Gaccha

Ahhhh.... It's exactly where--upon reflection -- i thought it was...

There is a fascinating 5 or 6 storey open-fronted place near wat pho... It may also be a trendy cafe i have heard of.... Anyone know pf it? It is--exempting the temples-- the most beautiful site from the river at that location ....

... Not enough dramaturgical value. When that need arises i notice Draper opts for an Old Fashioned and Sterling takes a Vodka Gimlet.

Oldgit

Can you mark that on Googlemap. I can't work it out.... Which pier? Etc.....

I have been deeply influenced by Mad Men and want to take up smoking. But I also enjoy life. So I want to find herbal cigs. Where are they sold in Bangkok? I've certainly never seen them in 7/11....

There is some definite art/gentrification process going on in Pinklao.

There is now an open-fronted thai architecture dance studio with an attached coffee shop on the first junction across the river. It is cool because it is not trying to be painfully cool.

An Enquiry on Human Understanding by David Hume

Obviously one of the greatest and most important works of philosophy. It led to arousing Immanuel Kant from his 'dogmatic slumbers' and led to a war of ideas that has lasted over 200 years.

David Hume-- a Scotsman to the core-- is a very readable philosopher. Because by trade he was a history writer. Unlike Kant's Critique that was a response to this work, Hume uses concrete examples to get his points across. (Kant is of Scottish extraction but his German education appears to have knocked the Celtic flair out of him)

He has many points to make but my favourite is his display that we know nothing of cause and effect; that is, it is impossible to know the cause of anything. Despite this going against the commonsense view of 2013 man-on-the-street, a modified version of this is the accepted view of mainstream science. That is, the mainstream view in science is you do not and cannot know that the sun will rise tomorrow.

A work of astonishing beauty and brevity. A slightly modernised version is available here from a retired Cambridge don.

http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/he.html

The taste makes up for the shigella....

What street bar has these cocktails....?

Thank you.

Going to watch game of thrones I think... then sons of anarchy. .. Thanks all

Once the clunky dialogue of the first, and the bad acting of the second have led to a loss of interest.... Then move on to Mad Men.

I watched 4 seasons in 4 weeks. I felt it outperforms Shakespeare.

What about Veep--- the US version of The Thick of It....

Mad Men is presumably the greatest TV series in the history of TV.

Me, facing imminent bankruptcy and pouring over the statements for the wife's credit cards: "Are you aware that you spent over 35 thousand dollars last year in beauty, clothing and shoe shops?"

Her: "Don't you dare tell me how I can, or cannot spend my money? You're a control freak."

Me: "Are you aware that the monthly interest payments on your outstanding credit card debt is more than a thousand dollars."

Her: "That's none of your business."

Me: "Well it is my business because the debt you are racking up to buy worthless sh_t is sending us bankrupt."

Her: "Stop abusing me. Telling me how I can spend money is domestic violence. If you don't shut up I am going to the police to file charges."

The socio political fabric of Western society is now entirely disfunctional because it has been highjacked by the feminist narrative. Thailand must avoid adopting this narrative at ALL COST.

So you married a woman who spends your money and makes empty legal threats, and on the strength of this 'experience' you argue, what, that societies that tolerate high levels of sexual violence against women are better than those that don't? That's stupid. I mean, even leaving aside the morality of it (which I find abhorrent) , it doesn't even hang together as a coherent thought.

Actually--astonishingly-- a claim that the husband has criticized their spending habits has successfully been used as domestic abuse. Google it.

I think you're right that unacceptable thug behaviour gets punished harshly here. A thief will get a beating. A drunk driver killing someone will have a lynching mob after him. A tatooed troublemaker foreigner won't be able to bully his way around. All good. Where it isn't good is getting a bottle over your neck cause you talked to some girl without knowing she had a boyfriend. Jealousy is dangerous here.

I agree with that.

The danger of creating a loss of face is pretty lethal. I think you might even get by with a handshake in the UK....

I should point out I'm a Brit. I could easily spread my point to cover most western countries.

I am talking about seeing street violence. How or what can that do with my social circle....

I don't understand the points about drugs and gfs. I felt the point I was making was pretty clear.

'Platform", Michel Houellebecq

"I've lived so little that I tend to imagine I'm not going to die; it seems improbable that human existence can be reduced to so little; one imagines, in spite of oneself, that sooner or later something is bound to happen. A big mistake. A life can just as well be both empty and short. The days slip by indifferently, leaving neither trace nor memory; and then all of a sudden they stop."

The author is probably France's greatest living writer. And here he has written a book about a sex tourist travelling to Pattaya. That really should make it irresistable for ThaiVisa readers.

Houellebecq brilliantly describes the modern life. He is the literary successor to Marcuse's One Dimensional Man.

His style is called Depressive Realism, and I find his description of the Western life as entirly inauthentic and-- ironically-- the moment of sex with a prostitute as the only sincere and genuine moment of jouissance, as entirly convincing.

His writings superbly tie in with academic work on regular sex as a resource extraction mechanism (see Florida University's Baumeister) and the reversing of the normal view of a holiday as a 'staged authenticity'.

Simply superb.

"Platform is calculated to poke, prod, engorge, enrage and amuse the complacent reader of today. It’s dangerous in the way that literature is meant to be dangerous -- that is, it awakens neglected sensibilities." - Benjamin Anastas, The New York Observer

To understand the depth of his life philosphy have a read of: "THE SUICIDE OF THE WEST: The Novels Of Michel Houellebecq" by Alan Dent (just paste and google it)

Available at Kinokuniya Emporium.

I feel there is more criminal violence in Thailand than the UK, but I also feel I am less threatened by it and less vulnerable to it.

My theory is that the violence is more often than not instigated to reinforce breached social norms rather than as a social norm breach.

The UK, like all nation-states, is intensely jealous of its monopoly on violence. They become awfully bothered by citizen's justice and can be quite vengeful in any signs of violence as retribution.

I am sure Thailand would be the same if it could. But I feel there is an understanding of the weakness of the state and the more conservative normative forces in Thailand to keep a lid on the violence in the street.

Clearly, there is political violence (the numbers of politicians shot at around election time is astonishing) but for the man walking his dog on the street the violence is unlikely to be directed his way. This violence in Thailand is to punish unwritten norms.

I thought this as I watched a scooter driver beat up three teenage boys. They offered little resistance as he gave them each black eyes. I thought it was interesting that the police officer I grabbed when he spoke to the boys used a similar terminology to my imagined 1950s British police officer; not the "what was the number of the scooter?", or "What did the scooter rider look like?", but rather, "what were you scallywags up to?".

Despite the heavily bloodied faces it soon became clear among the four of them that they had it coming-- they had not got out of the way of the scooter driver when he was attempting to pass them on the pavement. So the norms of respecting elders, not getting in others' ways, and other norms seemed to take priority.

I have never been threatened by violence here, except by a 'roid rager Briton in Khon Kaen. It seems a preferable place for those who just get on with their lives.

I can also imagine quite a few of the tattoed hothead Brits feeling very upset at this sort of violence since it will be precisely them it is directed at. While in the UK, they could beat people up who dared to look at them, Thais do the chivalrous act of ganging up on the norm-breaching troublemaker and reminding him of the norms. Their upset is revealed in their claims of experiencing Thai cowardice; Thais bravely and instinctively gather together in fighting these giant Brit thugs through sheer numbers.

I have read many times of Brits getting unfaily beaten up, but I have only ever seen Brits get fairly beaten up,

Thoughts?

The old may look more needy than me. But i have been in agonising pain. I am not giving up a seat because somebody *looks* less fit. And i don't turn the evil eye on others who don't.

A labourer may have worked 18 hours hauling coals. He should not have to stand for an old lady who has foolishly caught the bus at rush hour despite having all the time in the World.

To show my lack of guilt--and to show the sedating effects of the powerful painkillers-- i always stare right at the person who expects my seat, so they know i have no guilt.

I never had an endoscopy to start with. The local clinic doctor just stuck me on the miracid.

I take the miracid once daily. For the initial 3 months i needed twice daily.

I went off it for 3 months as i felt it was making no difference . And the symptoms remained the same level of low discomfort. I then went back on it to try to knock this ulcer on the head. And 2 months later it seems to have worked. I have had no pain for 3 weeks.

I have drunk not a drop of alcohol for these last 11 months after the first false start ended after i drank a glass of vodka.

I have not needed the NSAIDS but i might sometimes in the future.

Another question, if i was to need the NSAIDS should i preemptively take the miracid.

Thank you and thank you in advance.

So the hotel conceded to your request. In Japan, they would have apologised effusively but ultimately made you pay.

Sheryl & friends ,

1 year and 3 months after i developed a stomach ulcer, after 2 false starts, it seems to have cured.

I am still taking the Miracid. Can i now slowly wean myself off it ( it has famously awful side-effects) or do i keep taking it for say another month?

To what extent is my stomach recovered (or what can be inferred) from the pain ceasing? Can i, after ending the medicine, start to drink my beloved red wine? Or is my stomach in a lifetime vulnerable state ( the ulcer is NSAID type).

Thank you in advance.

I've heard the words ccombined as "kha-dtut".

It was clearly a one-off that evoked laughter. But it was immediately understood. It was fired at a effeminate man who as a one-off was dressed as a cute girl.

or Kosovo may satisfy you.

At least, there is no VISA problem at all.

Thai Passport holders for stays up to 90 days, NO Visa required.

In Europe, only Russia allows that also. (30 days)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_Thai_citizens

Interesting.

When i went it was a UN mandate. UNKFOR?

I recommend bus to Albania over the dangerous bandit- country mountain passes.

Bittorrent is your friend.

Is there now a system of national segregation.

My 90 days with the bar code took about 20 seconds to be processed. But vast numbers of Indians & Chinese were patiently waiting for their documents to be processed. This was at Chaeng Wattana in December.

To answer your question you need to delve into the notion of 'holiday-ness'.

A primary concern for tourists is authenticity. They seek the 'real'. "See the real Thailand!". But their very presence as the transactional tourist leads to failure.

There is only one solution & the one i adopt. I travel to war zones for my holidays and live my life in holiday zones.

I recommend-- and I'm not joking-- Algeria, Northern Iraq or Eastern Afghanistan. If you are risk averse then the west bank or Kosovo may satisfy you.

When i sat in the compound of the arab (who looked like he'd just fallen out of the Lawrence of Arabia movie) with tea in hand and spoke of the tribe's difficulties .... Without any suggestion of touristic purchase of the experience..... Well, that sir, is the only worthwhile holiday.