The week that was in Thailand news: Don’t drink the water – unless you live here!

[rooster59]

The week that was in Thailand news: Don’t drink the water – unless you live here!

 

 

There are several things that tourists in Thailand should avoid at all costs. Those that reside here may be able to get away with much more.

 

The biggest problems occur when visitors think they have figured Thailand out or when relative newbies believe they have earned their wings only to crash and burn in an inferno of cultural ignorance as their relative idiocy is confirmed.

 

Every week on a news site and forum like Thaivisa there are a veritable array of clueless tourists and a cornucopia of commenting curmudgeons who should know better after time spent in Thailand but who seem to have lived life with their ears and eyes firmly shut.

 

If only they would do the same with that other window on the world – their mouths.

 

Harsh words perhaps but Rooster is not the sort of bore that is always giving advice, especially about Thailand. After half a lifetime of teaching, I have always subscribed to the view that children and adults can only really learn from experience and even that is debatable in most cases.

 

Though a teacher of Thai language and culture for 20 years I have not always been what might be termed “culturally sensitive”. Just ask Mrs Rooster for confirmation of that.

 

Growing up in England we always took our family holidays in France in July as my father was born near Le Mans and we had a huge amount of Gallic relos to sponge off and for my bilingual old man to keep up his French with.

 

Us six children rejected the idea that we should try to speak French as we spent the entire holiday taking Le Mickey out of street urinals, the lack of front gardens, the smell of our country cousins and their manure ridden farms with their backward bumpkin ways…..yes, we were about as culturally sensitive as the “Ros boeufs” who didn’t have any Frogs for Friends.

 

Chief put down, however, of our 25% of cultural heritage had to be the fact that the French couldn’t even drink their own water and spent huge amounts of Francs on the bottled variety condemning them to further deserved penury.

 

In our smug Englishness we always looked forward to the beginning of August when we could go back across the channel to the real world of taps with cool fresh water that wouldn’t give you “Les Trots”.

 

Arriving in Thailand in my early twenties I generally skirted around the issue of whether the water was safe or not by only consuming beer.

 

Everyone said it wasn’t, so if I did need to imbibe HIJKLMNO (H to O) I went to Villa.

 

But as the years passed and my father’s frugality started to viciously bear down on me we relented. We moved to Pahonyothin and all the neighbors drank the water not even boiled and so did we.

 

None of us had any problems and though we usually warned visitors that they ought not to we forgot when my brother came for a visit.

 

It was well into his second week before he emerged from one of our three toilets and could face Tom Kha Gai again.

 

A clear – well, quite brown actually – case of the locals being able to do something and the tourists and newbies not.

 

In Thailand this week we saw many other examples. The first was not in an action but in a reaction. This was the furor created by the apparent suggestion that tourists in Phuket would be tagged.

 

We’re Never Coming Back, How Very Dare They, Police State and Junta, Nail In the Coffin of Tourism…blah blah blah. Talk about getting your “gangeng nai” in a twist.

 

The rest of us just sat back and enjoyed the show safe in the knowledge that Mr Zuckerberg and the phone companies know where we are 24/7 anyway and the Thai authorities would never dream of seriously threatening, let alone killing, the golden goose of tourism.

 

The same over the top reaction came from posters who were genuinely happy that, at long, long last as they opined, the Thais were going to do something to reign in Songkran and make people safe and happy on the roads.

 

Bless and double bless – if you believe that is going to happen you’ll believe anything!

 

The same know-it-alls crawled out of the forum woodwork to pooh-pooh the whole idea that there might be an honest cabby – in Pattaya no less – who would return 200,000 baht.

 

These people – bashers might be a better description - believe there is camaraderie in their ignorance. Their eyes are so shut that it is a wonder they can type. They fail to see that they are manipulated by online news to the point that they are blind to the fact that Thai people, cabbies or anyone else, are invariably fun, friendly, welcoming and yes, completely decent.

 

Focusing on the millions of decent Thais helps to identify the real shysters – for there are some - should you ever be unlucky enough to have one cross your Thai path!

 

Another tourist who overreacted was the simpleton who’d doubtless read somewhere that the sidewalks were really meant for pedestrians and you could even get a bounty for dobbing one in!

 

Rooster is a motorcyclist who, shock horror, has often used the pavements to get from Khun A to Khun B especially when in a hurry. But I always give pedestrians right of way and I expect the same too when out walking my little one in a buggy.

 

In my experience this is invariably given. If it ever isn’t I give the Rooster smiling-cum-shaming-stare perhaps topped off with a “khop jai na phee!” (Cheers bro…).

 

What Johnny Tourist did - start a fist fight in full view of a rank of motorcycle taxi guys – is about as sensible as pointing at Buddha with twinkle toes. He was lucky on this occasion as it was one fatty on another – another time he might be going home in a box.

 

Going home with a sore head this week were those who picked fights with the denizens of Walking Street, for one absurd reason or another.

 

The foreign man who got shirty with some CD sellers could hardly complain that he bit off more chili than he could chew while a possibly devout Muslim called Mohammed from Iran who took umbrage at the lady boys of the night suggesting some meat and two veg at 4am ended in similar, inevitable pain.

 

There is a lot of homespun truth to one poster’s observation that “nothing good happens after 2am”. Such a time was always a younger Rooster’s call to get home to the missus – and hopefully creep undetected into the safety of a back room putting off the opprobrium to late morning.

 

It is always better to be relatively sober when facing criticism.

 

Meanwhile, a British guy was the latest person to think that riding a motorcycle in Thailand is always OK if you know what you’re doing. He lost a leg as well as a figurative arm and a leg as his relatives resorted to Go Fund Me to make up for lack of insurance.

 

I have spent my life gambling in one way or another and I have never liked the odds offered by insurance companies so I keep money put by in case things go pear shaped. Fortunately that only has happened to my waistline so far but how these people can come to Thailand and expect to understand the roads and the madness contained within them is rather beyond my ken.

 

Top international story of the week is the simmering scandal surrounding Facebook and what they do with all those pictures of people’s dinner and how it relates to the Russians and election of Drumph.

 

A connection to Thailand came when it was claimed that “data manipulation” would likely occur in voter profiling though social media at the next election, whenever that is.

 

Rooster decided to research the issue for several fruitless hours and can happily report that the junta will have absolutely no clue how to do it so we are probably all quite safe.

 

Though the delightful thought remains that Big Too and his cronies may, at this very moment, be trolling through Facebook in a futile attempt to understand it rather than threaten to ban it as has often been the case in the past.

 

Thais are usually obsessed by appearances – often to the detriment of all reality – so it was rather shocking to see the “ASEAN teacher training” where about ten hopeful ajarns had stripped to the waist in full view of the ladies at the seminar.

 

Yes, I am sure it was some phoo yai’s idea of thinking outside the “bock” – and naturally none of the subservient underlings were brave enough to speak up and possibly suggest that he might be a complete twat for the idea.

 

Instead, coming as it did in the wake of several cases of teachers interfering with students or offering them higher grades for extra-curricular activities, it looked dodgier than dogging to say the least.

 

The same could also be said of one of the principal “dramas” of the week that played out in Panat Nikom concerning a husband and wife at a temple who, like many Thais who abuse children, probably thought they would be praised rather than condemned for assaulting two boys with the tail of a whip-ray then tying them to a tree as an example.

 

The abbot disowned them, the villagers marched, social services took the kids into care and the police – shamed by social media - even got off their brown basted backsides.

 

Thailand has a way to go in combatting child cruelty and abuse but the couple should have realized that this is 2018 and, as we are often told, 51 million Thais are on Facebook.

 

Knowing all about the media and bucking the trend of how to play the game in Thailand was the American who goes by the name of Udom Suksaneh. Thai TV picked up on his antics complaining about having his ants pinched and featured him on “The Family Business” wai-ing his missionary folks and praising them for bringing him to Thailand “whose people and culture he loves to bits until death do us part”.

 

He got a two room stay at a Pattaya spa worth 56,000 baht for that pretty speech. No offence to QUOTES - the Queen of The Eastern Seaboard – but he would doubtless have preferred Thai nationality as a reward.

 

There is but one Rooster award this week and the only connection I can offer to Thailand is that it is absurd. In presenting the “Brexit Notwithstanding” prize I congratulate UK PM Mrs May for her comment about the tremendous support she has received from the EU over the Russian nerve agent attack:

 

“United we stand”, she said.

 

Even Prayut and Prawit couldn’t have got away with that one!

 

Finally if you recall nothing else this week please do remember that next Sunday is April 1^st.

 

In an era when the term “fake news” is bandied around like confetti we ought to have enough experience to spot when a news item is mere porkies.

 

The fact remains, however, that on Thaivisa come next Sunday, like any other day in the news of the Land of Smiles…..

 

…..there are likely to be at least a dozen stories that are patently unbelievable!

 

Rooster

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2018-03-24

 

 

[chickenslegs]

Quote

Top international story of the week is the simmering scandal surrounding Facebook and what they do with all those pictures of people’s dinner

Just brilliant.

[Odysseus123]

Hmmm...

[wgdanson]

On 3/24/2018 at 8:23 AM, rooster59 said:

that next Sunday is April 1^st.

And some people actually believe that a hippy guy about 2000 odd years ago came back to life on this day, after being brutally executed by some Italians in the middle East somewhere.

[sweatalot]

Nice reading. Improved my English vocabulary

[wgdanson]

1 minute ago, sweatalot said:

Nice reading. Improved my English vocabulary

Yep, the Rooster knows words I have to look up in the OED. Keeps the brain active. Cheers.

 

[Tchooptip]

49 minutes ago, wgdanson said:

And some people actually believe that a hippy guy about 2000 odd years ago came back to life on this day, after being brutally executed by some Italians in the middle East somewhere.

The lack of respect for other people beliefs is not a proof of intelligence and certainly not of education

[jimmy1967]

2 hours ago, sweatalot said:

Nice reading. Improved my English vocabulary

Yep, weirdly I was thinking of synonyms for cornucopia. I came up with - range, variety and smorgasboard (they could be wrong though). Why? Three reasons:

1. I'm an Enrish teatcha

2. It's the way I roll

3. I'm a boring tool.

 

Any more gratefully received. Or is it recieved?

[wgdanson]

3 hours ago, Tchooptip said:

The lack of respect for other people beliefs is not a proof of intelligence and certainly not of education

And most people's beliefs are certainly not proof of intelligence or education.

[jgarbo]

4 hours ago, wgdanson said:

Yep, the Rooster knows words I have to look up in the OED. Keeps the brain active. Cheers.

 

Shame he can't tell the difference between "reign" and "rein". Maybe check the OED?

[wgdanson]

2 minutes ago, jgarbo said:

Shame he can't tell the difference between "reign" and "rein". Maybe check the OED?

Simply a typo dear.

[oobar]

3 hours ago, Tchooptip said:

The lack of respect for other people beliefs is not a proof of intelligence and certainly not of education

It may in fact be both of those.

[wgdanson]

49 minutes ago, oobar said:

It may in fact be both of those.

But maybe the lack of UNDERSTANDING of other people's beliefs could show intelligence and education.

Someone who simply follows their parent's, grandparent's and forefather's beliefs is NOT educated, they are brainwashed.

[Lacessit]

I'll see your cornucopia of commenting curmudgeons, and raise you with a junta of judgmental journalists.

[Stevemercer]

8 hours ago, sweatalot said:

Nice reading. Improved my English vocabulary

 

Well, not 100% correct. Please see minor suggestions below.

 

'Harsh words perhaps but Rooster is not the sort of bore that who is always giving advice, especially about Thailand'. 

 

'Though a teacher of Thai language and culture for 20 years I have not always been what might be termed “culturally sensitive”. Just ask Mrs Rooster for confirmation. of that'.

 

'Growing up in England we always took our family holidays in France in July as my father was born near Le Mans and we had a huge amount of Gallic relos to sponge off and for my bilingual old man to keep up with his French. with.

 

 

 

[CH1961]

If he starts to write books I will certainly spend no money on it .. but here on TV it is for free .. so no financial loss at least .. just a waste of time :-(

[StevieAus]

Brilliant article you summed it up so well, when in Rome does as the Romans.

[mejomini]

Enjoyed the post.  To most of the comments, I must say "For Heaven's sake, get a life".

[mikebell]

I agree with the above post; I enjoy Rooster's writing being an author myself.  The only thing I would take issue with him this week is his assertion that the infamous meterless taximeters of Pattaya are driven by a breed of cherubim. 

[speckio]

Allot of tourists come to Thailand to have fun, and some of them act like children and forgot how to behave like an adult... thinking it's their vacation they should be able to do whatever they want... drinking way more than they should and doing stuff they wouldn't normally do in their home country... doing things without thinking about what the consequences of their actions...

 

And there are those tourists who have been around who have fun but also remember to stay alert, be respectful and mindful of local customs but wind up getting treated poorly from thai locals because the tourists who arrived before them were jackasses.

 

[jimmy1967]

20 hours ago, Stevemercer said:

 

Well, not 100% correct. Please see minor suggestions below.

 

'Harsh words perhaps but Rooster is not the sort of bore that who is always giving advice, especially about Thailand'. 

 

'Though a teacher of Thai language and culture for 20 years I have not always been what might be termed “culturally sensitive”. Just ask Mrs Rooster for confirmation. of that'.

 

'Growing up in England we always took our family holidays in France in July as my father was born near Le Mans and we had a huge amount of Gallic relos to sponge off and for my bilingual old man to keep up with his French. with.

 

 

 

The pedants revolt....

[attrayant]

On 3/25/2018 at 11:11 AM, Tchooptip said:

The lack of respect for other people beliefs is not a proof of intelligence and certainly not of education

 

Here are some other beliefs, that you ought to respect:

 

The earth is flat

Climate change is a hoax

Sexual orientation is a choice

The moon landing never happened

Secret cabal of [Illuminati, Rothschilds, etc.] controls the weather

Earth is the center of the universe/solar system

Lottery tickets are a good investment

Ghosts are real

People lived during the time of the dinoasurs

Lizard people control the government(s)

Elvis Presley is still alive

Bigfoot, Loch Ness monster, other cryptozoology

Globalist new world order nonsense

Witches/witchcraft

Cell phones cause cancer

ESP/paranormal abilities

Soft drink is an acceptable dietary substitute for fruit/veggie, whereas oranges and bananas are NOT

Obama isn't a US citizen

Female genital mutilation

Planet X/Nibiru

6000 year-old Earth

 

And probably hundreds more that we could dig up.  Clearly, a lot of these beliefs are born out of willful ignorance but some are purposefully concocted from diseased minds (like Icke) and spread like a virus, infecting our ability to understand reality and peacefully coexist as a race of humans.  I'd like to hear some good arguments for respecting any of these beliefs.  And "because we don't want to offend anyone" is not a good reason.

 

What is worse: Instructing children to respect religious beliefs, instead of understanding reality, is child abuse.  That's why we have schools - to stamp out ignorance, not validate it or "respect" it.

 

[wgdanson]

1 hour ago, attrayant said:

 

What is worse: Instructing children to respect religious beliefs, instead of understanding reality, is child abuse

Couldn't agree more. Inform ALL children about ALL religions equally, then when they are 'old and intelligent enough' let them decide which, if any, they want to follow.

[AjarnMartin]

Rooster, you always make for good reading and today had me positively chuckling, nay, guffawing. The downside is that I am in Starbucks enjoying a coffee and a ‘Crock Messer’ and the other patrons think I’m slightly ‘touched’! Thanks for a joyful start to the day. ?

[attrayant]

21 minutes ago, wgdanson said:

Couldn't agree more. Inform ALL children about ALL religions equally, then when they are 'old and intelligent enough' let them decide which, if any, they want to follow.

 

That's dangerous - at least wait until high school when they've already learned how to evaluate and question statements.  AND teach it in a class called 'mythology & superstitions 101'.  

 

Further complicating matters, do we include obvious cults like scientology and mormonism?  Big can of worms there.

[joeyg]

On 3/25/2018 at 10:19 AM, wgdanson said:

And some people actually believe that a hippy guy about 2000 odd years ago came back to life on this day, after being brutally executed by some Italians in the middle East somewhere.

I'm not Christian.  However a beyond perfectly rude and crude comment to all of them.