25 November 2011

Melancholia

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25 November: No, I’m not suffering from melancholia, but I just saw an interesting film by that name. I went into Bangkok, just for movies and books, for the first time in a long, long while.
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The express boats finally resumed service this week after a month off, and I got to see things at river level again. The river is brimming, and many locations along its banks are flooded badly. Riverside houses that have always seemed to be suffering foundation failure are now collapsing. Other houses are probably now doomed. Everywhere, huge pumps are trying to get water out of the neighborhoods and back into the river. As I’ve said before, it is astounding that so much water is flowing by.
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I almost missed the express boat. As I was walking toward the pier I looked ahead and saw the southbound boat coming in, and they wait for no one. Waiting for the next one would mean a 20 minute wait, so I ran an obstacle course around sidewalk vendors, children, homeless sojourners, and sleeping soi dogs. The boatswain had just thrown the cable from the pier’s peg back onto the boat and had piped to the pilot to go on, when I took a running leap to land on deck. (Love those sure-footed sports sandals.) This was much more exciting than waiting for another boat.
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The film Melancholia (2011) was a rather odd movie, two hours and ten minutes of strangeness. Oddness and strangeness are not necessarily bad. Written and directed by Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier, it starred Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlotte Rampling, and some other good actors. I am not really recommending it, since most people will not like it, although a few might. I had wanted to see it for weeks, but the flooding kept me from getting to it. Afraid it would soon end its run in the one theater here that has been showing it, I made a point to come in and see it in a matinee.
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It is about two sisters who seldom ever get along, and now a huge planet named Melancholia is suddenly going to crash into and destroy Earth. During earlier “normal” times, Justine (Dunst) is crazy, dysfunctional, hurtful and disturbing, while her sister Claire (Gainsbourg) is stable and comforting. But watch how they each deal with the coming annihilation as it closes in. Great acting by two great actresses. My main criticism is the poor sound quality; in early scenes the whispered dialogue given by Charlotte Gainsbourg is inaudible; I will have to wait for a DVD with subtitles to find out what she said.
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-Zenwind.
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22 November 2011

Back to Normal?

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22 November: What is normality here in Thailand, anyway? Well, the opposing political factions are demonstrating in the streets and/or threatening to riot against each other, and that seems very much the status quo ante here.
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Today my parents-in-law hired local people, who are out of work because of the flooding, to clean up our courtyard front and back. I am very grateful, because doing it myself would have probably killed me. I cannot lift another sandbag. I spent last night unable to sleep because of aching, screaming-in-agony pain all over my body. (Well, I did not actually scream out loud, but I did bite down hard on a towel to keep from moaning and waking Tuk or scaring the hell out of the cats.) Some day I will admit that I’m getting old, or that I’m out of shape.
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Workers have torn down the elevated boardwalks in our neighborhood that we all used to navigate above the floodwaters. We can walk down dry sidewalks now. Things smell a bit better. I think normality is on its way.
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-Zenwind.
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19 November 2011

Dry

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19 November: In the last two days things have almost dried out, although other areas are still dealing with floodwaters. Tuk and I left on an outing today at 08:00 and still had to exit via the boardwalk and ladder over the wall, because of the thick mud still in the courtyard. But when we returned at 16:00 her parents were directing some hired folks who were shoveling out the mud and garbage from the alleyway and courtyard, so we could walk in the front gate for the first time in three weeks.
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Our outing was a trip to Chonburi, a two-hour drive to the Gulf of Thailand. We went to visit some dogs and to get out of town for a break, now that transportation has improved. Tuk’s brother’s three dogs were taken there for safety when his house (and soon ours) was flooded three weeks ago. A family outside Chonburi boards dogs and takes very good care of them. I was impressed by the guy’s knowledge of dogs and love of them.
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We had to cut straight across Bangkok, and I hadn’t been into that part of town for years. I was gawking at the skyscrapers and freeways like a hick on his first trip to a city. In the open countryside south of Bangkok it is surprising once again to see how incredibly flat the land is.
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Chonburi, however, has a few hills, and I saw actual bedrock for the first time in quite a while. (I saw additional rock when Tuk’s friend bought herself a new mortar and pestle made completely out of granite. The handle end of the pestle was polished glass-smooth, and it was beautiful to see.)
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The direct sunlight was hot, but the shore of the gulf had nice breezes, and we had a good meal there before returning north.
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Thailand seems to be slowly returning to normal, including the norm of rising political tensions.
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-Zenwind.
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17 November 2011

Floodwaters In Retreat

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17 November: The floodwaters are giving way a bit. Our ground floor room (our former main living quarters) is almost dry, but outside in our courtyard and in our entrance alleyway it is still choked with filthy water almost up to the knee. The small soi off to our northeast is still deeply flooded. To leave our property, we still must use our elevated plank walkway and the ladder over the wall. Technically we are still flooded.
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However, the floodwaters out on our main soi started to go down dramatically yesterday afternoon, and today its sidewalk is completely dry. Floodwater remains in lower lying neighborhoods, such as our place and the soi to the nearest wat (Buddhist temple). It is hard to say when these areas, including ours, will drain.
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Yesterday I did not venture out; it was a rest day for me to catch my breath because my back, pelvis and knees are still screaming with unholy pain from this whole long ordeal. Today I stretched thoroughly and carefully, and then I walked (sauntered) my customary 4k walking route to the hospital and back, and for first time in weeks it was dry the whole way. My feet did not get wet once. Garbage removal was well done. It is almost back to normal in the larger neighborhood.
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I bought some token snacks (mainly small cans of cold coffee and chips) from the small sidewalk concession of a Chinese mother and her adult son on route, as I usually do every time I pass by them. They are treasured friends. Further on, the river was high, fast and brimming the levee as usual these days, but the water was contained. A lot of water is still streaming southwards.
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Many Bangkok residents who had a place to go up-country away from the floodwaters had left town weeks ago. A lot of them are still gone because their homes here are still flooded and there are no places to park their cars. So the streets and sidewalks are a bit less crowded at the moment and it was easy to walk fast.
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My friend who has a key-duplication stand across from the hospital has returned, and I talked with him today. He speaks very good English because he had lived in the USA for a few years at one time, and we chat whenever I pass by. He is a great guy. Recently he had gone up-country to stay dry and has now returned for business. I will bring him some keys to duplicate soon.
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Apparently this floodwater retreat will mean easier transportation into downtown Bangkok in the future, plus the ability to return home late, which is critical. Tuk is suggesting a couple of ventures outside our neighborhood in the next few days, so I am plotting to get her to agree to visiting a live music venue or two this weekend on our way home. Heh, heh. I’m completely evil, I know, but get over it! Even evil folks must hear the Blues and Rock n Roll now and then.
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-Zenwind.
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15 November 2011

Neighborhood Flood Zone

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15 November: On today’s walk around my neighborhood, I had slightly more dry sidewalk than ever, but I still had to wade through deep water to get out of our house and block. The water level in our ground floor has risen up almost to the ankle again, but the level on the streets and sidewalks beyond our block is down a few inches. Once I get to the river the sidewalks are quite dry. The river level is still very high, almost brimming the sandbag levee. The amount of water streaming past us from the north is amazing – it just keeps on coming. Our main street south past the hospital is still deeply flooded, and we are still boxed in and unable to travel.
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Thai friends along the way communicate how high the water is at their houses by gesturing knee level, waist level, chest level, neck level, etc. Our once highest flooding of knee level makes us very lucky compared to most people.
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For the first time in weeks, the big mountains of garbage that were growing on many intersections are cleared. People had also thrown out flood-damaged furniture and other debris, and sometimes I had to walk in the street to get around it. At one spot today a huge bulldozer was scooping up junk from the sidewalk and loading it into big trucks.
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Now that every day is quite sunny, people are bringing out wet stuff to dry, and it is giving me a good indication of how much people have been affected by this flood. Few got by unscathed.
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It seems that sandbags were not enough in most cases when it came to stopping the water. Even sandbag levees packed by experts suffered leakage because of the slow, steady rise of water from every direction. The only benefit from our horrendous labors building sandbag levees around our place is that the water that seeped through to our ground floor room was filtered a bit to exclude larger bits of garbage. The water is still quite vile, especially outside around our house.
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Now – ironically when it is too late – I feel I have a bit of experience with sandbags and their effectiveness. If I had it to do over again, and if I had enough materials and help, I would use 10 times the sandbags along with two hundred meters of sturdy plastic sheet. Along with that I would have four or five powerful pumps to pump water seepage out. Ah, blessed hindsight!
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-Zenwind.
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12 November 2011

Outsider

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12 November: I will probably not be posting here every day now that being surrounded by floodwaters is becoming the norm. We are still surrounded by water on all sides, and we don’t know when it will drain. It's a long haul. Many everyday items are still not available, but we are getting used to it and it’s not a big deal.
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Our biggest street going southwards into Bangkok still has unpredictable flood levels, and traveling anywhere is uncertain. The biggest hardship for me about all this is that I cannot venture into Bangkok for movie theaters and bookstores, and, especially, to attend the newly re-opened Tokyo Joe’s Blues Bar, the premier Blues venue in-country that had closed well over a year ago but is now back for four nights a week. But since many others here in Thailand have suffered much more than me I will quit whining.
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But you can bet that I will be there at Tokyo Joe's listening to the Blues the very first chance I get. Until then, I’m an outsider trying to find a dry spot above the floodwaters. And being an outsider has definitely never been an unfamiliar vantage point for me.
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-Zenwind.
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10 November 2011

Marine Corps Birthday

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To all Marines: "Here's health to you and to our Corps..." (see Marines' Hymn)
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Happy Birthday. Semper Fi.
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-Zenwind.
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09 November 2011

Headline: Thai Floods Reduce Beer Supplies to a Drip

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9 November: Yes, it’s that bad. Beer rationing signals the decline of a civilization, and we might be headed there.
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However, before we even placed the first sandbag here at home, I had hoarded a substantial amount of Chang Classic, my first choice of beer here. This hoard was increased by the generous gift of a case of the same beer from Tuk’s girlfriend on the very day the flood hit us. Bags of ice are now more easily found in the neighborhood, so we are doing okay in that respect.
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This morning I walked to the hospital for a prescription and then checked out the flooding on the way home. The river is still high but not brimming over, and in some places the water appears to have receded a bit. Because there is still dirty water at calf height all around our compound, we still exit and enter via an elevated footbridge and a ladder over the wall.
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Our ground floor – which was always our main living quarters – is now cleared of all but an inch of water, and most of the wet junk is thrown out. Best of all, our regular ground floor shower room (Thai-style, water tub under faucet with a dipper) is operational again, although we must still use 2nd floor toilets. I am beginning to like this dry and airy 2nd floor living, and I appreciate more than ever why classic Thai houses are built up on stilts.
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-Zenwind.
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08 November 2011

Exhausted

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8 November: Apparently we will not see much more flooding in our neighborhood, although other parts of the Central Plains south of us are still expecting the floodwaters to reach them soon. We still wade in water on the ground floor and outside the house. We could still have water levels rise again in our house and street, but after what has already hit us it would not be that dramatic.
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We are flood veterans now – although many Thais have experienced much, much more traumatic flooding for a longer time. For us it went through several phases: watching news predictions; moving stuff upstairs and building sandbag levees around the house; the flooding itself when the levees were not enough for the huge volume of water; now the gradual receding of floodwaters. Next will be clean up, but now is time for exhaustion.
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I had lifted heavy sandbags and moved heavy stuff upstairs – efforts that I never thought I could do at my age. My knees and back still scream with pain. Now I’m just tired out.
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-Zenwind.
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06 November 2011

Electricity with Water Everywhere

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6 November: Among the 500 plus deaths caused by the recent flooding here in Thailand, there are many who died of electrocution when wading in water. I have always been scared to death of electricity, I respect it, and I take no chances. I thank my cousin for his concern and his reminder of the dangers involved.
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We are lucky that our electric service was never cut off during this crisis – without electric fans I would wilt, and the mosquitoes would eat us alive at night. Our two main circuit breaker switches, both the one for our half and the one for the parent-in-law half of the house, are located high on the ground floors (about eight feet up), and all electrical outlets on the ground floor are at least chest-high. This house was designed with floods in mind. We only threw the main switches a couple of times, and only temporarily. This was when the water was at its highest, knee-high.
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My procedure when handling main switches or outlets went like this: Dry hands; place a sturdy plastic stool with a dry top under switch; fold a dry foam camping pad over four times and put on stool; lift one bare foot up and have Tuk dry it with a towel; place dry foot on pad; lift other foot out of water and have Tuk dry it; gain sure balance on stool and pad; make sure hands are dry and not touching any metal; touch switch/circuit breaker only with dry plastic over hand. I take no chances with electricity, and I think Ben Franklin (bless his genius mind) was insane and very lucky.
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We power our new 2nd floor abode (which has no outlets) by extension cords from below. The wiring in this building is unbelievably ancient and scares me. We are careful to use only some electrical devices in combination so as not to overload the archaic system. Someday we will replace it with a properly grounded system.
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Water levels continue to go down, but very slowly. The smells of the beached debris below us and outside in the neighborhood are strong. In my daily walk I saw huge piles of garbage, because no pickup has been possible. If we don’t get flooded anew this week by high tides, the tasks ahead are being watchful for waterborne diseases and cleaning up the aftermath. I feel like I’m working in a hospital again, given the strict hygienic regimen we follow.
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-Zenwind.
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Water Level Is Down a Bit

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6 November: The water level in the 1st (ground) floor at our house has gone down from knee-deep a few days ago to below ankle-deep now. That still doesn’t mean that we are safe from new flooding in the near future. After all, TIT (This Is Thailand). Anything can happen here.
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-Zenwind.
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05 November 2011

Fifth of November

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“Remember, remember the fifth of November…”
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-Zenwind.
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04 November 2011

Markets and Spontaneous Order

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4 November: Today I went out scavenging for food and useful items, walking my normal route and visiting friends along the way. The river level was down a bit, but high tides in the future may bring it up again, so we cannot relax our guard for threats of more flooding.
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I am amazed at the thriving little markets that have sprung up on any small bits of the streets or sidewalks that are higher and dryer than most. Everything is on offer, whatever is demanded is supplied. Mainly food is sold, but also rubber boots, bottled water and many other things. No one person organized or coordinated these markets, and certainly no government did or even could.
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There is too much information contained in such coordinated activity for any central planners to process. It is a “spontaneous order” that comes about when numerous individuals see opportunities to buy or sell. Each individual uses their own unique knowledge of their needs and strengths to make economic decisions. Given a Rule of Law culture that recognizes and allows free trade amongst equals, such markets are the model of true cooperation.
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Historically, ideas that might be called spontaneous order can be traced to Chuang Tzu, the ancient Chinese Taoist philosopher, but they became embedded in Western culture in the Scottish Enlightenment of the late 18th century. Adam Ferguson, David Hume, Adam Smith and others applied such ideas of freely organizing forms of social activity to the original emergence of language, law, economies, science, etc. Ferguson described it as “the result of human action, but not the execution of any human design.”
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More recently, spontaneous order as an explanation for human coordination has been developed further by the Austrian School of economics – L. von Mises, and, especially, F.A. Hayek. Hayek’s last book, The Fatal Conceit, spells it out concisely.
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People thrive when left freely alone to cooperate. I’m seeing that every time I walk down the street.
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-Zenwind.
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03 November 2011

Missions Accomplished

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3 November: Two major accomplishments today: Immigration Office visit and paperwork done, and a bridge built over our polluted knee-deep water surrounding our house.
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I did virtually nothing to contribute to these successes. Tuk went with me as a guide into the heart of Bangkok, and her cousin did the last miracle.
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Considering how messed up transportation is due to many roads closed by floodwaters, it is a creative nightmare linking up the means to get around. There are no express boats for the time being and few taxis on flood zones. From our flooded intersection at the police station, Tuk contacted two motorcycle taxi drivers to take us over the bridge on the great Chao Phraya River. I haven’t been on a fast open-road cycle ride in a long time, and it was fantastic. From there we lucked out to find a regular taxi to take us straight across the city to Immigration. People will do anything for Tuk.
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Immigration at the old office was more than the usual chaos, but the job was eventually finished. Traditionally, when completing frustrating Immigration visits, I would take Tuk to The Hard Rock Cafe, but today I took her to an expensive restaurant called Café Chili, Northeastern Thai food, the really good spicy hot stuff. It brought tears to my eyes. We got home via taxi, then bus, then walked the rest of the way through water.
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A really pleasant surprise awaited us when we returned home. The husband of Tuk’s cousin fixed a walkway bridge above the horribly polluted water that surrounds our house and our neighborhood block like an evil, smelly, stagnant bog. It is actual sewage plus.
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Our problem had been leaving and entering the house while wading through the filth. Once you get to the main sidewalk, it is a series of temporary elevated walkways that take you to the main intersection. The water in the intersection is sometimes deep, but it is moving and is thus not as fetid. This new walkway leads from our 2nd floor steps over our flooded 1st floor's water, over the flooded courtyard, and to the main walkway (by using our big stepladder to surmount the wall), we don’t have to wade through the filth again. I honestly did not think it could be done with materials at hand, but Thai ingenuity proved me wrong, to my delight.
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No one has ever mistaken me for a handyman who can fix things. Rather, I usually break anything I touch. (To be fair, I can set a tight fence for cattle or horses, I can set up a bombproof climbing belay, and I can often cobble together quick fixes with rope and knots.)
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While getting around in a big city as a foreigner looked easy when I knew a couple of trustworthy transportation connections, when chaos hits and nothing is operating as normal, then I need more than my map and compass. I really appreciate the kindness and helpfulness of Thais when stuff hits the fan. They are wonderful people.
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In an unrelated news item, it seems that 15 Green Mamba snakes escaped when their owner’s property was flooded. This was not in our district, but they are up-river in our province. Green Mambas are native to Africa, and this guy had them evidently as pets. They are deadly and they are on the loose. Great.
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-Zenwind.
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02 November 2011

New Digs

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02 November: We are settling in to our new digs, one floor higher and much dryer than our flooded 1st floor below. But coming and going from the house still means that we must wade through knee-deep dirty water get to the soi (street). There is an elevated temporary board walk from the nearby utility office complex to the main street. Many sois are closed nearby.
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For our extended family of four, we now have two toilet stalls and two bath stalls operating, thanks to Tuk and her cousin getting water to the second floor via a longer hose from below. Running water! I’ve been rigging clotheslines, and everyone has finally washed adequate clothing.
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Yesterday I did my climb to the roof by going out of our 3rd floor window and up a rusty ladder with a solidly placed static rope next to it. I took my laundry up and it dried quickly. My procedure: I put on a climbing harness, clip the rope into my Petzl ascender on my harness, and that provides my safety net. The ascender ratchets, and I can move up but not down, so if the ladder fails the rope will catch me (theoretically). Coming down, I release the lock momentarily to go down a step at a time, and if I fall I will be caught.
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I love the feeling of height again. Small balance shifts, precise footwork, meticulous attention to clips and technical details, and well-thought-out moves are all so exhilarating. There is no room for error, and it makes you feel so proud and glad to be a free rational being.
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Yesterday I also went out to do my routine walking circuit, but it was hard going because of the water. The highest water was on our soi, and some of the other parts of the sois were either flooded lightly or not at all. I checked on some my friends along the route but not everyone was outside. The vendors I knew had no customers because the road ahead was closed to traffic. There is a Chinese woman along that stretch who has a small table out with snacks and a refrigerator with cold drinks. I stopped to buy something cold; her house was lightly flooded.
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But new vendors I’ve never seen before are out in droves on one intersection. It is a small, narrow, two-lane soi, but now it is one-lane because the new vendors have set up on both sides. They are supplying all kinds of food, water, rubber boots, etc., and it is very crowded on the corner by the police station.
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On one stretch of sidewalk near the river, the sidewalks and streets were quite empty, so I sat on a bench and listened to the newly arrived birds from the north. I’ve never witnessed such quiet there before.
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Tomorrow I might venture into Bangkok if I can find a way. I need to file some immigration paperwork, and my own province’s immigration office is flooded and so is the main one for Bangkok. I heard that the old office in the inner city is operating, so I will go for it before it too is flooded. I haven’t been in a bookstore for an eternity, and this might be my chance.
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Tuk somehow bought some bags of ice!
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-Zenwind.
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