Wolfgang wishes everybody a very Merry Christmas!!

Wolfgang loves crisps

AFTER (securing the last few crisps away from the crowd of kids)

BEFORE

Christmas Party @ Acacia nursery

Amid the chaos of lots of kids and parents and Santa, Wolfgang remained focussed on his target: a big plate of crisps...

Wolfgang and Ms Eugenia, the directrice of the school

Wolfgang & Ms Christine, his french speaking teacher

Wolfgang & Leah, his American teacher

Wolfgang sat very peacefully on Santa`s lap to Santa`s surprise who said "go ahead and take more pictures, this one`s not crying!!"

Sinterklaas in Bangkok

Some recent pictures, including from a weekend trip to Samet and of a kid's party at the Belgian Ambassador's Residence to welcome St-Nicholas (Sinterklaas), the Holy Man who traditionally brings gifts, on 6 December, to children who have been good the year before. As Wolf has been good, he received a gift and opened it with enthusiasm! We also attach a picture of an enormous moth sitting on our terrace on evening. Wolfgang was equally impressed and quickly remembered the word "moth".

Visit from India

We recently had a visit by Auntie Jean (sister of Nirmala's mother) and her husband Alfred from India. They toured the region and spent about a week in Thailand. Over the weekend, we went to Pattaya, where Wolfgang had a lot of fun in the hotel's pool.

Flood preparations and a video

Over in Thailand, the flood risk in central Bangkok is still far from over. See the previous posts for more details. The center is still dry as of the date of this post, but nobody knows for sure whether it will stay this way. As you can see from the pictures, several building owners (both houses and businesses) have taken precautions by building sandbag barriers or putting up plastic covered panels. Some shops have even built entrance-blocking stone walls to keep the water out! As of today, about 1/5th of Bangkok if flooded, mostly in the outer areas. In the meantime, Wolfgang is having fun in India, where he is staying dry with family

For those who are interested in the causes of this year's floods, check out this excellent video (Thai with English subtitles): http://youtu.be/9weFewxWc5U

Bangkok (still) on alert

And another flood update for our family and friends: the situation in Bangkok is and remains unclear. After the last high tide (weekend of 28 October), announcements were made that the worst had passed. But, as before, only one day later this optimism seemed misplaced as there are millions of cubic meters of water almost surrounding the capital and some of this was creeping in, flooding several districts. This water has to go somewhere, the sea (Gulf of Thailand) is the logical evacuation zone but Bangkok is in the way. Current estimates indicate it will take at least a month for all water to flow to the sea through the current channels (mostly rivers). Tom was in Europe last week but is back in Bangkok. Nirmala is in India right now with Wolfgang. In case you are wondering where our house is again: we live in the Sathorn district (city center), not yet affected. Updates to follow.

Thailand floods update

An update on the flood situation in Thailand: inner Bangkok is still dry but there is a high risk of flooding in the coming days, as the attached map from the Bangkok Post newspaper shows. 1/3 of Thailand is flooded right now.

Rainy season trip

It is still rainy season in Thailand, and it is in fact a very heavy rainy season (see also the post about floods), but the end is in sight. The upcoming "Loy Krathong" festival (see older posts) is often seen as the end of the rainy season and the beginning of the "cold" season.

We escaped to the island Koh Samet earlier this month and were lucky as it only rained during the night. Wolfgang enjoyed the sea and sand very much as you can see from the pictures.