A sharp-eyed regular reader just emailed me this photo taken by French Photojournalist Saeed Khan. The shot is from 11/9 and was taken in the Mo Chit area of Bangkok, close to where the Weekend Market is held.

Hearththrobs and beefcake aside, Khan has taken a number of excellent shots of the disaster that put a very real face on how the flooding is effecting locals. I’m sharing them on his behalf below (I’m sure he’d be thrilled).

All of these photos are from the area around the Chatuchak market and were taken yesterday, Nov. 9th. Bringing the expanse of the flooding problem home, the stairs to the right in the last photo are those leading up to the Mo Chit BTS station, a spot many of us are familiar with.

I’m back home now; when I left Bangkok earlier this week the touri areas around Silom, Patpong, and Sukhumvit were still high and dry. Locals seemed to be still expecting the worst as more and more sandbags and retaining walls appeared daily. Food and water shortages were sporadic; one 7/11’s shelves were empty while a block away you could find anything you were looking for.

The riverboats along the Chao Phraya River were still not running, the newest date for operations to resume is posted as 11/15. Loy Kratong festivities (which would have begin today) have been cancelled by the government, though I’d expect that locals will still be out floating lanterns. This year they’ll just have more places available to do so.

Meanwhile, officials can’t seem to make up their minds on whether the flooding will spread further or has already reached its peak.