Octpob

I have seen a policeman on a motorbike using mobile phone whilst riding in Sukhumvit..

I divide my culinary experience with Thai food to an era before Thailand (BT) and after Thailand (AT), a more sobering realisation that what I thought was Thai food as experienced in Thai restaurants (outside Thailand) was in fact a westernised version of genuine thing. I certainly have never come across any of the vile fermented concoctions during my BT (pla ra) that Thais love so much; or the awful stench produced by cooking (burning more like) garlic and shrimp paste...or the horrible taste of cooked basil or bitter melon. I find it fascinating to see Thais sitting on the floor to eat...right next to perfectly good table, and then proceed to tuck into their raw vegetables? I am not sure if that occurs only within the lower strata of Thai society like village people or Hi So as well?

Yes, negative 18 drives me nuts...especially the groveling that my wife feels obliged to do with her "betters" aka HISO. Negative 19 seems to be widespread but surprisingly very much evident even among the university educated Thais. The negative 28...oh my, where to start? The constant play of "money games", ever increasing debt in order to buy c*ap...