Johpa

There are still a few old style Thai cantinas north of Mae Jo University with better looking and better dressed women, better food, and better entertainment.

The area around Mae Ann has become a rather high rent region. But now that the dirt road behind Wat Mae Ann that connects Tambon Huai Sai with Tambon Mae Raem has been improved, ask around if any neighbors have connections within the neighboring tambon which remains a slightly lower rent district. Some of your neighbors might have connections with the Karen village of Baan Ikha, only 15 minutes from Mae Ann, and where there is significant unemployment. If you don't speak any Thai and need an English speaking maid then you will probably need to look in the city.

When "poor" people have a car, a computer, a TV and plenty of food, does it really matter that some people have much more because of hard work or the hard work of their parents?

I have never been wealthy, but I have always been pretty happy with what I have been able to accomplish in the US with my own efforts.

Except that many really poor people in the US, those folks most people in the US (or Thailand) do not wish to see or even acknowledge, do not have a car (which often is used as housing by the poor as a mobile slum), nor a computer and instead use the computers at the public libraries to check e-mail. And hey, old TVs are free off of Craig's List in any major US city. Now I too have never been wealthy and work ridiculously silly hours just to stay in the ranks of the lower middle class, yet both remain happy and remain concerned and willing to help in my own small way the less fortunate and remained committed to the long lost ideals of a social democracy lost after WWII to the grifter corporatocracy.

But back to the OP, one can not, and should not, compare the backwater and corrupted by oil money State of Texas and the sh**hole city of Houston with the US in general: there are far too many better places to live although finding employment is now a bitch anywhere apart for the twitter brained soulless IT folks.

On a lighter tone, fortunately here at TV we have a nice bunch of mods who (try to) keep our cyberworld clean. Not an easy job. I couldn't do it, my boiling point is a bit too low.

Certainly the need for mods has devolved TV into a lighter tone with a focus in many sub-forums on the lighter side of life in Thailand. Even the far heavier tone New Mandala blog screens posts. It is the price of maintaining civility and interest in these types of discussion forums as the few of us who remember the demise of the old soc.culture.thai (SCT) Usenet group can attest to, why even the near demise of the entire un-moderated Usenet world for that matter. But the libel issues that originated in SCT and made it to the Queens Court in London back in 1999 have yet to be fully resolved in the various countries around the globe. The new social media networks will just add more confusion to the mix and time will tell whether they will disappear as did most of Usenet or become moderated or regulated as did many of the discussion forums such as TV in response to the intolerable high noise content of the Usenet groups. But since the social media networks are private and for profit ventures, I am sure the shareholders will tolerate a great deal of collateral damage to individuals before they face the wrath of the twitter brains in response to moderation or regulation of any kind. Some people will pay a high price indeed.

But to me, anyone who is going to roast their own coffee by trial and error might as well go down to the local market and buy a raw fish. Cut it up and put it on top of some left over cold rice. Much cheaper than going out for fancy sushi. And so simple!

It is through trial and error that we learn. Whether it be roasting our own coffee or going out and buying different pre-roasted brands and then declaring your personal favorite as the "perfect" roast, or even buying fresh fish and learning how to make sushi, it is all by trial and error. In the case of sushi, one should learn rather quickly that using left over cold rice is an error, but your mileage may vary.

I thought investors had long targeted Patong beach, second only to Pattaya, as a tuna fishing hub.

One or more babies shoot up from each tree.. after the main tree has given up its bananas then you have to cut it down.. The main truck rots down after time about a year, but not the leaves they take a lot longer, was forever cutting them up and putting in rubbish bags.

Once you decide to harvest the bunch you should cut down the remaining stalk with a machete while the stalk is still solid and easily sliced. This will allow more sunlight to hit the daughter plants.

If you find a healthy banana tree (it is actually more closely related to grasses than trees) you can always cut off and replant one of the daughter stalks, which should be at least 1/2 meter tall, with a tool that looks like a very long chisel, a long bar with a flattened end. Just use the tool to sever the connection between the root balls and then just push the smaller daughter stalk apart and replant the daughter plant into a hole.

To roast beans perfectly and consistently is not as easy as some try to tell you.

There is no perfect "roast" as coffee is such a subjective and acquired taste. However consistency is another matter and for those who need consistency then they should just go out and purchase a commercial brand or invest in some fancy roaster that will give the same results each time for any given amount of beans. But hey, I don't need consistency, I just want the drug inside the bean cursing through my veins in the AM and I am just as happy with Nescafe as I am with my occasional home roast in the wok. I do appreciate the quality difference, but I don't need the better quality every morning just as I don't need to drink true Belgian Trappist ale every hot summer day.

The rains in July and August tend to be localized thundershowers brought along by the summer monsoon rather than the more constant rains in September and October which are brought in by the large frontal systems and typhoons from the China sea. So expect some rains and some delays, but nothing to prevent you from having some great rides. Go over to the gt-rider boards to get more info, and pick up one of the gt-rider maps once you arrive in CNX.

Truth may be somewhere in the middle..

Not really. When I am in-country and the locals are harvesting coffee beans I am able to purchase them for a pittance, actually the same price the folks in the wholesale market purchased them from the small growers. And it is indeed that easy to roast beans in a wok over a low heat. I have been doing that for the past 20 years with maybe only one or two failed batches. Alas, coffee has become a more commercialized product than in the past and the plants given out by the government to many folks in the Chiang Mai hill years ago as a means to supplement their income have not been replaced. Too bad, because there is nothing like roasting coffee beans that were harvested only days before off the plant and then brewing them one morning soon after.

T'is the season for Farang owned establishments to be pressured by the BIB. They know that it is preferable to pay off the police rather than be closed on New Years eve. This has been going on for the entire 30 years of my observations of the local scene.

The least we can all do is boycott Pai.

Oh please, it is the same police force that is paid off and looks the other way so as to allow the unfettered smoking of certain organic substances that is the hallmark of life in Pai. It is the drug money that allows this local small town police force to pay off their superiors and thus to avoid prosecution.

And I am glad to see that someone in the field of journalism still uses Roget's work.

One can always use the excuse of not having high speed service in the home to visit the Red Seat Internet cafe run by the always beautiful and engaging Mrs. Amporn.

Always chuckle when seeing the blatant disregard of mostly Thai operators for safety. Am I the only one seeing the "lead guy" stepping out of the buggy without a helmet? How about the guy in the white buggy that stops , no helmets required? Are they running buggies up and down narrow trails with oncoming traffic?

When in-country we have these buggy caravans running past our home twice a day. All the paying riders are wearing helmets although the guides, experienced riders who are driving very conservatively, are not wearing as the lead guide and the trailing guide are always maintaining radio contact. The "off-road" dirt tracks are seldom used by others and many were built by the groups that make the tours such as the X-Center. These are dirt roads you would not find on your own renting a 4-wheel drove vehicle on your own. Although a bit pricey by Thai standards, not a bad way to splurge for a bit of fun on a special occasion.

There is some good work being done at many a tambon (subdistrict) office. Many of the OPT (OhPaTa) leaders are democratically elected by the populace and positive change, including local empowerment, can happen. The confrontation between the people and the central government used to be between the elected kamnaan and the Amphoe. But the OPT has usurped many of the roles of the kamnaanand has the potential to be more powerful in representing the people to the State.

It would be nice if you used English terms we can all understand. I think you were talking about the dog catcher and the Janitor being caught in a compromising situation. Correct me if I am wrong.

You are correct, I should have described the OPT as most members, who live in towns, would not be familiar with that agency. The OPT is the sub-district (tambon) development office. I believe the initials stand for Ongkhan Patana Tambon which roughly translates as the Agency for Development of the Subdistrict. This office is usually staffed and headed by local residents as opposed to the Amphoe (district) whose head, the nai amphoe, is appointed from above in Bangkok. The kamnaan is the traditional tambon head to whom the local village headmen (phu yai baan) would report to. But more and more, the OPT is where some of the legal issues that arise, road and irrigation projects, and local disputes, are carried out leaving the kamnaan to deal with the more personal issues.

Tip of the hat and click of the heels to you lads for making such good deeds, the riders method of "tam bun", making merit. I have been visiting my wife's relatives in Mae Sapok for decades and know that your efforts are well appreciated. And if any of you speak Thai and want to meet a nice, beautiful, somewhat conservative single 45 year old woman in Mae Sapok, well I will be back next year and can arrange to make an introduction. It would be worth the extended courting time such women require to make the first date. Again congratulations and kudos for taking the time and effort to do good deeds for good people in need.

You cannot empower people that dont know what the word means.

The only way to empower the rural poor is to start with the 5 year olds and educate them with a decent education system. Not the same old same old as used now......

The power brokers at the top dont want lose control, so except for hollow words and no action, higher levels of education for the so called lower levels of society will never happen in Thailand

I agree. Working temporaly as English teacher in a hilltribe school I admire the learning potential of Hmong, Karen and Lisu Kindergarten Kids. ..... The local Tambon Officers support more and more the mountain schools, but the Amphoe Officers are indifferent.

Unless you were sent to a private school in the west, the education you received was only slightly better than what the Thais receive. If you imagine yourself capable of understanding the word "empower" than it is only hubris that allows you to claim the rural Thais are incapable of understanding the term. But the rural Thais understand all too well, better than most of you, the implications of a centralized Bangkok elite that does not want to lose power and is willing to use State organized violence to undermine any attempts to lessen that power. The false leader of the rural poor, Thaksin, understands their frustration and manipulates it to his personal advantage just as the corporate elites in the US manipulate the fears and frustrations of the "tea baggers" whose education level is on par with the Thais.

And why would one be surprised that highland folks have the same potential as lowland folks? I have been living in highland communities for decades and see no difference. Up in the north you might be surprised by your neighbor in town who does not advertise that his/her mother tongue is not a Tai language.

There is some good work being done at many a tambon (subdistrict) office. Many of the OPT (OhPaTa) leaders are democratically elected by the populace and positive change, including local empowerment, can happen. The confrontation between the people and the central government used to be between the elected kamnaan and the Amphoe. But the OPT has usurped many of the roles of the kamnaanand has the potential to be more powerful in representing the people to the State.

Give me a choice between a 5-star hotel restaurant and a smaller side street restaurant with a black seasoned wok, I'll take the latter.

An interesting related side note is that up in my neck of the woods, north in Mae Rim, there is a well known 5-star resort that also has longer term "residences". A few of the longer term guests have discovered the local lunch spot favored by just about everyone, the kind of anonymous roadside open-air eatery with a plank wood floor and a corrugated roof, and they have taken to be frequenting this spot for their lunch hour finding the Thai food there to be far better quality at 1/10th the price than that of the hotel's Thai food. It is always a hoot to see them dressed in their designer clothes kissing each other on the cheek in greeting at such a down to earth noodle shop.

Cheer up it has actually gotten a lot better. Within the memories (1960's) of many forum members there were drug caravans marching down the main streets of Chiang Mai. The Thai Army and police forces fought openly over control of the narcotics business. There is even a statue of Khun Sa the father of Thailand's modern drug trade.

Nothing has improved, and the upper police ranks are still heavily involved in the domestic drug trade.

First, I personally only know of two westerners who have been in Chiang Mai continuously since the 1960s, both retired missionaries, neither of whom I believe visits these forums. The local involvement in the drug trade did not begin in earnest until the early 1970s. Best to read Alfred McCoy's seminal book, The Politics of Heroin, for a more precise time line. I have yet to see a picture showing a drug laden mule caravan marching down the main streets of Chiang Mai city. Khun Sa controlled the cross border trafficking, but it was influential Thais who both then and now control the domestic sales of drugs. I would imagine that key Thai bankers, in partnership with high ranking politicians, who would be the real "fathers" of the domestic drug trade and not Khun Sa who spent his life in remote mountaintop retreats where he lived the good life only relative to his neighboring Shan villagers.

The only way they "tame" these elephants is by torturing them horrifically when they are babies

<deleted>! Most of the larger elephant camps abandoned such cruelty long ago.

Perhaps if we were to look into the farce that is Singapore and peel away the petals of the Asian Rose you will also see more than what has been 'claimed' here. Would seem to me the pot calling the kettle black.

Yes, no mention of Singapore's bankers having no qualms about hosting the revenues from the Burmese ruling junta who obtained the money by pillaging that country's natural resources, facilitated by literally raping the minority populace. The Singaporean bankers also have a penchant for laundering the revenue from the regional drug trade.

But don't get me started on the evil that is non reusable water bottles.

Many of the local water bottling plants sell the water in reusable bottles. These are the semi-opaque bottles and not the clear bottles. These are normally sold by the crate of about 25 bottles per crate. You swap out a crate of empties for a crate of full bottles.

My point is, if you have pity on them, take them. Don't ask someone else.

Agree, actually. UN loves to "Decry" Thailand's treatment of migrants. But do any of these countries offer to pay to help them? No.

You are incorrect. Foreign governments support many of the NGO groups that work in the refugee camps and, for example, some foreign governments also provide financial support, either directly or indirectly, to Dr. Cynthia's Mae Tao clinic in Mae Sot. There are even thousands of Burmese families that have been resettled in western countries over the past several years. In my own home town region here in the US we now have several hundred refugee families relocated from the camps such as Mae La. And agencies such as the IRC are relocating more families as we speak.

The recent groups fleeing the fighting are only seeking temporary shelter from the fighting, and we are talking real bullets flying through the air here. They are happy to return once the fighting had clearly ended, but not immediately after one of the all too common temporary cease fires. How Ms. Piengrudee relates this to her being denied a US visa is a bit baffling although I have shared your frustration of single women being denied US visas when trying to arrange for my in-laws to come over for a visit. I suspect the process is still a bit rigged in favor of certain Bangkok social circles, but that is a separate issue from that of these internally displaced people. You need take some time off from your work to spend a few months as a Mae Chii and develop some karuna, rather than seek a visa to the US where that trait of compassion is even further lacking.

Rumours from "usually reliable sources" in the north west of Thailand speak of extra Thai guards on and near refugee camps - and land mines being installed just inside the border in Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son provinces.

The land mines in Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Song are probably just rumors and nothing else, but I traveled the 105 between Mae Sariang and Mae Sot last month and there was a slight increase in Thai military checkpoints along that border road.

Take an old school visa run down to Penang, once the closest visa option, to get great and affordable Indian food.

Oh come on. As good and decent as some of these groups and NGOs are, nothing significant will be accomplished until both the Thai government and the foreign governments with influence here, such as the US, UK, and yes even the Aussies, come out against the Thai police establishment and call it out for what it is, the largest organized crime syndicate in the Kingdom.