Visiting Family

Thailand‘s Flood is still not over, but the Water masses are receding at many places.

After I brought my Family back Home, I decided to visit my Sister-in-Laws House at Phutta Monthon Sai 2. This Area is still flooded.

It took us over 2 Hrs to get there using Bus Line 147 from Dao Khanong using Rama II Rd. and than Outer Ring Rd where the Bus stopped near Phet Kasem Road. My Son, who insisted to go with me,  was quite exited as he heared that we now have to climp up a Truck, which normal moves Heavy Maschines. Driving through the still sometimes quite high Water was Fun for him. Everybody was smilling and helping each other climping up and down the Vehicle.

On the Way back I decided to use Phet Kasem Rd., which is still mostly flooded. Boats moving up and down the Road, Pickups with selfmade Exhaust Extensions drove slowly through the Water and of Course a lot Trucks and Buses moving people from one Place to another.

After walking through knee high Water to the middle of the road we climped on the roof of  a Garbage Truck to go to the next Bus Stop.

More pictures can be found in my Picasa Album This is Thailand. Videos are also to see at my Youtube Channel.

As you can see the flood is not over, but like everybody I hope it will be soon.

Thailand Flood

Since a few Month Thailand has to fight with the worst Flood for at least 69 Years. The Water coming down from North flooded many Provinces and important Industrial Estates. Right now the Flood arrived in Bangkok City and it is possible that whole Bangkok will get flooded. Why can this be happen?

The different Organisations  just do not communicate and not work together to prevent a bigger disaster. The Media provides us with different Information about the Water Masses everyday, Quantities of the water arriving from North are sometimes 2000 – 3000 million  and sometimes up to 20,000 million cubic litres, which of course confuses everybody.

It seems to be a hidden fight between Government and Opposition and the Battlefield are the backs of the Thai People which are loosing their Homes to the immense Water Masses.

Food and drinking Water is getting expensive, hundred of thousands people had to be evacuated and many others still will be evacuated. Prices for boats and flood prevention material are on the rise. Sandbags are nearly unavailable! Many People do not get any Help through the not well organised Organisations.

More and more Districts from Bangkok have to be evacuated and there is still no End to see. Looking at Google’s Flood Map shows that there is no much chance for Bangkok that the flood will bypass the City.

I only hope that if this Flood is over, some Organisations will start to do anything possible to prevent such Floods in the future. It looks like in the past it was easier to ask for new Donations every year.

Some important Phone Numbers are:

• The Prime Minister’s Office: 1111 press 5
• DPM Hot Line (Department of Disaster Preventation and Mitigation): 1784
• Emergency Medical and Referral Patient Services to hospital: 1669
• Flood victims in Bangkok and around province: 02-281-5443
• Department of Highways: 1586

Detailed Information about the Flood can be found on many Websites, here only a few of them:

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/

http://www.bangkokpost.com/

http://www.thaiflood.com/

http://www.thaivisa.com/

http://globalfloodmap.org/Thailand

The Thai/German Jet Conflict

The outgoing Government seems to have communication Problems.

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said in an interview:

“The government will pay the 20-million-euro bond itself, to make clear that the crown prince has no involvement in the case which is between the government and a private company,” (The Nation, 2.8.2011)

while his Boss, outgoing PM Abhisit, told the opposite in an interview after an audience with Thailand‘s Crown Prince yesterday.

“The government will try to resolve the problem in a manner that will not cause the Crown Prince any trouble,” Mr Abhisit said.

He said the government will ensure the dispute does not hurt bilateral ties between the two countries and does not affect the royal institution, according to the wishes of the Crown Prince.

Mr Abhisit said a Thai legal team will travel to Berlin today and will try to ensure the dispute is resolved this month.

He stressed that the government will not pay the surety for the release of the jet and at the same time will take steps to prevent any adverse repercussions stemming from the issue.

Deputy Prime Minister Vows to Crack Down on Tourist Fraud

Image via Wikipedia

The deputy prime minister in charge of national security has vowed to prevent tourists from being cheated during their visit to Thailand.

Deputy Prime Minister in charge of national security Suthep Thaugsuban said after attending meetings with the Tourist Fraud Prevention Committee that the problem needs to be eliminated.

He said that there are many forms of cheating, starting with Thais cheating foreign tourists, foreign tourists teaming up to cheat other foreigners, and Thais and foreigners working together to cheat other foreign tourists.

He added that from the year 2007 to 2010, around 6,000 Thais were arrested for cheating tourists, and 517 groups of foreign gangs were arrested.

Meanwhile, Suthep dsaid that the recent mob of taxi drivers in Phuket province, who closed down boat docks to prevent tourists from returning to the main land, was done to express their disatisfaction over unfair tour agencies.

The drivers claim tour agencies tend to provide large buses for tourists, leaving taxi drivers with no passengers.

Suthep has also set up four subcommittees to work on eliminating fraud.

He has assigned the Tourism and Sports Permanent Secretary Sombat Kuruphan the responsibility of preventing tourist fraud in Bangkok and at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

At the same time, Interior Permanent Secretary Deputy Pranai Suwannarat will be in charge of towns frequented by tourists such as Phuket, Pattaya, and Chaing Mai.

Found at: http://www.thailandoutlook.tv/

Thailand faces earthquakes

Image via Wikipedia

Western and northern parts of Thailand could face severe damage – including building collapses, according to geologists, who say there are active faults in these areas that could cause earthquakes of about 6 on the Richter scale.

“We are now keeping an eye closely to monitor western and northern regions, as there are active faults in these areas,” Mineral Resources Department spokesperson Adichart Surinkham said yesterday.

According to an earthquake risk map produced by the department, there are 13 faults in Thailand across some 22 provinces.

Kanchanaburi, Mae Hong Son, Nan, Phayao, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai are classed as highly vulnerable to a quake of up to 7 on the Richter scale.

These provinces are located near three active fault lines, called Three Pagodas Pass, Srisawat, Mae Chan.

Kanchanaburi province is located near Three Pagoda Pass and Srisawat fault lines, while Mae Hong Son, Nan, Phayao, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai are near the Mae Chan fault.

Adichart said that quakes with an epicentre in Burma or Laos would also affect Thailand, while a quake in the western region would affect Bangkok.

“An earthquake around 7 on the Richter scale would cause building collapses and road damage,” he said.

“Unfortunately, nobody can say when they will exactly occur,” he added.

Asian Institute of Technology seismologist Dr Penneung Wanichchai said the western and northern parts of Thailand were the “locations of concern” in Thailand as moderate quakes measuring 5-6 on the Richter scale were still occurring.

“We have found that the violent earthquake [centred near Tachilek in eastern Burma] is still active in these areas.”

However, he said there was no earthquake source or fault line likely to cause severe damage and building collapses in Bangkok. But an earthquake with an epicentre outside the capital would affect buildings in Bangkok.

Pornthep Techapaiboon, the deputy governor of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), said about 60 buildings with over 30 floors in Bangkok were at risk from an earthquake rating 5-7 on the Richter scale, such as Baiyoke Tower, the Dusit Thani Hotel, MBK department store, and commercial buildings located in Silom, Sathorn, and Wireless Roads.

Moreover, about 2,000 old buildings in Bangkok would be at risk from a large quake as they were constructed before the enforcement of the 2007 Building Control Act.

“We need to install protection for buildings against earthquakes,” Pennueng said.

Given that earthquakes are natural events not yet able to be reliably predicted, National Disaster Warning Centre chief Group Captain Somsak Kowsuwan said his agency had been educating members of public about earthquake preparedness, particularly in areas most at risk of a severe earthquake.

“We found that many people are not aware about earthquakes. They even do not know what they will do after a quake,” he said. “We have conducted a lot of training to practice earthquake preparedness but few officials have participated in the training.”

Original Post can be found at THE NATION

 

Related Articles

• Thailand Rocks from Burmese Earthquake (steveriches.wordpress.com)
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• Home in Chiang Rai – Chiang Rai, Thailand (travelpod.com)
• You: Earthquake kills 27 in Myanmar, one in Thailand (earthtimes.org)
• Death reported in north Thailand after major quake in Myanmar – Xinhua (news.google.com)

Pheu Thai PM Candidate

The Nation reported that Ex-Prime Minister Thaksin selected the Prime Minister Candidate for the Pheu Thai Party. Maybe he want to do this Job self, than Thailand may have a Prime Minister with Montenegro Nationality. 😀

Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has selected the Pheu Thai Party’s PM candidate, Thai Rath Online report.

Thai Rath Online quoted Deputy House Speaker Apiwan Wiriyachai as saying that the four candidates earlier mentioned were only decoys. Apiwan said Thaksin would announce the real candidate once the House is dissolved. He said the real candidate is not Pheu Thai chairman Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, Pheu Thai party-list MP Mingkwan Saengsuwan, ex-Pheu Thai MP Chalerm Yoobamrung or Yinglak Shinawatra, a sister of Thaksin.

Is Thailand’s Premier British?

As  written in a article in Bangkok Post the Government Opposition lead by Puea Thai MP Jatuporn Prompan announced that PM Abhisit should let everybody know that he is British citizen.

Now in fact PM Abhisit was born in Newcastle and through a British Law everybody born in the country has a right to hold the British nationality or citizenship. Since the parents of PM Abhisit did go to the Thai Embassy and registered his birth there, he got the Thai Citizenship, but not the British one. Nobody seems to have applied for it and so PM Abhisit may have the right to claim a British Citizenship, but he definitely does not have it right now. He has to apply for Visa if he travels to British countries and does not hold a British Passport.

On the other Side the Opposition would like to bring Ex-Prime MInister Thaksin back to Thailand. It is not clear how many different Nationalities Mr. Thaksin is holding now, but it will be quite a few more as only 2.  Nobody tries to trial Mr. Thaksin for his work in Cambodia, which could have direct or indirect have to do with the Border Conflict between Thailand and Cambodia. Is the opposition here using a “double-standard” for their own benefits or are they just now aware of it?

There are some other public persons, which served or serve a country in politics:

• Movie Star Arnold Schwarzenegger hold the Austrian and US Citizenship and served as Governor of California from 2003 – 2011.
• Former Cancadian prime minister John Turner, who was born in England, was a dual citizen during his time in office and remains one to this day.

I am not sure how Great Britain handle this, but in many countries you loose the right of citizenship if you did not claim it in an appropriate time. Information about what Dual Nationality or Dual Citizenship is can be found at Wikipedia.

Hello, We are back !!!

The Greeting to Government yesterday. The yellow Shirts are back on Stage again. The Demonstration at Government House has this Time nothing to do with fugitive Ex-Prime Minister Thaksin and the Red Shirts , but with the Government rejecting the three main demands of the PAD concerning Thailand‘s territorial conflicts with Cambodia. The PAD showed now that they turn back on Ex-Ally Abhisit, since he is not doing what they want.

The Main Demands of PAD was:

• Cancellation of the year 2000 memorandum of understanding with Cambodia;
• Thailand’s withdrawal from the World Heritage Committee working on the Preah Vihear Temple management;
• Push “encroaching” Cambodians back.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said: “We simply can’t yield to their demands.” “The demands will put national security in danger.”  as everybody knows the Border to Cambodia is a dangerous Place and a War with Cambodia could be happen. It is National Security which comes first for the Government and not the Demands from the PAD.

more to read in THE NATION

The new technology may be efficient, but it’s destroying an older, simpler way of life

This week I received a photograph sent to me anonymously through the mail. It appears I’ve been captured on film doing something illegal _ and somebody is demanding money for it.

Minds out of the gutter, please. As if I would allow myself to be photographed in that way. I’m extremely selective about where I’m seen, and make a point of frequenting nocturnal establishments with strict policies of leaving recording devices at the cloak room. Or towel pick-up. Whichever is closer. Anyway, who said the photograph was of me? It was my car, cruising majestically down the motorway in the direction of Chon Buri in the early afternoon sun, highlighting the stark lettering of my licence plate. Yes, all right, I got a speeding ticket. Not the first one I ever got in my life _ that was for hooning down McCullough Road in Sunnybank, at a breakneck 60kph _ but certainly the first I ever got here that was so, so cool! How modern and up-to-date of the police to have this technology. I almost wanted to find a safety pin in my sewing room, and affix the picture-ticket onto my shirt and strut around Siam Paragon. All I had to do was fill out the form on the back of the pic, send it off with a nominal 500 baht fine and that was it. And so I did, pausing to write ”Philosopher” in the space enquiring as to my profession. I was tempted to write ”Bangkok Post columnist” but being dragged out of my house at midnight in my Fly Now pyjamas never to be seen again is not part of my life plan. According to information below the pic, I was doing 130kph in a 120kph zone. Blame the government for that; it was 1.35pm and I had to get to a Chon Buri liquor store before 2pm lest I wouldn’t be able to buy any Bacardi Breezers for another three hours. See? Antiquated liquor laws cause dangerous driving! It seems everywhere you look the Thai police force is stepping into the 21st century with new devices, and not just speed cameras. There’s also a brand new thing called ”e-tickets” that started exactly two weeks ago as an experiment in Thong Lor and Bang Na. It turns out 154 e-tickets were issued to motorists and bikers who parked in forbidden zones, didn’t wear their seatbelts or felt helmets just didn’t do anything for their hairstyles. Speed cameras … e-tickets … Thailand is changing fast. Mind you, if change was what the police want, I personally would have started with their uniforms. The last time I wore zip-up brown polyester shirts was when Ring My Bell was No1. Whoever decided that was a good look? And what work is that person doing now _ designing for Bangkok Fashion Week judging from some of the presentations I saw this year. While all these changes are good, I have to admit I am a little nostalgic for the past, when breaking the law and getting caught was so much more civilised. I’ve been driving in this country for 15 years, and in the pre-E-Ticket-and-Evil-Motorway-Speedcam Era there was a very nice system in place. We’re not talking big crimes here like grand larceny or murdering a Robinson salesgirl for saying one too many ”No haves”. I mean silly driving things like crossing a lane too quickly or forgetting to indicate or, the most trivial of all, doing 130 in a 120 zone. Upon encountering a traffic cop he would announce your misdemeanour and say in Thai: ”Show me your driving licence.” This can be translated as: ”Show me your driving licence and place a folded 100 baht note underneath it so neither of us can see it.” Brilliant. First of all, everybody wins. I don’t have to go through the drawn-out process of going to the local station and paying a fine of at least 500 baht. The officer makes some extra money and on his dismal wage he needs all the help he can get. And best of all, nothing needs to be said. In no time you’re on your way and both parties are happy. I can’t imagine the indignity of a Sunnybank cop if I dared to hand over my driving licence along with the equivalent of A$3.30. I’d be in some dark holding cell at the Cop Shop quicker than I could say Detective Danni Francis. Then I’d be hauled through the courts on bribery charges and incur the steely stares of Sunnybank village elders for years, finally fleeing overseas to start a new life in _ Thailand? And they say Australia’s civilised! My very favourite experience with a Thai traffic cop occurred 10 years ago when a Learn-English book of mine was enjoying time at the top of the best-seller lists here. One day I was hot-footing it along the freeway towards Uruphong when a cop stepped out and waved me over. He was a happy soul, probably around 30, with a growing belly currently undergoing torture thanks to the pervading crush of brown polyester. Nevertheless he was jovial as I wound down the window and he said, in English: ”You! You go fast! No good!” ”Sorry _ won’t do it again khrap,” I replied. ”It’s OK! No problem!” he smiled. ”You give me money!” That’s when the conversation changed into Thai. ”Sir, you can’t ask like that,” I said, shaking my head and looking unhappily down into my lap, as if there was something monstrous there. His smile turned into a quizzical frown. ”What do you mean?” he asked. ”Well, you can’t just blurt out a demand like that. It sounds ugly and doesn’t make you look good. There are far nicer ways to say it.” ”Like how?” he asked. ”You could start with ‘Please give me some money,’ I guess. Or you could even make it into a question, like ‘May I have 100 baht, please?”’ ”May I have 100 baht?” he repeated in English, and I waggled a finger at him. ”Don’t forget the ‘please’ at the end. It makes what you’re saying sound so much better.” ”May I have 100 baht please?” he repeated, and raised his eyebrows. I nodded approvingly, and he thrust out his clipboard and pen. ”Can I trouble you to write it down for me?” ”Sure,” I said. ”You know, we even have some idioms.” Now he was fascinated. ”Like what?” he asked. It took me five minutes to teach ”Please grease my palms,” and ”Please make it worth my while,” and even ”You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours,” although he had terrible trouble pronouncing ”scratch”. It came out as ”scat”, which was unfortunate since someone once told me that was a sexual fetish _ something not normally associated with men in zipper-hugging brown polyester. The officer and I parted soon after. I didn’t have to pay him anything, though I did give him a signed copy of my best-seller, and he came away with all sorts of new words and phrases he could use. I often wonder about that guy. Did he ever employ any of those phrases on the next farang he pulled over? Can you imagine the motorist’s surprise confronting a Thai traffic cop who could hardly introduce himself, but could sail through ”Please make it worth my while”? Those days are long gone, thanks to the scourge of e-tickets and shady photographs of black Teanas breaking the speed limit. What a pity. Technology changes everything … we have merely scatted the surface.

Civil verdict set on March for PAD’s seizure of airports

It takes over  3 Years to get a verdict at the International Airport seizure in December 2007 by the People’s Alliance for Democracy (Yellow Shirts).

The Civil Court has scheduled March 25 to hand down its verdict after hearing the last defense witness rebutting the demand for Bt245 million damage inflicted by the yellow shirts during their seizure of Don Muang and Suvarnabhumi Airports in November 2007.

The civil litigation is a fallout from street protests led by the People’s Alliance for Democracy culminating in the airports seizure. As plaintiff, the Airport Authority of Thailand has named 13 PAD leaders, including Sondhi Limthongkul, as defendants. Speaking from the witness stand, Sondhi told the court that protesters did not disrupt international and domestic flight since they were not responsible for shutting down the two airports in Bangkok.

The Nation