This article was originally posted on WomenLearnThai.com.
Thailand has 50 million blue whales flooding Bangkok…
Obviously, there are not 50 million blue whales flooding Bangkok. Not even one. And the flood is not only about Bangkok. But as bonkers as 50 million whales flooding Bangkok sounds, the contradicting flood information bombarding us daily seems just as wacky.
Anyway. This post is for those of you who have a life. Those who have not spent the past month plus glued to all things Thai floods via twitter, Facebook, the Bangkok Post and the Nation. Because if you had, then you’d already be blue whaled out.
And Oh! Before I forget to mention… I have selfish motives for a blue whale post too. In six months time I don’t want to start nattering on about 50 million blue whales stuck in Bangkok traffic only to have you go all weird on me. You know?
Thailand’s flood + 50 million blue whales…
The Bangkok Post explains it best in their article Thai floods: Think of 50 million whales.
A series of short animations explaining the current flood situation using simple language and featuring a cute pod of 50 million blue whales has become a big hit on youtube.
The man who came up with idea for the animations is Kriangkrai Vachiratamtorn, the founder of the animators’ group Roo Su Flood (Know, Fight, Flood).
He said he was frustrated with the generally unhelpful and confusing information and misinformation being released to the public by the government and other agencies.
“We are not only being flooded by floodwaters, but also by information,” said Mr Kriangkrai.
The videos, five so far (edit: now six), are in Thai with English subtitles. They are great entertainment for Thai students of all levels. Or your mother even. But maybe not your kids (I’ll give you a few minutes to think on that one).
Thailand flooding: Episode one…
‪Thailand flooding: Episode two‬…
Thailand flooding: Episode three…
Thailand flooding: Episode four‬…
Thailand flooding: Episode five…
Thailand flooding: Episode six…
Other stuff on the Thai floods of 2011…
Some are predicting that the main flood crisis will be over in ten days. The first stage anyway. I couldn’t say. Maybe. Maybe not. But the flood posts on WLT will march on for the duration. Ok, ‘straggle on’ might be a better description…
Ayutthaya Underwater: Bangkok Now Bracing for Floods
Bangkok is STILL Bracing for the Thai Floods. Barely.
Bangkok Flood Info: Preparing for Floods in Bangkok
Hugh Leong has two handy posts focusing on Thai flooding vocabulary and phrases (thanks Hugh!)
Thai Language Thai Culture: Primer on Thai Disaster Words
Thai Language Thai Culture: Basic Thai Flood Phrases
And here are a few other RooSuFlood links…
Facebook: RooSuFlood
YouTube: RooSuFlood
Nation: Click for clarity
PS: Some Thai kids are having blue whale nightmares so please tread careful as you go…
Todd, to be honest, I haven’t had time to go through all the videos but the ones I saw did come across slick. I’m a sucker for a well-designed anything! While the Karn.TV ones, not so…
Add Canada to the US. From what I’m told, unless watching the BBC, they both have poor coverage on flooding in Thailand. There’s a good side to this though – if friends and family saw daily updates on what’s going on they’d freak. This way, I can freak quietly on my own.
Those are some of the best videos about the flood and preparing for a disaster if the flood comes to your home. I too don’t know who or what to believe; “Bangkok is safe”, “All of Bangkok will flood”, “Half of Bangkok is safe”, “None of Bangkok is safe”, “The worst is over”, it’s truly mind “wobbling”. ..
I sent the links to a few people in the US who were concerned for me.
They said news of the flooding here barely makes more than a 30 second blurb on the international news in the US. Of course most people in the US couldn’t find Thailand on a map of the world, and/or confuse it for Taiwan).
Still great videos, and really good English subtitles too!!
Good catch Martyn. When I wrote the post there were five videos. Just this morning I came across number six so slotted it in (but forgot to edit the copy).
Have I ever tried running in water? After wading through the Ayutthaya floods I seriously doubt I could. It’s a tiring job just going slow!
Apologies for stuffing up your computer. We’ve had connection slowdowns here but not as many as I thought there’d be (knock on wood).
Catherine – Cartoons are a great way to educate people as we don’t tend to look beyond the cartoon character, unlike actors, who perhaps distract us by their appearance or past misdemeanour’s which have been aired by the media. Actors can make the mind wander whereas animation makes us focus. It does in my case anyhow.
I like the advice in Episode Six (I thought you said there were five) about meeting an alligator in the water. Ram a big stick in his mouth and run. Have you ever tried running in water?
A good post but one which takes a long time to load on my ageing computer due to the videos displayed. Your latest post ‘Karn.TV Cartoons: Flooding in Thailand’ completely locked the old girl up.
Japanese Bangkok bound flights must be crammed full after this one hit the back of the net.
Heya Snap! Welcome back 🙂
There is plenty of food in the stores but not everything. It’s been days since I saw kitty litter and decent cat food is in short supply too. And weird brands of water have been appearing – along with the megga expensive froo froo water, we now have Italian. Oh, and Australian eggs have arrived.
I remember your banana problem as my Australian friends threatened to decamp to my place for the duration. Australia has experiences major tragedies in the past few years and not just water. That fire, ‘the’ fire, was horrible. Then there’s drought… and…
I love the videos Cat, especially the last one about preparing to evacuate…I’d never think to block off the loo! Or, take a photo of my house, which kind of baffled me at first, but then even the sturdiest of houses can float way in a flood if the current is ferocious enough.
When we left Thailand I had very mixed emotions, happy we made it out of Bangkok, but I also felt like a bit of a deserter. The shelves at the 7-11 stores where virtually empty back then, 10 days ago, I can’t imagine what it would be like now trying to buy supplies. I hope the prices do decrease as losses are recouped and new crops are grown. It no doubt will take a long time, bananas (here) are slowly decreasing, 9 months after the Aussie floods subsided, when they tripled in price. Some shops that were submerged are just now re-opening and some have chosen not to.
I went for a drive out into the country the other day and the height that the water reached was still evident by the destruction it left behind. Huge trees still leaning at 45 degree angles…the force must have been incredible.
Recovering from such a disaster is a long, hard slog.
(PS. SO good to finally be back on the Internet.)
I heard that Phuket is having a shortage because locals donated quite a lot in the beginning? I’m not sure what the truth is but the shipments coming in via Malaysia should help some. They will need to be more expensive though.
I was discussing the price problem just yesterday. In the past I’ve seen prices skyrocket due to a countrywide crisis (not this one) and some items never went back down. Not fully anyway (and we eventually got used to paying more). But a point was made that healthy competition often drives prices back down.
It’s yet another wait and see! Jai yen yen…
Nice videos Cat. We should call in the Japanese, I’m sure they could clear up that whale problem in no time.
Here in Phuket there is pretty much a shortage of everything. I was in Makro just yesterday and half the shelves were quite bare. There is even a bit of price gouging going on as could be expected.
A bit off topic, but it will be interesting to see the outcome of all that is going on from an economic standpoint. For example, a case of Tiger beer which use to cost 720 baht is now going for about 1,200 baht. This of course has driven up all the prices in the restaurants/bars around here by a good 20 to 30 baht a bottle. I am wondering whether the prices will ever come down once all the flooding has stopped and everything is business as usual.
Talen, I don’t know who to believe about the floods. It’s driving me totally bonkers! And oh, btw – I don’t actually like whiskey (but a gin or two will do 🙂
I’m told we have bare shelves here too. And one of these days I’ll have to get back out to check. I’ve had a bad case of PJ-itus but I hear it only lasts 3-4 days at the most so I should be right as rain tomorrow. Or the day after.
Cat, when I saw the title of the post in my reader I wondered if you had taken a bit too much medicinal whiskey. I surely hope officials are right about the main floods being over in 10 days because Pattaya is being flooded by Bangkokonians at a record rate and there are many bare shelves around Pattaya’s supermarkets and convenience stores.