Chiang Mai declares 21 districts disaster areas

[hgv driver]

..........one would think that the reduction of the electric bill would be welcome.....

(...mind you....concrete box structures are not so comfortable when the temperature goes below 20 degrees....)

....no insulation to speak of, generally.....

...when we lived in Chiang Rai 10 years ago....we were lucky to find a portable heater for sale at one of the 'Home' stores....a German brand....

...we sealed our windows somewhat and used it in the bedroom....it made a nice difference.....

Yes I also have a heater in the bedroom a two legged one. Runs on hugs and kisses

so do i have many hugs and kisses

[mitsubishi]

Maybe some of you should try living up in a mountain village in a wooden box with little or no electricity for a week or two before you start making stupid comments.

I have and do every year!

Some people who suffer either get what they deserve or deserve to better their lot instead of you lot whining like girls all the time.

[CajunCruiser]

Disaster? It almost killed 'er.

[anon022]

Oh, it's 14 degrees Celsius! Help! We'd be happy to have such incredibly nice spring weather in April, but for the Thais it's apparently close to 14 Kelvin.

[anon022]

The warmest winter for a few years and it's a disaster zone! What happened to previous year's blankets?

Sold em

The ones that really need blankets now are the skinny soi dogs and boney pole dancers Edited December 22, 2014 by Impossible

[Mitker]

Maybe some of you should try living up in a mountain village in a wooden box with little or no electricity for a week or two before you start making stupid comments.

The comments are caused by the use of the term disaster. Cold is a natural, annual occurrence in the North in this season.

It is not a disaster.

Quite rightly, some people need help during these times. But as said before by another poster, this "disaster" thing is mostly a gesture thing pretending to heroically help the victims of an unexpected event.

Instead, help should be have been planned and systematically made available before the winter.

Edited December 22, 2014 by Mitker

[spiritrace]

Since this is an annual thing I wonder why they don't have cheap wood burning stoves...........Easy enough to do.

[Ulic]

Buy a jacket and an extra blanket for Christ sake!!! If it was -15 I might agree but this is just stupid.

That's fine and dandy if you are in a position to afford it. Have you ever spent any time in the cool season in some of the villages in the north? I have and can sympathize with their plight. The homes of the villages I spent time at were hutches on stilts with very little protection from wind or cold. Winds just go right through them. No electricity but they usually had a communal TV outside for everyone. Powered by a car battery which was taken down the hillside on back to recharge and brought back up for another night.

It is miserably cold and found sleeping difficult even though they supplied us with their or donated blankets. Hypothermia can easily set in at 15 degrees or lower and deaths are reported every year from such.

As the saying goes, walk a mile in their shoes.

Not really sure what you are talking about. I leave the temperature in my house at 57 F = 13.8 c. I do wear a sweatshirt and socks,

long pants as well and sleep under a duvet. Freezing temperatures arrived here over two months ago. I know it is not to

everyones liking but I find it very pleasant. As for deaths being reported I am sure they are reported 12 months a year.

[Kooweerup]

15 degrees isn't cold its actually a nice day.

[abitmiffed]

The government has learned from earlier years and specialy from last year. Read Tywais post and try to think better. It has to do with people, in particular elderly and children, Its called compassion.

What happened to all tjese billions of baht taken from yhe corrupt bib lately maybe send some money where its needed and not in their pockets.

[Rimbuman]

The warmest winter for a few years and it's a disaster zone! What happened to previous year's blankets?

They smoke 'em, lao and the smoke don't combine very well

[Rob8891]

I am amazed and appalled at the repeated lack of empathy and also the excess of stupidity of some (many?) posters in threads such as this. Many of us come from countries that are much colder than here, but surely, if one uses a modicum of sense, one will understand that everyone, from whatever country is used to their local climate. Therefore by saying "Ah, but in MY country it goes down to -whatever C" all one is doing is showcasing one's somewhat shallow consideration for fellow man, and is doing nothing more than indulging in aprimary school playground-style p1$$ing contest.

The people in many of these remote villages are truly marginalised and simply (obviously not simply enough for some posters, however), simply do not have money to build better houses, buy more clothes or even to safely store those warm clothes or blankets to which some posters allude.

Instead of the psuedo-superior comments saying "Why don't they keep hem from last year...What happened to...Happens every year...", why not stop and THINK what their lives are really like? Or is putting down these really unfortunate people, many of whom have little more than refugee status, safe in one's anonymity in this forum one's only path to self-aggrandisement?

Merry Christmas, people. Enjoy that over-stuffing yourself, whilst people suffer in poverty and hypothermia in little more than chicken sheds.

The spirit of Scrooge is alive and well in Thai Visa.

[Stargeezr]

I spent 3 nights in a town near Chiang Mai and the temperature got down to +5C, since the day time is about

+20C, it felt very cold to me, and I could see why people in the hills died of Hypothermia. For those people

who are arm chair critics, I would suggest that you all go to a village in the hills of Northern Thailand and

spend some nights in one of the typical houses in the area. After you have felt what it is like, then feel free

to relate your opinions and stories. As a few stories have mentioned, the houses in Thailand do not have

insulation in their walls, and most are not very wind proof. The windows if there are some, are not more than 1 single layer of glass. I was glad when the cold snap was over.

I find that reading some of the comments, are disturbing, as I know full well that the people making the

most outlandish comments are the ones who have never been to Thailand or Asia for a visit, and expound

their comments without ever experiencing the conditions!

Stargeezer

[Stargeezr]

I have to comment back to the following aliases, Spiritrace, You actually think

that the Thias have room for a wood burning stove in their little shack houses?

And where do they get the wood, the stuff in Thailand, except for some shrub, is very

tough wood to cut. ULIC, you must b e from a northern country for sure, you should actually

go visit Asia and the north of Thailand, spend a cold night there, say at 0 to +5c,

I think you would whistle a different tune after that. Kooweerup, if that is your picture

I would say that you either live in the Yukon, or the north part of Alaska., either

way I think that your comment is just sad. You guys should really take a trip there

sometime and see for yourselves, just how primitive the conditions are in some

villages of northern Thailand and other Asian countries.

I wished that I had taken some pictures of the northern Thailand houses, in some

villages that I have seen, but here are some pictures of my relatives places in central

Thailand and some of other places. There was not a furnace, or even a stove in the

house, as most of the year it is too hot to cook in the house, and they have a

charcoal cooker either near an outside wall, or actually in an adjoining room outside

of their little house. Note in picture 1 No Windows! 2 and 3, only shutters covering the window

openings, same with 4. 5 and 6 is a nicely built house in central Thailand

with single pane windows and shutters, but still not way to heat inside. I would not want

to stay there if the temperatures went below 15c, but then even though I live

in western Canada, and have spent my winters in -20 to -30c weather, I do not

enjoy it at all. I spent years in the Yukon and seen -40c, but that is another

bad memory for another story.

Stargeezer