Ganoksin offices are heavily flooded, Please read through our daily journal presented below, which describes our daily struggle with the crisis and how YOU can help our Orchid community to survive it!

Floods Daily Journal

Floods Update - Sunday Evening - 28th Day of floods

As the floods snake through neighborhoods, swallowing streets and houses, we watch out for crocodiles and other spitting serpents. Usually, green vipers and king cobras are plentiful around here. But we fear the dozen African green mambas that according to the news are happily on the loose. Alongside them are thousand, some say, hungry crocks that would probably swallow a chicken or a dog before turning into a lady's purse.

Other visitors from animal plant to our flooded home include a medium dog size komodo lizard that was trying hard to steal our neighbor's parrots, Yellow eyed fresh water turtles that hopefully carried the blessing of longevity, a range of fishes that would not shame a busy Hong-Kong seafood restaurant, and so many beautiful birds with melodic sounds that are much better to listen to than the clatters of obnoxious kids playing outside.

The government says we should to get used to living with the floods, they surely give us the time to.

November 12 at 7:40pm
Floods Update - Saturday Evening

After three days of stagnation the flood water levels are raising again.
This is way more effective than Chinese water torture, in which water is slowly dripped onto one's forehead. We just wasted half a week watching the noble waters not going anywhere and now they are on the rise again.

Waters are all around the house, in a mutual effort we are fighting together mold that showed up in the reclaimed territories of the house. Our maid, Ploy, was blessed with an anal personality and severe cleanliness neurosis. She is recruiting all weapons of the trade and doing an amazing job controlling the infestation.

We are fortunate to have a very airy and ventilated space, and we are very optimistic that together we will manage to overcome it.

November 9 at 9:07pm
Floods update – Wednesday Evening

We are waiting for the water to recede. We believe that they regress mostly overnight and not so much during the days, a baseless belief of course.

So we wake up every morning to the official "daily spot"; a level which already lost 50cm since its peek two weeks ago. Nevertheless, we still border an annoying hip deep water level in front of the house, and facing yet another month of mind-numbing house arrest.

It was both exciting and terrifying to watch the flood waters rising, and its tiring and unexciting waiting for them to withdraw.

It's not that waiting by itself is boring, and not even every waiting is necessarily boring, our waiting is suspense in slow motion.

November 8 at 8:23pm
Floods update – Tuesday Evening

For the first time since the watery siege began, yesterday, we left our home in the middle of the pond.

We sailed 2 nautical miles to nearest high bridge which, overnight, turned into a floating refugee camp; a camp that some 50 families are now calling home. They set up tents on the hot asphalt between the parking cars, and passing their time selling basic ingredients like rice, eggs and cooking oil.

The other side of the bridge breaks quickly into an unmade port along the flooded streets within sight.

We were traveling unknown routes along familiar streets. We were among the first to visit new settlements in our own town and to experience ways of life never reported before. For one day we were two anonymous conquistadors exploring the wide waters surrounding us.

November 6 at 8:17pm
Floods update – Sunday Evening

Yesterday was an important milestone in the flood saga. We won back our first floor.

When the sun settled high at her noontime location, the water parked slightly lower than the first floor level. From the house it looked like high class infinity pool; the filthy covered tiles of our first floor continued and merged with the flood waters to one horizon. It was the right moment to strike our own private D-day, and to defeat the waters in their own game; being higher wins.

It was also a golden opportunity for us to deport back to the pond the newly developed toads that were already practicing their long jumps on the slippery floors of our occupied territories.

Equipped with an amateur water jet, brushes and some basic detergent we attacked the gooey mud and rotten leaves, we pushed the uninvited jumpers outside, and after a long afternoon we finally won back our first floor and could see again our own reflections in the shiny tiles.

Last night I had a dream in vivid colors of asphalt and tar. I was standing with a powerful high pressure water jet cleaner in the middle of my rotten garden peeling off the dirt and restoring its beauty.

Tomorrow I am getting myself one before all my other flood victims' brothers would dream the same.

November 5 at 10:35am
Floods update - Saturday morning

Strangely enough we are already filled with nostalgia for the early days, when the waters just showed up here. Arriving quietly and relatively in a transparent state, like a clear broth floating with soft noodles made of zillion of dead swollen earth worms. Now, 19 days later, the great deal of organic matter that is rotting underwater is leaving blackish, slippery sludge on everything that is still covered.

Our boat and floors look like a yummy Marmite on toast spread.

The "Loy Krathong" festival is approaching, in which Thai people floats lotus-shaped vessels by the silvery light of a full moon night.

The Krathongs are made of banana leaves and are decorated with flowers, candles and coins.

This year we are very lucky, we can float our own 'Krathong' directly from our door steps without the need to compete for a premier water front sitting in a fully booked restaurant.

November 4 at 7:12pm
Floods Update - Friday Evening

I am keeping it short today; I have prepared a video animation from satellite images showing our location on the map and the advance of the titanic body of water toward the sea. (Reads: over our heads). The animation starts on October 3rd 2011 and ends November 2nd 2011. You will quickly see from this clip that in the three weeks we are flooded the waters are still very early in their journey. We are going to stay wet for quite some time more, it may be a month two months more, who knows... I will keep sending updates and I promise to start writing a cookbook titled "50 recipes for 2 heads of cabbage, a guide to survival in your own home island"

November 2 at 7:50pm
Floods update – Wednesday Evening

Thai news reporters are in a race to be ahead of the flooding waters. They film day after day how the waters start bubbling up from the street drainage grates and how whole communities are fleeing to higher grounds.

They show poor drivers trying to sail their cars to shore.

They like to show a big wet mess.

We wonder why no one comes to report how we, the three weeks old floods veterans live. Like a surfing sport event, the camera follows only the surfer cropping the frame on the edge where the waters turn into diamonds, they never show you the big sea behind.

Flooding is not a tsunami, Lucky you, you know ahead of time the waters are coming, you still have time to prepare, to minimize the damages as much as possible, and yet, every day on TV they shows us how people and government are caught by surprise. Breathless they tell over and over again the same, same, different story.

No one come to interview us, those who wake up in the morning to a pastoral view of a street turned into a canal, No one come to see how I sprout my own bean sprouts and fry them with fish sauce for dinner.

We have no postal service, no garbage collection, no visitors and we make no headlines, but we do enjoy the small things of life and the big nature that came to visit.

A guest we might even someday miss.

November 1 at 6:54pm
Floods update – Tuesday Evening

It is now the third week since we evacuated our ground floor and moved to live upstairs in the second floor.

Splashing and scary images of flood waters shown on the television sent many Thais for an extended holiday upcountry. The water fear filled evacuees carry with them not only their belongings but also a bulimia for basic ingredients. They crash on every market and department store found on their way clearing the shelves like a hungry swarm of locusts.

Our next door neighbor evacuated couple of days ago, and left with her husband to dry land. She replaced her expensive European made car with a black laundry plastic tub. She took her valuables in a brown LV bag, and paddled away to the horizons until I could not distinguish anymore between the sparkles of her diamond jewelry and the sun glitter on the flood waters waves. She left behind her countless birds and parrots for us to look after and promised to often visit us in our pond with fresh ingredients.

She is sweet.

Our regular motorcycle taxi driver, whom in dry days handles all our deliveries moved to live on a bamboo raft anchored to a telephone pole. She piled up her modest possessions and up a tent from found objects to get some refuge from the unforgiving sun.

Thai people from the lower Jao Praya river basin are evacuating to higher grounds. It will be at least another month before the dispatched could return home and we to start dry up things.

In the picture: K. Somai, our delivery woman in her temporary floating tent.

October 29 at :7:19pm
Floods update – Sunday evening

Over the last couple of days the waters recede in about 3 inches. We could see it from the dirt line left on the fences when boating around the abandoned houses in the neighborhood. It also corresponded perfectly to the lines we draw on the wall to mark the water levels within the house. We were happy even though that at this withdrawal rate it would take until mid-December before we would see land again.

But our joy was short lived, in the evening news today they pointed to a huge mass of waters coming our way, according to the latest satellite image the amount of waters we had so far is only the appetizer of what is flowing our way.

"Where are the frickin waters?" asked me a friend over the phone. "I don't mind being flooded, but I can't stand the wait" he added. "I can't sleep, I can't work, I can't go anywhere, and all I do all day is waiting for the waters to arrive".

There is nothing he can do about it.

Our living room waters are full of tadpoles. I know we are heading straight into managing a full blown nocturnal orchestra and there is nothing I can do about that also.

We both have to wait for our fate. A Fate written in water

In the picture: A flooded street nearby

October 29 at :4:45pm
Floods update – Saturday Afternoon

Earlier in the floods ordeal we lost our main internet connection.

As soon as the 17MB/sec connection service began transmitting bubbles instead of megabits we switched to our backup connection. I admit, it was really foolish of me to mention over dinner yesterday, that I am surprised the backup line is still up, with all the water around and so. I knew immediately as I spoke that I was calling upon the evil eye demons.

This morning the line went blank. No internet connection, not even bubbles. Even the rarely used 3G air card which was our third tier backup failed. Shoot.

We had to get a new 3G Air card and a bunch of new sim, preferably from all the current providers in town in order to be back in business.

Ton volunteered for the expedition. He traveled downtown by boat, foot, motorcycles, army trucks and taxis, He purchased the hardware, and got some BBQed pork sticks along with sticky rice for dinner and of course a free sun burn. We are now again online, connected directly through our veins.

(In the picture: A scene from the route to the IT mall)

October 28 at ::7:47pm
Floods update Day 13th – Friday Evening.

This is the second day that the floods are cutting deeper and deeper through Bangkok. Bangkok is swamped with pure chaos, confusion and fear, scene so well captured by Gustave Dor's painting "The Deluge".

When the floods are soaking wet the bankers' suits of and their secretaries' skirts, they realize that floods are not only problems of uneducated farmers and water buffaloes, but a national crisis that we all should have a long term solutions for. Rumors of dangerous animals that escaped from zoos and farms across flooded area are now finally making the international news headlines.

GREAT! Now at last we can have some international news coverage. Crocodiles in the city are good seller headline not less than the story about the famous bimbo with the silicon breasts who got arrested on DUI.

Meanwhile, we wait in anticipation for the water to break all barriers and m their final destination; the sea. Then we, who are still neck deep flooded, might get some break.

October 27 at 7:47am
Floods update – Thursday morning

In non-ceremonial event, we received late yesterday afternoon a government emergency relief bag. It arrived by boat. With no handshaking, flashes, no smiles to the cameras and no fat self-content politicians. It was a simple survival kit, made with thought, love and care, containing 5 kg of rice, one bottle of fish sauce, half-dozen canned mackerels, 6 small chili relish servings and brand-less soap, toothpaste and toothbrush. They also did not forget to toss inside some mosquito repellent.

So cool!

Later, I sailed away from my living room pier to find a mango tree in distant neighbors' gardens. I dreamed to find a tree so heavily laden with fruits that I wouldn't be able carry them all back on my boat, but all I truly hoped was to find a single mango hanging exactly at my hand reach, and I did!

I'm just your 50-year old urban gatherer on a quest for a spicy mango salad.

October 26 at 12:07pm
Floods Update – Wednesday morning

We are gradually settling into the routine of life in isolation. The house windows that just a week ago greeted our lush garden in are now a uniform greenish water panorama, to which the TV set oddly adds aquatic clips from the floods front line.

The water levels are now such that it is inconvenient to embark our boat from the front door (Pier Tua Lek). They are knee deep there. The boat is now parked at the hall that leads to the dining room. The last dry grounds left at the first floor.

We now can sail from the inside of house to the black waters pond, the home to a myriad of both life, and after life creatures.

October 24 at 8:34am
Floods update: Tuesday morning

Our neighborhood is becoming a forgotten island. As the floods continue toward the city center, the flocks of media and life vest equipped reporters keep chasing the water front and are bravely standing in an ankle deep waters on the floods shore. We, in our personal owned Alcatraz are yesterday's news. TV channels bring experts with inconvincible tone who bet on the next turn the floods would take. Fashionable Bangkokians are ordering metrosexual cup of Arabica latte art or designer of espresso coffee, as the less fortunate struggle to save their modest belongings. I bet they would be submerged before the formers finished their drink.

Our neighborhood is isolated and difficult to reach. We had no contact with the outside world for almost a week now. We still have enough food and water to continue the involuntary house arrest for couple more weeks. There is something very surrealistic in the situation we got caught in, in the cage made of water.

October 24 at 7:59am
Floods update, Monday morning.

The first thing that I did this morning was to check if we still have electricity and running water. Both are fine at the moment! The floods water in the first floor acts as an indoor natural air-condition, we only hope that clouds won't form on the ceilings. In the 12 days that we have been dealing with the floods issue, I am transforming from a spoiled foodie to a savage islander. I am losing weight, my muscles are getting toned, I wear a club-med sun tan on my face and I might answer you the phone with Tarzan's ululating yell if you would call me.

October 23 at 7:02pm
Floods update

The waters now are almost 2 meters deep around the house. I am sorry to report that we are losing the fight to save the kitchen, like newton that had to get hit by an apple on his head to understand the law of gravity, i am getting it in my face - water mechanics for dummies - waters are oozing through the floor tiles gout lines. Of course moron me, the kitchen is below the water level…. should let it sink like a treasure ship, or should i wear the captain hat and be the last who dessert my kitchen?

October 23 at 1:38pm
Floods update

Floods Update, Sunday Afternoon: street water level in front of the house is now marked at
@1.75 meter. It is fully satisfies my "water park biz" entrepreneuring urges. This is almost the top we can absorb without dire consonances. Now speaking on consonances I think we, humans, should be held responsible for all this mess beside mama nature...

October 23 at 10:08am
Floods Update, Sunday Morning:

Electricity was cut off this morning, the pumps went silent, water levels in the pantry rose swiftly, and the war to save the kitchen was almost lost. Ton suggested that we should use buckets to bailout our sinking kitchen, and rush to grab the nearest one. I was on the phone trying to reach out to the authorities. Just before I could yell names at the busy tone I got, electricity was on again. What a relief! We just realized that 10 minutes of electricity cut separates us from the scene "To kitchen or not to kitchen".

Ploy our maid, who never appeared in any "Survival" episode, made it to the outsides of her third floor apartment through a 2.5 meters water filled lobby, Like Gene Hackman at the movie "The Poseidon Adventure".

Once she reached outside she still had to struggle through 2 meters deep waters, and when the viewers almost believed she failed the task, she managed to climb into a boat and sailed all the way here to check on us.

When the crisis is over, I am going to give her in an homemade ceremony the "The best Maid Bangpoon" star award

October 23 at 7:23pm
Floods Update, Saturday evening:

Water levels are rising fast. Our daily routine starts by assessing the night damages and determining what to fight and what to sacrifice. Today we concentrated on saving the kitchen. Water entered the back pantry despite bricks barrier we placed earlier last week. It shamefully failed to protect the service quarters because of hidden cracks the water could found without a tour guide. We carried with our boat sunken sand bags, placed them on the cracks to slow the water inflow, than relocated the water pumps and by midday we managed somehow to control the leakage, and lower the water level in the pantry in 10 cm. The kitchen was saved, at least for now. They do tell us in the news that a nastier body of water is heading our way in couple of days…. We play. We mark lines on the wall and bet to see who's prediction was the closest….

The floods are getting really deep, river fishes and our neighbors' beautiful koys (Japanese carps) are elegantly swim in their newly discovered territories; our parking and garden. A face to face encounter with a giant cat fish squeezed from me a high toned scream that alarmed no one.

The front door is now our marina; we named the pier "Ta Naam Tua Lek", after our hero dog. Afternoon boating is a good exercise and completes the regime of the morning sand bags lifting.

In our 200 houses community only 10 are still inhibited. It is a sunken ghost town. I imagine what it would take to restore it to what it used to be just a week ago, and envy those who are in the construction business. A huge body of cash is heading their way.

We rely on stored dry food, and what we are sharing with our neighbors. In a sense I feel lucky to have to go through all this hardship, it's a life time experience in which one can measures his mental building blocks. There is also something very poetic about it, beauty is all around us, even when it's painful.

October 22 at 7:18am
Floods update

Floods update, Saturday morning. The waiting is over. The water did not spare our interiors. I was hoping that the energy of our determination to keep the house dry, would somehow find its way up there and the water would draw or at least settle at a mutual agreed status quo line. We lit incense from mythological fish statues, which were smoking out the fragrant smoke through their mouths, another way to please the spirits of the land. The holiness does stop here my friends; the flooded home appears strangely familiar. Evoking deja vu of hollow architecture - is it the biblical water pools I remember from The city of Beit Lechem or lost the Persian gardens I dreamed on? Walls surround a yard in the middle of which nature imposes herself on man's handiwork

October 21 at 9:50am
Floods update

Floods update, Friday morning. we retired to bed quite late and very exhausted. so exhausted i couldn't find the words to compose a simple sentence. a full blown flood dyslexia. We surrendered the first floor completely. disconnected the electricity system, and phone lines and set up for a long camping upstairs. --- this morning is very quite. the water only concord the wooden decks, and are still hesitating in entering the front door. it is very quite, the sounds of city and the yelling of distressed neighbors are now gone, the big silence is now made of the sound of bugs, frogs and birds. we are in a middle of a big pond. Its hard to believe that just few kilometers away, on the other side of the 'war zone' life is as usual.

I walk around the house watching the flooded lushes yard. what a great opportunity for an amateur garden designer to see a real life demo on where exactly to place the water element in the garden for the perfect harmonious location. it's hard to imagine but it does look quite beautiful, except for the awful smell of sewer, we must to get used to it, because we are located just at the southern border of the mass of body traveling to the sea, the rest of the 13,000 BILLION cubic meters of water should pass at least partly over our heads. If all would go well, we are looking at 2 more months before we can start dry things out.... i feeling quite relaxed today, we did all we can and now we have to get used to live like this, just for a while. our greatest fear is that they will cut electricity, tap waters and internet from our area, and our greatest joy is to find out among our friends the precious souls who do care and help. that is for me way more emotional than soaked sofa......

October 20 at 1:28pm
Floods update

O our neighbors are already deep under water, washed of most of their life possessions.. a meter deep in good cases in most of the houses around. security caught looters last night, they are made of pixels of anarchy. our neighborhood is cut off the supply routes for food and drinking water. we relay on friends from the outside who make it halfway to send supplies. luckily we lost only the parking lot and garden. surprisingly the plants look amazing surrounded by water...in few days when their roots will rotten, i will definitely add a drop of tear or two to the pool of water that surrounds me. we TRY to be optimistic. the water is only kissing the edge of the home entrance. would it regret and go back home? or would it invite itself as an unwanted guest? we are prepared for at least two months of camping within our own home, a trip we would never forget nor recommend to anyone. please keep the comments coming in, it give me both slimes and tears. hanuman

October 19 at 10:55pm
Floods update

Floods update. A TV announcement tells us to expect an extra 50-1meter rise by tomorrow. That will officially make me a dolphin

October 19 at 8:44am
Flood update: Wednesday morning.

... water are raising faster today, garbage bags float and start to smell, walking to the neighborhood gate is getting harder and quite riskier, the water are getting deeper. i cant stop thinking of of health hazards i cant see and try to avoid the snakes, centipedes and other venomous creatures who are trying to escape the water just as we are. The one paddle boat is harder to master than i thought, it seems to have its own mind, turning around instead of going straight.... the first floor is mostly empty now, a truck came yesterday (just in time) and carried away the furniture. we still have many details to try and save to reduce the damage, today i will move up some of the rare plants from the garden to the second floor veranda.

This image shows a satellite view of the floods currently devastating the Thai kingdom. You can see two bodies of water marked in blue just north of Bangkok. 13,000 BILLION Cubic meters of polluted water are making their way to the Gulf of Thailand.

Ganoksin offices are unfortunate to be on flood's path. We Need Your Support

Thailand is currently facing its worst flooding in 50 years. Floodwaters have swamped more than two-thirds of the country, submerging complete towns. Hundreds of lives have been tragically lost. Rice fields and businesses of millions of families have been severely impacted.

We Need Your Support!

At this moment, our offices are completely inundated. We are very much isolated, surrounded by a swamp wide as far as the eye can see. Our only links to the world are email and phone.

At this unfortunate moment, your help is crucial. It is truly needed deeply appreciated.

We have extended the rules for participation in the amazing Rio Grande $10,000 Gift Certificate Prizes Giveaway. For every 35$ you donate to Ganoksin we are offering ONE (1) entry in the Rio Grande $10,000 Gift Certificate Prizes Giveaway.

Help us to keep the long service to our community!

Click on http://www.ganoksin.com/donate .

Alternatively, you can purchase any one of our eBooks and participate in the Rio Grande $10,000 Gift Certificate Prizes Giveaway by clicking on http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/1c8

Yours Truly,
Hanuman and Ton.

Rio Grande is giving away $10,000 worth of gift certificate prizes towards an exciting SHOPPING SPREE throughout their extensive tools & supplies catalogue!

4 lucky winners will share a grand prize pack valued at $ 10,000 to purchase products sold online at Rio Grande

First prize: $ 5,000 Rio Grande gift certificate
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To enter for the grand prize drawing all you have to do is

1. purchase purchase eBooks from the Ganoksin project website at http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/1c8
Each 35$ you spend on eBook downloads through the Ganoksin project website entitles you for ONE entry in our random door prize draw of 10,000 $ Gift certificates from Rio Grande.

2. Donate to the Ganoksin project - For every 35$ you donate to Ganoksin we are offering one entry in the Rio Grande $10,000 Gift Certificate Prizes Giveaway.

We are giving away special prizes to customers purchasing eBooks. !!

The Grand Prize winners will be drawn on April 15, 2012

Participation is open worldwide!

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We Need Your Support!

Ganoksin office and home in Thailand are flooded. They need your help !
Posted by Brigitte Martin

When disaster strikes one of our instant urges is to want to do something, to help that person in need in a meaningful way. Get help straight to them without bureaucracy taking half of it away.

Right now, I am thinking of Ganoksin and Hanuman Aspler in Thailand who are surrounded by flood waters. Two-thirds of Thailand is surrounded by water, lives have been lost and the home and office of Ganoksin are flooded.

Hanuman still updates his FB page when electricity permits, so to give you an idea of what he is going through right now, these are his latest updates and some photos:

What can you do to help? Hanuman is in urgent need of donations. If you are a jeweler or just someone who wants to help Ganoksin please take a few minutes and visit his website to make a donation or purchase on of his e-books:

http://www.ganoksin.com/donate/

http://www.ganoksin.com/listing/ecom-catshow/eBooks-pdf.html

Ganoksin's Orchid Digest has helped many artists so many times, now is your time to help them. Every donation counts!

The floods will eventually recede and lives need to be picked up. This is something you and I can do to help. This help goes to him directly. Please show him your support in this terrible situation, make a donation. Make it count. There are no medals and public praises to be won here, this is what Hanuman needs from us. Just do it.

He is a craftsman, just like you.

Thank you.
Brigitte/crafthaus