A valid reason to feel sorry for the Isaan Thai

[bao-bao]

I'm a little surprised that the topic of the flooding now so prevalent throughout Isaan hasn't been discussed here, but maybe I shouldn't be.

For those of you with friends, loved ones or connections with families out there, I hope they're safe and don't lose anything that can't be replaced or re-grown. Maybe some have stories they could share.

Just this morning I was writing about a riverside resort I stayed at in March and was wondering if it had been damaged. Just something that's been on my mind.

The rich Chinese Thai are weeping buckets about lost stock (thereby adding to the problem). To the poor Thai, the floods are a grand opportunity to go fishing.

[colmx]

To the poor Thai, the floods are a grand opportunity to go fishing.
LOL
Thats exactly what all the people in my BFs village are doing... As soon as the rain stopped on Tuesday the lines came out and the fishing contests started!

[maisoui]

wen ya got nuttin' ya got nuttin' ta lose

[pong]

good chances for gone fishing:
a. when you happen to live so near a shrimp farm. or another farm of kept fish
b.a bit unlucky when near a crocodile farm-if that has been flooded over.
And many a quarrel will start afterward of whom the drowned chickens were you happened to have ''rescued'' near your flooded home.
Flooding really gets worse when all those houses on stilts (tipical isan building style) even start getting their floors under.
Big chance for the govmt. which is still sitting on dozens of warehouses full of rice bought at inflated prices under the Thaksin govmt: could not be sold on world market as price far too high. The sad remains of it (what has not been eaten by mice or disappeared othwerwise) can now be doled out as precious gifts.

[Alaan]

Yes i have great sympathy for those with the spoiled crops, but my recent experience with the floods in Issan gave me mixed feelings of feeling sorry for some Thai i came across while driving i have to admit. If you even think that Thai driving is often insane in normal conditions, during flooded and dangerous conditions there is a selfishness i have never seen before anywhere in the world i have driven.

We had been at my bfs village a few km outside Khon Kaen for a few days, and had only experienced a little rain around the area. In fact the locals were complaining that there was still not enough rain in the area sufficient for the rice growing. Anyway we were due to return to Ayutthaya then Bkk for my return home, so we set off last Sat afternoon for the usual 6 hour drive(including stops) to Ayutthaya. It rained from Khon Kaen all the way, not my favourite driving conditions, the only plus being that the police dont come out to get their tea money in the rain.

As we negotiated the by-pass for Korat, we noticed that the rain was monsoon-like coming down in never-ending torrents, most drivers are slowing to take account of the almost nil visibility, i say MOST.........but bus drivers, small truck drivers and big 4x4s must have considered buddah to be only watching over vehicles of a certain size, the driving was unbelievable! I saw more accidents in my 2 hours getting through Korat than in the whole of my life up to that point. There were so many major roads impassible due to the depth of the water, at least waiste high in most of the closed roads. so we were set on a series of diversions, and here the officials were very dedicated at trying to get traffic moving, standing as they were in very hostile conditions waving on cars and trying to answer queries of how best to get to this road or that highway.

But the selfishness was the thing which got to me most, there were queues everywhere and you just had to sit it out, as the passible bits of the roads were still up to the car sills about 2-3 feet of water which had to be carefully and therefore slowly negotiated, but not for some Thai, who simply overtook the line pushed in and held things up even more, and then there were those in areas where both north and south traffic were on one of the carriageways, slowly getting through the water so it did not get into the engine area and flood the car, and some cretin who had decided he needed to get on faster would plough through the water causing waves to go over our car bonnet, many cars simply conked out becuase of this thereby adding to the problems especially if there was only one lane open....

In one of the queues we were all stopping and starting and i felt a bump from the back, i thought at first i had stalled, but no, the 4x4 driver behind us had obviously been rubber-necking around him and accidently bumped us at very slow speed. I got out to check, the passenger of the 4x4 was already out checking my rear and so i knew immediatly what had happened, anyway i could see there was no actual damage to our vehicle and was about to get back to the driving when the driver of the car jumped out, obviously a bit drunk...he blathered in Thai at me and by bf, i asked my bf to confirm what i thought he was saying was that i had reversed into him! it took me all my time to keep calm....stressed as i was about actually getting through this nightmare, but i slowly and firmly managed to conjure up enough Thai to tell him that just because i was a farang i wasn't going to accept his crap and did he want me to call over one of the many police overseeing the traffic.....his friend bundled him back into the car double quick apologising in thai to my bf and wai-ing his way back to the passeneger seat...

In the UK stranded cars and drivers are helped by those around to move the car out of harms way to the benefit of all...NOT Thailand! they are left sitting in the position they conked out, cratching their heads as insane drivers push by them as 3 vehicles attempt to fill the space vacated by the unforunate soul...this behaviour all the way through Korat untill we managed to escape on an eerily deserted highway south to Saraburi.

Arrived in Ayutthaya 10 hours aftyer we set off (about 3-4 hours longer than expected) i was relieved to get through the worst but to be honest my feeling was one of sheer frustration with the general attitude of ME FIRST..AND FUCK YOU! i encountered and saw on hundreds of occassions in the space of 2 hours!

I have many more actual examples but Rant over......

[Beachlover]

Sounds like you had quite an adventure getting about the floods. Well done on staying calm with the Thai 4WD, which bumped you from the rear. Glad you were able to tell him to f*ck off (in calm words).

Unfortunately, this "ME FIRST!" thing seems to happen a lot in Asia and some developing countries... especially during hectic times. I've noticed my own (Asian) parents not being keen to help others in distress for fear of losing their spot or being scammed/robbed.

I remember telling my Mum about administering CPR to a guy who had a (suspected) heart attack. She said I should have left him and told me not to do it next time because of the risk of disease (with the mouth to mouth stuff)! She even complained I was half an hour late meeting her as a result of stopping to help the guy. "What for?", she asked. I was utterly stunned.