Phraya River's water level in Bangkok will likely rise to 2.6 metres [above normal sea level] over the coming weekend. It's going to be higher than the embankment," Bangkok Governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra said yesterday.

From Article 2

The level of the sea is expected to rise to about 2.45 metres from Thursday to Monday, though the embankments along Chao Phraya are 2.5m high.

That extra 1.5 meters might make a big difference, I should think. BTW, elsewhere I've read articles on this board that claim the embankment is on average 2.5 meters high. It sure would be nice to know whether that latter number is indeed an average or a minimum.

Decimal points. Very confusing. 2.45 from 2.6 is .15 not 1.5. Now how hard was that. Your scared, we got it. But stop scaring others with poor math.

WOW 4 to 6 weeks.....

Since Bangkok is basically at the mouth of the river I do not see how it can handle this for 4-6 weeks,

My flight is in 16 days , I might need to rethink this ,

Or come over and help my friends move everything up 2 meters just for safety !

BK

I just talked to a friend that just got home and the airport long term parking is full because it's above ground. So the airport is busy, but still fully functional.

I doubt it will be a full release of water that will cause deep flooding. It's probably a slight opening of the gates to relieve the pressure build up,especially considering that there is still more water coming down from the North. A lot of klongs in inner Bangkok is still quite low and I guess this decision is being taken as flooding will at least be controllable and manageable. It won't be so bad to have about 10 cm or so of water as damage can then be limited.

I doubt, I guess It's probably a slight opening,It won't be so bad to have about 10cm or so. Can I borrow your crystal ball. You seem to know more that anyone in Thailand.