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bangkok flood

Looks like a puddle, the authorities are calling it a flood.

Bangkok will soon be underwater, suffering the same fate as areas north of the Big Mango. Or will remain dry and safe. It seems to be anyone’s call. So who knows. The sun is out, the streets are dry. But everywhere you look, sandbags are piled high in anticipation of their grand debut.

Natural disaster shots are always cool. Yeah, yeah, I know: loss of life, property damage, pain and suffering, blah, blah, blah. It’s not that I don’t empathize. It’s just that my priorities are screwed up. I’d hoped for some award winning shots of Bangkok in peril. I missed the whole Red Shirt thing after all. But so far: nada. No flooded streets. Not even a bit of mud.

bangkok flood

Wat Mahathat prepares for a visit by the Queen. And the Chao Phraya River.

The concerns over flooding are not due to heavy rains, but rather rivers over flowing. So your best bet for journalistic shots when the city seems in no danger is, of course, by the river. Having all ready decided a visit to Wat Mahathat was in order, I took the Chao Phraya river taxi up to the Tha Chang Pier (#9) hoping that even before I hit the temple and said a prayer to Buddha I’d find some flooding. No such luck.

The Chao Phraya is a bit higher than normal, but not by much. The biggest evidence of a problem is the large amount of debris floating in the water. The river taxi tended to motor up the middle of the river rather than along its edges like it normally does, trying to avoid hitting all of the partially submerged objects. A bit of flood proof, but not even worth taking a single shot.

bangkok floods

Watching the river flow.

I spent a few hours at the wat. The Queen intended to make her annual visit a few hours later so there was lots of hustle and bustle preparing the grounds for her arrival. No standing water to be seen, but lots of temple cats. I have a new theory about temple cats, especially in light of an immanent natural disaster But that’s a different post.

Those of you who have been paying attention know that because I’ve been to Bangkok so many times, and shot everything worth shooting, I find a photographic theme for each trip now. Something to force me to slow down and look. And to give me an excuse to take more photos. I’d thought this time around it would be flooding. Okay, I hoped this time it would be flooding. But so far, that’s not happening. So instead it’s those ubiquitious plastic stools every Thai’s ass seems to be planted on. The ones no falang’s ass could ever perch upon. But that’s a different post too.

bangkok flood

Well, at least the floor got cleaned.

When I left Wat Mahathat, I chatted with one of the guards who pointed out a large red bus further up the road. “You need to go there and look,” he said. “Flooding!” “Amazing!”

Ah ha! Buddha works quick. Off I scurried, finally to be rewarded with some flood shots. Well high tide was more like it. Two small sois out of a dozen had turned into shallow rivers. But there was white water of sorts. And a little suffering: some of the businesses were having their floors cleaned thanks to Mother Nature. An owner of a shoe store wearing blue rubber boots looked at the mess in her store with disgust. I pointed out that she was selling the wrong kind of shoes and she cracked up. Damn Thais don’t even know how to suffer properly.

bangkok flood

Sandbags and water @ Tha Chang Market.

Back at the pier, things had picked up a bit, too. The northern end of the pier and the food market had almost knee high running water. Sandbags were plentiful but being used more as a dry path than a protective barrier. And back at Sathorn Pier the water had moved inland toward the BTS station, a wood path had been laid above the expected water level. Less than six inches above the normal brick walkway, I guess a major problem isn’t being expected.

But the authorities haven’t quite figured out when the real damage will occur. So I’m keeping good thoughts. And shooting lots of plastic stool photos, just in case.

bangkok floods

Holy Mother of God! A combo Monk/Flood shot!