People Are Stockpiling Foods For Fear Of Bangkok Flooding

[NCFC]

not sure, why to buy water, as tap water is good enough and rain water can be drunk as well.

would be wise to take car's battery into the home, to have some emergency lighting

This is Satire right? Thai's dont drink tap water because they know of the health risks. I doubt very much if any farang with the slightest hint of a brain cell would drink it either. Even your own countries give warnings about drinking tap water or consuming ice not only in Thailand but right across asia. It will be a few hundred years before a person can consume water straight from the tap here and that is without the floods.

This is the warning the Australian govt issues to it's citizens.

Water-borne, food-borne, parasitic and other infectious diseases (including tuberculosis, cholera, hepatitis, leptospirosis, typhoid, and rabies) are prevalent with outbreaks occurring from time to time. We encourage you to consider having vaccinations before travelling. We advise you to boil all drinking water or drink bottled water, avoid ice cubes and raw and undercooked food, and avoid unpasteurised dairy products. Seek medical advice if you have a fever or are suffering from diarrhoea.

Quite wrong. Thais do drink tapwater. One can buy filtration systems to install in the kitchen. We have a wall-mounted system and use it daily for the past ten years. A guy comes and maintains it every 3 months. A good and convenient service.

[wana]

not sure, why to buy water, as tap water is good enough and rain water can be drunk as well.

would be wise to take car's battery into the home, to have some emergency lighting

This is Satire right? Thai's dont drink tap water because they know of the health risks. I doubt very much if any farang with the slightest hint of a brain cell would drink it either. Even your own countries give warnings about drinking tap water or consuming ice not only in Thailand but right across asia. It will be a few hundred years before a person can consume water straight from the tap here and that is without the floods.

This is the warning the Australian govt issues to it's citizens.

Water-borne, food-borne, parasitic and other infectious diseases (including tuberculosis, cholera, hepatitis, leptospirosis, typhoid, and rabies) are prevalent with outbreaks occurring from time to time. We encourage you to consider having vaccinations before travelling. We advise you to boil all drinking water or drink bottled water, avoid ice cubes and raw and undercooked food, and avoid unpasteurised dairy products. Seek medical advice if you have a fever or are suffering from diarrhoea.

Quite wrong. Thais do drink tapwater. One can buy filtration systems to install in the kitchen. We have a wall-mounted system and use it daily for the past ten years. A guy comes and maintains it every 3 months. A good and convenient service.

which thailand do you live in ? i have yet to see a thai person use "tap" water for anything other than cleaning or maybe brushing their teeth

even the very low paid workers use the 1 thb per litre machines and carry 12 litres per time up to their condos

if the tap water was fine ,im sure theyde just drink it

[maiphedmaiaroi]

I cant believe that food suppliers would raise their prices in times of difficulty. Their like vultures preying on the weak and downtrodden. Great human spirit.

Totally agree its disgusting, Had to pay 35 baht a bag of sand today due to inflation because people are desperate.

Today at 7am some old thaiman came to my house without me asking for his help. He made 3 walls of sand bags to protect my house from the water. I dont think it will work but u gotta try. He left i went and have a shower. I decided to go to his house to take a look how it is there. The guy was working protecting his house. Amazing he helped me b4 he helped himself.

Now that is human spirit at its best. What a great guy,

[maiphedmaiaroi]

not sure, why to buy water, as tap water is good enough and rain water can be drunk as well.

would be wise to take car's battery into the home, to have some emergency lighting

This is Satire right? Thai's dont drink tap water because they know of the health risks. I doubt very much if any farang with the slightest hint of a brain cell would drink it either. Even your own countries give warnings about drinking tap water or consuming ice not only in Thailand but right across asia. It will be a few hundred years before a person can consume water straight from the tap here and that is without the floods.

This is the warning the Australian govt issues to it's citizens.

Water-borne, food-borne, parasitic and other infectious diseases (including tuberculosis, cholera, hepatitis, leptospirosis, typhoid, and rabies) are prevalent with outbreaks occurring from time to time. We encourage you to consider having vaccinations before travelling. We advise you to boil all drinking water or drink bottled water, avoid ice cubes and raw and undercooked food, and avoid unpasteurised dairy products. Seek medical advice if you have a fever or are suffering from diarrhoea.

Quite wrong. Thais do drink tapwater. One can buy filtration systems to install in the kitchen. We have a wall-mounted system and use it daily for the past ten years. A guy comes and maintains it every 3 months. A good and convenient service.

which thailand do you live in ? i have yet to see a thai person use "tap" water for anything other than cleaning or maybe brushing their teeth

even the very low paid workers use the 1 thb per litre machines and carry 12 litres per time up to their condos

if the tap water was fine ,im sure theyde just drink it

Isnt filtered water tap water just filtered or does it have to actually come out of a tap to be classed as tap water?

[DP25]

which thailand do you live in ? i have yet to see a thai person use "tap" water for anything other than cleaning or maybe brushing their teeth

even the very low paid workers use the 1 thb per litre machines and carry 12 litres per time up to their condos

if the tap water was fine ,im sure theyde just drink it

Those 1B per liter machines are tap water. I filter the water here just like I do back home for taste. All the water I drink in the US goes through a Brita first

If I have to I'll drink the tap water without filtering. It's fine. But I won't if it floods.

[wana]

I cant believe that food suppliers would raise their prices in times of difficulty. Their like vultures preying on the weak and downtrodden. Great human spirit.

Totally agree its disgusting, Had to pay 35 baht a bag of sand today due to inflation because people are desperate.

Today at 7am some old thaiman came to my house without me asking for his help. He made 3 walls of sand bags to protect my house from the water. I dont think it will work but u gotta try. He left i went and have a shower. I decided to go to his house to take a look how it is there. The guy was working protecting his house. Amazing he helped me b4 he helped himself.

Now that is human spirit at its best. What a great guy,

he probably bought the sand for 450thb per tonne (the going rate set by government)

at 35thb per sandbag hes probably making more money sandbagging than he would

at his "regular " job

[ukrules]

My own testing confirms that the Bangkok tap water is of a very high standard. By far, higher than most developed cities in the world.

How do you perform your own tests, do you use a commercial lab or do them yourself ?

[maiphedmaiaroi]

I cant believe that food suppliers would raise their prices in times of difficulty. Their like vultures preying on the weak and downtrodden. Great human spirit.

Totally agree its disgusting, Had to pay 35 baht a bag of sand today due to inflation because people are desperate.

Today at 7am some old thaiman came to my house without me asking for his help. He made 3 walls of sand bags to protect my house from the water. I dont think it will work but u gotta try. He left i went and have a shower. I decided to go to his house to take a look how it is there. The guy was working protecting his house. Amazing he helped me b4 he helped himself.

Now that is human spirit at its best. What a great guy,

he probably bought the sand for 450thb per tonne (the going rate set by government)

at 35thb per sandbag hes probably making more money sandbagging than he would

at his "regular " job

I doubt that as i didnt buy the sand from him.

He came to help me because hmmm he is nice.

[h90]

I cant believe that food suppliers would raise their prices in times of difficulty. Their like vultures preying on the weak and downtrodden. Great human spirit.

Totally agree its disgusting, Had to pay 35 baht a bag of sand today due to inflation because people are desperate.

Today at 7am some old thaiman came to my house without me asking for his help. He made 3 walls of sand bags to protect my house from the water. I dont think it will work but u gotta try. He left i went and have a shower. I decided to go to his house to take a look how it is there. The guy was working protecting his house. Amazing he helped me b4 he helped himself.

Now that is human spirit at its best. What a great guy,

he probably bought the sand for 450thb per tonne (the going rate set by government)

at 35thb per sandbag hes probably making more money sandbagging than he would

at his "regular " job

I doubt that as i didnt buy the sand from him.

He came to help me because hmmm he is nice.

you should pay him a big pack of beer/whiskey or whatever he likes after it is over

[h90]

not sure, why to buy water, as tap water is good enough and rain water can be drunk as well.

would be wise to take car's battery into the home, to have some emergency lighting

This is Satire right? Thai's dont drink tap water because they know of the health risks. I doubt very much if any farang with the slightest hint of a brain cell would drink it either. Even your own countries give warnings about drinking tap water or consuming ice not only in Thailand but right across asia. It will be a few hundred years before a person can consume water straight from the tap here and that is without the floods.

This is the warning the Australian govt issues to it's citizens.

Water-borne, food-borne, parasitic and other infectious diseases (including tuberculosis, cholera, hepatitis, leptospirosis, typhoid, and rabies) are prevalent with outbreaks occurring from time to time. We encourage you to consider having vaccinations before travelling. We advise you to boil all drinking water or drink bottled water, avoid ice cubes and raw and undercooked food, and avoid unpasteurised dairy products. Seek medical advice if you have a fever or are suffering from diarrhoea.

Quite wrong. Thais do drink tapwater. One can buy filtration systems to install in the kitchen. We have a wall-mounted system and use it daily for the past ten years. A guy comes and maintains it every 3 months. A good and convenient service.

My staff would never every drink tapwater. My wife had even problems drinking it in Austria. She told it seems total bizarr as it is common sense in Thailand that it is impossible.

In Bangkok it might be possible because of the much chlorine (at least where I stay) but in the south it comes brown full of earth, brown color sometimes.

[chooka]

not sure, why to buy water, as tap water is good enough and rain water can be drunk as well.

would be wise to take car's battery into the home, to have some emergency lighting

This is Satire right? Thai's dont drink tap water because they know of the health risks. I doubt very much if any farang with the slightest hint of a brain cell would drink it either. Even your own countries give warnings about drinking tap water or consuming ice not only in Thailand but right across asia. It will be a few hundred years before a person can consume water straight from the tap here and that is without the floods.

This is the warning the Australian govt issues to it's citizens.

Water-borne, food-borne, parasitic and other infectious diseases (including tuberculosis, cholera, hepatitis, leptospirosis, typhoid, and rabies) are prevalent with outbreaks occurring from time to time. We encourage you to consider having vaccinations before travelling. We advise you to boil all drinking water or drink bottled water, avoid ice cubes and raw and undercooked food, and avoid unpasteurised dairy products. Seek medical advice if you have a fever or are suffering from diarrhoea.

Quite wrong. Thais do drink tapwater. One can buy filtration systems to install in the kitchen. We have a wall-mounted system and use it daily for the past ten years. A guy comes and maintains it every 3 months. A good and convenient service.

My staff would never every drink tapwater. My wife had even problems drinking it in Austria. She told it seems total bizarr as it is common sense in Thailand that it is impossible.

In Bangkok it might be possible because of the much chlorine (at least where I stay) but in the south it comes brown full of earth, brown color sometimes.

In the north, Chiang Mai the water comes out of the tap brown, There is no way I would drink tap water in Thailand It looks like sewage.i

[maiphedmaiaroi]

you should pay him a big pack of beer/whiskey or whatever he likes after it is over

Yeah i will do.

Even with all this worry about what might or will happen you start to know who the nice people really are.

Im feeling the love right now. I love thai people they are not all bad like most posters think on here.

[softgeorge]

not sure, why to buy water, as tap water is good enough and rain water can be drunk as well.

would be wise to take car's battery into the home, to have some emergency lighting

i have never drank tap water inn bangkok unless its been boiled first in coffee or something

my friend woke up hungover once and drank some tap water in a hotel

he spent most of the day on the crapper .........

also bear in mind the water in the reservoirs (your tap water ) will be easily contaminated when flood water from absolutely everywhere is pouring into it

I agree there is no way known on this earth that I would drink Thai tap water. Have you seen what comes out of the taps?, especially in Chiangmai. Brown rusty looking mud and we live in a new estate. (5 years old). You can't even wash your clothes in Thai water. We buy 20 litre bottles to fill the washing machine. Drink it at your own peril. I love Thailand but the water is sewage even without the floods.

[gkinbkk]

All the necessities in Tesco Suvarnaphumi sold out tonight and what wasn't sold was being bought by profiteers to sell of the back of a pickup truck down your soi....... shelves will be full again at 7am and the fight starts all over again......

I'm at home writing a Zombie script that at the moment is all based on actual events........

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

My wife and I just came back from Tesco On Nut, and we had a different experience there...

At that store tonight, there certainly were a FEW things that were absolutely sold out by evening time (when we arrived): bottled water, toilet paper, dried noodles, white sugar, cartons of eggs... chief among them as I walked the aisles...

But most things in most of the rest of the store were at least decently stocked, including plenty of rice, I noticed...

Also, there wasn't any particular sense of panic or urgency among people shopping there. Everyone was going about their business pretty much as normal... No unusual crowding at the checkout lines... No one pushing or shoving or anything like that.

The photos give the impression somewhat that the entire store has been emptied. That's just not the case. Plenty of food and other items to buy there... Just don't go looking for bottled water, toilet paper, white sugar, eggs and Thai style dried noodles... The aisles containing those items are indeed pretty bare.

Nice to see the local Thais have their shopping priorities straight...

Edited October 13, 2011 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

BTW, did anyone else find it more than a bit ironically amusing to get the breathless ThaiVisa email titled:

BREAKING: Bangkokians panic hoarding food, water on flood threat;

And underneath that headline, before getting to the various news items, is a full page ad from Agoda about their "Take A Trip to Thailand" 7-day sale on hotels rates at various Thailand cities... Bangkok among them.

I must say, now seems like an exceptionally good time to take a trip to Thailand... just be sure to bring along your row boat and/or swim fins...

And your own noodles, eggs and a healthy supply of toilet paper.

Edited October 13, 2011 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[pampal]

I can understand people buying alot of bottled water and noodles.

But why toilet paper?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I can understand people buying alot of bottled water and noodles.

But why toilet paper?

Because they're afraid their water guns might soon be shooting muddied water up their bums???

[bkkjames]

Have you ever had those noodles? The toilet paper is dual purpose. First to wipe the stain off your shirt and 6 hours later to wipe your...

[sjjmmi]

Have you ever had those noodles? The toilet paper is dual purpose. First to wipe the stain off your shirt and 6 hours later to wipe your...

[bkkjames]

Have you ever had those noodles? The toilet paper is dual purpose. First to wipe the stain off your shirt and 6 hours later to wipe your...

Thanks , I retract my previous statement lol. No hoarding on this side of the river yet at local big c. Noodles and <deleted> aplenty but its a secret. Word on the street is they will cut power on the 15th (not sure why) so boil them noodles up quick is the best advice. I have seen people chew on them uncooked as a snack.

Pizza guys still delivering however. Lots of ads on tv from big paint companies-go figure.

Raining again this am, tide is starting to come back in and river rising but no different than yesterday at this time.

[MaxYakov]

not sure, why to buy water, as tap water is good enough and rain water can be drunk as well.

would be wise to take car's battery into the home, to have some emergency lighting

that's a good idea - taking the battery indoors

Sarcasm, I'd hope. Unless you really know what you're doing, take the battery indoors only if you think it may be stolen from the car. In that case, I'd be more worried about the security of the entire car. Using a 12 Volt Direct Current lead/acid car battery as a power source indoors is problematic because:

1) They are 'starter' batteries and not designed for a deep-discharge. They can be damaged by a deep-discharge.

2) They are heavy, and contain acid and have to be moved carefully and should not be dropped.

3) Charging requires a 12 VDC lead/acid battery charger and 220 VAC. Charging with solar collectors is expensive and impractical.

4) If one is somehow able to charge it indoors (gasoline or bicycle-driven charger?), the hydrogen gas explosion potential exists.

5) Powering 220 Volt Alternating Current devices with them requires an inverter and, depending on the devices, may drain the battery rapidly.

6) If used for lighting (probably the only practical use) it would require a 12 VDC light, such as an auto emergency drop light.

7) Using LED lights would greatly extend the battery life, but they would have to be 12 VDC and probably difficult to find.

8) When it's all over, you have to re-install the battery into the car, providing the car hasn't been stolen. If the car has been stolen ...

... at least you still have the battery. That's a Plus!

It would be much more practical to buy LED flashlights or candles and leave the battery in the car (as I believe another poster has advised).

Edited October 14, 2011 by MaxYakov

[jackr]

Have you seen what comes out of the taps?, especially in Chiangmai. Brown rusty looking mud and we live in a new estate. (5 years old). You can't even wash your clothes in Thai water. We buy 20 litre bottles to fill the washing machine. Drink it at your own peril. I love Thailand but the water is sewage even without the floods.

Sounds like your moobaan is on a borehole and in a naff spot at that as where we are it's crystal clear (on mains) and have never seen it tainted in 7 years. Have also lived in several places down south and not seen it brown there either. I take it you have a full house filter or are you showering in the mud? While I wouldn't drink unfiltered tap water (though I have), with a filter it's just fine.

[Crushdepth]

Regarding tap water in Bangkok here is my two satangs:

1. If you have every used a white towel to dry off after showering and bathing, notice how it turns a nice copper brown in a day that can only be removed with bleach.

2. The water may be filtered at the source but the pipes leading to the home / condo etc are older than dirt and made of what?

I use it to boil pasta, that's as close as I come to consuming it.

I met a Thames water engineer out here working on finding and fixing broken water pipes in Bangkok. He said the water produced at the plant is fine, but there are many breakages in the distribution pipes (about 60% of water produced is lost). The problem is that water lines were laid down next to sewerage pipes to save money digging holes, and those are cracked also. So basically "shit gets in", as he said.

I drink it at home when we run out of bottled stuff and never had a problem. I wasn't so lucky on a trip to Ang Thong though.

[wana]

Regarding tap water in Bangkok here is my two satangs:

1. If you have every used a white towel to dry off after showering and bathing, notice how it turns a nice copper brown in a day that can only be removed with bleach.

2. The water may be filtered at the source but the pipes leading to the home / condo etc are older than dirt and made of what?

I use it to boil pasta, that's as close as I come to consuming it.

The problem is that water lines were laid down next to sewerage pipes to save money digging holes, and those are cracked also. So basically "shit gets in", as he said.

i love his technical terminology

[DP25]

Went to Foodland last night, they were completely out of all cheap Thai instant noodles. Had plenty of Japanese and Korean ones though, and a few of the more expensive Thai ones. Canned fish was low but being restocked, other canned goods were fine. Everything else, meat cheese bread pasta veggies etc looked normal.

Went to couple 7-11s and they were also completely out of instant noodles except a few of the more expensive bowl noodles

[Payboy]

Rain water is acidic and contaminated with hydrocarbons from smoke in any urban area, and often in rural areas too if they are burning crop fields, etc. Tap water is the only water that's fit to drink.

I could be wrong, but the primary source of tap water is rain water cachement, no?

[wana]

Rain water is acidic and contaminated with hydrocarbons from smoke in any urban area, and often in rural areas too if they are burning crop fields, etc. Tap water is the only water that's fit to drink.

I could be wrong, but the primary source of tap water is rain water cachement, no?

its impossible to put a lid over thailands reservoirs so a % of the water would be rain but a % of it would also probably be recycled water (treated sewage )

water goes through many purification stages and filters at the treatment plant

that is not the same as putting a bucket outside and drinking a bucket of rain

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Went to Foodland last night, they were completely out of all cheap Thai instant noodles. Had plenty of Japanese and Korean ones though, and a few of the more expensive Thai ones.

Obviously it's us farangs who are buying out the stocks of "mama".

[kimdo]

Dear All.

I will come to Bangkok on 28th Oct, from Hong Kong.

What is the flood situation now? I'm really feeling a bit worry about it. I have read some international news and TV ... Now, I'm struggling "go or not go"

Would you give me some advises please? I have paid all the flight tickets and hotel room charges.... I just wonder will the shopping mall and restaurants be closed?... MRT closed, no vehicles on the road....

Help please

Edited October 14, 2011 by kimdo