The week that was in Thailand news: Going up in smoke in Thailand - that's the only certainty!

 

 

I blame my brother for introducing me to smoking. He was seven at the time and I was barely nine. 

 

Almost thirty years of self destruction started with dipping into a packet of ten Players No. 10. I finally saw sense in 1999 perhaps reaching an age when one starts to appreciate that one is not actually immortal. I went cold turkey.

 

A day of proud abstinence led to two. Two days led to a week, a month and a year. Then I was home free even if a vastly improved appetite meant my middle age spread did just that...spread.

 

There was a lapse or two - brought on mostly by the mistaken impression that I could dabble in shisha in Bangkok without re-addicting myself. But by and large - and certainly now large - I have ditched the habit.

 

I was always determined to be understanding of smokers. Wasn't the reformed smoker, banging on about the fifthly habit that he used to revel in but was now blissfully free of, just a pain in the proverbial?

 

Perhaps I have managed to remain tolerant. But only to a point. People are welcome to smoke at my place - and no one objects to doing that on the balcony. I even supply a stolen ashtray.  But I am thankful that all manner of public places in Thailand have seen smoking outlawed. 

 

And grateful to see that by and large the people follow the law. That is just as well as we are unlikely to see the police enforce it if there is nothing in it for them. Like everyone I've seen the "tessakit" try to extort 2,000 baht from tourists. Written stories that said people might be jailed for puffing on Thailand's beaches. But still the debate rages - the rights of smokers to kill themselves vs the rights of the rest of us to have cleaner, less fetid air. 

 

Sure Rooster pollutes via motorbike and car exhaust, plastic bags and the nipper's nappies. Many say the column is nothing short of verbal diarrhea. I'd like to do more recycling and be more eco-friendly. If everyone gave up their cars and two-strokes I'd willingly follow suit. For now I am still a bit guilty of the "if everyone else is doing it why shouldn't I" mentality, ground into me after decades of living in Thailand.

 

I'd be happier if there was a total tobacco ban but that's not going to happen while the government passes "Go" at the Thai Tobacco monopoly. I'm not campaigning for it, either, as I remember those 30 plus years of addiction to that insidious drug. But when, as this week on the hallowed pages of Thaivisa, I see that the Thai authorities are making it harder and harder for people to smoke in public....

 

I smile. 

 

Because that is what I want. A smoke free world where my children can grow up. But I also want them to be in a tolerant one; so let the smokers find a place far,far away from me and mine. Tax them to buggery to pay for their health care. Admonish them, make pariahs of them and lambaste them to quit. But let them smoke, for now.

 

Who knows one day what might happen in Thailand. The only certainty is that I will go up in smoke here......

 

Easily the most read and commented upon story this week was news that the Thai authorities were preparing to enact legislation that would stop smoking within 5 meters of virtually any public building except abattoirs. In effect this will mean the end of smoking in the street in places like Pattaya and most tourist destinations. Workers will have to go even further afield unless their employers provide dingy rooms in which they may inhale. 

 

Smokers on the forum banged on about finding somewhere else to live. "Fasteddie" commented: "RIP Thailand, it's been fun". No sympathy here - I was close to putting in my two-penneth along the lines of "no need to wipe your feet on the way out, but do take your ashtray". 

 

Non-smokers - and they do seem to represent a great majority these days unlike in my youth - applauded the Thai authorities while mentioning the inevitable caveat of enforcement. 

 

For me I never found the cost of cigarettes a hindrance. Even when Krong Thip went up from 12 baht to 13 it seemed manageable! But these days - especially in a country like England where I have spent the last few weeks - I wonder how people can afford it. 

 

Maybe the cost is offset by dying young.

 

Apropos, the week on Thaivisa began with questions marks about the rising cost of living in the kingdom. Allow me to make some pertinent comparisons with my life in Blighty this past month. 

 

How it is that just about everything in the supermarkets is a fraction of the price we pay in Bangkok? And I'm not just talking Western food. While the preponderance of second hand goods via charity shops and giveaways on drives added to ubiquitous recycling and laws on "sell-by" dates means the savvy can save in England.

 

On the flip side utilities seem expensive, insurance prohibitive and there are huge swathes of young people who will never enjoy the Englishman's dream of owning their own castle. People can't even get a deposit together that is enough to get on what everyone calls the housing ladder. 

 

Tragically, and largely unspoken, many in my family will only ascend those rungs when their older relatives leave them properties or cash proceeds as inheritance. Wages for many jobs seem low and I had to ask people to explain the term "Zero hours contract" - it all seemed a bit grim.

 

My ticket for a disappointing 90 minutes at Wembley where the worn surface was covered in an "NFL" logo, was 45 pounds - three times the cost of my standing ticket for a whole season at White Hart Lane back in my youth.

 

Long distance travel by bus was reasonably priced but trains seemed exorbitant and desperately unreliable. Stationmasters in Japan would have to commit harakiri every morning if their trains were so frequently late.

 

I did a lot of walking and cycling though I was mindful of the appalling crime statistics in London that has seen 119 murders since the start of the year, many of them young black people. 

 

One teen was stabbed just 100 yards from my sister's house in Anerley. I went to see the flowers of remembrance, while looking over my shoulder just in case.

 

There are brilliant things to enjoy about the UK that you wouldn't see in Thailand; a quiz show, banal as it was, was hosted by what in pre-PC days we called a midget and one of the stars of a popular soap had cerebral palsy. These innovations were balanced by loonies like Jeremy Kyle and Piers Morgan getting daily airtime and, laughably, even respect.

 

But as the nights started "drawing in" and people became more home-bound I was glad to get back home to Bangkok on Thursday. 

 

And enjoy a taxi from the airport that would have cost me four times as much - at the very least - in London!

 

Coming from an area near Croydon it had been the two year anniversary of a tram accident there that killed seven people and resulted in no arrests or much justice, just compensation. Sounds familiar, I thought as the taxi whizzed to Ratchayothin. Back in Thailand the news pages were full all week of accidents and the skulduggery that seems to go hand in hand with them.

 

In Chiang Mai a father took the place of his son after an accident that killed a popular kindergarten teacher. The son had no license or insurance so it seemed the best thing to do. It initially fooled plod until social media - and parents at the school - pointed out the bleeding obvious, something invariably missed by the constabulary. 

 

In another incident CCTV caught a pick-up driver reversing over a stricken - and probably already dead - motorcyclist. Forum sages - or so they like us to believe after their long hours in the kingdom - regaled us with the oft held opinion that Thais just love to reverse over accident victims to finish the job and avoid paying compensation. 

 

Utter, utter drivel. Though I'll grant you that leaving the scene of an accident rivals Muay Thai as a national sport.

 

"News" that high speed trains linking Thailand's main central region airports would travel at speeds of up to 250 k/mph also got the bar stool skeptics in a froth to match their inexpertly poured midday lager. 

 

"Not in my lifetime".... "You'll never catch me on a fast Thai train"...."Thais can't even change a light bulb"......"this government has achieved nothing"..... they burbled in cacophonous idiocy. 

 

Some people need to perhaps open their eyes and ears and not just their beer swilling, "know-it-all" mouths. Developments on the state railways have admittedly been as slow as some of their antiquated rolling stock, but other major infrastructure projects now in progress are very impressive. 

 

As the election nears we can expect more to be signed off in a hurry though calling them populist might well qualify for a jail term.

 

The ever increasing train lines in Bangkok and the overhead road from the capital to Korat are examples of such mega-projects. Moaners said years ago that no one would use the BTS or MRT and it would be plagued by accidents. They have proved incredibly safe and even the airport rail link is now similarly packed. 

 

This all shows the moaners up but still they babble on regardless.

 

And what of the speed of completion of projects? Arriving back in Thailand I was delighted to be told by my polite and interesting taxi driver (most are just that) that the underpass at the Ratchayothin intersection was now completed. This major project was finished in much less than two years. My driver said that Big Too had come to open it as we whizzed underground, though I shall put a rain check on his assertion that traffic snarls in the area are a thing of the past.

 

I am, after all, a Bangkokian through and through. 

 

The Green Line extension in the area is set to open next year and it is already adding value to our properties and enhancing a deprived neighborhood much in need of improvement. People who forever pooh-pooh the Thais and say there is no development in the country - the lifeblood of Thaivisa click-a-thons - are the ones living in cloud cuckoo land.

 

Thursday saw more developments on the subject of smoking, this time vaping. The anomaly of people facing jail for the use of e-cigarettes looks to be over after the excise department said that tax will legalize the trade. While this is good news for vapers I just hope the Thais are ready for the full consequences; the UK high streets are now full of vaping liquid shops vying for attention with the bookmakers and fast food outlets. 

 

A caveat on this story, however, is that it may fall into the category of fake news. Suggestions have been made that like their scatterbrained tax structure, the excise department may have got their info in a twist.

 

Another kind of smoking may also become more prevalent after medical marijuana legislation was sped up. Interesting times are ahead for the wonderful weed as the country comes to terms with use for the sick versus the needs of inhalers just itching for legalized chilling.

 

Just don't mull it up with devilish tobacco, please, and it will get my wholehearted stamp of public approval. 

 

Ignoring Big Joke's latest myriad busts, other good news flowed like the Chao Praya in November this week. The pick of the bunch was the wonderful sight of several healthy leopards in the much rejuvenated Kaeng Krachan national park. Clearly Mr Ital-Thai has learned his lesson. 

 

And it was followed by suggestions that 7/11 would be weaning the public off a national staple, plastic bags. 

 

There are increasing signs that the Thais are beginning to react to environmental issues with substance as much as bluster and finally understand that their beautiful country is the single most attractive draw to visitors and thus must be protected. Moves like the extended closure of the bay at Phi Phi are further evidence that a well overdue wake up call has finally sounded. 

 

I just don't buy into the miserable online rhetoric that Thais never learn and can't change. My taxi driver from Suwannaphum agreed though we both had to laugh that "us Thais" often go about change in an unusual and roundabout way - rather like his circuitous route to Rooster central.

 

Finally it was delightful to see that tourists were beguiled by what they thought might be "Ewoks" or trolls cavorting about in the surf surrounding a Krabi island. 

 

They were in fact a real life "installation" put on by a group of imaginative Thai artists. It may have come as a relief to some that the country is definitely not being invaded by unwanted aliens.

 

Our beloved junta and Big Joke, please note. 

 

Rooster

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2018-11-10

51 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

It may have come as a relief to some that the country is definitely not being invaded by unwanted aliens.

too many thais do not see it that way; they see us expats as very much unwanted aliens

I wish the forum would hire an editor to at least trim down these indulgent posts a bit. Aping the style of newspaper opinion pieces is all very well, but the saving grace of print is that there is limited space and, usually, an editor somewhere in the process who is aware that every sentence has to earn the reader's attention.

Even good writers benefit from being reigned in a bit. Whatever the wisdom of having an official column deride forum members (the people contributing content for free every day) in such superior, self-satisfied manner, this sort of opinion piece should never stray beyond the thousand word mark. 2,230 words of meandering commentary is lazy, disrespectful to the reader, and a poor reflection upon the ThaiVisa brand.

Agree re smoking,lost my best friends ,who all smoked through various cancers,and how I miss them.

The smoking in public/government buildings ban was enacted in my native Canada sometime in the late 90's; there weren't many complaints as when it is cold there is little fresh air to carry out the smoke and it just got too stuffy and smokey. And, of course, being Canadian it was the polite thing to do. A bit of a non-story; however...

 

Again, sometime in the late 90's Boris Yeltsin visited Ottawa, the capital of Canada, in the wintertime and was asked what he thought of the place. Boris replied that it was a beautiful city, but expressed considerable surprise and concern about all the prostitutes hanging around just outside of public/government buildings in the bitter, freezing cold...

 

To this day I have no idea if anyone ever clued him in.

 

 

Ye Gods,and i thought last weeks column was boring i feel numb after this one.

I am suffering from an incurable fatal lung disease thanks to second-hand smoke. It appals me that some inconsiderate posters on this forum criticised Thailands efforts to curb smoking. For people like me and many others I can only applaud the government's efforts.

33 minutes ago, gamini said:

I am suffering from an incurable fatal lung disease thanks to second-hand smoke. It appals me that some inconsiderate posters on this forum criticised Thailands efforts to curb smoking. For people like me and many others I can only applaud the government's efforts.

But many people still smoke in bars and restaurants!

          Gamini, how can you be so sure its second hand smoke, and not some other means of infection, there's too many other causes to consider. If your doctor said its smoking, then you can take that with a pinch of salt.

I , for one , enjoy roosters rambles  ! NO one 'needs' to read them . Counting the words is unbelievable .If anyone spares the time to count the words - why complain about the length of the piece .

Must respectfully disagree with Donnacha and Marko. Rooster's column is an interesting and very well-written reflection on the lives and laments of expats in the Kingdom and a refreshing update on the country's oft-criticized direction and progress.

Bored and disinterested readers are free to click onto other topics.

2 hours ago, gamini said:

I am suffering from an incurable fatal lung disease thanks to second-hand smoke. It appals me that some inconsiderate posters on this forum criticised Thailands efforts to curb smoking. For people like me and many others I can only applaud the government's efforts.

world Not have any evidence second hand smoking have dancerous, have only idiot peoples speak, and smoke not have any come sick, i know peoples many many, who has smoke 14 yea to 90 year and no has newer any day sick, many old men have, same me i smoke ower 40 year and no newer has sick and no newer come cigarette to sick. this is only peoples who talk shit speaking cigarette have proplem and dancerous. big shit have.

 

A third voice supporting Rooster's columns. They are a weekly highlight and a relief from the endless moaning drivel about "Thai's" (why do moaners never have any idea where the apostrophe goes or does not go?). 

1 hour ago, Iem said:

I , for one , enjoy roosters rambles  ! NO one 'needs' to read them . Counting the words is unbelievable .If anyone spares the time to count the words - why complain about the length of the piece .

Well, I shared my thoughts because I spend time on ThaiVisa and see this as a missed opportunity to have properly written and edited columns. I accept that their rambling nature is what you enjoy and, clearly, others here agree with you, but few have your patience these days.

My argument is that a tighter format, edited at least once, would produce something that would be useful to far more readers, would generate far more advertising revenue, would be more of a reason to visit ThaiVisa, and would provoke more discussion.

 

All of that, surely, would be more satisfying for the writer. The sheer tonnage is ample proof of effort, he might simply have never been in a professional writing situation in which some wise editor drummed it into him that less is often more.

Organizations are often unaware when some aspect of their operation is misfiring, you can sometimes improve things by stating the problem clearly and seeing if other people agree.

By the way, you can count words by selecting any text in your browser and simply pressing a button. I even went back a bit and discovered that these columns have been expanding over time.

 

1 hour ago, PaulDee said:

Must respectfully disagree with Donnacha and Marko. Rooster's column is an interesting and very well-written reflection on the lives and laments of expats in the Kingdom and a refreshing update on the country's oft-criticized direction and progress.

Bored and disinterested readers are free to click onto other topics.

I recognize that this style has its fans and, obviously, we are free to try it once and avoid it thereafter. Would it not be better, however, if those same reflections on expat life were delivered in a tighter style that would result in a higher ratio of readers sticking around and becoming regulars?

This type of regular column should be a real asset to a publication, it should be one of the main draws, but, judging by that the number of likes and comments generated by each column, it is seriously underperforming and blowing the opportunity presented by the massive readership of ThaiVisa.

 

As a concrete example of how easy it could be to improve, I bet that simply breaking each column into two separate columns (and not even editing them to tighten the verbiage) would immediately increase the number of page views, likes and responses by ten. 

Edited November 11, 20187 yr by donnacha

Its AMAZING nearly every smoker I know wants to give away smoking. The cigarette companies keep assuring us SMOKING is not ADDICTIVE but for most smokers they cannot give it away. ADDICTIVE ???????

20 hours ago, YetAnother said:

too many thais do not see it that way; they see us expats as very much unwanted aliens

I guess you missed that you and people of your ilk got an honorable mention at least three times in this week's less than memorable diatribe. Things are looking up!

 

20 hours ago, donnacha said:

I wish the forum would hire an editor to at least trim down these indulgent posts a bit. Aping the style of newspaper opinion pieces is all very well, but the saving grace of print is that there is limited space and, usually, an editor somewhere in the process who is aware that every sentence has to earn the reader's attention.

Even good writers benefit from being reigned in a bit. Whatever the wisdom of having an official column deride forum members (the people contributing content for free every day) in such superior, self-satisfied manner, this sort of opinion piece should never stray beyond the thousand word mark. 2,230 words of meandering commentary is lazy, disrespectful to the reader, and a poor reflection upon the ThaiVisa brand.

And nobody forced you read it, let alone copy and paste it into a third-party app so you could precisely quantify the rooster's verbiage either.

20 hours ago, donnacha said:

I wish the forum would hire an editor to at least trim down these indulgent posts a bit. Aping the style of newspaper opinion pieces is all very well, but the saving grace of print is that there is limited space and, usually, an editor somewhere in the process who is aware that every sentence has to earn the reader's attention.

Even good writers benefit from being reigned in a bit. Whatever the wisdom of having an official column deride forum members (the people contributing content for free every day) in such superior, self-satisfied manner, this sort of opinion piece should never stray beyond the thousand word mark. 2,230 words of meandering commentary is lazy, disrespectful to the reader, and a poor reflection upon the ThaiVisa brand.

Don't read it if you don't like it, as simple as that. It is 1 of hundreds of posts every week, so what is YOUR issue? Minority complexes that it is not you who is allowed to write this column?

27 minutes ago, donnacha said:

Well, I shared my thoughts because I spend time on ThaiVisa and see this as a missed opportunity to have properly written and edited columns. I accept that their rambling nature is what you enjoy and, clearly, others here agree with you, but few have your patience these days.

 

 

It's an opinion piece and these are often long - have a look at any newspaper of substance. And as a person who has been involved in online publishing over the past decade, I can tell you that longform really works. People enjoy long stories and pieces like this and they push up time on site. They are well read.

There are loads of Daily Mail like click fodder posts on this site, it's refreshing to have at least one intelligent longform opinion piece a week that doesn't assume everyone is monosyllabic. 

 What about the Thai women cooking chicken on a stick?  walking Dead engulfed in smoke, can't even See her...........who cares, Not I......

17 minutes ago, Swiss1960 said:

Don't read it if you don't like it, as simple as that. It is 1 of hundreds of posts every week, so what is YOUR issue? Minority complexes that it is not you who is allowed to write this column?

Strange..

 

Apparently if you criticize anything then you will be urged to desist big time and you will be responded to by hysterics who,sooner or later,will be shrieking in their usual discombobulated manner.

 

It would seem that having a contrary opinion is deadly dangerous in Shangri-La.

 

I see Rooster as a kind of Charles Blondin but I certainly wouldn't want to be on his back whilst crossing the Niagara which he does-off and on-every Sunday.

 

Edited November 11, 20187 yr by Odysseus123

2 hours ago, grumpy 4680 said:

          Gamini, how can you be so sure its second hand smoke, and not some other means of infection, there's too many other causes to consider. If your doctor said its smoking, then you can take that with a pinch of salt.

Grandfather died at 90 something, smoked, didn't die of cancer. Father in law died in his 60's from cancer of the liver and kidneys, maybe had a glass of wine or two once a month.

?????????

Genetics ???????

20 hours ago, donnacha said:

I wish the forum would hire an editor to at least trim down these indulgent posts a bit. Aping the style of newspaper opinion pieces is all very well, but the saving grace of print is that there is limited space and, usually, an editor somewhere in the process who is aware that every sentence has to earn the reader's attention.

Even good writers benefit from being reigned in a bit. Whatever the wisdom of having an official column deride forum members (the people contributing content for free every day) in such superior, self-satisfied manner, this sort of opinion piece should never stray beyond the thousand word mark. 2,230 words of meandering commentary is lazy, disrespectful to the reader, and a poor reflection upon the ThaiVisa brand.

I always find the weekly article interesting and also some gentle humour.   

Before you say too much, please note the difference between 'reign' and 'rein".

4 minutes ago, overherebc said:

Grandfather died at 90 something, smoked, didn't die of cancer. Father in law died in his 60's from cancer of the liver and kidneys, maybe had a glass of wine or two once a month.

?????????

Genetics ???????

So some 137 year old poster is now dying from second hand peat smoke?

 

'tis a strange world.

 

Did I ever tell you the Russian joke about Dmitri?

33 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

I guess you missed that you and people of your ilk got an honorable mention at least three times in this week's less than memorable diatribe. Things are looking up!

 

And nobody forced you read it, let alone copy and paste it into a third-party app so you could precisely quantify the rooster's verbiage either.

Here's another one..

6 minutes ago, masuk said:

I always find the weekly article interesting and also some gentle humour.   

Before you say too much, please note the difference between 'reign' and 'rein".

Another cab off the rank..

1 hour ago, donnacha said:

I recognize that this style has its fans and, obviously, we are free to try it once and avoid it thereafter. Would it not be better, however, if those same reflections on expat life were delivered in a tighter style that would result in a higher ratio of readers sticking around and becoming regulars?

If you do not like it do not read it and more importantly why waste your and our time with your own longwinded opinions. 

I am sure you could have produced a more readable precis by just saying "I don't really like reading a once a week summary of the weeks events by a person who has the ability, background and knowledge to entertain many, even though sadly some, including myself ("donnacha"), do not appreciate it.  

PS;  Rooster please ignore the gainsayers and stick with your highly entertaining and erudite weekly post.

44 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

And nobody forced you read it, let alone copy and paste it into a third-party app so you could precisely quantify the rooster's verbiage either.

2

That no-one can be forced to read an online column is precisely why writers and editors work hard to make them attractive to a wider pool of readers.

I counted the words because my feedback that the column is too long would be meaningless without quantifying what "too long" is.
 

I don't use a third-party app, I simply select the text and a small pop-up tells me how many words there are. I am surprised that so many members here think that using the word count feature is onerous.

 

49 minutes ago, Swiss1960 said:

Don't read it if you don't like it, as simple as that. It is 1 of hundreds of posts every week, so what is YOUR issue? Minority complexes that it is not you who is allowed to write this column?

 

Again, "don't read it" is not a good operating principle for any online publication.

It is a regular column, that is a flagship position in any publication, it should be much better and could be with just the slightest touch of editing.

I have no idea what "minority complexes" are, but did enjoy the movie Minority Report.

 

32 minutes ago, masuk said:

Before you say too much, please note the difference between 'reign' and 'rein".

 

Perhaps, before you pedantically correct another member's spelling, you could double-check to ensure that your correction is correct ????

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/reign_in

Just now, scottiejohn said:

If you do not like it do not read it and more importantly why waste your and our time with your own longwinded opinions. 

I am sure you could have produced a more readable precis by just saying "I don't really like reading a once a week summary of the weeks events by a person who has the ability, background and knowledge to entertain many, even though sadly some, including myself ("donnacha"), do not appreciate it.  

PS;  Rooster please ignore the gainsayers and stick with your highly entertaining and erudite weekly post.

And another one..

 

Apparently posting a contrary opinion in Thailand is a dangerous thing to do.

 

Something to do with with the binary vision one develops at the bottom of a Leo,Chang and Singha bottle,I would expect..

 

Some of Rooster's posts I like..and others I don't like.The one from a few weeks back made the average 20-30 year expat resident in Thailand look like Wittgenstein-and that is really saying something..

1 hour ago, THE REVERAND said:

Its AMAZING nearly every smoker I know wants to give away smoking. The cigarette companies keep assuring us SMOKING is not ADDICTIVE but for most smokers they cannot give it away. ADDICTIVE ???????

"give away smoking" Interesting! Like a take away but different?

16 minutes ago, scottiejohn said:

If you do not like it do not read it and more importantly why waste your and our time with your own longwinded opinions. 

I am sure you could have produced a more readable precis by just saying "I don't really like reading a once a week summary of the weeks events by a person who has the ability, background and knowledge to entertain many, even though sadly some, including myself ("donnacha"), do not appreciate it.  

PS;  Rooster please ignore the gainsayers and stick with your highly entertaining and erudite weekly post.

Why would 'Rooster' ignore the naysayers? (note:Not gainsayers)

 

As an intelligent person and a columnist on a popular forum I am very sure that he appreciates the feedback.

 

Whether he appreciates his supporters screaming and shrieking and telling everyone else with a contrary opinion to pipe down is another matter entirely.

 

Tho' I don't think that it is at all likely.