The water is receding, what now?

After weeks, the flood in Thailand has passed its peak and the water receding.  All in all, it’s no child’s play, but not as severe as some scenarios painted for us.
 
OK, it’s easy for me to say, as we have not been the flood victims ourselves, so far.  I have gone through the inconvenience but not the pain and the horror.  But I did go through the whole process though.  We anticipated, went through the anguish, took precautions and worried sick, just like anyone else in the city waiting for the water to show up.  After weeks in that mode, we are ready for anything.

It's time to renovate things

In fact, I even went to stay upcountry for 4 days during the so-called peak, but nothing happened.  As both entrances to our development get flooded in normal years, we decided moving into town with sister at her condo would be a good idea.  My two adult children are having a ball, getting much closer to their drinking holes.  It would be hard to drag them back after the flood.  They may just let me move back home alone.

Mentally, we all are now used to the flood of being flooded ourselves.  Life goes on.  Now, we get back to our pre-flood routines, like watching movies on the cable again- instead of glued to news channels 24/7.  It’s funny to think back on how hundred hours I spent monitoring flood movements on TV and the internet.  You may say I succeeded in scaring myself sick.  Looking back, not a very smart thing to do.  I’ll remember that next time.

So, eventually the water will be gone down the sea and it’s clean up time!  This is something none is looking forward to.  All the flooded households, of a few million people, have to go through this cleaning up and fixing their homes, large or small.  The government is giving out 5,000 bt for each house; not much but better than none.
 
My poor sister, with her various properties including the condo we are staying, has two houses flooded- her main residence and a country home.  I’ll share with you the experience in a few months to come.  One thing for sure, it’s going to be costly.  We all will be so broken, from these unexpected events, that I believe our spending patterns in the flood-affected areas may change somewhat- even for a short while like the next six months.

You’d think the economy will go down with the water, right?  But, according to the CP boss, the economy will be heated up from the restructuring fund spent by the government on the various projects- building highways, fixing airports and all the damages.  In fact, he foresaw a sizable economic expansion like 7% GDP increase next year, instead of a depression.

Photo: Pichet Suksai

That’ encouraging, considering who made that statement.  This guy, not only is one of the richest in Thailand, but he is very smart.  He was right several times in the past when he came out to say something just the opposite of the popular thinking at that time.  I hope he’s right this time too.
 
Thailand is entitled to a nice break, in my opinion, after a series of outrageous incidents, some natural and many man-made.  Right off my head, we can count many in a row: tsunami, bird’s flu, a military coup, a few years of street protests, last year city firework and the flood this year.  It’s amazing that our tourism still exists at all, no pun intended.

After a storm, the sky is usually the most beautiful.  Man, am I ready!!!