Mol Plungjamras, 67, waded through waist-deep floodwater then took a taxi to Lat Phrao district office.
She had all the required documents with her - copies of her identity card, household registration record and several photos of her flooded house located behind Wat Lat Plakao, which was declared a flood disaster area.
Her aim was to claim the 5,000 baht in compensation offered by the government to people whose houses were damaged by the flood. The mission turned out to be a hard one.
"It took three hours to complete the claims process. The photos showing my flood-damaged house were in black and white because they were taken with an old mobile phone," Mrs Mol said.
Her grandchild had to take a motorcycle taxi to the nearest photo shop to have them printed out in colour.
She said no one told her the photos must be in colour. A check with the district, however, revealed that black-and-white photographs are allowed to be used to back up claims.
Mrs Mol's house and that of her daughter, who lives nearby, have been flooded for three weeks. Mrs Mol and her husband have been living on the second floor. "The sum of 5,000 baht is not enough to renovate the house, but it is better than nothing."
The cabinet has approved a 3.1- billion-baht budget to compensate people with flood-damaged properties.
The government will hand out a flat rate of 5,000 baht to each household living in a property that has been flooded for at least seven days.
Mayures Simawong, 40, said she had to take a circuitous route to get to the district office.
She and her husband, Yongyos, evacuated from their home in Chokchai 4 to stay at her workplace in the Victory Monument area last week.
"The direct route from Victory Monument to the Lat Phrao district office passes through flooded areas so we decided to go via Rama IX Road to avoid getting wet. It took a long time," she said.
Mr Yongyos said he is not sure whether he will get the compensation within 45 days as promised by the government because there are so many people affected by the flooding.
He said the government must control the price of construction materials after the crisis is over, or the 5,000 baht will be worthless.
Claimant Piyaporn Ngoenwichien, 57, said the compensation should be doubled. She had spent almost 10,000 baht trying to protect her home from the flood by hiring bricklayers to build a wall and paying people to move her motorcycles to Samut Prakan - all to no avail, as her home was still flooded.
Bophit Sengkaew, director of the Lat Phrao District Office, said he realised it is difficult for people affected by the flooding to get to his office. Staff will be sent to affected areas to make it easier for residents to register claims.
The deadline for registration is Nov 22. After that, the authorities will verify claims and decide whether residents are eligible for compensation before sending the details to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.
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