- Popular Post
Yann55
-
Posts
1,648 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Downloads
Posts posted by Yann55
-
-
- Popular Post
- Popular Post
In the aftermath of the Tham Luang Cave Miracle Rescue (thank God I don't have to write 'Debacle' or 'Tragedy' here) the question of health & safety regulations in Thailand will no doubt be raised by many different people, especially on Thai Visa where the relevant Brigade is quite active and always ready to pounce on what they see as Thai 'negligence', 'carelessness', 'incompetence' etc.
I rarely argue with this particular Brigade. Not because I see the issue as irrelevant, quite the opposite, but because it can't be assessed in just a few phrases, and as we all know, in this Brave New Twitter-World, when posts are too long people tend to skip them. Which is why I’m opting for the ‘start a thread’ option.
The admonestations of the Health & Safety Regulations Brigade usually run thus : "If this were [my country], this situation would not have arisen because [such and such safety measures] would have made it impossible. Thai authorities should learn from us and stop being so criminally careless of their own people's health and safety. What they ought to do is ... [description of what Thailand should do if it was, errr... not Thailand]."
In the Tham Luang situation, suggestions to block the entrance of the cave entirely have already been made, and the fact that it was not blocked on 23 June will be deemed 'criminal'.
The H&SR Brigade never doubts for one second that our Western Health and Safety Measures are pertinent, good, and that they reflect nothing but humane intentions. Hum... okay, maybe... but for one thing, it is quite clear to me that our H&S rules are fueled, first and foremost, by two factors, which are interconnected, and have very little - if anything - to do with ethics and human concern :
1/ the massively insured context the West lives in, and
2/ the judiciary mentality that has become so prevalent in our societies, where problems are automatically seen in terms of 'responsibility' and 'liability' (see point 1). We want the 'guys who are responsible for this' to be condemned and we want victims to be 'compensated'.
Surprise surprise... money, rather than high moral standards, seems to be the prevalent force in the matter. Now of course one could say : "who cares if the reasons are fishy ? If the right things are done for the wrong reasons, then reasons don't matter".
Okay... how right, then, are these rules and regulations ? How good are they ? How do they really help people to live a better life, have better and smoother interaction with their fellow human beings, be prepared to the inherent difficulties of life, and deal with them when they happen ?
Personally my answers to these 4 questions are :
1/ Do our H&S rules help people to live a better life ?
In some cases, I suppose they do, but mostly they tend to 'file our teeth', lessen our capacity for initiative, make us shy away from all forms of danger (thus impairing our learning process in many instances) without assessing how real it is and whether or not it would be worth braving it. All the warning signs and public safety precautions make us so used to being monitored that when we do cross the line and hurt ourselves, our first reaction is not introspection but searching who to blame for this intolerable 'lack of safety'. I can't help but laugh when I so often read posts on Thai Visa about Thais 'not being able to face the music' and systematically deflecting the blame because frankly I think that in this field, the West is #1.
2/ Do our H&S rules help us have better and smoother interaction with our fellow human beings ?
For one thing, they increase the focus on the individual, not the group or the team, or society at large. When an individual becomes a 'victim' and the blaming process starts, there is no such thing as a friend, neighbour or even relative : everybody's ass can be sued and the lawyers around the victim make sure he/she doesn't get all human and soppy. It's OK to sue your cousin if you broke your leg while climbing the ladder to his attic, because your cousin is insured anyway, so it's 'nothing personal'... says the lawyer. Sorry but... not true. It is personal, it is damaging to the way we interact with others and how we feel about them. It encourages all kind of selfish tendencies in us and contributes to creating a 'me-world' as opposed to an 'us-world'.
3/ Do our H&S rules help us be prepared for the difficulties of life ?
No, of course not, primarily because it's not their concern. H&S rules are there for when the problems occur, they are in no way 'educational'. They do, however, become part and parcel of our DNA, in a sneaky way, mostly by depleting our sense of personal responsibility, creating a blame-culture, and assuming that problems must be dealt with by institutions rather than humans in the community. I am impressed, honestly, when I see how the Western younger generations give up so easily in the face of difficulties, and I am deeply convinced that it is largely because they've been brought up in over-protective societies. H&S rules are a major part of this over-protective package.
4/ Do our H&S rules help us deal with Health and Safety problems ?
Paradoxically, no, they most often don't. Just as an example, imagine if Tham Luang Cave was somewhere in Texas. Now that the kids are out, each of them would have a team of buzzing lawyers around him, who'd be busy sueing the local authorities and God knows who else, who themselves would be busy sueing the coach (who, as a coach, would probably be covered by some kind of personal insurance). After a lot of time and legal procedure, money would change hands, in some cases huge sums of money for which these kids and their families are totally unprepared, thus wreaking havoc in their lives. The coach could end up in prison, meaning his life would be ruined and the kids would know no ends of guilt about him, knowing that he not only did nothing wrong but played a major part in saving their lives. Problem solved ? No... just more problems created.***
I was brought up in the Alps, which are high and dangerous mountains. My Dad was a mountain guide. An extremely dangerous job, where people would litterally put their lives in his hands. He retired early - around the age of 50, which is common in this kind of activity - and I often heard him say, as far back as 30 years ago, that he would never have chosen this job in the present context, where clients sue the guide when the smallest problem arises (some nationalities being more lawyer-prone than others). Nowadays guides are heavily insured, like doctors, and for the same reason. How normal is that ? How healthy ? How does it create a better society ?
When did Western people begin to forget that, as dear old Confucius used to say, 'sh*t happens' ? The answer to that one is easy : when insurance companies and lawyers realised they could become the alchemists of the 20th century by turning sh*t into gold. In the process, they totally jeopardized human beings and societies, but who cares when there's so much buck to be made ?
This is one of the numerous fields where we Westerners have actually a lot to learn from Asian cultures and not the other way round. Look at the way these Thai families reacted about the coach. That says it all. Are Westerners impressed with their wisdom ? Some, maybe, but so many are pointing fingers and asking : “why don’t you do like us ? Why don’t you become like us?”.
In my little mountain village, the local people were very much like these Thai families. They were wise, patient, tolerant, community-oriented, courageous and level-headed. They were no saints, sure, but their intelligence, based on common sense, observation and experience, was truly impressive. My parents, who were the only city-born people in the village and were immediately adopted simply because they were hard-working individuals, never missed an occasion to say how grateful they felt towards these villagers (whom city people would so readily refer to as ‘simple’) and how much they learned from them, at all levels, including philosophical, psychological and social.
It wasn’t an Eldorado, nor a utopian society, but definitely one that walked on its feet, rather than its head.-
2
-
1
-
How sweet, how thoughtful, how generous ...
-
There was a book written by a French explorer in Laos in the 19th century. He was seeking a passage through the mountains to Vietnam, which was not called Vietnam in those days.
At every village, he got the same answer, bor mee, bor dai, bor hoo jak.
I can't remember the name of the book but it was a good read.
Plus ca change....
Perhaps it's Henri Mouhot, who discovered Angkor by chance in 1958, a fact that seems to be totally forgotten today. He wrote an ecstatic account of his discovery (published in the legendary travel books called Tour du Monde), which was widely read and created a myth around Angkor and the Khmer which is still alive today in France. He died of some unknown fever in Laos in 1861, at the age of 35.
He didn't discover it. The locals knew it was there, and he wasn't even the first foreigner to visit it.
He did discover it. The locals did not know it was there. He was the first foreigner to visit it. And you, Sir, are just a lame, pathetic, typical, TVF francophobe. I bet you wouldn't have reacted thus if I had mentioned Raffles discovery of Borobudur, even though, in his case, the locals did know about it. Which is probably what got you confused in the first place. Your obvious hatred of all things French did the rest.
-
There was a book written by a French explorer in Laos in the 19th century. He was seeking a passage through the mountains to Vietnam, which was not called Vietnam in those days.
At every village, he got the same answer, bor mee, bor dai, bor hoo jak.
I can't remember the name of the book but it was a good read.
Plus ca change....
Perhaps it's Henri Mouhot, who discovered Angkor by chance in 1958, a fact that seems to be totally forgotten today. He wrote an ecstatic account of his discovery (published in the legendary travel books called Tour du Monde), which was widely read and created a myth around Angkor and the Khmer which is still alive today in France. He died of some unknown fever in Laos in 1861, at the age of 35.
-
- Popular Post
- Popular Post
Frankly I don't give a rat's ass if overstayers are in trouble. It's not like no one knows the rules, this is the 21st century, the Internet era etc. so people who overstay are either extremely stupid or they have some reason to do so which is not kosher. If they're banned, well, it's most probably good news for Thailand and for the rest of us who abide by the rules in a country that is not ours.
Following the visa rules in this country is not complicated, and no matter what the Thai Bashing Brigade might say, my personal experience with the Immigration Office here in Jomtien is 90% positive. They manage to handle a large number of people in a pretty smooth and fast way, the rates are reasonable and you're never made to feel like 'hey, an extra banknote would definitely grease things up' (believe you me, in neighboring Indonesia, for example it's a whole different story!). OK some of them are not friendly but most of them are. I've seen similar places in other parts of the world where the officers in charge made you wonder whether you were in a normal place or the antechamber of the Inquisition! And I'm not talking about 'thirld world' countries here.
-
7
-
Dear Jacob,
Thank you for posting these news articles, but please stop inserting Googled photos which have no relevance to the story.
Jeez, we all know what a boy looks like. But a causasian lad??!
Either a photo specific to the story (the monk, or the temple), or no photo at all.
Yours etc, Disgusted, Tunbridge Wells
agree.
what relevance does the photo of a young causasian male have to this story? bizarre.
It's not just bizarre, Sam, it's outrageous.
-
There is something decidedly mind-boggling in the system here :
The police decide that the case is strong enough to look into it and all they do is 'summon' the abbot, thereby giving him all the time he needs to disappear ?
I have read similar acounts so many times that I have to believe that it's really how things work here. I don't get it. No one on this Forum gets it either, I bet. So... who does ? Why does this system not change, especially now that things can be changed quickly if there is a real and urgent need for it ?
General, please ?
PS. And that photo of a 'distressed young boy' to 'illustrate' the article is of remarkably bad taste. Sensationalist and voyeur journalism is all it is. If I was the boy or his parents, I would sue.
-
Whenever there is a big disaster somewhere, you can count on the usual crooks and buzzards to fly there in a rush and try to use the situation + the natural compassion of normal people to squeeze money out of the latter.
How unfathomably dirty and obscene the minds of such people are, is beyond words. But there it is, a distinctly human trait, an inevitable part of human nature, the Mr Hyde side of humanity, always ready to pounce.
-
2
-
-
Sounds like you have enough left over for a nifty spirit house.
A nifty spirit house with a nifty verandah too.
-
The West is right, of course, to condemn human trafficking and to envisage a ban if nothing is done to stop it.
The thing is ... this kind of abuse comes at the end of a capitalistic chain of causes and effects, whereby His-Majesty-The-Market causes the producing end of the line to look for ever-and-ever cheaper ways to reduce production costs. May I remind all the self-righteous Americans who are now pontificating on the subject and telling the Thais how shocked they are of such practises, that before the Civil War the main argument of the Southern States for maintaining slavery was based on economic factors... Cotton and tobacco (mainly) were sold at such and such prices because the labor was the cheapest possible, ie slaves.
Slavery is wrong, wrong, wrong, there is no discussing that. What is worth discussing is how it comes about, and how many people down the line are indirectly responsible for it, in fact. And that includes you and me, the general public who goes to the local supermarket and is delighted to find these Thai shrimps at such amazingly low prices...
Isn't it time to acknowledge that "fair trade", that beautiful idea, should not just be about the West slapping hands of traders in developping countries and telling them tsk tsk, you should not be making so much money on the back of producers, while that is precisely what Western distributors are doing ? How about educating the general public, the so-called consumers, and explaining to them that there is a line which should not be crossed in selling prices, unless you don't mind wearing shoes that were made by slave kids and so on...
-
2
-
-
Can't wait to see that new pocketbook made with taxpayers money, I need a giggle.
The last TAT pocketbook I saw (in a Bangkok hotel a month ago) was called 'how to avoid problems in Thailand - Tips on Thai culture' or something to that effect and it was hilarious. Obviously aimed mostly at Chinese tourists but pretending otherwise.
It doggedly listed behaviour and etiquette which existed 20 years ago (OK, 10) and are now compleeeeetely a thing of the past.
For example it said that 'Thais are a soft-spoken people, so please do not raise your voice in public or you will shock the locals'. Like I said, hilarious ! Anyone who lives here can't miss how most Thais (both men and women) now tend to scream at the top of their voices in public, especially when they are in a group and young(ish). If they've had a couple of drinks on top of that, then watch out for your ears. There may be a few 'khunyins' around (you know, the would-be chic older ladies with bouffant hairdos that look like they're the work of a demented coiffeur on the rampage) who still speak in hushed tones, and I wonder what they think about other Thais screaming in public at the top of their donald-duck-voices.
I won't go into every other item listed on that booklet but 80% were just as crazy as this one. A piece of anthology, really.
-
This will REALLY motivate cabbies to deal with alien customers if they are fined for something they don't understand. Thainess at its best; I wanted to flag down a car and he passed with open window "no farang"! Must have been among those fined lately I guess....
If you follow the Thai social media, taxis rejecting passengers is a hot topic with the locals. They hate it as much as we do.
They do indeed. And they have this persistent paranoid notion in their heads that taxis reject them because they prefer farangs (more easy to cheat), but as a farang I have been rejected by Bangkok taxis innumerable times. So forget the paranoia, the real reasons for rejecting passengers are :
1/ You're not going far enough,
2/ You're going to (or through) a heavily congested area,
3/ The guy has almost finished his time and taking you to your destination would considerably extend it.
The 3 reasons are, I would say, pretty universal, and definitely not limited to Bangkok taxis.
-
Quote : Artchayachon said the operation was carried out in line with the government’s policy to promote tourism and the policy to make 2015 the year of Thainess tourism.
What on eaaaaaarth is the meaning of 'Year of Thainess Tourism' ??? Does anyone here have a clue ? Has anyone actually heard it before ?
-
Do they have anger management courses here? Sounds like half the male population needs one.
Hell yeah. Even the female half of the male population needs one.
-
ive got the same problem where i live
cats everywhere
but im targeting the cats not the owners
Ah but you are not Thai. Thais don't like to hurt animals, you know ?
-
Koh Larn used to be a lovely place. Then the Northern beach (know as Taweng beach, an exceptional site) was transformed into an ugly tourist factory, mainly for Chinese groups. However, other beaches like Had Nual, Had Samae and Had Thian remained highly attractive and wonderful, very reminiscent actually of the 'postcard beaches' one usually associates with Samui or Phuket.
Then came the Russians and they took over Had Nual (the Southern beach). So long Had Nual.
Then came the developers who turned Had Samae (West) into a block of concrete, surrounded with walls and barbed wire, ending with an architectural eyesore at the end of the beach. Samae was also invaded by the Russians, but Had Thian (not far from there) was still a lovely little cove where everything was near perfect except for the team of rude and unpleasant local ganstas who ran the jetski
scambusiness.Then the Russians took over Had Thian as well.
Most of the Europeans, Americans and Australians expats that I know around here say the same thing : "Koh Larn ? Nope, I don 't go there anymore. Yes, it used, until fairly recently, to be a secret paradise just 20' away from crazy Pattaya".
My first trip to Koh Larn was some 25 years ago. I went back, again and again, and loved it every time. And then, about 2 years ago, the radical changes started to happen, and well, to put it mildly, it's not on my 'nice place list' any more.
And one more thing, I never found the Koh Larn inhabitants to be very friendly, save for a few exceptions. No smiles, no acknowledgment of regular customers, no nice behaviour. But I don't think it's a Koh Larn problem, or has anything to do with Thailand or Asia, for that matter. I think it's an island phenomenon. On most islands around the world there is an 'us and them' mentality, an insular attitude whereby visitors are seen as an inevitable plague which must be milked as much as possible (they often are the only serious financial resource anyway) but absolutely not respected, let alone liked.
-
1
-
-
An advice to the Thais commenting on Facebook.
You should be more concerned and examine your culture and habits before being so upset about 2 naked people.
Look into the domestic violence, rape of minors, abandonment of children and families and other wrongdoings, happening daily in your country and then start worrying about this.
Hypocrisy, comes to my mind.
Not just hypocrisy, Costas but also, and sadly, xenophobia and sheer racism.
Racism against farangs is rising in this country, there's no way to deny it, and just like in any other country around the world, it is in direct proportion with the growing frustration, sense of helplessness and anger which can be observed among the 'have-nots' in this country on a daily basis.
Interestingly the Thai 'haves' are also more and more openly anti-Western, but for them it's more of a trend. Yep, we Westerners, are now a dusty, outfashioned, outdated item in the eyes of Thailand's 'Hiso VIPs', let's face it. Unless, of course, we are very rich or very famous. And before anyone asks, no, very intelligent and/or very educated does not count.
-
1
-
-
When 'training' is required to replace education and/or common sense, the world is up sh*t creek without a paddle.
-
1
-
-
Does work permit let you run a central Pataya bar?
Clown. But, yes, owning a bar is not a prohibited profession. Neither is managing a bar.
Why is he a clown? Just coz u an i know, doesnt mean that every tom, dick or harry does.
You're right, he's not a clown because clowns are funny. A petty, bitter, and nagging retired penpusher would probably be a more befitting description.
(And congratulations to you, Danny Daniels, for standing up to that disgusting scum and giving them hell. Usually they attack defenceless ladies or older guys, so they probably were fooled because you were wearing a helmet).
-
1
-
-
Quote : BANGKOK: -- Immigration police have arrested 11 foreign fugitives in six different cases including an alleged Pakistani passport forger, an alleged French online trade fraudster and a Finn wanted for fraud and tax evasion.
Note that only the Finn is for real. The Pakistani and the French are only alleged.
I wonder who does the titles.
-
Quote : (...) Prayut needs sole power to prohibit people's assembly, freedom of expression and to censor media (...) For as long as people's basic rights are violated, no matter what kind of law is in place, the government will never be able to stop international criticism.
OK, so ... this journalist says that the government prohibits people's assembly, freedom of expression and censors media. But wait a second, in a country where media are censored, would this journalist be able to publish such a statement ?
It's what keeps nagging at me. Human Rights Groups and the like keep trying to draw a picture of Thailand that would be somewhat like Chile just after Pinochet seized power in 1973. Here and there, one reads that in Thailand at the moment, political oponents are 'thrown in jail', freedom of expression is seriously muzzled and the right to assemble is cancelled sine die...
Is that so ? We can't be watching the same movie, then... In the movie that I see (and live in, incidentally) daily, people live quite normally, media (including this Forum) get away with pretty loud criticism and yes, huge demonstrations that block the entire capital for weeks are now a thing of the past, which, excuse me, I find a rather good thing.
But the guy sitting in the armchair next to me, who happens to be a journalist for The Nation or AFP, goes back home and writes a totally unrealistic account of what we are actually seeing. It's like we're seeing something in Thailand in 2015 and he's writing about Chile in 1973. Are journalists that lazy or do they just enjoy distorting reality to a point where it's unrecognizable (but good for sell) ?
-
1
-
-
The hyena goes to the tiger, asking for help because a vulture gang is threatening to eat her. And we're supposed to feel sympathy for whom ?
-
That was quick!!!! martial law lifted 4 days ago, tourism already booming 4 days after... Thailand, the hub of funny news. And clowns as well.
And not only that but the 'high spending tourists from Europe and the US', otherwise known as the ever elusive 'quality tourists' are flocking back...
Ain't that a scream ? 'High quality tourists' who stopped coming to this country about 15 years ago for reasons which are obvious to any honest person around here, have decided that Buthan, Myanmar, Papua and the like are not so interesting after all, compared to the charms of Bangkok, Pattaya, Chiangmai and Phuket. And that only 4 days after martial law was lifted - or should I say 'facelifted' ?
One thing that will never need to 'rebound' is self-delusion because that is not about to disappear.
-
1
-
-
So excuse my ignorance but does this mean the earth is between the moon and the sun?
You better thank the Lord that you're not Thai otherwise you'd get the bashing of your life for asking such a question on this Forum !!
And yes, it means the earth will be between the sun and the moon. In a solar eclipse, the moon is between the sun and the earth.
-
1
-
After Tham Luang... the Thorny Question of Health & Safety Rules in Thailand
in General Topics
Posted · Edited by Yann55
The useless negativity that emerges constantly on this Forum will never cease to amaze me...
What I wrote here is an article, not a post. If you think it's too long, then how about you simply don't read it and move on, back to your video games, Twitter messages or Japanese mangas, whichever suits your brain best ?
Why the urge to spew your bile at another person's effort to express an opinion on a complicated subject simply because you can't summon enough attention to read more than 10 lines ?
Average maturity on this Forum : 12-14 years old. Pathetic.