Thailand: Third World and Proud of It

another great one from The Nation Web

Author: Wake-up call
Date: 28 Feb 2549 08:17

...

In my neighbourhood, all the houses have septic tanks to collect effluence. When the tank gets full a truck comes along, collects it and dumps all that raw sewerage into the river. Well, the truck did not pay its kickback to the police and was no longer allowed to dump into the river. Our neighbourhood had full septic tanks for 6 MONTHS before the truck had found another place to dump into the river.

My household has been without water for three days now. We are unable to cook, wash or clean because the big mega project you talk about of fixing the water lines was UNABLE TO ADVISE houses in my area of a water shortage before they went ahead and started to 'fix' the problem. [ed. thankfully never had it this bad but announced utility work resulting in power and water outages of up to a full day have happened 2-3 times a year in every Bangkok neighborhood I've lived in]

Bangkok is full of raw sewerage being pumped straight into the klongs and stagnant water not moving regardless of these magnificent pumps. And to make matters worse you have all the food vendors just pouring hot oil straight into the drain at the end of the day (well, week). [ed. totally true, and one of the things that makes me shake my head in disbelief when Thais try to claim first or even second world status for Bangkok]

Bangkok could have all the infrastructure in the world but it will not improve until an attitude in Thai people changes. It's like watching a baby play with a calculator, he doesn't know what to do with the technology, but at least if he mashes the buttons and makes it look like he can use it he won't lose face and might have some sanook. [ed. oh I really like this one!]