klubex99

I don't think things will get as bad as 2011. There just isn't the runoff heading south from the northern region. Chiang Mai is dry at the moment. Reservoirs, rivers & canals are low. 2 years ago there was a hell of lot of water released at the same time as massive rains.

Chiang mai rain doesn't go to BKK.

All the water from the already flooded provinces goes to BKK.

If you check a timeline from 2011 it could be worse this time round. The rain seems much heavier and much more consistent. At this time in 2011 only 25 provinces were flooded, upto 27 this year already.

Very good point.

If my memory serves me right. BKK did not flood till Novenber in 2011.

We are 2 months prior to that time of year.... BKK got all the water from the north after all that flooded, but the rains ended there back in early October. and we are on the verge of the same scenario, with 2 big storms bearing down and potentially weeks of rain yet to come.

This could be a lot worse.

These are the words that the government should be coming out with.

anybody have any links to flood maps/maps showing movement of the water?

I don't have maps or a link, but I did just take a drive up to Nakhon Nayok and Khun Dan Dam this morning. The Dam is almost it's maximum capacity of 224 Million Cubic Metres of water.

A lot of the farm land in the immediate area and almost down to the 305 Highway, has been flooded intentionally by the look of it.

When driving home, I saw many emergency vehicles heading North East with boats loaded etc.

Khlong Rangsit is quite high in places, but totally clogged with water hyacinth.

I'll attach a couple of photos if my skills allow!

The first two photos were taken 27th July and the water was so low I thought could rain until November without problem.

The dam is 93 metres tall.

I hope this helps a little.

It amazes me that the Officials keep informing us of the level of the Bhumibol & Sirikit Dams when the problem Dams causing concern are much closer to BKK.DSCN0352.JPGDSCN0355.JPGDSCN0378.JPGDSCN0379.JPGDSCN0381.JPG

Thanks for posting the images. That last photo looks like it could be a different view of the one I commented earlier. That one looks very much like a spillway that is gushing. The spillway is always set below the maximum height of the dam for obvious reasons.

Could be wrong, but it looks a lot like a spillway which is usually at the side of the dam.

The Indian satellite footprints don't make it this far south without a BIG dish

http://www.vipboxsports.me/ stream the Indian cricket channels plus loads more sports

I don't mind a big dish actually, even a big motorized one, even better because i can point it to lots of sats. Not sure about the technology though. would I need loads of boxes, or is there a universal box available that can decode many channels?

I am trying to find if it is possible to get Indian satellite broadcasting here in Thailand.

I want it for star sports and star cricket, and the discovery channels and star movies etc.

I am done with True Visions. They are not a very professional company and have had lots of problems with their internet and TV products and won't have any more dealings with them. Above all, their customer services lie all the time., I can't abide that.

I have signed up with scinet for internet and it's bril, I want to get back on satellite TV, and I want the above channels. I know there are a few Indian sat providers. But would be difficult to sign up from Thailand

I was hoping the satellite footprint might fall on Thailand, but seems not to. But I am seeing a few websites saying it can be got. But seems too technical for me with satellite names and co-ordinates etc... I don't need that info, just the easy info on what box, where to get it and prices.

Thanks in advance for your help

I thought it was illegal in most western countries to import from companys who used child labour?

The best way to address this is find out all the big western companys who are buying this seafood, and expose them. That usually sorts out the problem with mass cancellation of future orders unless these parasites improve working conditions, pay a fair wage so that children can be looked after instead of pushed out to work at an age when they should be developing.

Any decent investigative reporters out there looking for a scoop? Here it is.

How can YL climb to a higher level??

Private jet

The man talks sense . . . well, mostly . . . well, slightly more than the current Govt.

Where the PT spending plan will be divided between

rice

palm oil

onions

garlic

carrots

pineapples

and Louis Vutton.

I am not sure if I qualify as a medium, but I am constantly being visited by the devil in my dreams asking me to perform evil acts, and in return will reward me by playing loud rock music in my head.

Do you use 6-8 tablespoons of MSG in your cooking or RotDee (a msg flavor enhancer) found in all foods here? I have found the only thing that gets to me is the msg. Otherwise I suggest your issues are in your mind. You believe you should be getting sick as kitchens and cooking standards are not what you need.

Let's not turn this into an MSG thread - I'm neutral on MSG, but you have to be joking if you think food safety standards here are safe. Even the stench of "off" meat products can be smelled at the big supermarkets that can't be named.

As for the open air markets. A western food hygienist would have kittens if they were asked to monitor the standards.

As a matter of fact some friends and I discussed this very issue recently after one poor sod was confined to his condo for 5 days with "chronic everything syndrome". He emerged a pale comparison of his former self. He put it down to some dodgy BBQ chicken bought from the market. We hypothesized the potential lifecycle of said chicken:

Day 1: Killed (un-hygienically) and maybe transported to market to be displayed in the open air with no refrigeration or insect control other than the plastic bag on a stick waved by a 6 year old. Or it might sit around the chicken farmers yard for a day before being transported to market. Regardless, it's sitting in a tray of floating salmonella juices that smell putrid even to the hardiest soul. And all the Thais pick through it with bare (unwashed and been to the bog three times already) hands, wiping said hands on a rag that has never been washed and is stiff with bacteria.

Day 2: Wasn't sold on day one, but maybe (or maybe not) stored in an box of ice, along with pork, prawns, livers, fish, and lord knows what else. To be displayed yet again in the open air as on day one.

Day 3: Wasn't sold on Day two, but still good to go. Wipe off any blow-fly larvae.

Day 4: Wasn't sold on day three and vendor thinks maybe it might be getting a bit dodgy after 3 or maybe 4 whole days sitting unrefrigerated (never mind the 2-3 days of open air 32 degree plus 2-3 nights at say 4 degrees in the icebox), so decides to either sell to a fried/BBQ chicken vendor on the cheap, or fry it himself for re-sale. Maybe it will be sold, maybe not. If not sold, no need to store in an icebox over night because now it's cooked.

Day 4: Fancy some chicken on a stick and some khaow-niau anybody?

Whatever the lifecycle. They would never throw it away. That is part of the problem. Even been to quite an expensive restaurant where you expect it to be different and took one bite out of a burger, and I almost hurled. They must know when something is bad. Do they care? Not in their nature. Making a sale and losing that cistomer for life is much better than throwing out 1KG of rancid burger meat.

My experience has been with over 14 years living inThailand neither, I nor anyone in my family has had food poisining more than 3 or 4 times.

Given the number meals eaten in a wide range of restaurants, at least one meal eaten out of home per day, I have to conclude hygene is not a concern.

Eat out that often back home I'd expect no better occursnce of sickness.

The one concern I have with food in Thailand is the presence of agro chemicals and agro antibiotics. A real concern that people oight to get better informed on.

Maybe I am intolerant to a common factor in Thai cooking.

But we use almost all the same things in our kitchen, and I am fine, my wife seems to be the same as me.

In Nepal, there was no such problem. I can only put it down to bad practices. I have had rotten meat served to me on more than one occasion. I could smell it each time before i even took a bite. My wife had a pork chop that smelled so purified that i could smell it from the other side of the table. I was seriously pissed off, because they must have known it was totally off, the smell would have been a lot worse before cooking. But rather than throw it out or give it to the dog, they chose to serve it to their customer. That is by far the worst experience I ever was exposed to in any restaurant in any country I have every traveled (23 so far).

The whole thing seems to be a problem with attitude. It's a pity because I really like Thai food.

I've walked into restaurants where the cook turned out to be the person who was:

clipping and scraping toenails;

popping zits in the motor scooter mirror;

de-licing hair friend;

scraping boogers;

picking ticks from her dog and .... well .... I didn't eat the soup.

But there are plenty of clean places. Just have to hunt them down. I do tend to avoid raw foods though, unless I know the place.

Funny you should say that. My wife pointed out a few weeks ago that she saw the owner clipping his toenails, and then got up and started preparing food. Luckily for me, I was not eating there. The wife was.

I have watched a cook chopping chicken and pork on the same chopping board, then just wiped it over with a dirty rag and proceed to slice a tomato on it for a salad.

They seem to have no idea just how dangerous that is. It will get you closed down in a heartbeat in the west, and would possibly make the local press, just to make sure your business is ruined.

There's a Thai food safety act?

Yes, but it is more of an advisory board rather than an action board.

They ought to bring in laws and enforce them like they have in western countries, seeing as these businesses are serving food to millions of western people.

They have a course that food operators can attend and they get a certificate if they pass, and can display it in their restaurant/eatery. But I have never seen a single one. They should make it mandatory that any business selling food to the public has a certificate on display or they can not trade. They should send round inspectors to see that standards are being maintained, and they should revoke a certificate if there are failings.

It's not a major inconvenience to put this system in place.

They don't mind burning Christian churches in Syria ,and kill Christians to boot , destroy Hindu temples in India ,blow up Buddha's in Afganistan and on and on ,so what's a few petrol soaked corans?

It's ok to put statues of the Christ in piss bottles ,or literally eat the heart of their enemies .

I think we need to desensitize all those soooo touchy people ohhh so sensitive

We(Infidels) are being provoked on a daily basis IE : The million muslim march on Dc

It's ok if we take abuse but not ok to dish it back ..come on people!

When and where will political correctness end

which world do you live ? burning Christian churches? who is supplying the matches ? destroying Hindu temples ? wake up , its a Hindu majority. Muslims are being slaughtered in India, Sri Lanka, Burma , Naple, and al around the world , stop talking rubbish

It's you that is talking rubbish my friend.

This is happening every day in the muslim dominant countries.

There are constantly islamic radicals parading through the streets of the UK holding placards screaming out 'death to all infidels' and 'UK police burn in hell' or do you prefer 'behead those who insult islam'..... This is going on all the time in overly PC Britain. One of the reasons I left.

The USA is only one step away from their islamic community doing the same and this confidence to do so is fed by the PC protectionist societies that they seek to attempt to force conversion to islam.

In 10 years, these scenes will be on the streets of Washington DC and in New York City.... you mark my words.

Coming to a street near you ..... soon.

I have read TV long enough to know that the soldiers did absolutely nothing wrong. All the courts need to do is read the threads over the last few years and it will become completely clear to them that all actions was justified. The army did not shoot anyone...............but if they did it was because they were attacked first...................... and if they were not attacked first then it was because there was a threat........................ but if there was no threat then it was because the Reds were causing an inconvenience to the ruling average citizens.

If you have been reading TV that long you would know that most of the TV members would think you were a fruitcake.

Lucky you were not in charge of the government back in 2010, if so there would be nothing left of the city and the redshirts would still be there "inconveniencing the citizens".

Personally, I would wear that as a badge of honor!

I think I would have used water cannons, tear gas, and other, more traditional, methods of crowd control.

These were not normal crowds... these were illegal militia 'potentially' armed with stolen police weapons and 'definitely' armed with molotov cocktails.