Bangkok

Nobody In Charge in Thailand

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Protesters have taken over the International airport and a smaller domestic airport in Bangkok and are demanding the Prime Minister, Somchai Wongsawat, resign, which he has refused to do even after months of demonstrations and violence in Bangkok. Protesters are refusing to negotiate with the government and have promised to stay until the “final battle.”

“A state of emergency has been declared at both Suvarnabhumi and the smaller, domestic Don Mueang airport, which the anti-government People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) have taken over.”

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7756050.stm

The previous corrupt Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, was overthrown in a military coup in 2006 and replaced with a “proxy” government. Thaksin has been indicted for massive corruption and last I heard he was in exile in China because the UK wouldn’t accept him.

What the BBC doesn’t say is that the new PM, Somchai, is Thaksin’s brother-in-law. He is holed up in Chiang Mai which is the Thaksin family home town and where he has a base of support because Thaksin doled out a few baht when he was PM to small farmers who now think he is wonderful.

However, the “elite” in Bangkok, who know what is going on, doesn’t think he is wonderful. The BBC says: “The PAD is a loose grouping of royalists, businessmen and the urban middle class opposed to Mr Thaksin.” Well, this is not a very good description. It also includes respected statesmen, university professors and students. And if the truth were known…probably the revered King who everyone thinks “whispered” his support of the 2006 coup.

“The BBC’s Quentin Sommerville in Bangkok says that Mr Somchai has already lost the confidence of his army chief, Gen Anupong Paochinda, and rumours of (another) coup are circling in the capital.” The head of Thailand’s powerful army has called for a dissolution of Parliament and new elections.

What the BBC doesn’t say is that the army is refusing to move against the protesters.

The chief of police has been demoted, the BBC says, “to what officials said was an “inactive post” in the prime minister’s office. No official reason was given for Gen Patcharawat Wongsuwanbut’s demotion, but government spokesman Nattawut Saikuar suggested to Thai TV that it was in connection with the protest crisis.”

Come on, I don’t think it would have been difficult to fact check why the police chief was demoted. Everyone knows anyway. So much for the BBC.

My husband, who lives in Thailand says: “Politically hot in Thailand. Nobody in charge. The PM (Thaksin ‘s brother-in-law) attempting to mobilize police and army to open the airport but they refuse to intervene. Can you imagine a head-of-state directing his armies to action and they refuse???? Big comment on the base of power.”

We Thailand watchers (my son and his Thai wife live on Koh Samui in the south) are fervently hoping this doesn’t end in bloodshed like the October 14, 1973 Uprising and the October 6, 1976 Massacre.

Morning Chuckles

Posted on by Laughingnomad

This morning, while reading the Bangkok Post outside a certain BonCafe near my guesthouse in Bangkok, I had to LOL.  Writing about the movie “Iron Man” the Thai reviewer/humorist says “Iron Man saves a bunch of Afghan families…highlights Hollywood’s obsession with heroes, a yearning for the cure and maybe a strange antidote for guilt, and thus Iron Man is both noble and naive, like a democrat. 

In a review of Street Kings he starts out “Unlike Bangkok, where all policemen are pure and uncorrupted, LA, in this James Ellroy story…” and ends with “If it had been a Thai film, the police would have wanted to censor it.  But here enjoy.”

Then turning to my email I find that somehow I have gotten onto the RNC mail list requesting donations. A letter from John McCain states that by the end of his first term he will have solved all of America’s problems and the Iraq War will have been won.

Riiiight! Politicians think we are stupid…and maybe we are.

Ao Nang Beach Krabi Thailand

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Flew back from Kuala Lumpur Malaysia to Krabi yesterday. We are staying in the J Hotel…same one we stayed in last time here…on the top floor with a view of the ocean and karsts for 450 baht…about $14.

The karsts are as beautiful as ever but the left-overs of the Burma cyclone are causing rain, wind and the roughest ocean Doug has ever seen here. No long-tail boats to be seen anywhere.

Amazed at the development since the tsunami! Seems like double the number of businesses and they have become upscale. Even though it’s low season the streets are full of European tourists.

Will fly out to Bangkok tomorrow noon. Short stay. And Doug and Luk will drive on down to Trang to spend some time with Luk’s mother and pick up Ting Tong before driving back to Samui. After being with them for over a month I will miss them.

Dinner From The Street

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Tonight I went out to the street and bought my dinner which I brought back to my room to eat. First, a Papaya Salad with only one little red chili and it’s still hot! 80 cents. The two sticks with small pieces of what we would call pork bacon cooked over coals. 30 cents. Then on to another cart with steamed hot corn which she cut off the ears for me and bagged. 30 cents. Then around the corner to a soup cart where he bagged up delicious hot broth in one bag, my choice of noodles with bits of chicken and leafy green vegetables in another bag, a little bag of chili vinegar and another little bag of chili. 25 cents. For dessert a huge mango for 40 cents. These are Bangkok prices however food prices are going up all over now. On Koh Samui where my son Doug lives, this food would would have been less…except for the soup.  In the countryside even less.

This is enough food for two people. The soup filled up my bowl twice. I will save my papaya salad and mango for breakfast.

Another cost: 11 plastic bags not counting the two little ones with spices.

A Coincidence

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Last night I opted for a foot massage at a place where the strong Isan masseuses from NE Thailand are trained at Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha). Dating from the 16th century, this monastery in Bangkok began as an open university and is still the national headquarters for the teaching and preservation of traditional Thai medicine including Thai massage.

While zoning out in my reclining lounger, an older American couple walked in. Happens that although they are living in Singapore…he still working for Caterpiller Tractors…they are waiting to retire near Klamath Falls Oregon…the city of my birth and where I went to high school!

Sukhumvit Soi 22 Bangkok

Posted on by Laughingnomad

You hardly find a mention of Soi 22, where I usually stay in Bangkok, in the travel guides. Interesting. Not anything here for sightseers really. But good if you live here long term.

The well-dressed tourists in the high end hotels and serviced apartments here must just head off in a taxi because you don’t often see them on the street. The men in the high end hotels are mainly businessmen…many of them Korean or Japanese. Most of the farang (westerners) that live around here and are married to Thais or farangs. Some of them have lived and worked here for 30 years and just retire here. Hardly ever see female farang tourists by themselves, although on this trip I did meet a young Frenchwoman who missed her flight on a layover and was stranded. So here I am with the “boys” and the Thais.

I’m staying in a lovely refurbished room above the Bourbon St. Bar and Restaurant, a family restaurant owned by an American…in Washington Square…behind the Mambo Cabaret.
dsc00081.JPG

The guesthouse is small and they keep good track of me. If you stay a month they give you 25% off the room rate so I am paying 1000 baht (about $31) a night with free breakfast. Most of the people frequenting the restaurant are the male guests upstairs who are here on business (I’m the only woman) or farangs and Thais who live around here. The restaurant serves great Thai and western food including a whole menu of Canjun, Creole and BBQ dishes. Last night I splurged on one-half kilo of the biggest crawfish I’ve ever seen.
Read More

Hmmm…

Posted on by Laughingnomad

I must be getting old. Came across this shocking article in Newsweek describing teen sex taking place openly in public parks in Santiago Chile. Actually I remember being agape at the couples in public parks in Guadalajara Mexico when I visited a few years ago.

It reminded me of something my Thai friend who teaches at Kasetsart University in Bangkok told me a couple weeks ago. She said AT LEAST half of the boys at the university are openly gay. I asked if it was a reaction to so many girls chasing foreigners and she said definitely no. It’s more of a fashion thing she said. It has become “hip.”

Next wednesday night there is a talk at the Foreign Correspondent’s Club about expat authors and their writing about Thailand. Apparently, after all these years, expat writing is branching out from “older man looking for the hooker with a heart of gold only to arrive at a no good end” to more literary material. Ought to be interesting.

On a more mundane level, son Doug and his wife Luk left Bangkok today to return to Koh Samui. Another dentist appointment tomorrow and a doctor appointment Friday.

Update: The Bangkok Post had an article a couple days ago that the Thai military is trying to decide how to designate a third sex.

In And Out Of Bangkok

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Have become familiar enough with Asia that the usual things you notice on the surface aren’t so eye-catching now. Am learning to adapt to surface cultural differences with less frustration. But adapting for a traveler briefly passing through is one thing. Another thing for someone spending significant time here. Much more difficult if you are having to learn how to navigate the unspoken expectations and assumptions.

“You eat like a monk,” she says. What do you mean, I ask, as I put my strawberries on the same plate where I have just eaten my fish. Monks are not supposed to enjoy earthly pleasures, like the taste and sight of food, she says. People earn merit by dropping bits of food into their begging bowls..food that gets mixed up together. So, not wanting to bother her for a fresh dish, I had put my strawberries on the same plate where I had eaten the fish. I had grossed her out. Caught again…unawares. I was shocked by the comment. And so it goes….

Other than that, have been spending time with mundane activites…dental appointments (teeth have really gone to pot recently) and great medical care at Bumrungrad Hospital…all details no one would be really interested in except me.

News in the Bangkok Post: Backpackers are furious for being blamed for a bed bug invasion. An entymologist at a local university says that Americans don’t like to take baths which has helped create the problem. Good grief! We are foreigners. We are dirty. Don’t we do the same thing to “strangers” at home…?

I spent five days visiting a Thai friend in her newly built home. She is a Professor of Fisheries at Kasetsart University and is encouraging me to accompany her to visit a field project in a small stream near the coast of the Gulf of Thailand…which I would love to do if we can coordinate our schedules. In exchange I am editing some research papers she is writing in English. Catching up on local politics, I mentioned that the Malay man sitting next to me on the plane to Bangkok had reminded me that the Prime Minister, unseated by the military coup last year because of corruption, did help the rural farmers. “Yes,” she said. “A piece of meat between the teeth!” This comment has added impact if you know that Thais take meticulous care of themselves…many using toothpicks after they eat…carefully covering their mouths with a hand so not to offend anyone. She and her university colleagues make no bones about their opinions of Thaksin and they feel that he will still be pulling the strings from the sidelines now that he is back in the country.

Son Doug and his Thai wife, Luk, flew up to Bangkok from Koh Samui to get off the island for a few days. We took a bus last Saturday to leafy Kanchanaburi…a couple hours northwest of Bangkok. Very hot and humid! The peaceful town on the Mae Nam Khwae River (River Kwai) belies it’s role in WWII as a Japanese-run POW camp where soldiers were worked to death building the “Death Railway.” You may remember the movie “Bridge On The River Kwai” telling the story of the brutal plan to carve a rail bed out of the 415km stretch of rugged terrain through the Three Pagodas Pass to the Thai/Burma border that was intended to be a supply route from Bangkok to Rangoon. Close to 100,000 forced laborers, captured Allied soldiers and Burmese and Malay prisoners, completed the railway in 16 months…only to have the Allied forces bomb the bridge across the river after just 20 months. The relatively small nondescript bridge has been reconstructed but you can imagine the planes careening down along the river…taking out the middle iron arcs. Tourists clog the bridge that is now just used by a short excursion train and pedestrians. Yes, it’s a bridge, says Doug when we visited it on a rented motorcycle. lol

I will take the one-hour flight to Samui on April 8 to spend a month there…after which Doug, Luk and I will fly to Kuala Lumpur for our “visa run.” This will be my first visit to Malaysia. Maybe there I can get away from the depressing news about the banking crisis at home…strange days…dangerous days…reverberating all through Asia.

Bangkok 2008

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Last Saturday (your Friday) I flew to Bangkok…carrying on a nice conversation with a Malaysian man sitting next to me. He says Thaksin did help the rural farmers…but the system takes time to change. And he says Thaksin began to feel like he owned the country…like Suharto in Indonesia. Thaksin’s web site says he plans to return to Thailand in two days. Will be interesting to see if there is a reaction from the Bangkok educated elites who hate him for his corrupt business dealings.

The weather is warm here but not uncomfortably so…yet.

I stayed the first night at the new Hi Sukhumvit hostel on Sukhumvit soi 38 where I had stayed before. But this time the single rooms were full. The mixed dorm I was put in was miserable…in…out…in…out…zippers unzipped…zippers zipped…light on…lights out…in…out…door slams…guys snoring…guy listening to music…lights on…door slams…and plastic bags should be outlawed after 10pm! Finally I hear slurp slurp and realize that the one other girl had crawled into bed with one of the guys. That did it. I went to the roof lounge to sleep. But woke up with little red spots all over my legs and arms…accosted by what I don’t know.

The next morning a Canadian guy took me around the corner to the Rex Hotel…an old Bangkok landmark. I get Fox and BBC on satellite TV. Today I explored the neighborhood and found the American Women’s Club, an expat group of women, down a sub soy off Suk 38.

Tonight I am in the Bourbon St. Bar and Restaurant owned by an American near Sukhumvit 22 using their free WiFi and listening to the NY Philharmonic playing in North Korea on the TV. A couple of older overweight French guys are spell-bound.

Tomorrow I go to Bumrungrad Hospital to make some appointments and my first dental appointment is tuesday. My body is beginning to feel like it is residing in Thailand and not China.

Family In Thailand

Posted on by Laughingnomad

My sons and daughters-in-law, Luk, Doug, Josh and Amy on Koh Samui in Thailand for a week. Bob, their dad, took the picture. Doug and Luk live on Koh Samui. Greg, in Las Vegas, and I, of course, missed out. Amy flew back to her job teaching history in an international school in Beijing after a week. Josh had dental work in Bangkok (much cheaper than Beijing) and is staying a few days with Bob at his house in Johmtien which is south of Pattaya on the east side of the Gulf of Thailand before flying back to his job as Chef de Cuisine at the One East On Third restaurant in the Hilton Hotel in Beijing.

P1000662.JPG