As floodwaters rise in and around Bangkok, the residents of flood-damaged central Thailand have demonstrated innovative – and often humorous – creativity in constructing vehicles for flood transportation.
The designs are geared more towards function than beauty, and there seems to be an unspoken consensus that size trumps speed. It’s good if you can fit yourself and a partner on your boat, but even better if you can fit your entire family, your dog, your cat, and maybe a couple of friends. What’s the point in speed, anyway? There’s no place to go.
To our surprise, there’s a lot of information and instructions on the net available for amateur boat makers. Materials vary: you can use wood and PCV pipes, like the craft featured above, or you can use water bottles, Styrofoam, or even a combination of sealed jugs and plastic tubs. Means of propelling your boat around are equally diverse. Trashcan lids, long sticks, and large woks make good makeshift oars; if that fails, you can always hop into the water and drag your boatful of loved ones behind you (a method that we’ve seen a lot of in the news, but aren’t anxious to emulate). Whether there’s a flood headed your way or not, take comfort that whenever Mother Mature does strike, you’ll be prepared to sail the stormy (or disease-ridden, in our case) seas.
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