BittersweetFarang

When I first saw the Hitler / Ronald McDonald t-shirt mashup prominently displayed on a mannequin outside a small shop at Terminal 21, it did indeed stop me in my tracks. But my initial feeling was not "outrage" or "anger", but rather "wow, this would NEVER be acceptable in any major western city", then I thought that this was also a Banksy rip-off, then I thought that this is a continuation of the somewhat amusing alterations of major brands that are pretty benign and sometimes even funny easily seen all up and down Sukhumvit Asok/Nana and elsewhere. There are t-shirt stands that sell McShit, Starfuc_ks, fuc_kin Gonuts, and just about any other major logo that can be easily morphed into an amusing or absurd parody.

It is interesting that when Hitler get's thrown into the mix, that we see outrage and shame among other emotions flaring up. I don't see the same outrage for t-shirts that compared George Bush and Hitler that was somewhat popular a few years back, nor would I think a mash-up of Pol Pot and Ronald McDonald evoke the same feeling. Somehow this one hit a vein. But why? Is McDonald's some hallowed brand that should remain off limits to any parody? Are they purveyors of nutritious food that are genuinely interested in the welfare of mankind? No. They are, in my opinion, an incredibly successful corporate machine raking in billions of dollars in profits selling unhealthy and addictive foods marketed primarily to children. Have you seen the movie Supersize Me? And should Hitler be off limits to parody? There are countless parodies of hitler, as well there should be.

Parody of a major brand is "Fair Use". Which is protected as free speech, in among other places, the US Constitution.

To take the opposite side of this debate, I conclude with a defense of the illustrator who thought this mashup up: If corporations had their way, we would only eat their processed foods, work in their factories, and obey every command of the governments they try to put in power. Among those peacefully rebelling against these forces are creative illustrators, some of whom are just trying to make a buck, and others who are trying to make a statement, mashing up social icons that effectively stir things up.

Attached are two images: one the infamous t-shirt, and the other Banksy's more powerful "Napalm". A mashup of 2 very well known corporate icons and a famous photo of a little girl running from a napalm attack on her village during the Vietnam war. Banksy's mash-up drives home a very hard point. Maybe it wasn't McDonald's or Disney that facilitated this little girl's pain, but would Bell Helicopter and other defense contractors be excluded of all blame?

"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power."

-Benito Mussolini

This flood disaster may in some way be climate change related, but the human culpability goes way back to stripping the land for self interest, isolation of business class elite and the money train in Bangkok, and the advancement of cash flow into the pockets of privileged feudal elite business class. Their focus on safeguarding Bangkok from the floods at the expense of northern provinces, is merely an extension of the attitudes that prevailed in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s and earlier when many of these causes of infrastructure breakdown and cash canaling took place. instead of proper water canaling. Bangkok represents 41% of the Thai economy, according to Thai sources, but overlooked is that 41% wouldn't exist and is dwarfed by what the Thai manufacturing, farming, fishing, rice, and rubber trade does to feed the banking, insurance, and retail centers of Bangkok. The same Thai labor that drives Bangkok's banking, insurance, services, and tourist economy are the folks that Bangkok stuck it to in planning this "protect Bangkok at all costs" approach to flood management. What goes around comes around. Virabongsa to the rescue.

Thanks for this insightful post that has historical references that go much deeper than what we see in the fish wrap journalism on this topic. I agree 100% with your observations. Repeatedly mentioned in the OP article, the government's primary focus seems to be to "restore confidence". We don't hear about real hydrological solutions such as restoring and improving the khlong infrastructure that 60 years ago earned Bangkok the "Venice of Asia" eponym. Graft and greed are the real causes of this flood. Khlongs should be a protected and revered resource in Bangkok. Imposing and enforcing harsh criminal penalties for any developer who EVER cements over a khlong to build a parking lot, a hotel, a new condo or what have you should be immediately instituted. The structures that are blocking the flow of water should be torn down. Of course, there would be howls from the owners of these structures should that gain traction, but where were the protests when these structures were built which systematically destroyed the only outlets that the water had to get to sea from Bangkok? I am not suggesting that restoring the khlong infrastructure is the single silver bullet that will prevent another flood, but it is a vital piece of the puzzle that would certainly have made this flood much more manageable had the khlong infrastructure remained intact. Another key root cause is that Thailand's forests have been annihilated and the Monsoon's rainfall which was previously consumed by them has no where else to go. This all reminds me of an American Indian's proverb: "Not until the last fish has been caught, the last tree has been cut, and the last river has been poisoned, only then will you realize that you cannot eat money".

Just wanted to revive an old post with an update. I was unable to source Organic Maple Syrup anywhere in Bangkok. I recently returned to Thailand just in time for the riots and the mayhem. I brought back with me 2 quarts of grade B organic maple syrup and right now I am on day 10 of the cleanse. Feeling excellent. Lost 6 kilos of fat and feeling better than I have in a quite a while. I don't do this for the weight loss, I do it for the complete body detoxification, however, weight loss is a welcome side effect. I think I am going to go another 2 days. The main challenge is not eating the delicious Thai food all around me. It take serious mental fortitude to do this in Thailand, but it is worth it.

To your health!

One thing to be said about Thaksin is that he figured out that by creating programs that helped the poor and alleviate poverty, he would secure his power base with the poor majority. People in Isaan still talk about his 30 baht healthcare program, the money that came in for various agriculture projects, and that they were making more money then than now.

He was also clever enough to figure out that cellphone technology goes a LONG way to alleviating poverty. It's hard to fully understand this coming from the West, because the cellphone for us was an incremental improvement, a mere convenience. We had land lines for a century, payphones everywhere. But out here, the cellphone was a revolution. A fisherman could call ahead and find out which market was paying the most for his catch. A farmer could find out where the best prices for crops are. Truck drivers could communicate and share traffic patterns and so on. It created enormous levels of efficiency for millions of people for the very first time, and the introduction of the cellphone alone actually lifted millions of people out of poverty. So...create a telecom monopoly, provide the poor with cash, they buy your cell phone credit and it's a massive transfer of wealth into your pocket and the poor benefit along the way and worship you (i.e. will always elect you) in the process. Win win right? Oh. And don't pay taxes on the telecom company when you sell it to Singapore. That was slick. Perhaps too slick. Jury is still out on that one.

The US is not only leaving the Hmong to their fate, they recently prosecuted Vang Pao living in California, a Vietnam war era US ally and hero among the Hmong people. Vang Pao has blocked Hmong repatriations such as what are occurring now, and perhaps this prosecution has emboldened the current moves.

If you google Vang Pao nytimes, the first link is a fascinating article about the history of Vang Pao and the Hmong resistance to the Communists during the Vietnam war. As one can imagine, repatriating people back into the hands of their (former) enemies, is terrifying.

How could you realistically ONLY intake those ingredients listed and for such a long time without cheating now and then to curb the hunger pangs and pains?

The answer is extraordinary. But I will tell you. Mental discipline. When I commit to something, I don't waiver. I did feel hunger pangs. When I did, I made another lemonade and the pangs simply vanished completely. The maple syrup and lemon juice is loaded with all kinds of nutrients - vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants, etc. The cayenne pepper is rich in vitamin C and with lemon juice it seems to scour the body of impurities from the inside out. Organic maple syrup provides the sugars and nutrition the body needs to retain healthy muscle tissue, but this fast should not continue past 30 days, or so I am told. The last time, I went 19 days and felt a strong need to start eating solid food again. But physically, emotionally, intellectually, I felt fantastic. Completely, thoroughly, cosmically cleansed.

During the cleanse people always ask me, what about the protein? Well. A horse eats nothing but grasses and alfalfa. They seem to have healthy muscle tissue. A lion does too, but they sleep 19 hours a day on an all meat diet. The digestive system is essentially a juicer. Solids get broken down and pass through, and the juices are ingested. Breaking down those solids requires a huge amount of work. Think about how you feel after a heavy meal. Dead tired. Blood drains from your body and brain and goes to your stomach to slowly work on that meal. Juice requires little digestion at all. The lemonade requires almost no digestion allowing the body to switch metabolic states. From digestion mode to cleansing mode.

Apparently, after 3-4 days of giving your body a break from digesting, it goes to work cleaning out the body. Trillions of cells get refreshed and replenished. Every organ gets cleansed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, skin, and brain.

Some people seem to get upset about the results that I have experienced and talk about. Not sure what the real reason is, but it rubs some people the wrong way. The naysayers are always, without exception, people who have never tried the MC and who dismiss fasting as a healthful benefit. We are brought up to immediately quench the slightest twinge of hunger by stuffing ourselves with food. I don't need to point to medical studies that show that minimal calorie intake dramatically increases longevity. I know intuitively from experience that this is the case.

It seems counter intuitive but the lack of digestion demands allow the body to free up resources and perform some amazing healing and detoxing. Something like 70% of the bodies energy is used for digestion so free up 70% and its like being attached to a jet engine.

CobraSnakeNecktie - Absolutely! Thank you for being here and supporting the Master Cleanse. It is pure and simple and cheap. It frees up so much time as well. At least half the day is spent shopping for food, preparing it, eating it, and cleaning up afterwards. The cleanse is really a mental battle. It requires discipline and it teaches you more about your body than you ever imagined. It goes beyond the physical as well. It cleanses emotional baggage and even engenders feelings I can only describe as spiritual. It's life changing. There is no money to be made selling the cleanse. That alone explains why there is an often violent dismissal of it. When I meet someone suffering from disease, the first thing that goes through my mind, is that they should try the cleanse for 10 days. I often hold back on this recommendation because I don't want to come across as a new age snake-oil salesman with the latest panacea. But in my heart, I am convinced that many diseases can be wiped out and that no harm can come from at least 10 days of fasting and purifying with this ever so simple lemonade.

Don't forget the Perdomo Lounge in Sukhumvit 28. The best place I've been so far. Need more details PM me.

I've visited most of the lounges listed, and I agree with you that the Perdomo Club in Soi 28 is the best...particularly in terms of spaciousness, opulence, and attentive service. It's also the closest to my home and is a fairly easy walk from Phrompong BTS.

Is the Perdomo members only? From the website, seemed a tad on the expensive side to join up. Are people really paying up to US $50,000 to join this club?

......Master cleanse, etc etc....all a load of <deleted>

"Celtic sea salt"...... ...does it come with a set of bag pipes and a kilt ??....Salt is Salt....NaCl (Sodium Chloride)

My advice...proper diet and regular exercise

The Master Cleanse is a form of fasting. Which is a "load of <deleted>" you say? Moses, Jesus, and Buddha are all known to have fasted. Fasting is something that has been around for millennia, yet you dismiss it with a flippant remark. "Proper diet and regular exercise" you say?. Define "proper". There are more interpretations of "proper diet" than you can possibly imagine. Carnivore, Omnivore, vegetarian, Fruitarian, Macrobiotic, Vegan, Raw vegan, etc etc. You probably mean steak and potatoes followed by a couple of pints at the pub then go to the gym and bench press 100kgs 10 times. Don't get me wrong, I like a good steak and a drink on occasion. All the more reason I clean myself out every year.

It really is difficult to convey the benefits of something to someone who has never experienced it.

NaCl is NaCl, but salt is not salt. As far as edible table salts there is iodized salt and uniodized salt, kosher salt, sea salt, Fleur de Sel, rock salt, among others. Celtic sea salt is regarded as having many beneficial mineral besides NaCl. These different salts have different minerals and refining processes and even different salinity levels or 'saltiness'.

My original post was to source the materials for the MC (Master Cleanse) in Bangkok, not to proselytize the benefits, but since you have offered your well researched and open minded wisdom, I now will share my research. I had a blood test taken before and after the last cleanse, and the numbers speak for themselves.

I wanted to have some medical evidence regarding the physical effects the MC had on my cholesterol level and liver. On the day before my cleanse I went to the doctor for a checkup, including blood work and then I went back on day 11 of the cleanse for a second blood test and here I can compare the results. I continued on the cleanse for a total of 19 days the last time and dropped 25 pounds of fat.

224 H - Total Cholesterol. (reference range 125-200)

71 - HDL Cholesterol

Cholesterol HDL/ratio 3.2

133 H - LDL Cholesterol. (reference range <130)

My good and bad cholesterol were both high (H). Doctor said this was fine. He mentioned that if my 'good' cholesterol was not high, then he might be concerned about my 'bad' cholesterol being slightly out of range on the high side.

11 days of the MC later:

151 - Total Cholesterol

56 - HDL Cholesterol

Cholesterol HDL/ratio 2.7

79 - LDL Cholesterol

Massive reduction of cholesterol. Total cholesterol dropped 31%. Good cholesterol dropped 22% and bad cholesterol dropped 41% in 11 days on the MC. What I do know now is that the MC beats the heck out of Lipitor and the junk in my arteries was removed naturally, along with 25 pounds of fat and who knows what other pollutants and toxins I may have ingested or breathed in. In addition, my liver toxicity levels dropped significantly as well: AST went from 29 to 11 and ALT went from 27 to 9. My doctor said these results were "remarkable".

It is truly amazing how that lemonade scours the circulatory system and all other parts of the body of unwanted residues.

When you experience the results, your mind will open. The first time is a leap of faith. There is no other way.

I enjoy an occasional but regular fine cigar. For lack of better options, I would get a Romeo & Julietta or an H. Upmanns at Foodland for 300 baht on occasion.

Then I discovered some higher end cigar lounges including the following:

Aqua at The Four Seasons Bangkok

155 Rajadamri Road, Bangkok 10330

Divan@494 / Whisky Priest@494


Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel


Lower lobby at Grand Hyatt Erawan.

Spasso


Lower lobby at Grand Hyatt Erawan.

Bed Supper Club 


26 Soi Sukhumvit 11, Bangkok

- Not sure if they still offer cigars, but they did at one point.

Havana Express

JW Marriott Hotel

1/F 4 Sukhumvit Road,

Soi 2 Klongtoey,

Bangkok 10110

Divan @ Siam Paragon

Siam Paragon

Ground floor(Gourmet market)

991/1 Rama I, Patumwan,

Bangkok 10330

Enjoy

Just want to share my recent experience staying at ******, a new furnished apartment building in Sathorn. It is just down the street from Sathorn Saint View, where I had stayed previously and was looking for a bit of an upgrade. The place was just built. It has a rather attractive veneer, it is gated, and there is a security guard. The lobby is nicely appointed and the rooms are small but clean. It looked like a decent place to stay. A room on the 5th floor was available for 9,000 baht. Ok. We told the woman at the front desk we are interested. My wife and I came back within an hour with all of our luggage from the hotel and we were told that they had rented the room already, and that the only room available was for 12,000 baht per month. It was slightly bigger. Bait and switch. Not cool. But ok, too much of a pain to continue searching for an apartment with our luggage.

When I was inquiring about the facilities, I asked about the Internet, and I made it clear that Internet was very important for me, as I am a software developer and I cannot make a living without it. No LAN cables, only wireless. I asked where the wireless router was. They said it was on the first floor. That's a long way for a wireless signal to the 5th floor I thought. They sell Internet access cards for 1 day or 1 month. I asked if I could buy a one day card and test the connection. They said only after I sign a lease. This is the moment I should have walked out, but I asked, can I sign a one day lease and if everything is working, I will sign a 30 day lease. They agreed. Internet seemed to work well enough, so I signed a 30 day lease. Turned out that wireless routers were on all floors of the building, not just the first.

It turned out that the place was built with very cheap construction materials: Paper thin walls, the bed frame seemed to be made out of balsa wood but with a nice dark glazed finish. The sink felt like if I put my full weight (100kg) it would fall right off. The toilet did in fact separate from the thin veneer of cement holding it to the floor. Just really poor workmanship all around. But it looked good at first glance.

We moved our motorbike a day later, and were rudely told that we had to pay for parking. Fine.

As a "fully furnished" apartment, my wife inquired about towels as there were none in the bathroom. They said, they rent towels. Rent towels? Ok. We went out and bought our own, no problem.

Want a taxi? You pay for them to get you one. It's my style to tip the security guard for flagging one, rather than pay for this 'service'.

The nickel and diming was continuous and outrageous. It was clear to me that on every conceivable turn they were out to squeeze every penny. The Internet turned out to be spotty with major packet loss at times and often just inability to get a connection. My patience wore thin and I found a new place within a week.

I moved to the new apartment and I respectfully asked ****** if I could have my security deposit back early. They rudely told me NO! I explained that they could free the room up and get a new paying customer and make MORE money if they paid my security deposit and got their keys back. This line of reasoning fell on deaf ears. They were more interested in collecting 3 weeks interest on the 12,000 baht security deposit than having the room available for a new customer. 3 weeks later, on the day that the lease expired I went back for my security deposit. The woman made me wait in the lobby for 1 hour while she 'checked' everything. She came back with my water and electric bill. The electric bill was 2350 baht for less than a week of usage. Yes, I used the AC at night, but there is no way I consumed that much electricity. I was expecting 500 baht at most. This was the final insult that prompted this posting. The place I am staying at now has a full size refrigerator, an electric oven that we use regularly, twice the square meters with 2 ACs and for a full month of electricity usage cost us 1600 baht.

Beware of ******. From my experience, it seems clear that they are not looking for long term customers. They seem to just want to rip you off.

Greetings ThaiVisa. Every year for the past five years I have done the Master Cleanse which is a 10 day food fast which purifies the body (among many other benefits). I plan on doing so again, but this time in Bangkok Thailand. According to the book, The Master Cleanser, by Stanley Burroughs (it's available for free online), by abstaining from food for 10 days - and only drinking a lemonade concoction of water, maple syrup, lemon juice and cayenne pepper, the body has a chance to cleanse itself of vast amounts of impurities while still getting the nutrients it needs to retain healthy tissue. Without getting into the details too heavily, I am trying to source the following materials necessary for the Cleanse:

* Organic Maple Syrup.

* Lemons. Big yellow lemons that is.

* ground organic cayenne pepper

* Celtic sea salt.

* A non-electric orange juicer. A sturdy one with a lever is preferable.

My initial search for these items has not been very encouraging. I called Lemonfarm and they said no to all of the above.

There are a few substitutions in the above list that are acceptable:

* pure sugar cane juice in lieu of water and maple syrup.

I have seen roving sugar cane juice vendors on the street, but I will need a large and steady supply for 10 days. I saw one stand at Suan Lum night bazaar which I will try, other recommendations as to where to source this would be appreciated. Pesticide free is very important, if at all possible.

* Limes if I cannot find lemons.

* Ground red chili powder if cayenne specifically is unavailable. Anyone know what the Thai word is for Cayenne pepper?

* Non-iodized salt if Celtic sea salt or sea salt is unavailable. This is critical. Please advise if you know where I should look for this item.

If you know where I can source any one or all of these items, please post it here or PM me.

Much appreciated.