The flood journal

It all began in that afternoon, a few days after the closure of our school, that my father told us a bad news. Dirty water slowly rose from underground in Ban Bua Thong, the industrial park of Bangkok and where his factory is in. At that time, I think nonchalantly that the water will subside in a short moment for flood is a rather mild natural disaster. However, It is obvious now that my guess was wrong.

Among only a few days, the floodwater in Ban Bua Thong increased to the level of the knees, and more water kept flowing into the Industrial park. At this rapid rate, floodwater will enter the factory in anytime and damage the expensive machines. The situation got more severe. In those days, my father went to his factory in early morning, and returned at late night. Then, with an anxious brain full of worry and complex thoughts, he watched updated news while talking to clerks in phones and managed the flood prevention works, mainly on protection of the machines. I know it took my father more than twenty years of efforts to establish his company and factory, and it must be very stressful for him, so I tried my best to be a good girl and help on family chores. Soon, my father brought a boat, for the floodwater inclined to a dangerous level up to one meter—and then to over two meters. Dirty water entered the factory and already damaged many small machines, as well as swallowed up our products. The goal became to protect the two huge blow-molding machines, for they’re the most valuable things in the whole factory. To help process the work, my father brought two more big boats. Many stores and shops were running out of water and food, so my mother and me went to a shop where things are more expensive to buy things. We brought at less 30 packages of instant noodles and over 20 boxes of biscuits for the workers trapped in Ban Bua Thong. Meanwhile, My cousin’s family, who worked and lived in Ban Bua Thong could not stay there anymore. My cousin stayed to manage the work, and my cousin-in-law and one-year old niece evacuated to live with us in Minburi.

 Even though we insisted to stay and help, my father and cousin repeated persistently that we should evacuate. In October 27, my mum, brother, cousin-in-law, little niece and me packed up and descended the airplane fly to China. In Shenzhen, where I lived, I had a lot of difficulties to do my homework. My Mac had problems access to the Internet, so I have to use the PC in my house. Blogger, Facebook and Youtube are banned in China, so I missed a lot of homework that I will have to make up in a short time now. Compare to my father’s problems, the inconveniences are small trivia, so I learned to get used to problems in life better. In November 5, my father returned to do business in China, but two days later, we received the news that school will reopen in the 10^th, so we returned to Thailand in a rush. For almost the first time in my life, I longed for school so much, and I learned that education is so important to us that I can become something we want. My father returned with us before he was done with any business, because he was worried about us in the current situation, and I was really grateful to him, my papa.

When we drive on the path leading toward our house, our car is swimming in floodwater up to ankles. Since I never experience this, I was a little scared, but my father was used to more severe situation in Ban Bua Thong, so he was calm and slowly drive through the dirty water. When we returned to our house, I gasped for I see nothing but stacks of mess. It doesn’t look like a home but a blank shack. The bed is at one side of the living room. The dining table, piano, tables and other smaller objects are stacking on the hard bed. Fortunately, the items on second floor were not being stack up by my father and the workers before he left, so we can still live in Minburi, even though there are convenience when eating (we cannot use our dining table), we are still fortunate because the water doesn’t enter our house for now, and I hope it will never do in the future.

Reading the story above, you might think that flood only cause us troubles. Still, everything has its advantages and disadvantages, with an optimistic attitude; you can always see the good side even though it is an unwelcoming natural disaster. The flood brought up many rare fish from deep river water that usually cannot be seen in any markets. During the flood, my father brought a Mekong giant catfish up to 1 meter long and about 20 kilograms. That night, everyone get to eat the delicious wild fish. That is a sweet happiness in this severe situation, but without the flood, we can never enjoy the fresh fleshes. Yesterday was the Loi Krathong festival. Most people are worrying about the water and forget the celebration, but still, some optimistic folks are celebrating with fireworks, Krathong and lanterns. I believe even in this situation, people still have their hopes and wishes, and the silent Loi Krathong festival is prove. Yesterday we drove around Minburi, and saw the water was slowly ebbing away. I believe the flood will end, the water in Ban Bua Thong will decline and be gone, school will resume, and everything will turn out all right.