thailien8

"Baning it is one thing, enforcing the ban is another.

Smoking in enclosed restaurants is supposed to be banned but diners still have their eating comforts infringed upon by irresponsible smokers feeding their habit. "

Yes, the enforcement of the smoking ban in air-con restaurants seems to gradually becoming less effective, not that this is any surprise. My recent experience at Big Bull restaurant on Sukh. 4 is typical of several. When I entered mid-afternoon, the place was empty and two aircons were on and cooling. Before I sat down, I noticed ashtrays on every table. I picked one up and asked if smoking was allowed. The waiter was so sure that I wanted to smoke that he was delighted to inform me that Yes Indeed, I could smoke. It wasn't easy to convince him that No Indeed I did not want to smoke. When I went on to remind him that the Thai government has outlawed smoking in such places, his delight turned to hostility. I made sure he realized why his restaurant had just lost a customer, permanently.

Quotes from two stories in Bkk. Post (12/27/05) can serve to highlight the contrast between the big government show, and the lack of substance of real help.

Phangnga _ Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday laid the foundation stone of the tsunami memorial in a national park in the Khao Lak area, amid concerns over the use of such a sensitive area without an environmental impact assessment (EIA) study having been conducted. Over a thousand VIP guests, including diplomats and tsunami victims' families, were invited by the government to attend the ceremony.

The stone is made from fossilised seashells taken from Krabi. It marks the beginning of the 1.5-billion-baht project to commemorate last year's Dec 26 disaster, which claimed 5,395 lives in Thailand and left over 2,940 unaccounted for.

The first anniversary of the Dec 26 tsunami allowed villagers in Ban Nam Khem to not only air their sorrow, but also complain about the slowness of state assistance. The Takua Pa district village was the hardest hit in the southern province of Phangnga where the death toll was 4,225.

Survivors and foreign visitors yesterday gathered in a local tsunami memorial park to perform religious rites for the dead.

Today, the family sells vegetables for a living because their fishing boat was lost in the waves. ``The assistance fund that the government promised has not reached us at all,'' Ms Buaphan said.

Thoom Klatalay, 32, whose family lost their fishing boat, said what mattered was not only boats, but also children's education.

``We have been taken advantage of because we can't read. We must believe whatever they say. The state said it would give us 60,000 baht for the lost fishing boat, but we got only 30,000 baht. I don't know which wave wiped away the rest of the money,'' she said in tears.

When you consider that the budget for the tsunami memorial is 1,500,000,000 baht, the budget for the travel and accomodation of guests and VIPs at the big show is about 300,000,000 baht, and with 5,000 police and soldiers for security and crowd control plus off-budget expenses , the government is forking out roughly 2 billion baht of taxpayers' money on what is essentially a show.

What if this money had instead been put into real reconstruction of what was lost? To take the example of Thaksin's "generous" gifts to a few taxi drivers in Bkk. of 10 "houses" at 150,000 baht each; my calculator tells me that the 2 billion spent on show could have paid for over 13,000 new houses for tsunami victims.

Iron Butterfly on the campus of U. of North Carolina, 1970. Memorable even tho, or maybe because, I was so stoned. The drum solo on In-a-Gadda-da-Vida went on forever. To my surprise, IB showed up in Palo Alto CA at a local dance club in 1984, on some kind of reunion tour. So I went to hear them again--not so memorable, not so stoned.

Jusmag is, I think, Joint U.S. Military Advisory Group, and you probably need a connection to get in, but a phone call couldn't hurt. The manager of The Office bar on Sukh. soi 33 said he would try with his satellite, and suggested that Silver Dollar in Washington Square might show it.

Not denying the need for blood, and I will try to give again at Red Cross in Bkk., but then why did I read this on page 2A of The Nation on December 18, in the article headed, "Teachers protest in Chiang Mai"?

"While many staged protests at the City Hall with speeches, music and poetry, some representatives went to Wat Dab Pai in Muang Chiang Mai, and 64 others went to donate blood at Maharat Hospital but were turned away by provincial Red Cross officials."

Why were 64 blood donors turned away? Is this the kind of treatment teachers can expect from provincial officials under Toxin's plan to transfer education authority (and money) to the local guys?

Nothing sure here, but a call to Jusmag (very near corner South Sathorn and Rama IV) might help. I've watched American sports there on some kind of special feed. Bars like Lewinsky's in Pattaya get a lot of sports. Would American embassy know anything? How about a 5-star hotel? BTW, if the Rose Bowl game starts at 8 pm. in California, that would make it 11 pm. New York time, which should translate to 11 am. the next morning, Thailand time, right?

All very true about Wireless Road, but perhaps we grizzled Bkk. veterans sometimes forget what it's like for newcomers. I hope that anna can pronounce Witthayu close enough to the Thai way so that a taxi driver can understand her. Hopefully she will not say "Witha-you" "Wit-hay-you" or even the correct sounds but the wrong tones, all of which will probably result in the blank look of non-comprehension on the poor driver's face, and the familiar frustration on the part of the farang. Classic examples of tone problems are "NA-nuh", as a farang would say the woman's name, rather than "NA-NA"; and "PAT-tee-uh" "PADdy-uh" or even "Puh-TIE-uh" rather than "Puh-ta-YAH". So what about Wireless Road? Well, I would render the Thai sounds like this: "WIH-TUH-YOU". The tones of all three syllables are high, so a farang doesn't have to worry about that problem. If you are not understood at first, try the English version. Lots of taxi drivers can handle English place names better than a farang's attempt to pronounce Thai.

Speaking of motor vehicles "spewing out huge black clouds of death gasses to anyone closeby" Thailand is Number One in production of such vehicles -- our beloved tuk-tuks.

May Khunying Jaruwan return to her rightful place as Auditor of the Realm. As I recall, she was kicked out of office, against HM the King's wishes, just when she was making some real inroads against the huge corruption scams in the new airport's construction. She was doing her job too well. Some of the scammers felt themselves to actually be in danger of being discovered and (horror of horrors) punished. Oh nooooo, this could not happen!!! She seems to still be ready, willing and quite able to carry out Toxin's false pledge to stop corruption, even without receipts.

Police officers’ regular shifts end at 7-8pm, he said, but they would not be allowed to go home until traffic in their areas flowed freely.

Wow, that could make for some LOOOOOOONG evenings....

The Nation newspaper gained my great admiration back in 1992 when they unflinchingly covered the tragedy of Suchinda's short-lived military dictatorship that resulted in the Black May massacres. HM the King saved Thailand by calling Suchinda on the carpet before him, along with Chamlong. HM talked sense into Suchinda in private rather more forcefully that day than he just did publically to Thaksin. Suchinda resigned and Anand was brought in to hold the government together.

Thankfully, His Majesty, Anand and The Nation are all still with us in this latest test of Thai democracy. Those of us who have been loyal fans of The Nation, over the 13 years since Suchinda was forced to leave, will I hope, join me in the editors' latest political optimism. The Nation's editorials, opinion essays and letters have been, for me at least, a daily source of hope, information and inspiration. Since Thaksin's advent and subsequent strangulation of the media, including Bangkok Post, The Nation seems now to be the only uncensored mass media source of news and information left in Thailand.

The Nation's analysis quoted above is incredibly hopeful--almost too good to be true. I really, really want to believe that Thaksin's imminent demise is possible. Thailand desperately needs a force for democracy like Abhisit. Surely there is someone who will stand up for honesty, the moral tenets of Buddhism, the 1997 constitution, and the rule of law. Surely not everyone in Thailand is out only to enrich himself, family, business and friends--at the expense of the rest of us. Other posters have warned about being careful what one wishes for. True enough. Even Thaksin's kleptocracy is probably preferable to a military dictatorship like in Burma, or even under Suchinda. Still, I would be happy to give life after Thaksin a go. My only problem with The Nation's optimism is historical precedent. Dictators of any kind find it really hard to let go and, given half a chance, tend to hang on for dear life; for example, Stalin (31 years), Suharto (31 years), Lee Kuan Yew (31 years), Mao Zedong (27 years), Mahathir Mohammed (22 years), Ne Win (26 years) and now Than Shwe (13 years and counting) in poor Burma, Hun Sen (20 years and counting). I could of course go on, but 'nuff said. Let's hope Thaksin does not follow in their footsteps, but I'll believe his political end when I see it.

Friday afternoon, opening day, was the best beautiful-people watching opportunity I've seen in over ten years in Bangkok.

If you're stuck in Bkk., Villa Market, on ground floor of Ploenchit Center near Sukhumvit soi 2, has a large wine selection, and always features many buy one bottle (or two) and get one free specials. With these, I usually end up paying less than 500 baht a bottle.

The foam earplugs are helpful and they are easily available in many stores in Thailand. I prefer the wax earplugs which can be molded into any shape and really firmly worked into the ears. These used to be sold in Thailand (Boots) but have not been stocked in the last few years. So when I go back to America, I always buy a large supply of the wax plugs (Mack's Pillow Soft Earplugs are my favorites.) I have to buy a lot since a couple friends who are stuck in Bkk. want some too.

"The Prime Minister delivered a special speech on poverty eradication and grass-roots economic development at the conference, which was held in Shangri-La Hotel this morning. The conference is being held today to tomorrow. Many experts and academics from over 30 countries participated in this event, to exchange their ideas and experiences...."

Maybe if the international experts and academics had moved out of their aerie in Shangri-La and held this conference in Klong Toey, they might have been less inclined to believe Toxin's feel-goodisms.

If you need translation of Rinrada's post, Siam Paragon will have its opening day Friday Dec. 9, which should have lots of entertaining weirdness. I will be there for sure. Take Skytrain to Siam station and look north. There it is, and yes it is big. You can't miss it. Then you might want to take Skytrain one or two stops south on Silom line to Lumpini Park to balance shopping with political awareness and give Sondhi some support as he battles with the forces of Toxic dictatorship.

Very interesting thread for all of us who live in this country where one can never live in a place where there are no "security" guards. So we have to deal with those guys. I am now living in a condo building. There are three security guys out front. I have never asked them to do anything for me or caused them any problem and have never brought any girl back. Christmas is coming soon. How much should I tip them? In the office are two nice women. I pay my rent to them and exchange brief pleasantries. Same question--what do you think is an appropriate end-of-year tip? I want to do the right thing and have them on my side so I can continue living here, but not get involved in any dramas.

Image is everything, never mind reality.

The few high-income jet-setters might come here once. The many working stiffs who fall in love with the Thai people will come again and again. Who do you think will end up forking over more money to Thailand's economy?

Or maybe try interscholastic sports to channel the exuberance of youth into non-lethal channels. Is the popularity of football inThailand confined to watching on TV and gambling?

You'll find these lovely pics on all cigarette pakcs in Thailand, they are imposed as part of the gov's anti-smoking campaign.

It's supposed to make people feel bad about smoking.

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I can't believe the government would/could control pictures going on a pack of smokes?

Although I can't think of a reason that a tobacco company would put that image on their cigs.

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Yes, the horrible pictures of what can and probably will happen to you if you keep on smoking cigarettes are supposed to make you feel bad about turning yourself into a nicotine ingesting machine. Don't you have anything better to do with your life, or your money? I'm really curious about how this incredibly powerful drug affects the brains of you smokers. When you pull out your pack of cancer sticks, do you avoid looking at the picture? Do you really feel good about what you are doing to yourself?? Does the "high" you get from nicotine really compensate for the damage cigarettes are doing to your body, and your wallet?

Thais seem to have a sixth sense that tells them when a faster walker is coming up from behind that allows them to veer just enough as they walk slowly along to block the way. It seems to be a Thai art form to create narrow ways where one must squeeze through, by putting anything you can think of--potted plants, signs, motorcycles, noodle stands, phone booths, campaign posters, beggars with drugged, sleeeping children, etc.--in the way. Even the dogs are good at this. That's why I walk out of necessity on the city sidewalks, and for pleasure and exercise in parks.

Hooray!! Money talks.... Put enough tax on the stinking death sticks and more people will realize that it really is possible to quit. This makes more sense than hiding them from view in retail outlets. Smokers, just think of all the extra money you will have when you stop sending your baht up in smoke to enrich the tobacco companies.

The sticks are still much cheaoer than those on sale in western countries.

Many fascinating walks possible in Bkk. and environs. Walking in Chinatown is a sure way to get lost as there is so much to see in the crooked alleys, but a tuktuk can rescue you.

I live near Queen Sirikit Convention Center, so I often walk in the adjacent park, and often on into Tobacco Monopoly on my way to Sukh. soi 4.

The Bangkachao district, a peninsula formed by the loop of Chao Phraya River, is a different kind of walk. Take the #72 bus to its terminus at Wat Klongtoey Pier, just off Rama 3 Rd., catch the ferry across the river and you will be in a lovely park. This area of Bkk. is rural enough to have bicycle rickshaws.

Not far from Bkk., in Samut Prakan, is Ancient City, or Muang Borarn in Thai. This lovely, uncrowded historical park is well worth a visit and will delight any walker.

Wow, a New Year's party at the new airport, ready or not? Tho still under consideration, if it is indeed "magnificent enough to promote the airport" I wanna be there! Sounds like enough free food and drink to hold me until the next pig dies on someone's birthday at a bar beer in Pattaya. Thank you, Khun "SOMCHAI'.