mumjokmok

My goodness where does this man get his ideas from?

I guess maybe this is the last time the Bangkokians can afford to close down their city before the AEC begins in just over a year but I don't understand how it works in the eyes of the world. The previous government came to power after a coup and a long period of controversy then was forced to call elections by the Reds. Yellows just want to take out an elected government, refuse more elections, and take over the city.

I'll be most interested to see which people in the private sector think this is a grand idea, particularly those from other countries...

Indeed, increase the level of perceived controversy first. The politics in practice here amongst the supporters of the parties is a bit like Millwall v West Ham anyway. Whoever can show clearly so and so is more violent gets the upper hand for five minutes on the television sets. This government may have to tread a bit more carefully in putting this down than the previous government was in 2010, but they seem to always have the red light of the Western media shining on them, so I don't think they will be debating the MIB on the Al Jazeera machine too soon, and it might just turn out they were plumbers trying to find the mains, on the roof...

Reds play politricks and use their PR far better than Yellow. Think the deep south insurgency is the perfect reason why the armed forces need to stand firm with the elected officials, at least on the public stage anyway. Probably what any large Western military would do too, support those that can provide stronger government and justify their moves with some sort of internationally-recognised tactics.

Ms. Yingluck is quite clever to bring this up and again the Reds produce the acceptable statement for a Western media audience, no matter how contrived. Also sets the stage for a security presense for the elections down South, which can in turn lead to other incidents/ crises that may see the tables turned and the Yellows image irreparably damaged internationally as the Reds enjoy an image sponsored by a bit of media ignorance on the world stage. Watching with baited breath, however I think one bloke holds most of the cards, probably with four red face cards and the ace of hearts making up his hand. The opposition lacks a real manageable united front and has no way of playing the underdog card at all or the nation would fall down laughing at them. Progre$$ is coming, and sadly progre$$ takes no prisoners...just chews up and spits out the naive amongst us.

Could be that special brand of grainy/ heavily edited controversial news footage we all like to dissect from our armchairs. I thought it was forbidden to film the maintenance men in black?

Super Burger in Sai Yuan is decent.

I think there should be a test course available somewhere that earns you a little UV tattoo on your ear or a chip. "What's his Thainess level sir, is he marked?". Bp bbpbbbp bing. "Wow he's a six Daeng, don't give him any crap". Presents passport. "Afternoon sir, welcome to Thailand, so you like those fried ants eh. Have a nice day". Stamp- ba bommmp.

What would the criteria be?

Do you know the difference between plarah, pla jom and goong jom? Do you eat fried pla som and like it? What about dam kluay, hard unripe bananas pounded in a mortal, like a som tam but with more extreme flavour. What about maeng da, the steamed big water beetle with the blue cheese goo in its butt. What about kai maeng da talay, the horseshoe crab?

I sometimes sit on my hands silently in aggravation from watching the news. I prefer not to tell someone something if it's going to piss them off but I struggle with another thing called Whiteness and my conciense eventually gets the better of me. I can explain to a taxi driver in the language of Thainess where to go if I know where I'm going but I can't converse with the guy about much other than saying which guys in Man U are "soot yort loey". None of that stuff gets you very far...

If I was to pick a colour tshirt for farang on this issue it would be 18% gray scale, we must define our own Thainess if we are gonna use it on them.

Or maybe it's like me going to Japan and doing something really rude and offensive unwittingly and when someone confronts me I go "Uh, I'm Australian". And then they say " is that your Thainess? ".

Currently based in Phuket, have five years experience working at well known supperclub-style restaurant in the north of the island and have also worked in Bangkok. Can speak Thai well, can read and write well enough to use the written language to instruct staff in the workplace. When I started working here I thought it would become an advantage when seeking work as a "farang", however I find it's a skill some of us have that's rarely noted.

I am seeking employment anywhere in the country that has the need for someone with my experience. Hoping particularly to find an opportunity with a stand alone restaurant in Bangkok seeking a chef that can cook a very wide range of cuisines, has a good understanding of the Thai workplace and a personal nature that is compatible with Thai's. Having had no corporate cooking experience applying for jobs is difficult and given the landscape in Phuket has changed so drastically I view posting a "seeking work" ad as somewhat of a last resort to put my experience to use here. If only they taught us Russian at school...

Have a good knowledge of Thai food, particularly Isaan, Lao and some Vietnamese cuisine, South Asian and Arabic food, bit of Mexican as well as Mediterranean and European cuisines. Non-drinker, have 2 cats and a partner of more than 2 years, not into paper-related funny business-only work permits, salaries can be negotiated. I am mostly just attempting to contact another long-term expat chef or someone similar who can recognise my position, but someone with a good job offer would be nice too. PM me I can send further details.

1. What level are you at?

Can order food from menus at Thai for Thai and know what I'm getting, buy groceries at markets and ask questions, know weights and names of fruit, vegetables, fish and meats, taxis no problem for a few simple requests and questions, basic conversation- not anything deep mind you- hard to talk about anything other than what's immediately in front of you, can read all the signs in Thailand and Laos and make pretty much the proper sound, know the name of the character and can write it as it's spoken to me, can write swear words in Thai script and can get non-English speaking Thai's to sound like Richard Pryor, or all words for that matter. It's quite fun actually as it operates like a phonetic code rather than the mixed spelling habits of English and produces the sound you write consistently if you understand what you're writing. Best way to describe the level of understanding for me, I still go to the consulate and write the form in my mother language. Be nice to have a separate queue with a sneaky sign for the ones that love it...

2. Can you read and write Thai?

I know the vowel sounds off by heart and what all the consonants represent as English letters when I read the script, you have such a fantastic array of D and T sounds, three P's, a Pb for fish, many S's, a pair of Ch's and a proper Sh sound ฌ that most Thai's refuse to pronounce when used in English-speaking context as it's an uncommon sight to be used in their language. The person and the bottle are obsolete. In Lao the Ch for elephant is an X. I know there are classes within the alphabet that add to the tonal range but have not taken the time to remember what they do to the language when it's spoken. The three Mai's (1,2 and 3 to be formal) I know pretty much what they do, the little eight is easy and jattawa is odd. I can write only Thai words from memory and could not write an unknown Thai word from listening, I'd be just guessing but could make it sound close to what I'd heard.

3. How long have you been learning for?

Came here six years ago as a backpacker and ended up with a job in the city of angels, started to memorise characters from number plates and street signs, which are great to try and read because they have the English underneath. Probably took two and a half to three years to consume it all and really memorise the full alphabet, obsolete and rarely used characters and get it right every time.

4. How did you learn?

I really annoyed a lot of women with questions after the inital 'show-off' factor wore off (although this opens up a world of answers in another arena of your life here), work colleagues no shortage of tutorage, A,B,C's, a lot of giggling and fascination to see me want them to correct me so I actually knew what I was doing. Learned from a crumpled dictionary by the legendary author with the German tennis-playing namesake Boris, at home by myself for the most part.

5. What other languages can you speak other than Thai?

Just this one. Colonial Australian.