Gweiloman

He can't back them up because they're lies. Thaksin's house is flooded since over a week. There was even an article on the major English speaking newspaper (the one that can be trusted, not The Nation) if someone wants to look it up. Unfortunately, ThaiVisa prohibits direct linking to that newspaper's website.

Yingluck's house is protected by sandbags, just like everyone else's house. No special samurai ninja task force pumping out every single drop of water at work here. How do I know it? I live a few sois away.

Please be so good to post a few photo's here, if possible. It might calm down the temper of some of the (flooded) posters

What's the point? Posters here will believe what they want to believe.

Well, I'm firmly seated in a fairly comfortable TG seat enroute to a 3 week working holiday jaunt to Europe so I won't be posting as regularly as in the previous week, to the merriment of many I believe. Swampy is definitely safe for now.

Good luck and all the best to you all, regardless of your political persuasions.

Because whatever sh*t Thailand's in, the rest of the world (US, UK, Europe) is in worse sh*t?

i am not happy about this flood and how is being handling,what you dont know why not ask people that know it to help you?

i am not happy cause your post above is hard to decipher, why not edit it and put it in readable format!!!!!!

I am personally glad you got what we have had since the beginning of July....we are now just starting to clean up...and it is going to take weeks if not months to clean up this mess ...you are only just getting the water...and in 2 months time you also several months to clean it up..enjoy

NAKHON SAWAN....we will over come

What nice brotherly spirit.

Gweiloman

With all due respect to you perhaps if you had lived here for at least ten years you might well understand the comments regarding Thaksin and his aims. I assure you in my twenty plus years here I have never seen anything decent coming from Thaksin,

Sadly it's all about what's in it for me as far as Thaksin is concerned.

He (Thaksin) is the sort of person who if you shook hands with him you would do well to count your fingers afterwards to make sure you still had four fingers plus your thumb on your hand that grasped his hand..

Admittedly, I have not lived here as long as some other posters though I have a fairly good idea of what some think of Thaksin and what he has done or not done for Thailand. Fair criticism is fine, and should in fact be encouraged. Snide remarks, cheap shots and name calling just lowers the intellect.

Lets put it another way, Thaksin brings out the black humor in many, because they just can't say exactly what they would wish to. Secondly he generates such high levels of pain for many in manifold ways,That they REALLY need some way of venting that stress.

Yes he does, when he comes back hope he won´t forget his water-ski and loads of money as he promised to make everybody millionairs.

Please, don't all rush to prove my point about the level of intellect on this forum.

Gweiloman

With all due respect to you perhaps if you had lived here for at least ten years you might well understand the comments regarding Thaksin and his aims. I assure you in my twenty plus years here I have never seen anything decent coming from Thaksin,

Sadly it's all about what's in it for me as far as Thaksin is concerned.

He (Thaksin) is the sort of person who if you shook hands with him you would do well to count your fingers afterwards to make sure you still had four fingers plus your thumb on your hand that grasped his hand..

Admittedly, I have not lived here as long as some other posters though I have a fairly good idea of what some think of Thaksin and what he has done or not done for Thailand. Fair criticism is fine, and should in fact be encouraged. Snide remarks, cheap shots and name calling just lowers the intellect.

Lets put it another way, Thaksin brings out the black humor in many, because they just can't say exactly what they would wish to. Secondly he generates such high levels of pain for many in manifold ways,That they REALLY need some way of venting that stress.

Come off it. High levels of pain? For farangs? What? Increasing visa fees? Increasing bar fines? Judging from the intellectual levels displayed by some on this forum, this is likely to be their largest monthly expenditure.

Whybother and Marquess

Fair points. Let's hope that these mistakes are not repeated in the future. I don't think anyone, regardless of their political leanings (except for one or two misguided posters) wants such a disaster happening again to this country that we call home.

Gweiloman

With all due respect to you perhaps if you had lived here for at least ten years you might well understand the comments regarding Thaksin and his aims. I assure you in my twenty plus years here I have never seen anything decent coming from Thaksin,

Sadly it's all about what's in it for me as far as Thaksin is concerned.

He (Thaksin) is the sort of person who if you shook hands with him you would do well to count your fingers afterwards to make sure you still had four fingers plus your thumb on your hand that grasped his hand..

Admittedly, I have not lived here as long as some other posters though I have a fairly good idea of what some think of Thaksin and what he has done or not done for Thailand. Fair criticism is fine, and should in fact be encouraged. Snide remarks, cheap shots and name calling just lowers the intellect.

Wonder how many tourists from Dubai have cancelled their plans to visit Thailand?

For the sake of your continuing education, tourists from Middle Eastern countries travel generally in July Aug due to the high temperatures in their own countries.

Welcome to Thai Visa, how are you enjoying your first week?

Thank you, very much so.

For the sake of MY continuing education, what do some posters (yourself included) get out of making snide, pointless and irrelevant references towards Thaksin? I always thought an internet forum was to exchange intelligent and informative views and points about relevant subjects, not just inane gibberish.

The Minister of Science may have a go at it. He could probably turn it into one big drainage pipe if that Chinese pump is big enough.

Didn't Singapore (or KL?) build a big road tunnel that doubles as a drain during heavy rains / floods? They close down the road and open the flood gates, and the whole tunnel floods.

KL. It's called the SMART Tunnel (Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel). However, this is more to counter the flash floods that occur in KL almost on a daily basis during the monsoon season (which seems to be like 360 days a year nowadays).

Thanks, a very enlightening post. As I understand it, due to the typhoons and subsequent deluge of water that came down from Laos and Burma, the dams basically overfilled and water therefore had to be released in order to prevent damage to the reservoirs. This in turn caused the initial flooding in Chiang Mai, Isaan etc. Would I be correct in supposing this?

The way I understand it, the flooding in Isaan and Chiang Mai was a direct result of the typhoons.

There is a mountain range between Burma and Thailand, so no water would have come from there. The rivers from Laos, and also from the Isaan plateau, flow into the Mekong and through Cambodia (hence the disastrous flooding there).

http://upload.wikime..._Topography.png

The rain from 3 typhoons in August caused flooding in the North and North East, most of which came down the Chao Phraya river system into Ayutthaya and then Bangkok. In addition to this, water was released from 3 of Thailand's major dams (and probably a lot of smaller ones) mainly because there was simply too much water.

Without going into who was at fault, it appears that too much water was in the dams already, trying to make sure there was enough water for the dry season. Water should have been released earlier, but in the scheme of things, it probably wouldn't have made that much difference to the overall result. With the amount of rain that there was, the dams would have filled up anyway and water would have still needed to be released. There was going to be flooding regardless of the dams, although the timing of the release didn't help.

edit: One of the problems with draining the water from as far as Ayutthaya is that the slope from the gulf to Ayuttaya is about 1cm for every km. Which is, essentially, flat. There are rises and falls in the land between Bangkok and Ayuttaya, but all that means is that the water will pool, and will still drain very slowly.

Thanks for the clarification.

I feel sorry for the individual (if there was one) who made the decision to hold onto the water in the dam. At another time in another place, this might have been the right call but sadly, none has the benefit of hindsight at the time the decision was made.

Weekend Chatuchak Shopping list:

1) Green Mamba Anti-venom

2) Crocodile Net, Heavy Duty

3) Chest-high Wading Boots

4) Portable Toilet

5) Water Purification Equipment

6) 10 Cu Mtr/sec Water Pump (diesel)

7) Flotation Device for Automobile

8) Jet Ski

9) Wind-up Emergency TV

10) Scuba Outfit

11) Boat Big Enough for All of the Above (except the Jet Ski)

Re item 6). Perhaps you could check whether the pumps thaksin ordered from Korea have arrived, maybe there now on sale at Jatujuk?

Anyone ever told you that you're a really funny guy? No? I wonder why.

Easy son. Anyone ever tell YOU that you were intelligent? Rest my case

Get your tenses right first before trying to criticise someone else Guess that a MAN's more intelligent than a BLOKE. Rest my case.

Hoping to travel to Swampy from Aranya/Sakaeo area on Sunday.

Would appreciate if anyone has recent experience of this route via Chachongsao ?

Cheers

Did this trip last week, no problem. Go past Phanat Nikhom, onto Highway 7 at Chonburi and straight up to Swampy. However, situation is changing on day to day basis so good luck.

Wonder how many tourists from Dubai have cancelled their plans to visit Thailand?

For the sake of your continuing education, tourists from Middle Eastern countries travel generally in July Aug due to the high temperatures in their own countries.

Including the weekend market or not?

I am suppose to pick up some items this weekend there.

Weekend Chatuchak Shopping list:

1) Green Mamba Anti-venom

2) Crocodile Net, Heavy Duty

3) Chest-high Wading Boots

4) Portable Toilet

5) Water Purification Equipment

6) 10 Cu Mtr/sec Water Pump (diesel)

7) Flotation Device for Automobile

8) Jet Ski

9) Wind-up Emergency TV

10) Scuba Outfit

11) Boat Big Enough for All of the Above (except the Jet Ski)

Re item 6). Perhaps you could check whether the pumps thaksin ordered from Korea have arrived, maybe there now on sale at Jatujuk?

Anyone ever told you that you're a really funny guy? No? I wonder why.

Why they put themselves under this scenario in the first place? Why not keeping the flood waters safely inside those big reservoirs. I wish I know the answer but I don't. It is important for the dams managements to find out the answer to these questions. I can almost guarantee that this is not the last flood that they have to face.

I have seen the way that Bhumibol reservoir was operated. I can safely say that in future the reservoir has to have at least 4billion cubic meter of unfilled reserve by 1st October every year. That is not all that the dams authorities should do to stay dry but this is the least and the most important one. For Sirkit, I estimated to have unfilled reserve by around 2.5 to 3billion cubic meter.

I'm not sure but I seem to have read somewhere that they had to release the water from the dams in order to prevent damage to the dams? I also read that one of the dams was at 136% capacity, which would mean that even if the water level is below the lip, the dam is not constructed to have water all the way to the top. Could you shed some light on this?

There are two types of flood control reservoirs that we can categorize based on the their spillway design. The first type of reservoir is designed with gated and orifice spillways -e.g. sluice gates. The main reason for having this type of spillway is due to the requirement not to allow the water level to increase above the full supply level (FSL) of the reservoir. This can be achieved by adjusting the opening of the sluice gates. The gates themselves are placed about 10-20 meter under water to provide driving pressure. The operational objective of this spillway is to match the incoming flood flow to the reservoir to its outgoing flow. Therefore, the reservoir water level can be kept constant at FSL. Thus, the main dam structures are protected from flooding. This type of reservoir cannot hold water more than its maximum storage capacity. Two examples for this type of reservoir that I know in Thailand are Bhumibol and Sirkit.

The second type of reservoir is designed with a free flow spillway. The spillway bottom crest is placed just above the FSL of the reservoir. The main reason to have such design is to allow water level to increase above its FSL in the event of out design flood flow that strikes. What this spillway does is to keep some of the flood flow and release some. Unlike the first type as described above, the total discharge for this type of spillway is as function of water level. At FSL, the spillway discharge is zero. As the water level increases above the FSL, the discharge will become more. The operational objective is to allow the spillway to seek balance between incoming flood flow to the total outgoing of the reservoir. It is hoped that the balance will occur below the maximum anticipated water level above FSL (Normally between 4-8m). Otherwise it enters the other category of protection and operation that we are not going to discuss further. This second type of design is very friendly for flood control operation since it allows vast amount of flood water to occupy the maximum surface areas ranging from the reservoir to the downstream.

Can you see the main problem with some of your flood control dams by now? Bhumibol and Sirkit were designed in accordance with the first type above. The adverse effect is that as long as these reservoirs can keep the flood water and their water level elevations are below their FSL then everything is going to be fine. The downstream populations do not even realize the were floods that just struck. But once these reservoirs fail to capture the flood flows then a deadly conflict will arise. The reservoirs have to release all the water that get almost instantaneously to curb the water level to increase above their FSLs. In this case smaller surface area will contain the flood water. Only down stream flood plains that have to contain the water. As a result the same flood flow will cause even bigger flood.

Thanks, a very enlightening post. As I understand it, due to the typhoons and subsequent deluge of water that came down from Laos and Burma, the dams basically overfilled and water therefore had to be released in order to prevent damage to the reservoirs. This in turn caused the initial flooding in Chiang Mai, Isaan etc. Would I be correct in supposing this?

On the subject of the 'shelf life' of indefensible acts as political point scoring tools in these important discussions, how long would you give, say, the 2006 coup or the fighting last year in Bangkok? 10 minutes and forever respectively, I'd imagine. Although of course I'm prepared to be proved wrong.

I don't think there is a shelf life in discussing those incidents you mention. The issue is bringing those issues up, to, in some way, justify something else.

I don't see it as a justification of something else. It's more like saying 'Here's an incident (A) which you don't decry, which is comparably bad to an incident ( which you do decry (repeatedly and at length)'. Any linkage between the two incidents apart from the fact they serve to illustrate an inconsistency in your (or whoever's) reaction to each, is purely what you imagine, I would suggest. And what you imagine, I feel, is fueled by the notion that in this argument there is no quarter to give, no middle ground to be found and no common understanding possible.

Just my 2 Adjustable Galactic Dollars' worth.

Rixalex couldn't see the point even in my very simple post about perspective. I doubt very much if he could make sense of yours

I must say that it's gutsy of her to go into the lion's den and face up to the people. It gives moral support to those that are in favour of her, and allows her opponents to vent some anger and frustration.

Well done YL!

i guess brainwashed is far to little a word to use for you yep well done Taksin reds etc for fooling a lot of people all of the time pathetic but then you dont have to suffer from their greed incompetence and pure malice most of suffering will and is done by their own supporters And they deserve what they voted for

How is it for someone who writes as you do gets to amass such a vast amount of money as you claim? Anyway, unlike you who are busy getting all your money out, I'm busy putting in as much as I have.

I understand that Alexakap has had his house flooded and is therefore naturally and justifiably upset and angry at the current government.

Wrong.

Once again: I do NOT care who is on charge now. YS or AV or SC (Santa).

I see FARCE, only the FARCE around the flooded areas. And you watch your television from the [yet] dry side.

Feel the difference, and sound me the name who is IN CHARGE of the current trouble. WHOEVER HE/SHE/IT IS - I simply see noone during this 2-week flood. What? No name pronounced? Ha-ha, how predictable.

Once again, read it: NOONE HERE, only a few helpful locals. NO govt, NO electricity, NO tap water and NO food. You don't tell me how helpful your belowed govt was shown in da last tv news.

And tomorrow I'll go there again.

The thing that I don't understand is the obsession of the anti reds to blindly and childishly resort to name calling and criticism without any intelligent reasoning behind their posts.

With regards to being a red supporter, are you up to the constant barrage of insults that will inevitably come your way? I'm not even a real supporter, more a sympathiser and even then, I've been subject to personal insults

Open your eyes, kiddo. Or keep "not understanding" and save my time. My objective is not to enlight you - please educate yourself (or read the initial post again - there are some "voices of the true voters". They are changing).

Oh dear, I think you might be losing it a bit dear chap. I think I shall wait till you have calmed down to a more reasonable level before further exchanges. Take care (I'm going off to educate myself now).

Since when has a reddish district equalled a 100% red vote?

Pathum/DonMuang is the "reddish" tambol, the citadel of reds headed to Bangkok. You go and ask locals to educate yourself.

She decided to dress her clowns to those coca-cola t-shirts...but even there the welcome was "mixed" (yet few months ago it was different)...now think yourself.

I don't care the exact red percentage now (however it is going down anyway). I don't even care to spell her name - Im too busy with sandbags, sorry.

You do realise that the so called red shirts constitute more of the population of Thailand than any other singularly coloured shirts don't you?

The true majority of Thailand is colorless. They use their daily t-shirts regardles the colors. Go educate yourself.

I don't care about wai'ing trolls - Im out from this discussion to save my time. Too wet here in Pathumthani nowadays, you know....Tooo manything to watch on....and that girl has brought her common cries and tears to increase the flooding, geeezzzz....

@gweiloman: give it up! These moro&s will never listen to reason. They are too bitter, that their beloved poster-boy AV is not in charge.

Oh my...how he would have done so much better.

What would he have done?

Declare SOE and sit back and let the Army do HIS job!

I am never in a million years a red supporter.

But the hatred and the senseless ranting of the yellow and dems- fans are beginning to make me think, that I should be...just for the fun of it!

I understand that Alexakap has had his house flooded and is therefore naturally and justifiably upset and angry at the current government. It is always a soft target as even right decisions will cause pain and grief to some.

The thing that I don't understand is the obsession of the anti reds to blindly and childishly resort to name calling and criticism without any intelligent reasoning behind their posts.

With regards to being a red supporter, are you up to the constant barrage of insults that will inevitably come your way? I'm not even a real supporter, more a sympathiser and even then, I've been subject to personal insults

And if they indeed disallowed any non-red shirts to get on the boat, this would surely be classified as a reprehensible and indefensible act, very much like what some others did a couple of years back by occupying the airport.

Where would a red-shirt defence be without the obligatory airport occupation mention? It's stood them in good stead for many years now as a way of avoiding addressing their own misdemeanors, but dragging up history that far back is starting to stretch an argument that from birth was already dead on its legs. They must be praying for the yellows to do something again of equal stupidity, so as to give them some fresh material with which to explain away all their own ongoing stupidity.

Actually, I think it's called perspective. Reprehensible and indefensible acts are not the exclusive domain of red shirts.

The airport occupation happened two years ago. Thaksin's crimes, much longer than that. Guess which gets dragged up more often?

I doubt if any red supporters are praying for the yellows to do something again of equal stupidity (kudos for acknowledging that, unlike some other posters). The yellow supporters on this forum are doing a much better job.

it's understandable that some of the general public in Thailand could easily see Yingluck as being pretentious and out of touch with the flood victims because of her designer boots. Thank heavens for her ruling Pheu Thai Party that Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung didn't show up in his pink Bentley

The 25 million baht Pink Bentley, one of only two in the world. Paris Hilton has the other.

And on a cops salary! He must be quite the penny pincher.

His asset declaration following the July elections have Chalerm with 178 million baht in assets. While taking that with a grain of salt, if true, it's surprising that 25 of that was put into a single car.

I wonder if he's made an offer to Paris for the other in order to have sole possession of all of these awesome looking vehicles.

.

.

Ever heard of something called a loan? Sure you must have, it's because of this dirty world that Americans are so fond of that the world has been brought into an economic crisis.

Poor confused soul. I guess the flooding must be really getting to you. Have you forgotten that this whole debate about the boat stickers started with a picture of the boat, with victims in it?

Who knows, maybe that first photo with the victims in it was fake and photoshopped?

I think it has been clearly established and accepted by all (including red shirt supporters) that the stickers are genuine. It has also been universally condemned, and justifiably so, on this forum at least, that this was a very stupid and irresponsible action on the part of this "splinter" group of red shirts.

If it's not too much trouble, could you list which Red Shirt groups represent genuine Red Shirts and which are the "splinter" groups that contain the fake Red Shirts. As you pointed out, I'm a "poor confused soul" and I'm not able to make that determination on my own. The nearest I've been able to come is that those Red Shirts that commit reprehensible and indefensible acts are the fake ones, right?

I suggest you reread Nicknostitz's posts on how the red shirts are (loosely) organised.

I don't know which red shirts you are referring to the commit reprehensible and indefensible acts. But for sure, those that thought up this idea of having a relief boat for the use of red shirts only should be heavily condemned. And if they indeed disallowed any non-red shirts to get on the boat, this would surely be classified as a reprehensible and indefensible act, very much like what some others did a couple of years back by occupying the airport.

But, it wasn' t Germany and Japans money that rebuilt those two countries. Who's going to put up the money to rebuild Thailand?

I think there will be plenty of investors lining up to do so. It's almost a certainty that the returns will exceed anything the financial markets will return over the next few years.

Actually, it seems to me that it is only up to them to keep doing what they are doing - helping people in a flood. They certainly have no need to prove something to you, me or anyone else here.

Their location is not a secret, you guys who speak thai can go out there and talk with them. The rest can take their iphones and snap some pictures or post their own video. Careful, you risk catching them in the act of helping someone.

I haven't seen any evidence that they're even helping anyone in a flood even, regardless of shirt color. One poster here who observes them regularly wonders if they are only there for advertisng/showing their colors, as he's never seen the boats move. he didn't seem like he was trying to smear them and it sounded like he'd have loved to catch them in the act of helping someone. Just no luck so far.

Poor confused soul. I guess the flooding must be really getting to you. Have you forgotten that this whole debate about the boat stickers started with a picture of the boat, with victims in it?

Who knows, maybe that first photo with the victims in it was fake and photoshopped?

I think it has been clearly established and accepted by all (including red shirt supporters) that the stickers are genuine. It has also been universally condemned, and justifiably so, on this forum at least, that this was a very stupid and irresponsible action on the part of this "splinter" group of red shirts.