Isara Volunteer - Terri

[Ginafish]

LoL, come on... I just get excited when I look through your thread. You are somewhere far far away and exotic as far as I'm concerned. Even pictures of the local houses would be the 'touristy' thing to me!

[thartley]

There's alot of this sort of building here.





A local decorative statue:



Powder hand prints on a car window.  (no idea why, but it looked cool enough to snap a pic)



How one should spend the hottest part of the day here:

[Ginafish]

[thartley]

I'll be going to the mall today for a tape purchase.  They were out of my normal ones the last time I had to buy them, so hopefully, they are back in stock.  My regular camera is at the ILC, so I will take some shots with my little SONY that I finally found again.  woohoo!

I think this morning was maybe the coolest day so far.  Bike ride was great, breeze blowing, at it was after 9:00a.  Anyway, gotta get out the door before the mall is to crowded with people.

[Nick Lane]

Terri! Did you realize your last blog post was in December? My goodness! I thought I didn't post very much! Haha!

You know I am just giving you a bad time. I know you're busy.

[Ming]

I'll be going to the mall today for a tape purchase.  They were out of my normal ones the last time I had to buy them, so hopefully, they are back in stock.  My regular camera is at the ILC, so I will take some shots with my little SONY that I finally found again.  woohoo!

You found it? Great. It's easier to carry the little sony every where with you. It's a nice day out. I went to some places and the mall too this morning not lots of people yet.

I like a pic of the dog sleeping that must be the dog at the temple. Thank you for sharing Terri.  Good day!!

[thartley]

Yes, I found it.  It was in its black case in the bottom of the desk drawer here and when I looked for it, I didnt see it the first time.  Sad thing was the batteries were dead and in the fun of going for another bike ride today, I forgot to get batteries.  AND I WAS EVEN LOOKING AT THEM AT THE CHECKOUT LINE! 

[thartley]

Blog.




Updated.




Not my best.




Sorry.

[Nick Lane]

You didn't have to do that thartley! But I can't find it! I was looking at your blog that is under your avatar, the Isara one "Life's a Beach." Is there another that I missed?

[Ginafish]

Nick, check out the isarablog.com link above and it will take you to a page of all the updated blogs so you can take a peep at all of them. Terri and I had the same thing on our minds with our blogs this week. Maybe you should update yours with the same theme?

And Terri, I'm glad you found the small camera so you can be more spontaneous with your pictures. Good News!

[Nick Lane]

I hadn't thought of that, GinaFish. I usually do check that out but I hadn't today. I wasn't sure that the blog was hosted here because the one I found was one she won't update until she is back home. Thanks!

[thartley]

Its been raining a little here.  I know Kitkat's been in a drought where she's at in Texas, with almsot 50 days of triple digit temps and no rain in sight.  I thought I would show you how things are going here.  Flooded, yes, hot, not really.  Its nice.  We have our a/c OFF and the doors open with an AWESOME cross breeze.   

This is a view from our balcony.  Usually, what you are looking at is a dry gravel path that leads quite a ways down to the river.  The water is now going into the homes!




This, if you look, is a view down Chaiyaporn, which is the route I usually take to get to the ILC.  Its flooded up to the car doors.  This is a good block or more from the river!   

[KitKat]

I'm so sorry to hear about the flooding there.  I know it must shut down a lot of business.    Is there access to the large government school near where you live?   Is there still more rain in your forecast?  How are you getting out to buy groceries, etc.?   Does the Riverside Hotel's first floor have water?
 

[thartley]

I'm so sorry to hear about the flooding there.  I know it must shut down a lot of business.    Is there access to the large government school near where you live?   Is there still more rain in your forecast?  How are you getting out to buy groceries, etc.?   Does the Riverside Hotel's first floor have water?
 

Its only like that right here where Laurie and I are as far as i can tell.  The road out in front of our place is good, and if I go around the other way to get to Mee Chai, that is clear also.  The low lying roads and paths are getting it pretty bad.  In just a few hours, their whole bottom floors have been flooded out.

To give you an idea, a couple weeks ago, I watched some guys climbing the tree to the very top to jump into the river.  I was amazed they would climb so high and jump so far down!  Now, the water is UP to the tree tops.  The house you see there...that is the second floor where it looks like the water level has risen to.



This is one of the pics with a man jumping out of the tree, but its not wide enough to show you a good comparison of the water level.


Most businesses are still open, but the food vendors that sell on the streetside are not doing  so well.  They usually shut down when it rains anyway, I think.

[Ginafish]

Did the water creep up slowly or was there a lot of rain all of a sudden? I hope the water is going to recede soon...

It must be nice to have the ac off for a bit. I hope you can continue to get out and about for meals and such.

[thartley]

I think maybe somewhere else got all the rain and it has run itself down to us, maybe (?).  Its rained longer and harder than this before, but the river wasnt as full at that time, either.

Laurie and I just went out for a bike ride to take a look around.  She went one way, I went a shortcut.     Our poor laundry lady's road got it pretty bad because she lives down a pretty low-lying road...the kind of road kids (and me) like to ride bikes down really fast.     Its still looking pretty rainy out, and we were getting sprinkled on when we came back, but it felt more like someone had a soft mist just constantly spraying in your face.

And yes, it is SUPER nice to have the a/c off!  I've been shutting it off everyday for a little while, in the mornings, and just enjoying the coolness outside.  But we usually have to shut it around 1:00 or 2:00 cuz that's when one of finally says "okay, its hot now" 

[KitKat]

Thanks for the weather update Terri.  I hope the water subsides very soon and everyone can get back to their normal lives.  I'm sure many will have their normal lives interrupted for a while.       I'm glad your road was clear so you and Laurie could get out for awhile. 

[thartley]

Thought I would post more pics of the flood form my balcony.  I will get street level pics tomorrow, though I THINK the levels are going down a bit now.

This first pic is the same basic shot as one of the first ones I posted, where you see the white clothesline rack and the porch.  Look at it now!  (and notice what was floating in the water)



(I think they are trying to net some crabs)


The dude in this shot is on crutches and all that water is getting all down in his cast!  YUCK!

[KitKat]

   People are so resilient there, they do what they have to do each day to survive.  They don't seem to feel sorry for themselves, but survive each day the best they can.  My heart really goes out for them.  I can't imagine walking in the muddy waters with all the snakes and creepy things, but they're not disturbed by it.  They seem prepared for hard times, when hard times come.   
I have a great respect for a culture willing and able  to handle misfortune with calm determination to survive whatever comes their way.

[Ginafish]

LoL! Yes! Terri spied the secret Isara man!

What I want to know, is do many families have tires and panels just waiting for the rainy season? And is this typical of this year? (the flooding, not the floating around)

[PK]

I've been here 5 years and have never seen it this bad before. They've had flooding but usually just a foot or so. This is waste deep in some places.

It just started raining real hard again a moment ago. Hope it stops soon.

[Ginafish]

I couldn't remember you, pk, ever pointing out flooding such as this, so I thought it might not be the norm. I hope it stops raining soon too.

[thartley]

I dont think I could bring myself to wade through the water, myself.  Of course, if I had to I would.  You do what you have to do, as Kitkat said.

And yes, it started raining with a vengeance a few moments ago.  I had my door still opened a crack when I heard the deluge begin.  There is a poor dog that has been howling and crying off and on all day, and we can hear that poor beast is just miserable.  I think in bad weather, the animals are used to taking cover under the houses and trees and such, but with everything so underwater, there is nowhere for them to go.   

[KitKat]

I also hope it stops raining very soon and the waters subside.  There'll be lots of clean up work to be done.   

[thartley]

Okay, I went out for a ride a little before 7:00am and got these photos.


This is the lot where kids usually play in the afternoons next to my building.


This is down Chaiyaporn facing Mee Chai down there at the end.  It is now barricaded off at my end, but people can still go around.  I think it is a precaution for cars and stuff.


Here is a side street on the way to MutMee.  You cant really tell in the pic, but the water out at the end is actually the river, I think.  Its right up to street level here.



And then here is MutMee...this is taken from the main road before the entrance.  As you can see, its flooded all the way back to the river down there.



So I cut through down Rim Kong Road to get to Mee Chai down by the hospital and this is what it looks like at that end.


Heading down past the ILC to Chaiyaporn again (but from the Mee Chai end this time), we have this.  Its as close as I could get.  Its crazy traffic right now.