Phuket, Thailand -- There's a waiting line to rent elephants for treks to the top of the mountain today above Patong Bay and the weather is a steamy 85, but that doesn't mean that here in Asia that the recession is not a concern.

On a Christmas trip to Southeast Asia, we've not escaped the worries about economic malaise that grips the U.S.

On Orchard Road in Singapoore and on Nathan Road in Hong Kong, the shoppers are out in throngs, and the casinos in the Las Vegas clone of Macau are shoulder-to-shoulder with gamblers, but the papers and television news is filled with news of layoffs, of sour retail sales and descending real estate prices.

The Sands Casino in Macau with is laying off hundreds, governments are talking of slowing down the kinds of ambitious public works projects that have propelled Asia forward in the past, and the Chinese are sending money to Taiwan along with the pair of pandas. And perhaps, most ominously, even famously strong Toyota is talking of operating losses.

For economies accustomed to stratospheric growth rates, the recession could be particularly worrying politically and economically.

The U.S. may have lost much of its diplomatic power and influence over the last decade, but it is still the U.S. that many countries depend on to power the world out of recession. The news is full of details of Obama's plans to revive the world economy. More than our own hopes and dreams are riding on what he and we can accomplish.

After the snow comes the slush.

If you were out shopping today, then you know it was tough enough getting around in the South Sound, what with the snow-compacted washboard streets. And good luck trying to find a place to park that wasn’t flooded with puddles or peppered with ankle-high hillocks of ice.

Consider the people responsible for clearing those parking lots.

“It’s not very easy, trying to find someone to do it,” said a woman, who asked not to be named, at Hogan Enterprises. “We just don’t get this very often.”

The company manages shopping centers in University Place, Gig Harbor and Tacoma. “A parking lot sweeping company usually does it,” she said. “If you’re not contracted, it’s hard to get anybody.”

Late this morning she said she’d been on the phone for two hours trying to find someone who could clear a handful of parking lots. Either the firms she called were too busy – or they simply weren’t answering their phones or returning messages.

One firm that did answer – I called later in the morning – was Nature’s Helper Northwest. Owner Mark Castoriano said his company, which operates in King and Snohomish counties, was “slammed. There’s too much chaos out there. Everyone’s calling, from Lake City, Issaquah, from Woodinville to Tacoma.”

If he could dispatch a vehicle to a parking lot, he said, he was charging "anywhere from $600 to several thousand.”

At Tacoma Mall, where parking areas were sometimes hard to negotiate on Wednesday, manager Steve Heim sad the inner and outer ring roads had been plowed and “they’ve put sand down on the parking aisles. If we try to plow while cars are here, we end up trapping customers. It’s not possible to plow every square inch. We’re doing everything we can to keep customers safe.”

Sarah Bonds, area director of marketing for mall owner Simon Property Group, was more optimistic. “We’re doing really well,” she said.

At Bellingham-based Haggen Food & Pharmacy – which operates groceries in Washington and Oregon, including Top Foods in the South Sound – the ice, old snow and new slush have led to the opening of a companywide emergency operations center, said spokeswoman Becky Skaggs.

“We’ve had some challenges in some areas getting plows,” she said. “We’ve been able to work with some construction companies – they’re quiet this time of year. It’s given them some business. There’s been a lot of people working hard.”

A few of the company’s lots, she said, “are just a mess. Portland’s a disaster.”

Along with making sure customers could park and walk safely to and from the stores, Skaggs said there are other concerns that come with a storm such as the one we’ve seen this week.

For instance, shopping patterns have changed. On the positive said, what with the holiday season itself, the company had stocked it stores with a higher level of merchandise. And this year, customers started buying early, Skagg said.

But now, with so many people unable to travel out of the area, more families are shopping "for an unexpected Christmas dinner at home.”

Then come the concerns beyond snowplows. It’s not just about getting shoppers in and out. “There are issues with garbage and cardboard pickup, and the armored car pickups,” Skaggs said. “Now we’re looking at the loads on our roofs. the icicles hanging off the stores themselves.”

“It’s kind of a snowball effect,” she said, with something a chuckle.