robsamui

Mold. It's in my wardrobe. It's in my car. After two days of heavy rain I had this:

Whack it over with vinegar.

(Somebody told me this. (Thanks!))

They say it works. It doesn't make the rain go away but it stops your steering wheel and trousers going green.

R

Just seen on the international BBC news the world weather with Samui on the SE Asia map marked in bold with "413mm in 24 hrs" next to it.

Quick checks on average rainfall reveals that in Oct and Nov the combined 60-day total is an average of 550-600mm for these two months of the rainy season.

Which therefore means that effectively we've had in a couple of days more than an entire rainy season's worth of rain.

Amazing!

:o

wait... are there ever severe earthquakes in thailand ???? are we on the same fault as japan ????

the danger of having nuclear power in thailand are not the earthquakes, but for example, the corruption where they would bill expensive material and use cheap ass material instead giving real dangers about the constructed plant + the operators...

as thai people love to run away in a(n) (car) accident, so what would they do when a nuclear plant fails ?

Line up outside in their thousands to watch the pretty glowing colours?

Doesn't say much for the people who are in charge of drainage systems. I don't know what parameters they use down there, but last time I checked, water flows downhill - and the more water expected, the larger the drain pipe which needs to be installed. Heck, it's not even the official start of the monsoon, and the ground isn't yet fully saturated - how much worse will it be when the ground is saturated and waterways are swollen? If engineers can figure out how to use it, I'll donate a plumb level to their cause. What's the address: Royal Thai Engineer Society, Surat Tani?

P.S. this is they type of competence one might expect from a society whose school system systematically allows youngsters to graduate - when they don't have a handle on their specialties. Anyone familiar with Thai Colleges and U's knows that all students graduate - regardless of test scores, attendance, adeptness, etc. So, if you were charged with building a bridge or sewer, would you hire a Thai engineer?

Or nuclear power plants?

:o

.......".......hire 300 native English-speaking teachers for its primary and secondary schools.......

300 teachers for primary and secondary schools in a country with 66 million people ?

A drop in the ocean...

LaoPo

Objection.............. 09 .... they have 67.764 10 and 11 I don't know ... expect to be 68-69 MP

and not all of 'em in education system..... several MP still to be considered.... but not all 68-69 MP though

Any chance of a translation?

It's near 'The Cliff' restaurant

Looks a lot like Rocky's to me.

The airport on Samui is open. Flights are NOT cancelled; some flights have been delayed, but most only by less than 1 hour. Some flights to/from other areas affected by the same storm system are delayed longer due to conditions at the other airport. Samui Flight Arrivals

Nobody is "stranded" on Samui -- they simply have to fly instead of taking a boat. Its actually more accurate to say that hundreds of thousands are stranded in their own towns on the mainland, such as Nakhon Si Thammarat since the flooding is far worse there and the Nakhon Si Thammarat mainland airport is under water.

About 90 per cent of land and plantations in Narathiwat were flooded, with the water between 40 and 50 centimetres deep. See BKK Post Article on Flooding

The water level on Samui is not anywhere near this bad (indeed its not even as bad as it was last November when following the end of the biggest storms in many years the water receded within a few days. Since Samui is an island, the water can drain off into the ocean. In many parts of the mainland areas, that is not the case because the coast is far away. The local government on Samui has put in a lot of new sewers which have helped somewhat (the situation was far worse back in 2005 before those sewers were in place), but of course, like any area, the capacity can be overwhelmed when it rains continuously for more than a day.

Still, the real disaster is on the mainland.

This, unfortunately, is why Samui now has problems. Between Chaweng Noi and Ban Tai/Bang Po there is now effectively a dam between the mountain and he sea, as every bit of the ring road had been filled with buildings - with no allowance for drainage.

15 years ago in Chaewng this only happened in two places - outside Tradewinds and more north towards The Regent - where they still catch it today because of the dip. But on the north coast there were few problems as there were plenty of places for the water to run off into the sea.

But now there's no place for the water to go - hence the flooding. the drainage they put in around Bo Phut is useless as it goes nowhere: the water simply soaks out sideways into the surrounding subsoil. This means that after the rain has stopped the lakes of water quickly disappear. But as long as it rains, it floods, just as badly as it ever did ... worse now that the whole of the coast in that area has no natural run-away and is and end-to-end barricade of hotels.

R

Pass the snorkels . . . .

Mae Nam update 2.am

STAY AT HOME!

The Island strikes back! This is what they get for brainlessly building dams (ie everything that's been built on the coast in the last 10 years). The latest glaring boo boo being the big Gvt electricity place (what the hell is it?) next to the police station in Mae Nam.

Because of this main road by Soi 2 (Angelas) is a lake with no sight of kerbs and more than 2 feet deep there. 7-11 has pulled the fuses and all the nongs are sitting outside in the dark watching the rain.deluge.

The water has no place to go and so it's found an exit and it's gushing in a river down soi Jordans. (Soi 4). Rushing torrent there - saw a child bowled over by it (only 12 inches deep tho. River not child). Businesses closed and sandbags out. Earthquakes, floods, tsunamis and all of it heading towards the end of the Mayan calender and Armageddon in December next year. That'll teach em to not bother building drainage into their government buildings! Ha!

R

Just spoke to a friend on KP who was supposed to do visa report on Samui today, Songterm ferry cancelled....from KP I suspect others too?

Also a neighbour who works in Thaling Ngam .... just popped by to say roads too flooded to get though.... I think he was trying to say near the Lomprayah ferry road, in Maenam.... his English not so good.....

Road in front of my house is a river... oh my my! Another huge mess to clean up! ...... At the moment I would say water levels higher than any point in November!

and its going to get a whole worst tomorrow - http://www.windguru....ex.php?sc=30397

It's a whole lot worse now already, since this morning,,,, can you please bring your boat up (I assume you have one?) cos I can't get out! Knee deep & strong current flowing down the road in front of my house,,,, and water falling into the stream near by looks like Niagara Falls.....

Surprised the power still on there is tree down over the line, just up the road.....

Jimmy, if someone comes for you in a boat, can you pick me up on the way please? I'm in Soi Beachway, just past Anong Villa. Marooned and house about to go under.

Signed

Damsel in Distress!

Just the occasion to lock yourself in and write a few more stories!

R

Well not just Samui, same in Krabi and many other areas of southern Thailand...

I don't think there will be many smiling faces by morning.... Thai or farang!

Just while having dinner the water rose over a foot, two neighbours houses now have 6" of water in their houses, luckily I have a spare suite at higher level & have to let four people share the so far, dry room.... the other neighbours have a second floor, so at least can stay dry...

If this keeps up as it looks like it will overnight ..... I might be floating down stream on my bed by morning...

Definitely a lot worse than the peak of rain last November....

I am guessing Rooo out of power again, he's not posted all day... not even a flicker of power going off here.... so far... amazing considering the number of trees down...

Be safe and well!

Mae Nam?

R

Clearly God is punishing Samui for the rampant prostitution and homosexuality found here.

Did you think you could get away with this forever?

It will get worse before it gets better.

La ilaha illallah!

<deleted>*k knows what he's up to with Pattaya then!!

R

, Darling, look out the window, has the wind changed direction.

At least she may look out of the window, your post count suggests that you're on ThaiVisa all of your waking hours with no time to look out of the windows at all.

I bet you never thought you'd end up spending all of your waking hours tapping out endless, meaningless posts on an anonymous internet forum, you could have stayed in the UK and done that, I'll also bet that you tell your family or friends what a wonderful life you have in Thailand carefully leaving out the fact that you spend all day long indoors in front of a PC, never actually seeing Thailand.

Yep, this is what you came to Thailand for.

erm ..... pray ..... and you do ... what?

R

People can hold the arguement that this is a tropical island and so we are going to have power cuts.

Fact is, this has'nt been a tropical island in the real sense for years. Its a tourist haven, TAT's boutique island did'nt you know with the major hotel chains all on board charging $1000 per night. Its also now one of the most expensive places to live in Thailand.

These power cuts are ridiculous and should not be happening. its really pissing off tourists who will not be coming back to this boutique backwater. Just a situation caused by systematic neglect for the usual reasons for not investing in it.

How can we utilise the steam comin ott ay his ears? all comments welcome!

Could it get the mushrooms off my trousers? They've started growing again in my wardrobe.

R

I live and work in both Samui and phuket...Phuket is more expensive ...just.

Ah - Ok. Thanks for the info. 10 years ago it was loads more spensive!

R

People can hold the arguement that this is a tropical island and so we are going to have power cuts.

Fact is, this has'nt been a tropical island in the real sense for years. Its a tourist haven, TAT's boutique island did'nt you know with the major hotel chains all on board charging $1000 per night. Its also now one of the most expensive places to live in Thailand.

These power cuts are ridiculous and should not be happening. its really pissing off tourists who will not be coming back to this boutique backwater. Just a situation caused by systematic neglect for the usual reasons for not investing in it.

I'm of the mind that Samui is now the most expensive place to live in Thailand.

In the early 2000s I kept a nice little room in Pattaya as well as renting a house on Samui because Pattaya was so much cheaper than here. Over the course of two weeks in Pattaya I spent such a small amount of money that it paid for the cost of the room and getting there and back. But I now reckon that Pattaya would be loads cheaper than here. (But I wouldn't want to live there now anyway!)

Phuket used to be the most expensive prior to the tsunami but now that's changed. Mind you there's a difference between living somewhere and staying there. I know that holiday costs to Phuket are far less than Samui but I have no idea of the general cost of living. But I'm sure it can't be as much as here!

R

Two excellent,, well balanced posts Rob!

I would agree with this. Very well written and in my case kind of sums up why I am here. There is rough and smooth wherever we go. I guess the knack is finding your own 'balance' as RobSamui says. Some can. Some can't. Some give up trying to find it.

Everyday on the news I see stuff happening around the world. Back in the UK I would be made to feel involved in it, responsible for it even. Here, well all this news isn't so consuming. Life does continue - it has to. Thailand has made me a more relaxed person. And my blood pressure is a lot lower than it used to be!

Yep - me too. I read about pensioners being hauled into court for putting the wrong kind of waste into the wrong colour wheelie bin, but here I can just lob the whole lot over the back wall. (Jus kiddin.) But after a while all this politically correct stuff (that makes me wanna bash people sometimes)just fades out and takes on a more realistic perspective - ie really silly. I think I'd find it 100-times harder to live in England now than I would over here. Life in Thailand can get frustrating - a kind of permanent sense of impermanence - and with minor niggles and irritations everywhere if you want to dwell on them. It can get really silly over here sometimes.

But it is nothing - not a drop in the ocean - anywhere half as lunatic as what I'm told is happening all around in England and it just makes me thankful I'm not there any more.

R

Every February I scrape all the mushrooms off the clothes in my wardrobe and try to wrestle them and my bedding outside to dry out in the sun - you know that bright hot thing in the sky that makes your skin red and the mildew-smell go away?

Well the mushrooms are back again, everything black has turned as green as January again and my cats are wrecking the house as they're bored and can't go out.

Been here 13 years and never known anything like this and it's - skwark! almost Songkran! Hottest time of the year. School holidays and the sea full of small fully-clothed Thai people and assorted puppies. Bright pink farangs, nothing but dust on the road outside the go-cart track etc.

I read recently about this month's 'supermoon' and the earthquakes and high tides it was causing - is this part of it? Or is it part of the global climate changes due to warming, or what?

Anyone out there in the dive business (Carmine?) with a handle on what's causing all this crud? I've had enough of it and want to be able to moan about just how bloody hot it is like normal!

Rob

I think to speak broadly, I am always exasperated with the general attitude that, "A crappy, sub-par job is acceptable." There is almost no area here where this does not apply. Service, craftsmanship, construction, concern for others, the list is endless. It's difficult to find any aspect of life and living in Samui where you can look at something with admiration that it has been a job well done and with a pleasing aesthetic. Or that it is environmentally harmonious. Or without the taint of greed or profiteering.

An earlier poster (much lauded) extolled the virtues of not having to pass inspections for vehicles or construction and so on, among other things. I think we all enjoy cutting corners, but the cumulative result is a degraded living environment, corruption and lackadaisical work mentality.

I guess that earlier post was me!

But what you're on about here is a particularly Thai thing and part of their insulation from the rest of the world. They genuinely do think they are doing a good job (in whatever sphere it might be) as they have nothing with which to compare it. They trot off to their universities and spend two years on a degree without having a clue that this then puts them at a level of education not much above International Baccalaureate standard - ie about the level of a high-school leaver at the age of 18 in the West. And that's not taking into account the abysmal overall level of general education. These same graduates are the ones that put sticking plasters on their faces when they get toothache or think 'fresh juice' means that the can has only just been opened.

Take the 'gold standard' of massage training here - being 'Wat Po' trained will get a girl a job anywhere as it's reckoned to be the tops. And yet you can get a Wat Po certificate as the basic level with 5 (five!) hours training. Even the top Wat Po qualification only needs 3 months. It's the same in every walk of life. All you need to be a qualified hair stylist is to rent a room and put a few mirrors in and a couple of the right kind of chairs. I called an 'electrician' one time to track down a break in an underground cable - he turned up with a screwdriver, black tape and a knife and peered in fascination when I gave him my test meter to use as he'd never seen one before.

(And when it comes to national engineering projects, such as the sky train, then the Thais need outside help ... and they just hate this!)

I'm not intending to mock, and this is one of my pet hates, too: sometimes it appears almost arrogant they way that confidently breeze up to do a job they just don't have a clue about and somehow manage to bodge up a working kind of result. And then they get puzzled and annoyed by us farangs shaking our heads and going all superior because we are not happy with it. And there are competent and skilled tradesmen and engineers around - the problem is that you never know what you're going to get as, as far as the Thais are concerned, every one of them is convinced they can turn their hand to anything.

But then we have to trace this back to politics and education (or the tragic lack of it) and the nationalistic brainwashing they receive as children. And, I guess, if we don't like it we can go back to our own countries! Me, I prefer to dig a little hole, climb in, smile benignly at the innocence of the people around me and thank God for the sunshine. Oh . . what am I saying . . .

R

Funny how the "routine" cuts only come when it rains.

I'd like to know what the fck a little rain has to do with the power going off every other time there is precipitation.

It really shows what a backwater this place is.

I thought everyone knew that the rain not only soaks into all the sticky tape joins but makes the string go soggy and break too??

R

would tottally agree on your post Rob, well written, and puts most of the ' why we dont like samui ' into prospective

Ta duck - but I would add one little extra, and it's a highly personal note - there's a certain breed of ExPat here that makes my flesh crawl. Not wanting to single out tattooed post office robbers from Essex (I've met a couple of pleasant ones) there is a whole strata of mid-to-late 30s people, all of when seem to be from the same mould, shaved heads, lots of tats, loud when drunk, coarse, belligerent, overbearing and usually each with a tiny and stilettoed mini-skirted Thai girl in tow. And they all seem to collect together in one set of bars and all knock around in bunches together. And they are usually the ones seen wandering around Tesco in their swimwear, in groups or with lady attached.

Things like beaches, construction, bars, roads and all the rest - to my mind - are distracting. There are good and iffy ones in every town. What makes a place precious is the beauty of it (Samui has it in spades), the climate (ditto) and the day-to-day interaction with the other people around. All other aspects are knitted into these basics and either make the overall experience better or worse.

But nobody's talked about balance, yet!

Put it this way. I HATE the roads and the way people drive here. I hate it when Thais in a group refer to you as 'the farang' instead of using your name. I despair at the bewildering way that Thai logic works and they way they can never admit to being wrong. I detest needing to have to make any kind of appointment here. I'm ashamed that the police system is what it is and there is no access to a legal system unless you are a millionaire. There are probably another 50 reasons why I hate this place, if I sat and spent a week noting them all down.

And then I look at the complete freedom to whack up a house or garage or shed without months of inspections paperwork and permissions. To be able to shrug sheepishly and say "sorry officer, it was my fault" knowing I can then get it over with instantly with a fine. I'm overjoyed that my car doesn't need a microscopic test every year which costs me thousands to keep it on the road if I can afford the staggering insurance rates. I love the location, the climate, the mountain, the beach, the sand and the sea and the fluffy clouds. I am free to let off fireworks to express my appreciation. I adore the handful of genuinely lovely Thai people I know and politely keep away from those with an evil glitter in their eyes. I treasure the few ExPat friends I have (all of them totally different from me as far as background, education and work goes, but each of them considerate, open-minded and informed). I really appreciate the standard of care at the (Ampur) hospital in Nathon and the low cost of it. And I worship the overall cost of living in Thailand - I'd be renting a one-room bedsit back in England.

And then the balance happens. It's like two lovers who make out a list of good and bad points about each other. There are a hundred things they don't like and only a handful they do like. But they stay together because all the negative things are vastly outweighed by the three or four good bits. And that's me and Samui.

And that's why I'm still here after 13 years!

R

Shame there's two topics - what like and what not like! To me they are sides of the same coin. And it's more a question of sadness than 'not liking'.

What makes me sad are the Thai people on Samui. And that holds true for all other places where there are a lot of tourists.

The local-born Thais have become either as cunning as foxes to squeeze money out of visitors (ie - any farang here) or they remain impassive and remote on the assumption that there is no substance to this changing sea of white faces.

The Thais that have come here to work (that's the vast majority of Thais on Samui) aren't representative at all of the Thai nation. These nomadic Thais have adopted a veneer of pleasant civility and hold themselves back with passive aggression, burying their responses and interaction.

But get away to Nakhorn Sri Thammarat, or Chiang Rai - any town or city where there are few tourists and the whole Thai experience changes. The 'natural' Thai person is shy, polite and friendly, curious and light hearted and with a heart as as big as a mountain. They genuinely and shyly want to know more about 'farangs' - about where they live, what their house and car is like, about what it's like living in XXX or XXX and, of course, that great common denominator - what football team they support. They are delighted when they discover you can speak (some of!) their language. They'll want to take you back to meet their family and even ask you to stay with them, and all with no thought at all of screwing you for money in any way. (Although as the honoured guest you may well be expected to pay the lion's share of a meal out or when it comes to the drinks bill - but they would do that with their own kind, anyway.) Thai folks away from the degrading (I use that word literally) swamp of a tourist trap are the most delightful people I've ever met in my 60 years.

Sadly, on Samui, we see little of this. AND YES - of course there are exceptions here - I've met lots of lovely Thai people around Samui. But this is speaking about people en mass and, as such, the way that most Thai people are on Samui makes me sad. They are so much more lovely in their natural habitat!

R

You see this Thailand's great sadness (and weakness) they just are so arrogant. They firmly believe they do it 'best' and don't need assistance - and, of course, are frightened what a truly free and fair election - monitored - would reveal. If there is nothing to hide - what's the problem?

Precisely.

An emerging nation works in exactly the same way as an idiot. Both are aware they they exist. Both think they are smart. But an idiot, by definition is just too stupid to realise that he's not smart. Likewise this insular and plutocratic country proudly regards itself as the Einstein of the known universe.

Which is saying very little as compared to their known universe - Laos, Myanmar, Kampuchea, then the Thai nation is assuredly superior - in the same way that grade 4 schoolchildren are superior to kids in grade 3.

Thailand is a nation of children who are approaching the end of their elementary ('primary' in the UK) schooling. They are top dogs, cock of the walk, the big boys and smarter, bigger and untouchable on their own playground and with legions of smaller kids looking up to them. But can you remember what it was like when you went up to high school? To go from being the total bees knees to being the smallest and most stupid frog in the pond? Being laughed at or totally ignored? Feeling panicked, inadequate, lost and stupid out in the gigantic and scary playground with thousands of others and with you being little and lost, bottom of the pile?

Three hundred years ago Siam segregated the foreigners for very different reasons: they'd never seen any before and were suspicious. Today they alienate foreigners and pretend that farangs are unimportant and disposable because of Thailand's fear of them. In the last few decades the Thai nation has become the oldest kids on it's own elementary playground - the arrogant and cocky big boys - and that's just how they like it. They've now seen over the fence into the gigantic playground where the rest of the world has its high school and it scares the sh*t out of them. They don't want to change. Their nationalistic lips are trembling with panicky tears at the thought of being forced to leave Grade School and go off to a place where they are half the size of everyone else, physically, emotionally and intellectually and technologically.

And so they strut and flap from the security of their little school playground trying to shoo away the curious big boys on the other side of the fence, brave enough where they stand to shout insults and desperate enough to cling for their life to the playground fence, in the sheer dread that it might be collapsing.

The divide will collapse; it has to. Eventually. And the sad thing is that when it eventually does then those who are stupid, too stupid to realise how stupid they actually are, and thoughtlessly, instinctively, believe they are smart, will find an even bigger gap to bridge and with even bigger and smarter boys with far scarier toys than there used to be.

Which is why Thailand clings for grim death to what it has and knows, often appearing ridiculous to the rest of the world - and bleats about the sanctity of 'culture' and how precious it is. They are floundering on the edge of the modern world (which is oozing in torrents into their culture) but they are scared stiff to embrace it.

R

To support my points:

Vont:

Thai people are special, Thailand is special, we are special people.

Thai people are very fortunate to have a King who is like our father, and a Queen who is like our mother.

Our King and Queen are the greatest royal couple in the whole wide world.

We, the Thai people, are the greatest in the world also.

In our water, there are abundancy of fish and in our field, there are golden rice paddies.

There is no other country on this earth that can compare with our beloved Thailand.

We love our King and Queen, we love our Country and we love our religion;

Appropriate:

The Nakhon Rathchasima Rajabhat Institute, which monitors poll fraud in Thailand, estimates that candidates give a total of 20 billion baht (US$460 million) to voters in the 2001 legislative elections.

Chiangmaifun:

You see this Thailand's great sadness (and weakness) they just are so arrogant. They firmly believe they do it 'best' and don't need assistance - and, of course, are frightened what a truly free and fair election - monitored - would reveal. If there is nothing to hide - what's the problem?

TimeBandit2:

Though then it would have more brains than Sutep - who is apparently in a full "I'm more dumber than you" battle with the Peua Thai.

Truethailand:

They just dont want the outside world knowing what sh1t they are up to. Somebody must tell Mr Suthep...its too late because a lot of farangs know exactly whats happening in this 'Myanmar with paint'. Maybe thats why he detests us because we come on forums like this and tell him what a fool he really looks, to the outside world

Obercommando:

It's just the typical confused Thai identity. They want to be like us but are taught to hate and fear us as the same time.

Wlcart:

No surprise here. In my experience living in Thailand, Thai's do not care much for being challenged, observed or accounted. They basically fear others witnessing them failing in any sort of way. They see observable failing as demonstration of weakness and they lack the true confidence needed to show imperfections. Ask a Thai person any question they do not know the answer and watch them feel uncomfortable and nervous.

Pi Sek:

In my honest opinion, Thailand has never held a truly democratic "free and fair" election. For starters, the education levels traditionally mean that a lot of Thais don't actually know what a politician is or what they do.

Fma:

Spoken like a representative from an emotionally very unsecure nation.

ChiangMaiFun:

it is true that Thais are vastly arrogant actually - and hate just about anyone who is not one of 'them' and they think they are better at everything - but if you view them as 12 year olds (for the majority) then you can live here quite well

H5kaf:

Thailand is the centre of the universe and Thais are the chosen ones!!!!!!!http://static.thaivisa.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gifhttp://static.thaivi...ult/biggrin.gif

You see this Thailand's great sadness (and weakness) they just are so arrogant. They firmly believe they do it 'best' and don't need assistance - and, of course, are frightened what a truly free and fair election - monitored - would reveal. If there is nothing to hide - what's the problem?

Precisely.

An emerging nation works in exactly the same way as an idiot. Both are aware they they exist. Both think they are smart. But an idiot, by definition is just too stupid to realise that he's not smart. Likewise this insular and plutocratic country proudly regards itself as the Einstein of the known universe.

Which is saying very little as compared to their known universe - Laos, Myanmar, Kampuchea, then the Thai nation is assuredly superior - in the same way that grade 4 schoolchildren are superior to kids in grade 3.

Thailand is a nation of children who are approaching the end of their elementary ('primary' in the UK) schooling. They are top dogs, cock of the walk, the big boys and smarter, bigger and untouchable on their own playground and with legions of smaller kids looking up to them. But can you remember what it was like when you went up to high school? To go from being the total bees knees to being the smallest and most stupid frog in the pond? Being laughed at or totally ignored? Feeling panicked, inadequate, lost and stupid out in the gigantic and scary playground with thousands of others and with you being little and lost, bottom of the pile?

Three hundred years ago Siam segregated the foreigners for very different reasons: they'd never seen any before and were suspicious. Today they alienate foreigners and pretend that farangs are unimportant and disposable because of Thailand's fear of them. In the last few decades the Thai nation has become the oldest kids on it's own elementary playground - the arrogant and cocky big boys - and that's just how they like it. They've now seen over the fence into the gigantic playground where the rest of the world has its high school and it scares the sh*t out of them. They don't want to change. Their nationalistic lips are trembling with panicky tears at the thought of being forced to leave Grade School and go off to a place where they are half the size of everyone else, physically, emotionally and intellectually and technologically.

And so they strut and flap from the security of their little school playground trying to shoo away the curious big boys on the other side of the fence, brave enough where they stand to shout insults and desperate enough to cling for their life to the playground fence, in the sheer dread that it might be collapsing.

The divide will collapse; it has to. Eventually. And the sad thing is that when it eventually does then those who are stupid, too stupid to realise how stupid they actually are, and thoughtlessly, instinctively, believe they are smart, will find an even bigger gap to bridge and with even bigger and smarter boys with far scarier toys than there used to be.

Which is why Thailand clings for grim death to what it has and knows, often appearing ridiculous to the rest of the world - and bleats about the sanctity of 'culture' and how precious it is. They are floundering on the edge of the modern world (which is oozing in torrents into their culture) but they are scared stiff to embrace it.

R

Reading some of my young Thai niece's schoolbooks it's no wonder they end up which such a twisted xenophobic view of reality. Taught (indoctrinated) from a very young age how special the Thai people are compared to everyone else.

Such a pity that such a beautiful country has such a high % of simpleminded fools populating it.