Bangkok will be the Venice of the East again
It seems like Bangkok in this one rainy season reclaims the title “Venice of the East”. It is again a city with many canals and canals, which can be admired in full glory, especially later in the afternoon and evening, decorated with bright silvery and red lights.
Bangkok and the surrounding urban area are home to 14 million people, or 22,2% of the total Thai population. Thailand is a country of car enthusiasts, with 6,8 million vehicles registered in Bangkok alone and an average of 1225 new cars added every day. However, the total length of the road network remains constant at 4149 kilometers.
A large part of all these cars participate daily in the beautiful play of light that occurs after the rain and that turns the roads into channels. That show can last many hours.
Meditation
Out of sheer necessity, many residents have mastered the art of meditation, so that the many hours in the car are made somewhat productive. Those who do not (yet) understand this art, are busy with all kinds of things via their mobile phones, iPads, etc., although that too is often limited by all the concrete around them. This in turn is due to our “older” generation of the mobile communication network, while most neighboring countries have already opted for the more forward-looking generation.
Many children in Bangkok grow up in traffic jams that last for hours. They eat, drink, do homework or are just playing or messing around in the small space in which they are confined. Who said a village is the best place to start a family? In Bangkok we have to make do with a universe of a few square meters.
Drainage
This city is equipped with gigantic drainage tunnels, or rather tunnels, because drainage never ends up much. The tunnels represent a fine example of our civil engineering ingenuity. The last known about those tunnels is that they are still awaiting the water from the canals surrounding the city. As soon as the possibility arises that the water also reaches those tunnels, they can resume their original function as drainage tunnels. All these tunnels are a farce and the taxpayer is the victim.
On the other hand, residents in many parts and neighborhoods of the city are building their own dikes, laying ditches, sewers and trenches and erecting other barricades to keep the water from the surrounding canals that would otherwise end up in their living rooms or even bedrooms. It is not all based on a coordinated plan or implementation, it all fits in with our traditional ethos: drawing your own plan is typically Thai and vice versa, as a Thai you do what suits you best.
It is believed that the sandbags, sand and debris from the barricades in last year's floods all ended up in the city's sewers. Prisoners have now been deployed as the saviors of the sewer system, but – as crazy as that sounds – there are not enough people in prisons to clean the entire sewer system of Bangkok in a short time. However, the rain gods don't care.
Rama I
Back in 1782, when King Rama I moved the capital to Bangkok, it was a small trading post in a swampy area at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River. The construction of an intricate network of waterways - which was carried out during the reign of kings Rama I to Rama V - was to turn the area into a fertile agricultural land and the waterway network served as the main means of transport. At that time Bangkok was called the “Venice of the East”, the canals were dug with a clear purpose. You could say that people did urban planning at the time, a term that we have not known for a long time.
The modernization of the country necessitated road construction and gradually many canals were filled in and paved. In the early days of this modernization, this was done with a clear vision and planning. Just look at Rajadamneon Avenue, which was built during the reign of King Rama V and you can clearly see the foresight of our forefathers.
Unfortunately, our modernization, which accelerated from 1960, has meant that proper urban zoning and design has been completely ignored. The city grew and grows impetuously, both horizontally and vertically.
The fundamental incoherence of our urban growth, corruption and individual greed are at the root of the current gridlock in everyday car traffic. Despite this, the city continues to thrive, giving new meaning to the term “constructive chaos”.
Rain
If Bangkok then turns into a city ruled by car traffic without an urban planning vision, citizens will have to resort to improvised measures to cope with a phenomenon such as rain. After a downpour, roads turn back into canals, and although we are generally very resourceful, we haven't yet found a way to turn cars into boats or gondolas. It seems to be getting worse and apparently the city officials are embracing a Buddhist concept of “tathata”, that's just how it is.
Since the glorious days of the “Venice of the East”, Bangkok has come a miserably long way to be gruesomely reincarnated as a city of canals. The continued disruption and short-sightedness of all parties at the national, local and individual level have contributed negatively to our productivity. Don't forget that Bangkok represents 44% of the gross domestic product.
The ceremonial name of Bangkok - Krung Thep Maha Nakorn, meaning City of Angels - is very prophetic. It is becoming increasingly uninhabitable for mere mortals, because we are not equipped with wings to fly through the city and avoid the flooding. We also do not have the option to place our houses on a higher level as soon as the water rises.
If our governments – in their usual incoherent manner – are still unable to take effective action against flooding, we will have to live with “that's the way it is” in order not to lose our minds.
Adapted from a commentary by Pornpimol Kanchanalak, in The Nation, September 29, 2012.
we haven't found a way to turn cars into boats or gondolas yet.
The Bankokians think differently about that, they put a long pipe on the exhaust of the pickup truck and simply drive through the water. Motorbikes can do that too, maybe Honda should release a special water motorbike and car for Thailand.
With the skytrain we can easily fly over the water, which is not bothered by it, but you have to get to the skytrain first. For the metro it seems less nice that high water.