Perseverance

In an earlier post, I talked about a group of policymakers we met with, who braved the floods and took a boat to keep their meeting with us... all the while, apologizing that they were 30 minutes late and wearing shorts - instead of their usual business formal attire!

Here are photos from their journey this past Wednesday to meet us:

The perseverance of the Thais that I've met is astounding. I'm used to New Yorkers complaining about the snow storms or Hyderabadis staying at home at any talk of another Telangana strike (which has been an almost daily occurrence for about two years now!) But here are people we have never met, who wade through water (literally) to keep their meeting with us. And then when we meet, they laugh at their experience -- wearing sun hats to keep out the rays, but always armed with a massive beach-sized umbrella (which can serve both as a tool to keep one dry, but also as a measuring stick to test out how deep the waters are before stepping).

Within the organization we met with, half of their staff (nearly 400) had already evacuated their homes from the floods, and are staying with relatives or in hotels. (In fact, many of the Thais staying at my hotel now are staying here due to the floods) The stadium a few blocks away is also filled with evacuees.

The government has imported canned food, bottled water, and eggs from Malaysia. The Thais I've met are confident that this situation will only make them stronger.

Yesterday was Loy Katrong Day, a festival to pay hommage to the goddess of rivers and waterways - which seems both appropriate and ironic. The usual tradition is to float thousands of katrongs (candles atop floating lotus leaves) in the river -- although this year, the government has urged Thais not to do this, for fear of blocking drainages or setting fires in homes (that's how high the rivers are!).

Instead, I watched fireworks going off outside my hotel window. Hopefully, things only get better from here.