 |
 |
 |
 |
 October 2011
Saturday 15th of October 2011 and we left Singapore's Changi Airport at 4 o'clock and I had my own row of seats. They served our food soon after takeoff and I was hungry after my sushi experience at SUSHI SUSHI. And Thai Airways have good food even in monkey class. And when they asked if I wanted fried rice with chicken or fish in sweet chilli sauce the choice was simple.  It was nice to step inside my door and I could put my tuna and milk in the kitchen. 20 kg of tuna and milk is not very fun to carry around. It was raining so I took a taxi to Sukhumvit Soi 19. First stop the Italian restaurant across the street from Robinson where I will buy groceies. Arriving to FUNKY TOWN on a Saturday evening and I would normaly expect to go drink beer. But I didn't felt like having any beer after yesterday's adventure in Singapore. I found egg, tomatoes, onion and fresh milk at Tops Market. I bought egg and milk to last me for 2 weeks and we will  hopefully have put the flooding behind us by then. And the best thing would be if we never have to experience any flooding on Sukhumvit. There was no water to be found at 7 Eleven and there is sand bags stand by outside many of the ships along Sukhumvit Road
+++++++++++++++
Sunday 16th of October 2011 and I woke up at 9 o'clock and I kept myself buys preparing my “EMERGENCY GET OUT OF BANGKOK TO PATTAYA” kit. My friend left for Pattaya and I have  plans for taking a taxi in the afternoon. But I spoke with the management of my condo.
They have sand bags stand-by at the gate in case of flooding. I asked the management for what use these sand bags was for. Of course, to block the water to come in and filling up the underground garage. But if we have flooding the water will come up through the sewer system. If we have 1 meter of water on the street it will come up through the sewers until we have the same level of water on both sides of the sand bags. Well, what I didn't know was that we have a system to close the sewers in the underground parking place. So I reckon that we can handle 80 to 100 cm on the street before it come in to the parking spaces and our emergency generator. But they are in progress to move the emergency generator to the  ground level, but this cannot be done before the expected flooding. So please, not more than 80 cm of water on the street outside our condo.
But without the ability to block the sewers the sand bags would have been useless. At flooding the water in not going down the drain, the water is coming up from the drains until the water level is on a level with the highest level. You live in a house and the bottom floor is  flooded by 1 meter the water will come up from the toilets downstairs and when you use the toilet on the 2nd floor it will end up in your living room downstairs when you flush the toilet.
I passed the glasshouse on Sukhumvit Soi 25 and they have put sand bags around the underground floor and I don't understand why. If the street is flooded the water will pour down and fill up the area until it is the same level as on the street. Wouldn't it have been better to put the sandbags at the street level blocking the stairs? But our emergency generator and the blocked sewer made me change my Pattaya plans. I will see what happens tomorrow and I keep myself updated on the internet. I got a link to an excellent page from my friend when I was in Singapore. Thai Travel News with updated maps about the flooding. 
But there is so much different information. Some people say that it will be the worst tomorrow and on Tuesday. And I read in one newspaper that we had put the worst behind us this morning. But I might take off to Pattaya tomorrow. But I have snus at the Post office at Hualongpong and I hope that I can go there tomorrow. And of course, Bangkok Fight Club tomorrow night. I really need to get started with my exercise again after 2 weeks in Malaysia and Singapore. This was not 2 weeks of healthy living.
 Preparing for the flooding
 Preparing for the flooding
I went down to Emporium to get a new epilator, the one I bought was a demo and I would get a new  when they got new epilators in stock. The girl at Emporium had called me while I was in Malaysia and Singapore. And if you think about doing  the same as me, don't! It is painful like **** to use the epilator in the face. So I have not been able to test my idea.
There were a lot of trees and cage birds when I came to Emporium. I don't know what it was all about. But it looked like a  forest inside Emporium and it was something about taking care of the world we live in. What a load of argle-bargle! Seriously, who cares about the world we live in? It is way more important to have the latest mobile phone. And why not arrange a F1 race around the neighbourhood? Or give me a plastic bag when I buy a bottle of Diet MAX and fill it up with straws.
And why isn't it illegal to manufacture straws? Billions of straws everyday for no use at all. Everyone is so worried about global warming and right now we have a disaster taking place around us. Of course, when you're up to your neck in water and your house is under water you care.  But otherwise we just want more and more. Shopping a lot of shit that we don't need, desperately trying to get happiness. Illegal logging and we build houses and factories without any thought about the environment.
Kill everything and let's get it over with. They were busy saving the world and handing out free plants inside Emporium while they were busy trying to save Bangkok outside Emporium. I walked back home from Emporium and the  rain had turned in to a light drizzle.
I passed the Cigarette police on my way back home. The country is facing a disaster and these guys are still out to rip off tourists. Why isn't this guy out there filling up sand bags? What an embarrassment! I stopped at the Japanese restaurant on Prasanmit Plaza. I should have made an omelette back home, but a real salmon & avocado sushi would be nice. Tomorrow it is Monday and the start of a new week so this will be a great opportunity to get started with my diet again. +++++++++++++++
Monday 17th of October 2011 and I didn't got out of bed until 10 o'clock even though my alarm went off at 9. I felt a sleep again and I was lucky that I woke up at 10. 12 o'clock would have  been way to late and I have to go get my snus today.
Bangkok Fight Club or Pattaya? For sure I hope it will be Bangkok Fight Club. Pattaya is not a place where I want to spend any time. But when I looked out my window I got worried. There was a small lorry delivering more sand bags.  Is the flood coming? I rushed to  my kitchen to read the online flood news in Bangkok Post to see if there was any bad news about the flood
 It was all good news. Bangkok declared safe. So why the extra sand bags? I will have my tea and  tuna and I will go ask for the latest news at the Management office when I'm leaving for Hualompong and the Post office to pick up my snus.
I took a taxi to Hualompong and I arrived 20 minutes before 1 o'clock and they had lunch break. So I went to a food place next to the Custom's Post Office and I bought a Minute Maid. I spotted the bottle in their fridge and I recognised the Minute Maid bottle, but it was different from the usual bottles I buy at 7 Eleven. A slight difference but noticeable. And it was an Orange/ Mango Minute Maid, never seen before and I was looking forward to try it. But I was disappointed, Minute Maid, probably the best orange juice in  the world and they come up with this! They should take off  to the Philippines to learn how to do Mango juice.
I had to wait until almost 2 o'clock when it was my turn. While I was waiting I got a surprise, they had a TV with the news and suddenly they announced that they were evacuating an industrial area just north of Bangkok. What the  ?? When I left home it was all “NO PROBLEM” according to the newspapers and now they are evacuating.
I received my parcel and the Custom Officer asked me to open the parcel. - What is it? - Snus He started to scrutinize my snus and he open one of the rolls. He looked at me puzzled and I pointed at my lip. - Snus, gotte gott gott. - What's the value? - 800 Baht  He started to punch his calculator and he showed me the calculator.
-75 Baht for storage I received the parcel before I left for Singapore and I called them and I asked them to keep my parcel for another 2 weeks for me and they were obviously charging me 75 Baht for this service.   bags. All “NO PROBLEM” in the morning, then it was evacuation and now they have started to put out sand bags at our condo.
I went in to the Management office and I was told that it was 50/50 risk for flooding. Yesterday it was all clear and now it is 50/50. What is going on here? I asked how much fuel we had for our emergency generator. - 400 litres - How long is that going to last us? - More than 1 week 400 litres for one week sounded very little and I asked what the generator was supplying. - The elevator and electricity in common areas - OK, I'm out of here! Pattaya next! I prepared my emergency packing and I updated my new laptop. My fridge is full of emergency food so I decided to make an omelette before I left for Pattaya. Never know when I'm coming back so I can as well use some of the eggs, onion and tomatoes before the groceries getting old. I really don't like Pattaya and I don't want to go and I read the latest news in Bangkok Post. No problem again and I decided to take the chance to stay one more night in Bangkok.   hopefully not regret my decision to stay in Bangkok. My friend confirmed that there were  plenty rooms at the hotel in Jomtien. But after 2 weeks in Singapore and Malaysia I  really need to get to Bangkok Fight Club for some exercise.
Due to the flooding they only had small bottles at 7 Eleven so I bought 2 bottles. When I stepped inside Bangkok Fight Club  the guys had already started so I didn't had time to take on my shoes. I  joined class right on. It was a lot of exercises, but  not the Thai Navy exercise.
We did speed punching and kicking but today it was no sparring so I was a wee bit disappointed. But after 2 weeks in Singapore I  felt that I might be better off with a few sessions of exercises  before I will do any sparring. We did some  shadow boxing before we started to do squat downs with a punching bag on our shoulders.
2 Teams with 3 guys in each Team and while one team did the squat downs with the punch bag the other team did exercises with a POWER TWISTER and we changed every 20 or 30 seconds. When we finished with the squat downs we did a few  rounds of kneeing, kicking and punching. And even though it was hard it was nice to be back at Bangkok Fight Club.
  - There is free food and drinks - Well, I might be in Pattaya tomorrow. But if I'm not... It was almost 9 o'clock when we left Bangkok Fight Club and I walked back home and I hope that I will wake up to a dry Bangkok tomorrow morning. +++++++++++++++
Tuesday 18th of October 2011 and the head line in Bangkok Post reads: Bangkok 'not clear yet'.  Well, seems like no one knows what's going on. And suddenly at 11:12 Bangkok Post online edition came with the breaking news: Bangkok will be safe
And just in case Bangkok will be flooded they have plans deal with it! Yeah, now I feel safe. I spoke with the Thai guys at Bangkok Fight Club yesterday and they told me that no one had a clue. The only thing to do was to listening to the radio for the latest news. But they had big bottles  of water at my local 7 Eleven today when I came to buy Diet MAX.  But I decided to buy more Diet MAX instead of the water bottles. When I finished the Diet MAX I fill the bottles with water and now my fridge is full of water filled Diet MAX bottles just in case of an emergency. Yes, it makes it a wee bit more dramatic than to have the fridge full of big water  bottles and this will be something to talk about when I hopefully have survived the Thailand flooding of 2011.
I decided to go to Tops Market to buy Tuna. I took the inventory of my tuna and I have 60 cans at home. I would like to have 30 more in order to have tuna for 6 weeks.  But all the canned tuna was gone at Tops Market. And now the shelves started to get empty at Tops, well, of course unless if you're looking for shampoo and Nutella.
I was disappointed, the only thing I bought was a bottle of olive oil and 2 loafs of sliced white bread and a pack  of DELBA 5 grain bread. There was no pumpernickel and there was only this pack of black bread left. No tuna and I decided to stop at my local 7 Eleven on my way home. I bought their last canned tuna, 5 cans. I bought 18 packets of long life milk. Each  pack contains 225 ml so this will last me for 18 days, at least.
I also bought 6 big bottles of water and I walked back home to leave my  groceries before I took off to Villa Market to see if they had any tuna. I passed PAK BAKERY on my way to Villa Market and I stopped for a pot of tea and, well, a piece of cake. And one piece turned out to be 3.
They have a Toffee Cake that just taste like “Can I   have one more? Please!” I enjoyed my tea while I was reading about the flooding in Bangkok Post.
When I finished my tea I paid my bill and I continued my walk to Villa  Market on Soi 33. I was lucky, they had black bread. No Pumpernickel, but they had Delba's Sunflower seed bread.
I put 21 or 22 packs of Delba Sunflower seed bread in my basket. Yes, my basket was full and the bread almost felt out of the basket. I went to look for  canned tuna. And yes, they had canned tuna and I bought 30 cans. I had to go and get a second basket for the canned tuna. And yes, it was the same brand I used to buy back in the days before I discovered  Tops brand without the plastic top.
But as it is an emergency I didn't care about the extra plastic top. The whole bread and tune adventure set me back with 4000 something Baht and now I have food to last me for 6 weeks. And after today's adventure looking for canned tuna I can just say that it was not a VERY stupid idea to bring the tuna from Singapore. When I was back home my friend called and he told me that the shelves at the Pattaya Supermarkets starts to get empty as well. I told him that I might have to go back to Singapore to bring home more tuna. - Yes, but what if they have to close the airport? I really hope that they don't have to close the airport, I read the following in the Bangkok Post online afternoon edition: “Floods continue to batter the country, and evacuations have been ordered in many areas around Bangkok - including Nonthaburi, Prathum Thani, Buddhamonthon and an area near  Suvarnabhumi airport - as inundated sections of the Bang Pa-in expressway are closed”
When I came home from Singapore we passed Terminal 21 on Sukhumvit and it was the first time I saw the place open so they had obviously had had the grand opening while I was in Singapore. Bangkok Fight Club is closed tonight so I decided to go have a look at Terminal 21. And the first thing I notice when I'm coming up from the subway station outside Terminal 21 is that Sukhumvit outside the new Terminal 21 don't look like a refugee camp anymore. 
At least not between the subway station and the corner of Soi 17 at Robinson. But between Soi 17 and Soi 3 it is terrible. A real stain on Bangkok,  but there is hope. They are building a few new houses along the North side of Sukhumvit and I doubt that big hotels want to have all these vendors outside their entrance.
A bright future for Sukhumvit? I entered Terminal 21 and I was soon lost. It was quite big, just what Bangkok needs, another big shopping mall. And the new hotels along Sukhumvit, well, as mentioned, if we get rid of all the vendors along Sukhumvit I prefer  the shopping malls and hotels.
I walked back home and when I entered the subway station to walk under Asoke I was disappointed. Very disappointed. There is a small stretch of side walk between the subway station and Asoke. And this short stretch is thronged with vendors. DARN! Where will all the vendors from outside the new hotels move when they open up the new hotels? For sure, some one making big bucks from the vendors. They have to pay for “License” to sell their knick-knacks blocking up the sidewalks. So  they will most likely sell them “License” to occupy another part of the side walk along Sukhumvit. And I  hope that they will end up between Soi 1 and the highway.
I crossed Asoke underground and I came up outside the Interchange building on the other side of Asoke Road. And they have prepared the building for the flood. 60 to 80 cm of sand bags and I'm not an expert, but if there is a flooding of the area I don't think this sand bags will stop any water and they  have the windows going all the way down to the ground level. How much pressure will it take before the water leaks in to the building?
I walked up Sukhumvit Soi 23 when I passed a British pub and I decided to have a cup of tea and some fish & chips. I don't know what happened, but suddenly I found myself with a pot of tea in front of me while they were making a bacon sandwich and a fish & chips for me in the kitchen. DARN! So now you understand why I don't want to escape Bangkok for Pattaya or Jomtien. I would have to stay at a hotel. As I told my friend: - I will bring my tea machine so I can eat in my room to avoid restaurants. Yeah, fat chance!  I might manage to have  one meal in my room, then it will be restaurants for the remaining of my stay in Pattaya or Jomtien. Well, anyway, I was reading The Nation while waiting for my bacon sandwich. Of course, it was mostly about the flooding and when I reached the OPINON section there was a cartoon that I liked. And of course, when I came back home I visited The Nation online to get the cartoon for you to see.
    The Waitress brought me my fish & chips and the plate was in the size of a tray. Seems like they had forgotten my bacon sandwich, good, the tray of fish & chips was enough for me, well, actually more than enough. The girl arrived with a bacon sandwich 30 seconds later. The plate was almost as big and there was plenty chips with the bacon sandwich. - What the is this?
- Bacon sandwich - I ordered a bacon sandwich, not all the chips and salad This was embarrassing, almost as embarrassing as when I bought my bread and tuna at Villa Market earlier today. People were looking at me thinking that I was stockpiling food in case of flooding. I  was afraid to be lynched so I had to take a taxi back home.
But at the British pub the other guests were looking at me. - Look at Porky, he is going to eat 2 cubic tonnes of food. - Fat bastard!! - LARDASS!! And I was a wee bit annoyed, never mind if they brought me all the food, I could just leave it behind. But what a f@cking twat to bring the food at the same time. I was sitting with 2 soccer field sized plates in front of me. And people were just gaping  at me. The bacon sandwich left me a really bad nasty taste in the mouth. The fish was like soaked in water. So I didn't eat all the food. The chips from the bacon sandwich were never touched and I also left some of the fish. I left without leaving any tip and I made a mental note to never go there again.
+++++++++++++++
Tuesday 18th of October 2011 and I felt asleep again after turning off my alarm at 9 o'clock. I woke up at then and I rushed to my computer to check the latest flooding news in Bangkok Post online edition. Nothing alarming and while I was drinking my morning tea there were BREAKING News about thatthey had to close down Futur Park in Rangsit and Evacuation order at Pakkret. It dosen't look good. But when I read that Thai science minister Plodprasop Suraswadi said he had ordered the construction of 10,000 bamboo rafts at the Channel 4 News Blog.
- What the I'm out of here!!
I took my lap top and emergency packing and I went down to get a taxi. I stopped at the Management office to check that my telephone number to the MAnager was working. There was a lady at the office desperately looking for a place to park her cars. I think the BAngkokian have given up the idea of surviving this disaster with dry feet. - So you're leaving for Pattaya? - Yes - I wish I could do the same! I have been at the office everyday asking for news and updates. And now I was finally  leaving Bangkok and my taxi drove up at the parking space when I left the Management's office. I got in to the taxi.
- PATTAYA!! ON THE DOUBLE!! 
    
You are visitor no.
To www.aladdin.st since December 2005
Visitors from different countries since 26th of September 2011
|
Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas
Faites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!
Haga usted dice el español? No hay problema! Ver la siguiente página sólo hacer clic el botón “Next” encima!
Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopra
Sprechen sie Deutsch! Kein problem! Wenn Sie die folgende Seite sehen wollen gerade klicken der Knopf “Next” oben!
คุณพูดภาษาไทยได้ไหม ไม่มีปัญหา ถ้าคุณต้องการไปหน้าถัดไป ให้กดปุ่ม “Next” ข้างบนนี้
Вы говорите по-русски? NJET PROBLEMA! Просто нажмите синюю кнопку "Next" с левой стороны и Вы моментально переместитесь на следующую страницу!
E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.
Well, the flag of Skåne, just a BONUS flag.
 |
||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
||||