Asia, a land of wonders - these are my thoughts, experiences and travel tips from SE Asia

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Bangkok flooding in pictures

Bangkok flooding in pictures route Suttthisan - Lad Phrao - Central Lad Phrao - Chatuchak Park - Saphan Kwai

In the last weeks I heard and read a lot of news, sometimes I was looking at TV in the evening and the news were announcing that the place I live is flooded "water reached to intersection of ..." and the thing is that there was no flooding and still there is none.

Boat out in flooded Bangkok
What I did was to decide that I have to check by myself where there is and where there is no water and flooded areas. Said and done, took out the camera and started the journey. First things was to travel up on Rachada road until I reach water: Fortune city is dry, so is Thailand Cultural Center area, Robinson and BigC and further on Hway Kwang. Going further I reach to Sutthisan intersection - still no flooding water around here and I went further up. About 400-500 meters away from Sutthisan-Rachada intersection there is the Khlong Bang Sue and North of this canal is where the flooding starts.

Pictures in this article illustrates the journey from Chaophraya Park hotel on Ratchada road towards the North, reaching Lad Phrao intersection and then turn left on LadPhrao road.
Truck taxi carrying people - most of them are free of charge
Foreigners playing in the water on Rachada road
Truck ride in the flooded areas of Bangkok
Shell petrol station flooded and closed - Rachada road
Lad Phrao intersection on Rachadapisek road
Perfect blue sky in Bangkok - not much pollution during floodings
Lad Phrao road flooded
All here is flooded. The water is just enough deep for not allowing the small cars to pass but not high enough to produce any damage to houses or big cars - this looks like a scenario written already. Water is just there, not to much, not to less - just perfect to create an inconvenience and from my point of view, to spend more money on booths and water protection.

So from Lad Phrao road towards Central Lad Phrao and Union Mall everything is under water. Further on the truck went left towards Chathuchak Park which got some water as well. Mostly is the roads that resemble to a sea of water. The sky is a perfect blue in Bangkok which, believe me, is not easy to find - I do assume this is a result of less and less pollution. Probably only 10-15% of the cars are running in Bangkok these days.

Heading towards Saphan Kwai
Waiting for the bus in Bangkok
Pahon Yohin road near Chatuchak Park - flooded
Sea of Bangkok - water as far as you can see
Pickup truck playing in the floods
All the parkings are full with cars and so are the bridges and express-ways where the people parked their cars for escaping the flood to come.

They say Bangkok has been voted as the No.1 place for travel - I guess it was before the flooding :)

Royal Thai Army trucks for passengers in flooded areas it free of charge
Chatuchak weekend market intersection
Just before reaching BigC at Saphan Kway the flooding stopped and everything is dry again - now we are back South of Khlong Bang Sue.

Conclusion: Inner Bangkok is flooded in a lot of places but it is just a matter of inconvenience for the citizen as the water did not reach dangerous levels and it starts to recede as well. By middle of December should be all gone, this would be my forecast on the Thai flooding of 2011.

Drop me a line if you are flooded or you want to post your pics or comments or ideas, I may help you with this.

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