From observing the media-both Thai and international-one might think that all of Thailand was an episode of "20,000 Leagues under the Sea." This certainly not the case. There has not been any significant rain in Chiang Mai since I took the photos in the previous blog entry. The current state of that intersection is shown on the left. We have blue skies, low humidity and cool (for Chiang Mai anyway) weather. Of course, there are areas in Thailand that have been under water for weeks but happily, those areas are shrinking.

This is not to say that Chiang Mai is completely uneffected by the floods. There have been significant disruptions in the supply chains here. The main roads and rail lines were closed and only recently re-opened. There are shortages of some goods. The photo on the right was taken at the Tesco Express near my house. And it seems like the large chains with centralized distribution systems are having more problems than the local stores. After I took the photo at Tesco, I went outside and there was a pickup in front of the locally owned mini-mart next door unloading cases of beer which is hard to find at the national chains.

I went to Bangkok earlier this week and there were no problems in the downtown areas of Sukhumvit and Silom where I went though there was a reduced selection of beers in the bars. The government continues to insist that Suvanabumi Airport is safe but their track record in this area has not been good. Even on Monday, they issued an urgent evacuation order for a downtown area only to retract it 3 hours later. If you are worried, there are direct flights to Chiang Mai from Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Taipei as well as Burma and Laos. There are also direct flights to Phuket with domestic services onward to Chiang Mai.

As always, you can click on the photos for a larger version.

After almost daily rains for the last six months, the additional rainfal from the remnants of 2 or 3 typhoons finally resulted in the Ping River overflowing its banks. As the Ping runs through the center of Chiang Mai, this flooded the major tourist district of Changklan Rd. and the famous Night Bazaar shopping street as well as many restaurants, bars, hotels, guest houses and shops. Many had to close for 3 days plus however long it took to clean up the mud and filth.

Since Chiang Mai has only limited municipal sewage treatment, most treatment is done in septic tanks. It doesn't take much imigination to figure out what happens to the contents of the tank when it is under a meter or more of water. Bacterial illnesses such as cholera and leptospirosis are a big problem. The Bangkok Bank has estimated that the floods resulted in 5 billion baht (US$165 million) in economic damage.

But Chiang Mai has been luckier than some other areas. The ancient capital of Ayutthaya has been extremely hard hit with most of the city under a meter or more of water. Many historical sites that are hundreds of years old have been severely damaged. Hospitals have been closed and the patients evacuated by helicopter because the roads are impassable. Both rail and road service going to north Chiang Mai has been seriously disrupted with both goods and people becoming stranded enroute. To date, there have been over 260 deaths nationwide attributed to the floods.

The photos show the intersection of Chnagklan and Loi Kroh Roads which is the center of the Night Bazaar (click on photos for a larger view).

Last year, one of our customers asked us to do some batik designs that that suggested the object rather than a realistic depiction. While nothing came of those designs, the other day I was watching a squirrel in the bamboo in my yard when I had a "Eureka" moment and thought of doing "Thai Animals in Bamboo." After all, Thailand is covered in bamboo and it is quite likely it is how you would see an animal here. Using the bamboo leaves gives the designs more texture and a 3-D look.

My choice of animals was rather arbitrary and was basically whatever animal poped into my mind as well as ones that would be attractive when rendered in batik.

From time to time, I see articles in Thai papers about Thai authorities seizing a shipment of pangolins destined for the kitchens of China. However, I didn't have a clue as to what a "pangolin" was. I found out that pangolins are very primitive animals similar to anteaters and amardillos. Like anteaters, they have very strong front claws for ripping open ant nests and termite mounds and have very long thin tongues. They are covered with thick scales and like armadillos, can roll up into a protective ball. The meat is considered a delicacy and the scales are believed to have anti-inflammatory properties. There is even an armored shirt made of pangolin scales that was presented to King George III.

Hornbills live deep in the Thai rain forest. Males & females mate for life. When the female is about to lay her eggs, she seals herself into the nest area of the tree with mud and then she and, after they hatch, the chicks are completely dependent on the male for food.

There are 13 varieties of hornbill in Thailand and all are endangered to some extent. This is due to loss of habitat and poaching to sell as pets. A foundation has been set up to hire the (former) poachers as caretakers and researchers of the hornbills. If you would like to contribute to the preservation of this magnificent bird, you can adapt a bird through the Hornbill Research Foundation at Hornbill Research Foundatiom.

The Siamese crocidile lives in fresh water and feeds mainly on fish and snakes. There is no recorded instance of an attack on humans. In 1992, it was considered extinct but small pockets have been found and they are now thought to number about 250 in the wild. They are also bred in captivity though these crocs are quite often hybrids. In the past, it was mainly poaching that threatened them but now it is loss of habitat, particularly dam projects.

We have a total of 10 designs in this card series. Please click here to see them all. Remember you will need a User Name and password to view the Catalog section.

On 30 January, one of the most revered monks in Thailand, Luangta Maha Bua Yannasampanno , passed away at the age of 97. He will be cremated today in his hometown of Udon Thani in northeast Thailand. Over a million people are expected to attend his cremation ceremony which will be overseen by Her Majesty, the Queen.
He was a reknown Buddhist scholar and became a subject of media attention after the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis when he collected donations of gold and cash to donate to the Bank of Thailand to help his country weather the crisis. As of 9 January of this year, he had handed over donations totalling over 15 tons of gold and cash equivelent to US$10.2 million. Since his death, a further 73 kilograms of gold and US$9.7 million has been donated in his name.

We all like to save boxes for that last minute gift wrapping but what do you do with them all? These boxes do the trick by folding flat while you're waiting to use them. In addition, you are not paying to ship air-which is among the most polluted in Thailand-from Chiang Mai and they save on valuable space in your shop. They assemble quickly and easily with lock tabs and double sided tape on one side and interlocking leaves on the bottom. We offer a wide selection of flat fold boxes to choose from.
Please go the "Bags" section of our catalog to see this new product.

Sending small orders and samples through the post has generally been a nerve racking experience as I never knew where the carton was and I'd be getting messages asking for a status report and I was not able to say anything. However, recently, Thai Post has implemented a web based tracking system so we have now started a service not very originally called "One Carton Specials" for a limited number of products that fit a reasonable number of pieces in one carton. These will be offered at a lump sum price that includes the product and postage (but does not include any duties and taxes your customs dept. might charge).
Please go the "One Carton Specials" section of our catalog to learnmore about this new service.