Bangkok Jinx

From Bangkok 2011

If I ever ask you whether you want to travel with me to Bangkok, remember to decline the invitation.  Clearly I am jinxed when it comes to this destination.  Over the past two years my travel plans have been thwarted by a Yellow Shirt sit-in at the airport, floods in southern Thailand, Red Shirt barricades in Bangkok, and now to cap it all, a major flood which is threatening to overrun the entire city as I type this.


The day I travelled out from the UK, the Thai government announced a five day public holiday to coincide with my visit, the aim being for all Bangkok residents to flee the city, or at least stay at home (presumably if they live in an upper floor apartment).  The situation had worsened by the time I arrived, with a quarter of the city already under water, and government warnings that the main river dikes were almost certain to be breached over the weekend, which would result in the inundation of the remaining districts.  


The figures are quite overwhelming.  Apparently the flow rate of the flood water from the north is 100 million cubic metres per second!  The only defence against this deluge are hastily erected sandbag emplacements around low lying buildings.   Since most of Bangkok is less than one metre above sea level, that means most buildings.  The picture above is of the defences at the base of Vince's apartment, where I was working until 2 hours ago.   We were listening to the news reports that plotted the advance of the flood waters along Bangkok's streets.  By the time it got to 10 sois from  the soi where my hotel was located, I decided it was time to make a quick getaway.  


Luckily I had already planned to travel to Phuket for the weekend with some buddies from Malaysia, for the Phuket Hash.  It was fortunate that I had booked in advance as the airport was crammed with Bangkok citizens trying to escape anywhere they could.  The ticket counters were queuing around the block.  So barring any last minute disaster, such as a tsunami engulfing the airport, I should be clear of the impending  flood within the next hour or so.


Aside from the flood, the two days in Bangkok were quite a success from a work point of view and we have now kicked off a major project with one of the mobile phone operators in Thailand, which will keep us busy for much of the next year or two.  I am not sure to what extent I want to participate in the follow-up project visits, bearing in mind my Bangkok jinx.