Ned

Looks like a bit of a bloodbath coming up down south eh? Surprising the number of villagers up here you reckon the govt ought to give the whole area back to the Malays. I suppose most of the area is owned by influential people in Bangkok and as long as they get some compensation they'll be happy. After all the three potentially well off provinces are not the poorest in the country for nothing. The joint has been sucked dry for a long time now and most of the profits don't end up in local hands anyway. The southerners have got to somehow put a figure on the table and give the present owners (Bkk) a sniff of cash and there'll be an amicable solution to all this nonsense.

Sorry Chownah but the Nation article referred specifically to pesticide contamination and even mentioned those veges worst affected. The problem of unhygienic food handling and processing were also mentioned.

According to an article in yesterday's Nation more than 1,600 Chiang Mai residents were tested for toxins in the blood and 95% were found to have dangerously high concentrations. What toxins exactly wasn't mentioned but more than likely herbicides and heavy metals. Anyone feel like a blood test? I wonder how many years it takes staying here to build up to a typical Thai person's blood toxin level?

In the same article it was stated that nearly all pork sold contains high levels of the salmonella virus as a result of the lax slaughtering process where faeces and meat are allowed to come in contact.

Thailand offering help to Turkey. Give me a break! Help to do what? Cover up the real situation and do basically nothing?! That's been the Thai response.

According to the BBC this morning (for what it's worth) Turkish poultry farmers have already substantially culled all their flocks.....even those birds in areas as yet with no reported cases of bird flu. Not only that but the Turkish government has paid out compensation to those farmers. One farmer interviewed said that he was glad to cull his flock in the interests of future safety. Perhaps the govt made him an offer too good to refuse, more than what he could have sold his birds on the market.....who knows eh.

I've lived in a northern village for a few years and I know that in the event of birds dying mysteriously no villager will risk reporting it for fear of having somebody come along and order him to cull his remaining chickens. They know better than to trust the authorities to hand over money later in the event of a cull.

Nobody here appears to show any concern whatsoever about the H5N1 threat.

Now when I'm driving my car I actually want to see motorcyclists get smashed. No respect for 'em. What sort of person have I become?

Thank you BambinA for your remarkable reply to my request.

I've been eating a lot of ma gor lately in Chiang Mai and would like to know exactly what I've been putting into my system. I wonder if there is an English word for these nuts or even better, what their Latin name is.

If anyone out there has a good Thai/English botanical dictionary I'd be most grateful. Been to quite a few bookstores put have come up with a blank.

Cheers

Real hatred down there. Has been for several hundred years amongst some of the Malays of Pattani ever since the kings of Ayutthaya launched raid after raid by sea and land to subjugate their people. Now it's revenge gone crazy and murder being carried out by both sides. Who says the marines who were executed hadn't opened fire on the tea shop? If so, how many Malays had this pair previously murdered? You ought to know how the Thai authorities deal with dissent. They smash skulls with rifle butts and jump on their heads. That's all they know. A brutal murderous element is running the show on both sides in the conflict.

You people who support Thaksin's war on drugs are talking like the war brought about some sort of victory. The country's still awash with hard drugs, more expensive than before that' true....so greater the need to steal. HIV is huge.

Glue sniffers , "Come on down and join the growing club". Alcohol sales are booming so let's get flattened, drive home and hammer the wife.

I'm off now for a few cold ones now meself. .....and I'm not talking chilled tubes of glue.

Getting away with corruption and making cash is "geng" and carries with it a certain type of respect. It reflects power and influence, not to be tangled with if you know what's good for you and your extended family. It' s an essential element of 'Thainess.' It incorporates fear of violence which anyone who knows anything about this country knows is never ever far below the surface.

I'm with The Moog. Kloster actually smells and tastes good. Hops and barley and not as sugary as all the others. With those others I drink with ice to cut down the sweetness.

Extension due first week in Dec. Wondering if I can do it first week of Nov.....or even earlier.

Cheers

Thanks for the replies everyone. Plenty of info there to think about.

Thanks for the info folks. And by the way Tayto, if you don't want to support the junta in Rangoon what are you doing in Thailand , a country known for its business dealings and moral support for the military govt there? Unless you don't mind being called a hypocrite then you ought to think about leaving Thailand and stop propping up the business interests here who are exploiting their relationships with the Burmese junta to make handsome profits. At least I know that when I go to Rangoon and buy a coffee and some fried tofu from a street vendor that my money is likely to stay (in part at least) in that person's hands. Doesn't help to bring down the junta I know but........

I'm anticipating a lot more blackouts in the future and am thinking of getting myself a small generator, big enough to run a fridge, air con, TV, and a few lights. A shower heater too.

Has anyone out there installed one lately? I was wondering what size I'd need and how much it'd cost me.

Thanks

I'm thinking of going down to Rangoon for a few days later this month on a package holiday.......4 nights/ 5 days.

Back in 1975 I spent the maximum allowed one week in the country and I can remember that back then you had to cash a certain amount of foreign currency when you went into the country at the official rate and they issued a form which you had to have stamped whenever you exchanged more funds later. Everybody cashed the minimum amount of course, and cashed in on the black market of at least five times higher.

Is this the same system that's in place now? Is there a daily requirement to cash foreign exchange instead.....or some other system?

Your info would be much appreciated.

Cheers

It's what sort of company you're keeping that matters the most I reckon. I grew up on the coast in Sydney and had a great time growing up but when i go back now every year for a month I'm always glad to get out of the joint. Just find the place dull and predictable. As the song goes: "I love the country but i can't stand the scene."......Leonard Cohen. Problem is all the old mates are all so domesticated nowadays. Doesn't help either that even close to the centre of town walking the streets is like walking through a ghost town. Took my Thai girlfriend down there and she wanted to know what happened to everyone. Told her that most people were inside watching TV with a bottle in hand........a bit like Saraburioz, the guy who set this thing going and reckoned Thailand was boring. People get bored I suppose when they reckon they ought to be doing something else. Think we all go through that from time to time eh?.....no matter where we are. I just to have to go back to oz for a short time every year to realise that Thailand's the place to be right now.

"The waste will be sent to waste disposal operators" ......who will do what do what?

I tell you what: dump it into the nearest river or forest, that's what! Okay, maybe not in the beginning but with costs rising they'll be tempted to do it on the cheap. Remember all that hospital waste which was dumped in the Bangkok canals?

According to today's Nation the govt is considering terminating cable TV services at midnight to save electricity. They can't be serious .....can they?

A lot of young people were killed at Tak Bai and the spiral of revenge has a long way to play out. Luckily for us that so far all the violence is localised and hasn't spread.

T he way it's heading there won't be much left of this battered country to screw. ....except the women of course who still do attract the lion's share of the tourists anyhow.

Yeah, that's what the people have to do....help themselves......just like the PM and his cronies have been doing for years ie helping themselves. Concerned Thais would call it "Kin muang" (literally "eating the country" or as they would put it " sucking the country dry".) Mai pen rai na.

As if they'd tell anyone there was a capital outflow going on anyway. I'm surprised that the latest current account and trade deficit figures were allowed to be published. So much easier to quote the PM: "Mai mii panhaa." .....Nothing to worry about.

I think Khun Saowalak is right. Chiang Mai is losing its charm and is getting a reputation as a crowded and polluted place. It hasn't happened overnight , has it? Towns like Nan, Phrae and Leoi for example don't have the facilities or attractions to attract large numbers of tourists either and once pleasant destinations like Chiang Saen in Chiang Rai are being turned into concrete eyesores.

As long as there are thai women there will be some tourists, though perhaps not many up here in the spoilt north. Still a good place to live though.

What's all this nonsense about the drought going to break mid May. Try mid July if you're lucky......and then only enough to wet the earth. This is no ordinary drought this year boys. We're looking at almost no rain until September at the earliest. This land's a gonna burn and implode. The peasants will evacuate the land in their millions and chaos will rein. The PM and his family and cronies will head off to their ancestral land of China.