The River

As I've mentioned before in this blog I live next to the Chao Phraya river in Thailand. It is the rainy season  and has been raining almost every day since mid-June. It rarely rains all day, usually just brief bursts of intense rain for maybe 20 or 30 minutes. Then sometimes it will drizzle for longer periods of time. I don't mind the rain at all - it usually cools things off and cleans the air and I like sitting on my balcony and watching a storm blow through.
The rainy season is almost over - the end of October signals the end of the wet season and that's close. However for the past month I've watched the river gradually and steadily rise until now it's well over it's normal banks and is flooding several streets in my neighborhood. It's problematic because of the especially high tides (called king tides) this time of year which slow the water flow to the ocean. And this after months of rain so there's no other place for the water to go. In some provinces to the North there's major flooding as in three to four feet deep in places where it's normally dry. It's not nearly as bad as Pakistan but for me it's a lot closer to home. One of my co-workers spent a day last week moving all his furniture to the second floor, just to be safe. Of course I am dry on the 9th floor of my apartment building although we all moved our cars from the underground parking garage. And there are sandbags lining places in the drive leading up to the building.
Sitting on my balcony I can see that some of my neighbor's are not as lucky as I am. There's a small house almost directly below which sits on stilts as many of the houses do around here. For one thing it's cooler if the air can circulate under the house but the main reason is for times like these of high water. The water level is almost up to the first floor and the raised walkway that is used to access the house is under water although I can see that it's at ankle level. They have their wash drying on lines extending over the railings of the walkway. It is almost surreal to see clothes drying over water. I feel somewhat helpless - as close as it is visually I can't see how I would get there or what I could do if I did. I hope the water starts receding soon but I hear we're in for a couple of more days at least before that starts to happen.
I'm happy to say that my housekeeper, Khun Malee, who lives right on the river, right across from me is fine.

View of some houses across the river with some clumps of water hyacinths floating by.  The water level is high 

If you look closely you can see the clothes hanging in the upper left quadrant of the image. The round leaves in the water are lotuses.

Elephant!

I saw an elephant today on my way home from work. I do live in Thailand so there are elephants here however... this one was in front of a small shop on a busy neighborhood street near my apartment. The elephant did have a handler. This was not a tourist attraction and I have no idea why the elephant was there but it was very cool to see such a majestic animal so unexpectedly.

Thai time

Traditionally the Thais divide the day into four parts and the way they tell time relates to that. Back when there were few clocks and means to tell time the monasteries rang gongs or beat drums to indicate the time of day. They used a gong during the daylight hours and a drum in the evening and the people making the security rounds after midnight beat some type of metal plates that were supposedly quieter. So the daylight hours are reported as moong (from the sound of a gong) - so you have one moong, two moong, etc. Then starting at seven PM you have one tum (sound of the drum), two tum, etc. Then after midnight you have dtii one, dtii two (dtii being the sound of the metal plate supposedly). Noon, midnight and the six o'clock hours divide up the day and were rendered by many rapid beatings of drum or gong depending on the time of day. It's complicated but makes sense once you understand the reasoning behind it. That's some of what I learned in my Thai lesson today. Kind of cool actually.

Holiday

Today is a holiday in Thailand. It's the queen's birthday. Yesterday at the factory where I have my office everybody gathered on the soccer field, listened to a speech by a local politician and sang some songs. I have no idea what they sang because I missed it. No one told me and half my staff skipped it so I wasn't aware something was going on until too late. Everybody else knew about it since it happens every year.

Also learned last week that the queen's color is blue because she was born on Friday. The king's color is yellow because he was born on a Monday. Each day has it's own color and it ties in somehow to the horoscope and more than that I don't know. Although I do know that Sunday's color is red, Tuesday's is pink, Wednesday's is green, Thursday orange, Friday, well, you know, blue, Saturday is purple.

The queen's birthday is also the day that we celebrate mother's day here in Thailand. So happy Mother's Day to all the mother's out there.

Yen wan jan (Monday evening)

Practicing yoga on the balcony overlooking the river, with a strong breeze blowing, while the day turns to night...yeah!

My Rules

There are three rules for driving in Thailand that must not be broken:

1. Don't hit anybody (which includes anybody or anything that breathes).
2. Don't hit anything.
3. Don't get hit.

Obviously this holds true for any place where I'm driving but following those rules is more difficult here while sharing the frequently chaotic and crowded road with the multitude of motor bikes, buses, cars, pedestrians, trucks, food carts, bicycles and tuk-tuks (basically tricycles with lawnmower engines available for hire). And I'm happy to report that so far so good. I will work hard to keep it that way.

A few weeks ago I got my Thai driver's license. It was a relatively simple procedure thanks to the help I had from the people I work with who walked me through the entire process. It was made easier because I had my international driver's license which I had picked up at AAA in Chattanooga. The local DMV required a copy of the international license and their records now include the restriction/conditions page in German. English and German look about the same to the average Thai. An Australian colleague's Thai wife didn't speak to him for three days because he wouldn't (couldn't!) translate something written in Italian for her. English, Italian, they looked the same to her.

The international license in combination with my Tennessee one exempted me from taking a driving or written test. I had to pass a reaction a test (how fast can you move your foot from accelerator to brake when a light turns from green to red) and a depth perception test. I was in an out in less than 30 minutes. The prior day I had to go to a clinic where they took my blood pressure and listened to my heart and gave me a letter telling the DMV that I was healthy enough to drive.

I drive a company leased pewter colored new 2010 Toyota Camry, which is probably built right here in Thailand and, so far, has had no accelerator issues not induced by the driver. I haven't had any problems adjusting to driving on the right hand side of the road although it does require a paying a little more attention which is not a bad thing at all (refer to rules that must not be broken). Occasionally though I still find myself moving to enter the the left side of the car.

Not in Kansas anymore...

Last Sunday I made my first visit to a movie theatre in Thailand, the SFX Cinema complex at the Central Chaeng Watana mall. I have seen several movies since I've been here but all have been DVDs or from the movie channels I get with my TV package. The film I went to see was Inception which I had read good things about. I was entertained but not really impressed by the film. Conceptually it explored some interesting ideas but had so many "action sequences" that went on for so long  that I almost got bored. Special effects can only take you so far. The best thing about the movie was what happened right before the start, after endless previews and commercials: everybody stood up for a short - maybe two to three minutes - film of the King of Thailand, showing historical grainy footage, mostly black and white with no sound other then music and a few words in Thai as subtitles, which of course I couldn't read. Most of the images showed him and sometimes members of his family engaged in civic activities. The Thais love their king - he is very well respected and considered above politics - and I assume this film goes on before every commercial showing. It was a strange experience. 


Then today, while listening to the Thai radio station that broadcasts news in English every 7 AM, I learned that a new version featuring the Thai king was in the making, due to be completed by his birthday in early December. It is also slated to be shown in all public theaters prior to the main feature. So now when you come to visit and if we go to the movies, you won't be surprised. .