The week that was in Thailand news: Making the best of a bad job defines who we are

[rooster59]

 

Reading some people’s inane posts on Facebook they seem to have the perfect life. 

 

Their pictures of dinner always seem to have come out perfectly, the children are exemplary at school and wow, they just finished a tricky jigsaw puzzle in time to post that perfect pint down at the pub with the ever smiling wife with whom they have the ideal marriage, the envy of their massive circle of friends. 

 

I’m sick of it.

 

I never thought that the good times were what defined our lives, but what we did to overcome the bad, what we accomplished putting strife behind and moving on despite the adversity.

 

To wit, no story this week impressed me more than that of 25 year old Kusama Nakthong-in in the sub-district of Bua Khao in Kalasin.

 

She was getting married last Saturday and was busy putting the final touches to her bridal gown as relatives prepared for the wedding at her house.

 

Then a short circuit caused a fire upstairs and soon the whole building was engulfed. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt though the house was destroyed.

 

Kusama brushed herself down and instead of feeling sorry for herself took everyone over to her groom’s place ten kilometers away where she married Kasama.

 

Yes, there were tears and yes, there was a Facebook post. But that was a thoughtful one thanking other people and warning about overloading electrical systems at one’s house. 

 

If anyone epitomized the English expression “making the best of a bad job” it was this fine young lady. She’s a keeper Kasama - I hope you have a fantastic life together and can laugh about the loss of the house one day. 

 

Forum reaction was fairly typical. Banging on about Thai electrics rather than praising the fortitude of the bride and her family. Or worse still making jokes about the “jao sao” looking “hot”. One poster - in Oxfordshire - just said that the house was not destroyed.

 

Thanks for all that. 

 

“Kensawadee” took one poster to task in a nice post though to be fair to “Colinneil” - a severely disabled Englishman and former Thaivisa  poster of the year - he has also bravely made the best of a bad job after a devastating motorcycle accident several years ago. 

 

What surprised me a little about the Daily News story about the fire was they did not specifically comment on the ages of the married couple or the day they got married. 

 

Perhaps this was the former teacher of Thai culture in Rooster coming out, but they are both 25 and it is a central theme of cultural beliefs in Thailand that at this age - called benjaphaet - something life changing is bound to happen!

 

For years whenever I have met anyone who is 25 I have asked them if anything earth shattering has happened so far this year! It always elicits conversation and a smile.

 

The day of weddings - though often subject to scrutiny of calendars for auspicious astrological signs, are often held on Fridays because the sound (if not the spelling) of Wan SUK indicates happiness. 

 

Funerals are more likely to be held on Saturdays as Wan SAO sounds more like the Thai word for sadness even if the tonal value is different. Though only some Thais follow this one.

 

Also making the best of a bad job, the Thai government blundered on with attempts to reopen their country to foreign tourism and roll out the vaccines this week.

 

Tourism minister Pipat spoke of pilot “sandbox” projects in Phuket, Pattaya and then Chiang Mai with the southern island receiving the first vaccinated tourists in July.

 

He has promised quarantine will end for the vaxxed though they will have to remain within a stone’s throw of their hotel for seven days in, say, Pattaya before being allowed out to somewhere decent like Bangkok. (Much also depends on how many people in the tourism industry can be jabbed and how quickly). 

 

No tourists would be allowed to sneak out, we were told, that caused many on the forum to get in a predictable lather for no reason whatsoever. 

 

Lather also rose when Thaivisa wrote a headline that said a man died after being vaccinated. Some on Facebook called for TV to be reported to Mark Zuckerberg. 

 

No folks, he did die after taking the vaccine but - if you bother to actually read the story as few actually can or bother to do - you would have seen it had nothing to do with the jab. 

 

It was some gastric embolism that was destined to happen anyway. Some more sensible posters accepted that it was important to report on the story for the sake of transparency. 

 

Head Health Honcho Anutin said that he had been in contact with “many countries” about forming travel bubbles but when asked who they were he wouldn’t say. I’m convinced if you asked this creature what he had for breakfast you wouldn’t get a straight answer!

 

Meanwhile Big Too was all concerned for his twin daughters who have been bullied online. Cyberbullying is a bad thing, as a police spokesman explained,  but it would have sounded better if Prayuth had mentioned the seven year old child shot dead by his KKK (Khaki Klad Klan) pals in Myanmar. 

 

The lack of condemnation coming from the Thai government is deafening and utterly embarrassing.

 

Finance minister Arkhom caused Rooster to glance over to check that it was not April 1st already with his assertion that 40 million tourists would be beating a path to Thailand’s door by 2024. 

 

I have this very strong feeling that even when the leashes are off, even though people who have kept their jobs have huge amounts of saved income to spend, that recovery from the pandemic will be very slow and very painful. I feel very pessimistic but feel it is realistic.

 

 

Further tourism fodder came in the form of stories about the TAT promoting Chiang Mai to “quality” tourists from India and the country becoming a “wellness hub” and cannabis retreat. 

 

Thailand has more hub(cap)s than a Scouser with a screwdriver on a Saturday afternoon in Liverpool. 

 

In international news the devastating floods in Australia continued. In Russia Putin got his vaccination but his macho personality meant he didn’t make a song and dance about it. 

 

The British government - looking every bit like a totalitarian state - threatened 5,000 sob fines if you so much as took a foreign holiday. Spats between them and the EU over vaccine continued. 

 

Stateside, Uncle Joe held his first press conference in a while though Fox still managed to blast him for doing so. How they must miss the LOTUS who thankfully is mostly off my TV screen these days. 

 

In Colorado ten people were shot at a grocery store and more calls were made for gun control. Talk about wasting your breath.

 

Back in Thailand there was a great deal of horrific crime this week.

 

In an area where I have a house in Sam Khok, Pathum Thani, a pump attendant was slashed to death over a 40 baht non-payment of fuel.

 

In the north east an abusive husband murdered his wife, stuffed her in a sack and threw her all trussed up in a pond.

 

In Lamphun, a wife killed her husband with a breeze block then told everyone at the grocery store she had murdered him.

 

No one believed her as she had cried wolf once too often. 

 

In Buriram a mother was charged with assault after she went to a primary school and attacked her child’s P1 friend over some medicine going missing. The phu yai ban made excuses for her. 

 

At a police station a cop shot his wife multiple times after chasing her inside then turned the gun on himself. She survived and he didn’t so there was a semblance of justice there. 

 

A “Superpoll” suggested that Thais were overwhelmingly in favor of the country opening to foreign tourism. I would be very wary of these polls - the sample sizes are not the problem, it’s who and what they ask. 

 

New ministers were announced principally for the positions of Education and Digital Economy and Society, the latter being akin to Orwell’s Ministry of Truth. 

 

Twenty five people will face charges or summons in the death of “pretty” Wawa at a drinks party last month. An autopsy revealed she had meth, ecstasy, diazepam and ketamine in her system. Hiso’s beware!

 

A Thai tycoon said he was on the lookout for failing hotels. Posters called him a vulture - don’t they have any idea of what business is? And don’t they realize that one of the best times to make money is in a crisis! Rhetorical questions as the Thaivisa school of business acumen is on permanent hols.

 

In Bangkok the international motor show at Muang Thong Thani began on Wednesday and is worth a visit to ogle the pretties, the cars and especially the motorbikes!

 

The latter featured in many stories this week about road safety and the fact there are now 21 million bikes on the Thai roads, more than twice the number of cars. One story said that 10 million riders don’t wear helmets and that one dies every 35 minutes. 

 

Another story laid the blame for motorcycle fatalities firmly at the door of the riders themselves. Many are poorly trained, if trained at all, and  don’t know how to handle a motorbike in an emergency situation, don’t have the most basic skills or even roadworthy bikes.

 

In Minburi, a macaque called Godzilla was taken away from a luuk chin stall owner who had kept him chained up. Manop, who bawled his pathetic eyes out, said Godzilla was like a son to him and denied that passers-by threw him scraps (Godzilla, not Manop). The monkey weighed in at 20 kilos when he should have been eight. 

 

Please call the parks’ department on 1362 when you see cretins like Manop with wild animals that should be in trees not chains. 

 

Top hoot of the week concerned a watermelon seller who was fined 500 baht for offending public morals after a woman in a yellow bikini showed off her melons at his roadside stall. 

 

He was only helping a mate out who promised to pay the fine but hundreds turned up to ogle and, thankfully, get their hands on a few of his melons.

 

Finally, it was announced this week that the popular Hard Rock Cafe in Siam Square will shut at the end of the month.

 

The previous day I was going stir crazy at home and told Mrs R that I had to get out to Gullivers to have a few beers and a chicken pie. No problem she said as I headed off at 5.30pm.

 

Gullivers was shut “temporarily” so I went to my old hunting ground of “The Old Dutch” on the corner of Soi Cowboy and Soi 23 for a schnitzel. 

 

It was now an empty go-go bar.

 

Everywhere was either closed, boarded up or half deserted so I had a ham Subway for 89 baht and was home by 7.30 pm to put the kids to bed.

 

This is not the Bangkok I remember from my misspent youth!

 

Rooster
 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2021-03-28

 

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[Samui Bodoh]

59 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

This is not the Bangkok I remember from my misspent youth!

 

It is a sad thing to hear you say, but I think that you are too close to the issue; Bangkok has been in decline for 6-7 years (Hmm... what occurred 6-7 years ago?).

 

I started visiting the city at the onset of the nineties and it was a blast; the place never slept, the only thing limiting what you could find was your imagination, the people had a forward-looking, creative bent that expressed itself in ways that I had never seen, there was a vibrancy to every street, soi, enclave and alley, there was a sense everywhere of unlimited possibilities, and there was a sense that the locals both could and would achieve great and wonderful things.

 

I have made short visits to Bangkok about once a year for the last five years and I have to say that each was worse than the last. I could list all the changes that, in my view, diminished the place, but rather for me it has been simply the 'vibe' on the street; where once anything, literally anything, was possible now seems wooden, slow and deflated. Yes, perhaps the sidewalks are cleaner, the public transportation better, the garbage a wee bit less, but the cost of that has been horrible.

 

It is an incredible thing to say about what once was one of the most vibrant places I ever visited, but Bangkok has become a great deal like an army base, but without the ambiance and zest. 

 

My visits will be fewer and fewer, sadly.

 

 

[dyertribe]

You really should try not to denigrate your reader base.  It is getting tiresome.

 

[BostonRob2]

2 hours ago, dyertribe said:

You really should try not to denigrate your reader base.  It is getting tiresome.

 

Sounds like some people can deal it out but don't like it when it is dealt back. Go Rooster!

[dyertribe]

44 minutes ago, BostonRob2 said:

Sounds like some people can deal it out but don't like it when it is dealt back. Go Rooster!

I'm happy for you to point out any post of mine where I have been rude or disparaged any poster in this forum.

Thanks for your input ... 

[thecyclist]

5 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

 

It is a sad thing to hear you say, but I think that you are too close to the issue; Bangkok has been in decline for 6-7 years (Hmm... what occurred 6-7 years ago?).

 

I started visiting the city at the onset of the nineties and it was a blast; the place never slept, the only thing limiting what you could find was your imagination, the people had a forward-looking, creative bent that expressed itself in ways that I had never seen, there was a vibrancy to every street, soi, enclave and alley, there was a sense everywhere of unlimited possibilities, and there was a sense that the locals both could and would achieve great and wonderful things.

 

I have made short visits to Bangkok about once a year for the last five years and I have to say that each was worse than the last. I could list all the changes that, in my view, diminished the place, but rather for me it has been simply the 'vibe' on the street; where once anything, literally anything, was possible now seems wooden, slow and deflated. Yes, perhaps the sidewalks are cleaner, the public transportation better, the garbage a wee bit less, but the cost of that has been horrible.

 

It is an incredible thing to say about what once was one of the most vibrant places I ever visited, but Bangkok has become a great deal like an army base, but without the ambiance and zest. 

 

My visits will be fewer and fewer, sadly.

 

 

Bangkok has been in decline much longer than 6 years. Yes, the nineties were much more fun, but the eighties were even better. If the infamous Bernhard Trink was still around, he would probably point out to us 'newbies' that, if you weren't here in the sixties you haven't experienced the real Bangkok. Only Thailand Old Hands like him knew the real stories, and to join this illustrious club you needed 30 years in the Kingdom. The final death blow was meted out by Thaksin and his moralist adjutant Minister Purachai (if I remember it right). They introduced the ludicrous restrictions on the sale of alcohol, and kept up a continual crackdown on nightlife. That is the result of putting people in charge who are unable to have a good time, and who get their thrills out of counting their money, contemplating their power, and spoiling the fun of others. 

Edited March 28, 2021 by thecyclist

[Stevemercer]

7 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Kensawadee” took one poster to task in a nice post though to be fair to “Colinneil” - a severely disabled Englishman and former Thaivisa  poster of the year -

 

By the way, whatever happened to POTY? I thought Jinn won after Colin, but there hasn't been a POTY for what seems a few years? I think the TV staff don't want to mention it in the hopes the big boss forgets all about it? I can't imagine it's much fun (as a staffer) having to run the damn competition.

Edited March 28, 2021 by Stevemercer

[GreasyFingers]

7 hours ago, rooster59 said:

I’m convinced if you asked this creature what he had for breakfast you wouldn’t get a straight answer!

I thought that was a Thai trait. Every time I ask the wife a simple question I get a question as the reply. (not Thai bashing, just an observation, as she is a great woman.)

[Andycoops]

Shocking but not surprising that on the day 100 are shot dead by Toos pals, his government attends a party given by them to celebrate Forces day, showing further contempt for democracy and what they really think is important.

Disgraceful.

Thailand plummets further into the moral and ethical abyss.

[NRGF]

18 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

 

It is a sad thing to hear you say, but I think that you are too close to the issue; Bangkok has been in decline for 6-7 years (Hmm... what occurred 6-7 years ago?).

 

I started visiting the city at the onset of the nineties and it was a blast; the place never slept, the only thing limiting what you could find was your imagination, the people had a forward-looking, creative bent that expressed itself in ways that I had never seen, there was a vibrancy to every street, soi, enclave and alley, there was a sense everywhere of unlimited possibilities, and there was a sense that the locals both could and would achieve great and wonderful things.

 

I have made short visits to Bangkok about once a year for the last five years and I have to say that each was worse than the last. I could list all the changes that, in my view, diminished the place, but rather for me it has been simply the 'vibe' on the street; where once anything, literally anything, was possible now seems wooden, slow and deflated. Yes, perhaps the sidewalks are cleaner, the public transportation better, the garbage a wee bit less, but the cost of that has been horrible.

 

It is an incredible thing to say about what once was one of the most vibrant places I ever visited, but Bangkok has become a great deal like an army base, but without the ambiance and zest. 

 

My visits will be fewer and fewer, sadly.

 

 

I first visited Bangkok in 1978 and have been back regularly ever since, the last 10 years as a snowbird Dec. Jan. Feb. I would agree with most of your comments but I do wish I was there right now. 

[Todd Saed]

Rooster has the most hilarious, honest, engaging,  and almost profound writing of any

news writer in the Big Time even.   A vulnerablitiy and endearing self deprecation,  so is not

in the service of kkkleptocracy and kkkrapitalism, when unchained after the social and democratic movements prevail, better to come you can imagine

[rosst]

19 hours ago, dyertribe said:

You really should try not to denigrate your reader base.  It is getting tiresome.

 

May I suggest that anybody offended by your column probably was the target and rightly so, well said old cock. 

[NancyL]

21 hours ago, Stevemercer said:

 

By the way, whatever happened to POTY? I thought Jinn won after Colin, but there hasn't been a POTY for what seems a few years? I think the TV staff don't want to mention it in the hopes the big boss forgets all about it? I can't imagine it's much fun (as a staffer) having to run the damn competition.

No Colin won after Jinn, but whatever.

 

To me, the fun went out of POTY after an "upgrade" to TV meant that it was impossible to change one's vote.  It was much more fun back in the days votes changed daily, or more often, and (I suspect) that some had multiple TV accounts.  Now all that is policed much better.  

 

The several contests where I "stood" (to use an English word that I don't quite understand as an American), I was very much propped up by Mr. Bitey and much was written about him on TV during the contests. 

 

Sadly, he passed away last year.  He had cancer and he and I were resident at a pet-friendly hostel near Kasetsart University where he was undergoing cancer treatments on an out-patient basis.  He was doing pretty good and we'd settled into a routine, but then Covid hit, restaurants closed, I was eating out of the 7-11, all the guests left the hotel and the university said that Mr. Bitey could be admitted as an in-patient so I could return to Chiang Mai since it wasn't safe for me, as an "elderly" person to remain in Bangkok.

 

Mr. Bitey passed away three weeks after I returned to Chiang Mai.

[yankyoakum]

One thing I really enjoyed this week was the comment about 25 yrs old..,  We were poor as church mice, in NW Pa, and heard a song "Take this job and shove it" on the way to work... I snapped, quit a $hitty job that instant, left my Thai bride at home and drove to Texas Feb, 1978... I was 25, applied for 7 jobs in 3 days and upon return to Pa, was accepted for all 7 positions. In western Pa at the time you couldn't buy a job...We loaded our non air-conditioned car with all our hand me down worldly goods in a 4 by 8 home made trailer and our dog and relocated to Houston Tx.  That lasted till 2019, sold everything and now in Sattahip... Yea Rooster 25 can be a defining year.... or was for me. Wouldn't have had it any other way... I look forward to your posts on Sundays..and usually be picking up what you putting down... 

[Mark mark]

10 hours ago, Todd Saed said:

Rooster has the most hilarious, honest, engaging,  and almost profound writing of any

news writer in the Big Time even.   A vulnerablitiy and endearing self deprecation,  so is not

in the service of kkkleptocracy and kkkrapitalism, when unchained after the social and democratic movements prevail, better to come you can imagine

Yes Goooo Rooster !!! I remember what is was Like !!! ... Like when that "Lan see Far" was it (Color Blue restaurant ?) the Great seafood restaurant on Sukhmvit and Soi 25 was it ? Where they used to open the soda water bottles out in the beer garden out the back, by pointing then in the right direction, safety wise, .... and then Whack the bottoms of them with their palms, ! And the tops, would Pop off loudly !!!  ... And then fly right over the wall, and out in to the Side street !!! ... And I always used to wonder who picked them up in the mornings !!! ??? .... Definitely the Good Old Days.  ... (And the Half Mekong and Soda days also !!!) ... ... And something that I STILL have not seen done so well and so often, in any other city in the world !!! ....

 

...  So, Yes Power Up Rooster !!! And be BIG !!! ... Write BIG ... You are GOOD !!! .... and it is well WELL worth it.

[Mark mark]

 "but it would have sounded better if Prayuth had mentioned the seven year old child shot dead by his KKK (Khaki Klad Klan) pals in Myanmar. 

The lack of condemnation coming from the Thai government is deafening and utterly embarrassing."

 

Yes Right on R !!!

- Like what a REALY Great, …  GREAT Tragedy of our time !!! 

 

... But Well, I just watched the ABC Australia 4 Corners 1 Hour report on Anng Su Kye in Myanmar, … and well, 4 Corners is almost always GOOD !!! … Whether you like Auzie Auzie Auzie or not ! ... but after a great start, on her tenacity, honesty and Strength !!! … And then success in getting in and then getting control of Parliament, to an extent more then the Military would have liked her to I think ? ...

 

... They were really only realy left able to comment, … "Well she (Amazingly !) was able to make a Deal with the Devil” !!! ... “But at What cost" … - Re her fairly obvious ? total abandoning of Human rights for the Rohingans.

 

… So well I think that I might just keep out of this one.  … - And I can understand why Thailand is also, especially coming from Ayuttahya. ? …

 

...  Despite the just HUGE tragedy of the loss of Democracy and now the fast increasing murders, …  By an out dated and seemingly pretty much totally deluded Military,  (Like don’t they know that they only can lose doing it, by doing it this way these days ??? … (Well let’s Hope so any way Aye !!!) ..... And just be remembered for silly Mindless, murderers for ever !!!  .... Like I wonder what their children will do ? …

 

… And then there is the Mainland Chinese's involvement, and business interests also ! ???. .. .... And Russia now also I believe ... God bless their Pure White Soules !!!

 

….  And the good news !!! I got my First AstraZeneca Jab today ! .. So well the End ! Is ! IN ! Sight !!! …

 

.... And thank God for that !!! ... 

 

Mark mark

[rumak]

i must say,  the old rooster is certainly developing a hard core group of.......  groupies.

 

keep crowing ............ but don't give up your day job.    oops,  this IS your day job.

 

   

[Mark mark]

"In international news the devastating floods in Australia continued." ...

 

Yes, and Last Year it was just Massive Fires, like the biggest Ever Really taking in their just HUGE geographic range ! Like all down the East Coast from Queensland to Victoria !!! 

 

... But here, now the Really big Australian news is the Alleglid Rape of Brittney Higgins on the ... Now Ex-Defense ministers Couch in Parliament House ... followed by Revelations that other allegations of a Historic rape had been made against the now Ex-Attorney General, for something that may have occurred (And Possibly did, as he was a well-known “Bit of a Lad” Private school boy) over 30 years ago, ...  and the Poor woman has now committed Suicide !!! ... Making it Just about impossible to sort out.

 

… So now the great rush towards large enquiries about the questionably Male Culture and cover-ups re it, in Australia’s Parliament House in Canberra, is the Real News. ...

 

... Which the Government (Mostly Men) want to sweep under the carpet ... but well the Woman of Australia seem determined NOT to let it just go away this time !!! …  And well if you ask me !!! "About time Also" .. Like These bastards would <Deleted> me ! Also !!! … …  Like the Floods will just go away !!! ... Until the next time !!! …. And then it might be a fire, . ? … But I do not think that this really quite serious move on Culture of Sexual discriminations, Misconduct, the silencing of ANY complaints, .... and cover ups all will just go away, this time.

[Mark mark]

Re the CEO, Certificate of Entry for entering Thailand, on a NON - Long Stay Visa

 

I just this morning heard that they are now not allowed to approve the COE for those who want to travel to Thailand after 31st May.  “Because the restriction may change.”

I guess that I should open this question as a new topic, ? and I will. … but do any of you know anything about this ?

 

Like what are the changed Likely to be ??? Does anyone know ? … and just a Guess would do for now I guess.  ? …. Like will you still be able to get back in to Thailand on a NON –OA visa after 31st May ? Do you think. ? .. I have written back and asked this but well they might not know any way or not be able to tell me.

 

Like you would think that things SHOULD get Easier !!! ??? ... But well for Tourists Yes ?  .... But what about NON - OA Long Stayers ?

 

Thanks … Very very Very VERY ! Frustrated Mark mark !!!

Edited March 30, 2021 by Mark mark
Added Last Line

[Mark mark]

“In international news the devastating floods in Australia continued”

 

Well possibly getting bit far off track here, but also in comment to Good Brother Roosters, News Comment on the Australian floods … … Another Political fact that came out this last week or so was that ? An, alleged Number of our Federal Politicians, were actually having, most probably,  extra marital sex, in the Prayer room at Parliament House !!! …  A Bit like the Mongolians do it I guess, by putting up their flag on the top of a hill, to warn off any other accidental interlopers !!!

 

…   Like I am not sure what the Grand Mufftie of Sydney might have thought of this,? but it’s practicality of an innovative use of an extremely underutilized piece of politically correct Real-estate … Our Parliament having very few Muslims if any way all … And it would be unlikely our Christians or any of our other religions would have used it ! ? …   So this must be considered very Innovative ! ? Right ? …

 

… Like maybe it will increase our chances of taking the Chair at the UN practicality commission in it's next sitting !!! ??? ... The Practical Australians ! ? … Azie Auzie Auzie !!! Right !!!

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

Isn't it time people that use social media got to grip with the fact it isn't a reflection of real life? It is not a source of factual news either.

Finding the truth in 2021 is not easy.

[Odysseus123]

On 3/29/2021 at 11:51 PM, rumak said:

i must say,  the old rooster is certainly developing a hard core group of.......  groupies.

 

keep crowing ............ but don't give up your day job.    oops,  this IS your day job.

 

   

It is very quiet on the forum nowadays-has everyone switched to the Facebook side of things?-so it's good to see Rooster's column still up and running..

This week's was pretty good.

Edited April 3, 2021 by Odysseus123