CMHomeboy78

Right spot on the money about the War on Drugs. It provoked untold misery in Thailand by making the illegal trade so lucrative and so easy to get into. Mass incarceration followed in the 1980s and added an ugly new chapter to Thai history. The new conditions introduced a smorgasbord of recreational drugs to the country. In the early '70s, a few years before my time here, the heroin epidemic among American troops in Vietnam and at airbases in Thailand spread to the lower levels of Thai society. By the time I arrived in 1978 it was a common sight to see young addicts nodding off in the middle of the day at markets and slum areas. That situation had just about ended by the mid '80s mainly due to much higher prices for smack. Then the more affordable ya-ba stopped being used only for race horses and became the drug of choice for many of the chao bahn with negative consequences that are still being seen today. It can't be entirely blamed on Western drug culture. The soil was fertile for the seeds sown by the GIs and later the corrupt drug warriors both foreign and domestic.

That's certainly true. My wife's favorite uncle was one of them. He served in Vietnam as a young infantryman and came back as a master sergeant. When I first met him he was finishing out his career as head of the motor pool at Kawila Barracks in Chiang Mai. Still alive today in his 80s. As MacArthur said in his farewell address, "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away".

That sums it up pretty well. It has always seemed kind of creepy and "orwellian" to me, but hey, if the locals don't have a problem with it why should we?

I wouldn't hesitate to reccommend Ajahn Siri based on a long doctor-patient relationship. To respond to your question about his receptiveness to his patients input on treatment options, I really don't know. My own options have usually been a stark choice between operating or not operating. Any ideas I might have about supplemental treatments with cannabis or Fairy Dust or the local Maw Doo, I keep to myself not sure how seriously the doctor would take me.

The medical professionals who teach at Med CMU and practice at Maharat are first rate with very few exceptions. The private hospitals in Chiang Mai have excellent facilities and highly qualified staff generally speaking, but they are also notorious for fleecing farangs.

Ajahn Siri at the Sripat Skin Clinic, Maharat CMU Hospital. This highly competent skin specialist and professor at the CMU Medical Schools has treated me successfully for over twenty years for several types of skin cancer. He is at the top of his profession here in Chiang Mai.

Here's how you do it, Khun Anutin.

I see now that you requested non-fiction and realized my mistake soon after posting. But truth be told, much if not most "non-fiction" is anything but that, while some classic fiction is truer than true. Lost Horizon is a good example of that.

Lost Horizon by James Hilton, 1933. A real classic, as is the 1937 movie version by Frank Capra. One of the opening scenes is the evacuation of Westerners from "Baskul" (Kabul) airport. It is errily prescient of current events.

Where... in Bangkok? Maybe so, but in Chiang Mai he made noticeable improvements immediately upon arrival. Regrettably they ended as soon as he was removed from his position as head of CM Immigration.