I-nomad

Worshipping cats who seem to say: "Mao" hidden on Chinese banknote

2012-02-08T17:09:00.000+07:00

This seems to be the latest buzz in China

Calendar 2012

2012-01-14T13:46:00.001+07:00

Tree with unstable childhood

2012-01-13T13:23:00.000+07:00

Wicked Leaks

2012-01-13T13:00:00.001+07:00

Siem Reap central market

2012-01-06T19:16:00.001+07:00

Seen in Siem Reap from our balcony:

At night central market is a busy place with numerous food stalls, some open till 4:00 am

In the morning at 8:00 am everything is perfectly clean, since the square and the pink building on the right co-function as a kindergarten. In the afternoon when it's closed the circus starts again.

The moral of the Three Little Pigs doesn't always apply..

2012-01-05T22:32:00.000+07:00

Today we joined a friend visiting her parents mr. and mrs. Yib in Bang Ntort 30 km's from Siem Reap. The last 2 km's was a bumby sand-road and we had grab on to anything in the tuk-tuk in order not to be ejected from the vehicle.
We brought food and Polly helped to prepare it with the family.
Their living conditions were minimal; a low open living-room with a sand floor situated under the bedroioms made of thatched palm leaves. The space was roughly 4 by 5 meter and was lacking electricity, running water, toilet or sewage. I wondered how they raised 11 children there.
I didn't eat that much, not that I didn't like the food, but since I was a bit on the runs, the prospect of going to the forest which is the common bathroom for most of the villagers was not very appealing.
As for sanitary conditions, I heard that an old local saying goes: Wake up early and you can stay near your home, wake up late and you'll have to walk far away [To do your thing and wash yourself].

Conditions for the family Yib had not always been that bad. Before 1975 mr. Yib was a surgeon in a Siem Reap hospital, while his wife used to be a French teacher. They lead a relatively comfortable life.
During the Pol Pot regime they were under threat to be regarded as intellectuals where as a result they would have been killled. Mr. Yib and his family managed to escape prosecution by burning all their papers. They were forced to leave the city and become farmers in an agricultural commune. Poll Pot declared it was the year zero. Money was abolished. Newspapers, television, radio, mail, means of transport including bicycles were abolished. The Khmer Rouge shut down businesses and stopped the use of money. Education, health care, religion, foreign languages and parental authority were done away with. Fear was felt everywhere. One could get killed for being cheerful. There were outbreaks of malaria and starvation was high. A human life had less value than a bullet. Cambodia had become a giant concentration camp.
After the ultimate terror regime finally got defeated by Vietnam in 1978 and having one son killed, mr. Yib and mrs. Yib decided to remain more or less self-supporting farmers independent from any government like they had done in their civil servant life before.

In the temple of Wat Taryak nearby, bloodstains of adults and children who had been slashed to death are silent witnesses which should give anybody second thoughts about what madness some governments can cause, not to mention the trauma's which prevented people picking up their old job again.
Although mt Yib seemed to master English and French, he never talked during our stay.
Mrs. Yib seemed more cheerful but spoke only in Khmer, no French. Their daughter told us that they both had forgotten their foreign languages. I found it hard to believe, but now writing this story I start to understand that I can only grasp a tiny fraction of the gruesome reality then. Total fear, total trauma.

The madness did not only apply to Cambodia or Pol Pot at the time. Not only did China, Thailand and the Western world lead by the US and the UK closed their eyes to the atrocities but were in fact instrumental in the rise and duration of the Khmer Rouge's power.
A generally accepted viewpoint except for the countries involved is that all collaborated with the Khmer Rouge to fight archenemy Vietnam.
So the Vietnam War part III (incorporating the France-Vietnam war) is a new sequel which lasted 18 years.
Following are known examples of support and opportunities given to the Khmer Rouge by the West.

a) Extensive US bombing of neutral Cambodia during and after withdrawal from Vietnam drove orphans and frightened people into the hands of the Khmer Rouge which had a mere 3,000 members before the bombings.
During 3,530 flights, which were kept strictly secret, US bombing killed 600,000 Cambodians and caused 2 million refugees .

b) The genocide by the Red Khmer which lasted 3 years and 8 months was at the time fully kept secret to the media.
According to estimates a minimum of 1.7 million people died in this period. Other estimates mention 2 till 2.5 million casualties. For nearly 12 years the US refused to acknowledge the event. The fact that in less than four years one out of every four Cambodian dissapeared from the face of the earth had appearantly gone unnoticed by a nation with the world's most sophisticated intelligence agency is extremely doubtful to say the least.

c) Alleged training of Red Khmer soldier given by the British SAS, after the army retreated to the Thai-Cambodian border the US supported Pol Pot and his army financially. At this time Pol Pot was accomodated in a plantation villa near the Thai province capitol Trat protected by a special Thai military unit.

d) The UN accepted the Khmer Rouge as the legimate government of Cambodia for a period of 15 years after the Pol Pot's genocide took place and the Vietnamese took over. During this time the Khmer Rouge could freely endulge in guerilla warfare.
Some estimate that during this time at least half a million more people starved to death or were slaughtered.

Later that day I passed various other houses in the surrounding area and it occured to me that for many the story of the Three Little Pigs must look rather sinister.
The moral of the story that when you're smart and working hard you will yield results simply does not apply to everyone.
To avoid any injustice, in the story the little pigs got their building materials from people they happened to meet for free.
Naturally this is not the case in the real world. In Cambodia 80% of the people live in rural areas and 30% of the population lives under the national poverty line of $1.25 a day (Stats 2007). This doesn't buy you many bricks.
In the original story only one pig survives and the bad wolf gets what he deserves and dies, whereas the only person from the Khmer Rouge who has been convicted is Kang Kek Lev a former prison boss. His sentenced was 35 years enprisonment, but he got a pre-trial detention reduction of 11 years and furthermore a much disputed 5 years reduction due to an exceeded lawful maximum pre-trial detention, resulting in 19 years sentence.
Three other officials are still on trial.
How Pol Pot died is not sure, coincidentally it was just after the Khmer Rouge agreed to turn him over to an international tribunal. He was cremated before any official inspection for traces of suicide or poisoning could take place. Likely he knew too much about his henchmen.
Anyway it happened in his bed in similar poor housing conditions many Cambodians are still living in.
The big bad wolf has died but gross injustice and and evil secret agenda's still remain.
18 years later the country still hasn't recovered from the after effects of long term internationally aided terror.

Yib's house

A thatched palm leave house next door

A wooden house in Bang Ntort

A brick house near the road to Siem Reap

Sexy frogs

2012-01-05T19:08:00.000+07:00

Seen in Siem Reap at the central market:

Frogs are not just for the French. Many east Asians are fond of the delicacy too.
And then there is a bunch of adventurous Western travelers who dare to probe some local exotic snacks.
With a mixture of curiousity and plain bravura, photo evidence placed on Facebook is bound to get some comments and perhaps even a few likes.

Reportedly a few months ago, after the open air BBQ of King Pub Street restaurant started to advertise the ceased to be amphibians as Sexy Frogs, sales boosted.

The continuous question from curious passers by is of course: "Why are they called sexy?"

You might have guessed; the photo above shows enough nudity suitable for wok.
In the mean time the meat display of the BBQ has become a popular spot for a holiday snap.
25 years old waitress Sophea who came up with the idea deserves a raise, since without any schooling after age 11, she figured out the AIDA principle of marketing, namely: Attention-Interest-Desire-Action.

Perhaps the fact that Sophea is a ladyboy is a pro in creative marketing. (Think different, Steve Jobs said.)
Now she needs to figure out something for the grilled snakes. 'Snake Smile' is just not interesting enough or is it?

Bi-icicle

2011-12-25T04:56:00.000+07:00

Seen in Siem Reap:Transporting blocks of ice with a bicycle:

Cambodian Santa Claus

2011-12-25T03:43:00.001+07:00

Seen in Siem Reap: Cambodian Santa Claus.
Not really very convincing to be honest..

Big fat Buddha

2011-12-24T01:25:00.000+07:00

Seen at Angkor National Museum in Siem Reap:
This Buddha is so fat that even the ox pulling him appears to have a hard time

Animal carving

2011-12-24T01:13:00.001+07:00

Seen at Siem Reap, Cambodia:

Cambodian fish spa

2011-12-22T02:28:00.000+07:00

Seen in Siem Reap: a fish massage with a no piranha guarantee.
Price for a 15 min. try is $1,- including a free coke or beer.
The fish called Garra rufa and fish spa's originate from Turkey but are now popular all over the world.
Personally I wouldn't recommend Cambodia's fish spa's; the basins look dirty with possible health risks involved and the fish are quite big, probably because the're imported '2nd hand' from Thailand.
Also most of the time the're not very active like the small ones in Thailand.

The Tsunami ghosts of Khao Lak

2011-12-09T20:00:00.001+07:00

During the Tsunami in 2004 Khao Lak, Phang Nga was hit the hardest in Thailand. According to Wikipedia, the final death toll was over 4000, with local unofficial estimates topping 10,000 due to the lack of accurate government censuses and the mere fact that the Burmese population were not documented or recognized as legal residents. Bhumi Jensen, grandson of King Bhumipol also died here while jet-skiing.
When we stayed in the newly built small touristic area, the memories of the Tsunami were clearly more present than in any other place in Thailand we had been. We heard several stories from the Tsunami as if it happened last year. Also there were an high amount of ghost stories going around.
We heard from the nightguard that last year a guest standing in the night on the balcony had seen and heard lots of people enjoying in the bamboo restaurant near the beach. The place is always very quiet and closed at night and the guard confirmed there had been no special party or such.
On the first day we had been there once and somehow we didn't feel very comfortable, but rather a bit eerie, eventhough I didn't have the Tsunami in mind and am not superstitious. Later I talked with a Swedish woman and she felt the same, so like us she didn't go there anymore. Polly as a Thai is very superstious and claims to have seen a ghost at our balcony. (While I was away ofcourse.) As a result she didn't want to be alone in the room anymore.
Below are some offerings in our room for the spirits:

The Fanta and Chuba Chup are intended as a gift to the children who died here

Hotel California (alternative lyrics)

2011-12-01T19:48:00.001+07:00

Hotel California (alternative lyrics)

In a dark downtown sidestreet, warm wind in my hair
The sickly smell of sewage, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I heard a vague sound
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for a round
There she stood in the opening;
I heard the ringing of the bell
And I was thinking to myself,
"This could be heaven but goin' to cost me a hell.."
Then she said: "take a seat first" and poured me a beer
There were voices down the place,
I thought I heard them cheer...

Why we have to keep lis'ning to Hotel California
It's a lovely song (such a lovely song)
But this much is wrong (this much is wrong)
Plenty of playtime for Hotel California
Any time of year, you can hear it here

Her mind is tiffany-twisted, she got the mercedes bends
She got a lot of pretty, pretty girls, who pretend to be friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat
Some dance for you to remember, but I want to forget

So I yelled to the bargirl,
"Please choose a song of mine"
She said, "We didn't play another record here since nineteen seventy nine"
And at night I heard the same music from far away,
Waking up in the middle of the night
Just to hear myself say...

Why I have to keep lis'ning to Hotel California
It's a lovely song (such a lovely song)
But this much is wrong (this much is wrong)
Now my life revolves around Hotel California
It's of no surprise (no surprise)
I believed in paradise

Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink shots with ice
And she said: "We are all just prisoners here, of our own device"
And upstairs in her chamber,
We gathered for the feast
Once you're hit by her fire
You're caught by the beast

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
"Relax," said the night man,
We are programmed to receive
You can checkout any time you like,
But the song will never leave!

The averse effects on expats after long exposure to the Siam sun

2011-11-30T14:53:00.001+07:00

Pic thnx to Androidzoom

When moving to Thailand, in the beginning everything looks exotic, interesting and fun, just like it was on your holidays before.
You have fallen in love with your new home; the land of smiles.
Like with real love the novelty and mystery wears off over time. Gradually you start to change.
Following is a inventory of various behavioural types of long term expats I came accross in Thailand. Of course people can develop different behaviours mentioned below simultaneously.

1. The Grumpy Expat
The grumpy expat, usually a man, gradually becomes acidified about everything which doesn't make sense or in his/her words 'is wrong' with the Thai culture, people and government.
They often had a bad previous experience with a cheating Thai partner or just have an unhappy relation with the current one.
These people are often entrepeneurs with their wife/girlfriend controlling personnel. Their situation is such that they cannot separate due to children and/or losing the bussines to their Thai partner.
The grumpy expat will stereotype Thai (usually women) as 'lazy', 'careless', 'unreliable' and 'lacking initiative'.

2. The Orientalist
These people will feel Western superiority towards the Thai population and culture right from the start.
After time they find it hard to live without this ego-boosting feeling they would lack back home.
Although they will not openly admit, their secret motto is: 'In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.'

The groups below suffer from a cognitive dissonance syndrome:
For those unfamiliar, an example:
A man wants to buy a new car, he already made a choice but hesitates between two colors, red and metallic blue. The metallic blue can be supplied but not the red. He likes red the best, but also likes metallic paint, but not blue. After long hesitation, he lets the blue metallic finally prevail, also because the garage owner advises him to take the one which is on stock. After a few weeks driving in the new car he notices a red car from the same brand, he likes it less than he first thought. Unconsciously, he changed his mind. There is no longer a conflict between the desire for a red car and the fact that he chose blue.

Expats often like to justify their new habitat, while they tend to portray the situation at home in a more negative way. Probably I have to include myself suffering from this syndrome, although I'm technically not an expat nor am I able (after two year) to categorise myself :).

3. The Conservative Cultural Defender
These are mostly older retired people who live in the countryside where they have a small farm or at least grow some own fruit and vegetables.
They will defend old Thai cultural values tooth and nail.
Most of them can get more upset about declining moral values of the Thai new generation than some of the most conservative natives.
The 2011 Silom Songkran bare breast incident and the increasing extravagant little to reveal fashion of some Thai girls and ladyboys irritates them to maximum levels.

4. The Spiritual One
These people are actively following Buddhism, either the incomprehensible Thai Buddhism which includes Hindu and Chinese gods as a backup, but more often the orthodox form of Buddhism. They practice yoga and often will not turn down a joint for more intense experiences.
Most believe the West is wicked and evil prevails.
A number of these people live from social welfare back home which becomes increasingly more difficult due to spending cuts and increased Thai prices.
Some are wondering to move to Cambodia, Vietnam or Laos and as a new option the opened up Myanmar.

5. The Fanatic
These kind of people were also mentioned in a talk with Lani of Tell Thai Heart.
It seems that many people have an urge to establish their identity.
The fanatic gradually starts to exaggerate parts of his/her identity as a means to compensate for all things alien abroad.
This can be in the form of the food one would take for granted back home, but is now willing to die for.
For example longing for McDonald's food.
Their perfect day is started with a breakfast exactly like back home.
Exaggeration also can apply to the following: Practising or being over-fanatic about national sports from home, celebrating national fests, political views, religion and as Lani claims; accent.

6. The Racist
This group is a sub-group of the above fanatic group. Unfortunately I met a lot of these, so I name them seperately. Although not exclusively, similar to group 1 these are often entrepeneurs.
They complain mainly about the situation back home, where foreigners, usually Muslim, 'fail' to integrate and spoil it for the rest.
The arguments that:
1. They themselves chose to opt out and don't experience these 'problems' anymore, so don't need to complain.
2. They do not differ from foreigners back home, since they now have become the foreigner who has problems integrating.
will not help to change their mind. Believe me I tried.

7. The Overachiever
Often these are women, but there's a considerable group of expat men too.
Right from the start this person jumps in the deep. They will eat any food including spicy som tam which would burn the untrained. Rarely uses cutlery. Will learn the language, including Isan, in no time, fluently.
If you meet them they will spends much more time talking to your Thai partner than to you. Will make your partner laugh out loud by telling jokes and funny stories in Thai, which is irritating, because you don't have a clue.

8. The Dude
These people are most commonly spotted in bars. They don't say much.
Usually they will default to staring at the soundless sport channel.
When being enquired by tourists (especially female) what they like about Thailand, the answer will be something like:
"Well, the beer is cold and the women are pretty.."

Update:
9. The National Community Person
These people prefer to live in an area amongst compatriates. They like to hang out with their neighbours, talking in their mother tongue. They share national newspapers, magazines and if possible also share resources like workout equipment and if possible a common swimming pool. They will help eachother out in case of problems. They also organise social events like BBQ's and festivities during national events back home.
Even though it seems they like to rearrange everything like the in country they came from, they feel more happy in their new coherent community than at home. Cost of living, climate, Thai marriage and conservatism plays an important role too.

Expat in Nakhon Rachasima produces snus

2011-11-30T09:05:00.001+07:00

Necessity is the mother of all invention.
Or so Monk an expat Swede, must have thought when he started Svenskt Snus Co., Ltd in 2008.
Snus Co., Ltd is located in Pak Chong, Nakhon Rachasima, 175km North East from Bangkok

Snus is a moist powder tobacco product which is consumed by placing it under the upper lip for extended periods of time.
Whereas cigarettes became popular less than 100 years ago, snus was discovered in the 16th century by Frenchman Jean Nicot, a man who became immortal when he discovered nicotin.
Use of snus is a very popular (and addictive) pastime for Swedish and Norwegian men. To a lesser extend it is also being used in Finland and Denmark.
Snus is banned in the rest of Europe due to improper research results, stating that it could cause cancer.
When Sweden and Norway joined the European Community exemptions for legal production and use in these countries were made.
Research has shown that thanks to snus Sweden and Norway have considerable less male smokers, whereas smoking amongst the female population seems to equal European averages.
Yes, snus is a real male Viking thing.
Europe is now considering to lift bans, since by any means snus is a healthier alternative than smoking.
Although some people claim it is more addictive than cigarettes, in the rest of the world snus is fully legal and healthier tabacco alternative for adults.

As advertised Svenskt Snus is made from 100% Thai tabacco.
One box costs about ฿250 ($ 8 / € 6) and depending on consumption reportedly it lasts for about 6 days or so. A wholesaler for the South is located in Chalong, Phuket.
The Southern provinces Phuket, Phang-Nga and Krabi appeal to many Scandinavian visitors and expats.
In other araes in Thailand the product can be mail-ordered by individuals as well.
For more information about Svenskt Snus, click here.

Note:
Monk is not alone, roughly at the same time, compatriot Karl started producing snus in Sihanoukville for the local market in Cambodia and there's even a Swedish snus manufacterer in Vientiane, Laos too.

Do I need to turn off my cell phone during lightning?

2011-11-29T08:18:00.001+07:00

In case of lightning, lots of people disconnect their TV and other home equipment from the mains and other outlets like cable, to safeguard them from breaking down. Since many homes don't have surge protectors everywhere, it's the right thing to do, since if the lightning hits a power line nearby a high voltage spike will get in the mains and do it's destructive work. In Thailand lot's of people turn their cell phone off too, since it's an electric/electronic device. Is their any need to do so? I have had some arguments with Polly, who insisted on doing this. Since I don't like false feelings of safety, here are some more details I came across.

Lightning is the discharge of static electricity from highly charged clouds in comparison to the neutrally charged earth.
If the difference in charge becomes too high, air, preferable humid air will become a conductor which guides the discharge. Since many objects near the ground have a higher conductivity than air, lightning will find its the way of least resistance.
Cell phones are usually located in your pocket, handbag or near your face when calling..
Devices which run on batteries have a neutral charge regardless of turning them on or off, but are not connected to the earth like TV's via the electric plug.
Cell phones however do contain metal parts which could be dangerous, since if held nearby these parts form a conductor which could guide electricity to your body, if this would happen it would leave in the best case nasty burn wounds.
Although I'm not sure this custom still exists, interestingly enough in Isan, North-East Thailand, casualties of lightning used to be burried standing up with a metal pan on the head, instead of being cremated. Only older people who died from natural causes were cremated, but this custom has changed over time.

Back to the main topic, the advice is:
- No, there's no need to turn off your cell phone during lightning. If needed, use your time for other safety precautions
- In the safety of your home or (closed!) car, use of your cell phone would be a low risk issue.
- When outdoors don't keep your cell-phone near your body, regardless whether it's on or off.
- More importantly, don't call outdoors!
- Half an hour after the last strike, use of your phone is generally considered safe.

Depressive?

2011-11-25T21:34:00.001+07:00

Seen on Facebook:

Making a living of ฿20 ($ 0.65) per picture

2011-11-15T03:45:00.001+07:00

Seen in Patong, Phuket:

Children of Patong

2011-11-09T16:13:00.002+07:00

Seen in Patong, Phuket:

A girl using a laptop in her outdoor 'study room',
In the background one of her foreign peers is still sitting in a buggy

An orchid flower neckless sales girl takes a break playing video games.
A neckless costs ฿50 ($1.63) (for Thai)
One video game costs ฿10 ($ 0.33)

This girl seems very happy with her electric car.

A big garbage truck is coming, but doesnt keep left.
What to do? OK pass him on the right.

Dangerous pitfalls by keeping the money out of Soi Kebsap, Patong

2011-11-03T20:58:00.002+07:00

Nowadays w're used to companies applying signs such as "Attention: wet floor" or "Danger: construction area" and so on.
Besides warning the public another main concern is to prevent liability for possible injury claims.
Patong's Soi Kebsap also transliterated as Soi Kebsup, which ironically means street of keeping money, is a popular shortcut for beachgoers from one of the many hotels in the town center of the most popular tourist destination of Phuket.
Besides the fact that the street is in a bad condition as a whole, a 40 by 50cm open drainage pit which has been there for at least three months now (although some locals claim five months), has meanwhile become a new landmark of negligence.
It would seem obvious to blame the department of publics works, was it not that the whole street is owned by a single company. And since they constructed it, they are responsible for parts of the infrastructure and maintenance such as the street as well.
Repair works for the pit are estimated to be ฿4500 (€106 /$146), not a great deal one would say, however the owner of Soi Kebsap has so far remained reluctant to take any action.
Renters and mostly shop owners of the buildings nearby are fed up with the resulting accidents and frequent near-accidents. The poor condition of the street has a negative impact on the neighbourhood. Recently a few individuals atttempted to take matters into own hands and proposed to jointly pay for repairing the pit.
They proposed to share costs, paying ฿500 each. Problem is that some people refuse to cooperate, since they feel the street is not their property. Also paying for road damage would possibly create a precedent for more neglection by the owner in the future. As a result the initiators couldn't come up with the required minimum of nine participants, so now the deal is over and once again nothing is being done.
Whereas in the last month the spot has been marked by some individuals in a rather poor way, making it more or less visible in the day-time only, several accidents both in day- and night-time have occured.
Although the real number of accidents is much higher, ie. a local resident claims to have witnessed 17 accidents, seven of which involved injuries. Personally I witnessed at least two cases where cars got one of their wheels stuck in the hole both resulting in visual damage to the vehicle.
More serious accidents occured when at least two people recently got injured.
Today I saw how an older tourist fell in. A few minutes later with the help of some bystanders he was able to walk away with a cut wound in his leg.
Reportedly in another case a German tourist recently walking at the spot at night, fell in the pit resulting in leg and head injury which needed medical care.
By law the owner of Soi Kebsap can be held fully liable for any damage and injuries caused by severe neglectance of common sense safety standards.
At the entrances of Soi Kebsap there are no "Danger: private street, enter at own risk" warning signs, so
unsuspecting non-residents and tourists do not know whether they are entering one of the public streets
which are being inspected and maintained by the city or a private street where in this case the owner seems to lack any common sense regarding a potential hazard which could easily be solved for a mere ฿4500.
In my opinion the owner can succesfully be prosecuted should more severe accident happen in the future, a thing which is almost unavoidable in the current situation.
One could also argue that Patong city council is indirectly responsible for not demanding the company to comply with general public safety standards by enforcing the company to do the nescesarry repair work needed to make Soi Kebsap and Patong a safer place.

Knickers and bananas

2011-11-03T19:42:00.000+07:00

Seen in Ao Nang, Krabi at the appartment of some nice bar ladies who offered us a bye, bye barbeque yesterday.

This photo was taken with permission of the respective owners

Child exploitation in Thailand

2011-11-01T17:31:00.001+07:00

Seen in Ao Nang, Krabi, Thailand, 30-10-2011 at 23:15

In the mean time I got used to seeing young children or even babies being exploited for begging, selling roses or orchid necklesses at a time they should be well asleep. Often the mother is waiting around the street corner.
Usually I don't want to encourage their business by paying money, but since I didn't came across this strategy before, I made an exception:

More English sign fails

2011-10-28T04:16:00.000+07:00

Fight ticket

Tank (Thank)

Thai flood crisis hit non-affected areas as well

2011-10-26T19:11:00.003+07:00

A Bangkok beggar donates to the flood crisis.

Surely not one of the worst examples:An almost empty cigarette shelfin a 7-Eleven outlet in one of the dry areas,Ao Nang, Krabi.

The severe Thai flood crisis shown in the news all over the world, let many people assume all of Thailand is under water. Truth is that altough the South and mid-South had to deal with a major flood in the end of March and begin of April this year, in the last half year big part of the country especially in the North-East and South of Bangkok largely have remained unaffected. Besides the historic city of Ayutthaya and parts of Bangkok, only one major tourist destination, namely Chiang Mai, got flooded nearly one month ago, but has in the mean time been declared safe.Still, those travelers planning to visit one of the dry areas this season, have to take the aftermath of the crisis into consideration as well.The closing of Don Muang airport today has severely delayed or stopped people flying to tourist destinations like Phuket, Chiang Mai, Koh Samui and Krabi.At the same time the flood and the current insecure situation in Bangkok is having major effects on Bangkok as a logistic center.Shops and outlets in other areas are forced to pre-order scarce products in quantities as much as they can get hold of.Despite the fact that the majority of Thai people seem to be unanimous to help eachother in these times of despair and are not willing to unselfishly profit from the situation, the unbalanced supply and demand mechanism has already started to get it's grasp on retail prices. The situation is worsened by the fact that understandably an increasing number of people have turned into hoarding.Besides huge damages of the flood to industry and agriculture, tourism is bound to get a severe blow as well.Relying on official figures this segment is good for 6% of the gross domestic product, but it's real impact is thought by some experts to be considerably higher.The Thai high season runs from November to April. Many entrepeneurs in the segment regard this period as a time when the profit for the rest of the year has to be made.A considerable decline in visitors in the coming half year could have a large additional negative impact on the economy of the Kingdom, which has already seen so much devastation this year.

Happy birthday Thai version

2011-10-24T19:50:00.001+07:00

Here's the happy birthday song in Thai/Isan Morlam style.
Surprise your Thai friends on their birthday by posting this vid on their facebook:

Not so Halal Muslim food stall

2011-10-21T18:40:00.004+07:00

Seen in Ao Nang, Krabi:

Weird travel magazine

2011-10-20T16:58:00.002+07:00

Seen in a local magazine called Passport:
15.000 copies are issued of this free tourist magazine distributed in Krabi province.
Obviously quite some advertising space has not been sold and is filled up with nonsense, however some funny ads are real.

Crappy service?
The Chatchada House really exist in Ao Nang and no matter what they say, reviews are very positive.

Warm beer, Crap food, Rubbish service, Useless staff.
It's always nice when people are honest
Also this place called Ling Uan or Fat Monkey really exist on Koh Lanta.

All you can eat: Boys 295฿, Ladyboys 280฿, Girls 260฿
Assuming it's not a restaurant for cannibals,
prices are fair considering average size.
Matt's Joint Grill can be found on Koh Phi Phi.
Another version they use is: Boys 295฿, Girls 265฿, Kids and Rabbits 150฿

A filler: Surgical Palmistry: Extend your lifeline..
This image comes from thepoke.co.uk

Magazine cover

A bit of a blasphemous filler page towards Christians and Muslim. An almost identical version can be found on thaiforum.dk. Considering 42% of the population in Krabi is Muslim, this kind of content doesn't look like a wise promotional proposition for advertisers.

Another filler.
Partly or mostly faked 'funny' letters from readers.

Some of them pretty racist.
Click to enlarge.

Dubious items for sale at Thai fair

2011-10-16T18:25:00.000+07:00

Seen at a fair in Ao Nang, Krabi:

Looks like an old model phone.

Hey, what's that at the top, not the antenna..

ZAP!!
Push a button on the side and it functions as a 100,000 Volt taser.

A pocket size scale for weighing ?gold?

Obviously not, and these items are not for junior chemistry experiments.
Seems they are useful for users of cocaine, heroin, ice and marijuana.

Online Thai flood map

2011-10-13T02:57:00.000+07:00

For an up to date nation wide view of the Thai flood crisis click here.

Another useful site is Google Thai floods crisis map.

Where are you from?

2011-10-12T19:37:00.002+07:00

When abroad, the most popular opening line is: "Where are you from?"
After answering the question, provided you're not from the same country, conversation often continues about what one knows about the other's country.
Below is a list of clichés experienced travelers from various countries have to deal with and are actually fed up with.

Australia: "Put another shrimp on the barbie mate!", "Steve Irwin"
Australians usually don't appreciate it when you try imitate their accent, especially the above sentence.
Another taboo is to tell that you like Steve Irwin, let alone try to imitate him.
Even after his death lot's of Australians feel shy about how he managed to become the 'prototype' Australian in the eyes of the world.
Generally Australians do appreciate it if you know something about their country e.g. cities and states, prime-minister etc.

USA: Simplified judgements about the US
Lots of Americans who traveled abroad found out that overseas USA or America doesn't have that good ring anymore, consequently many suffer from a slight inferiority complex about their origins.
Discussions with foreigners about the US often lead to oversimplified statements and consequent arguments.
Questions about where the're from will usually be answered by just naming their city (and state).
Besides more or less concealing the country of origin this can have several other motives:
1. Emphasizing that the US is a huge place and obviously not all Americans are the same.
2. Pointing out the fact that the're proud of their city and/or state.
3. Mentioning a city or state which you probably don't know, which will usually silence the topic all together.
I even read a story from an American blogger that people couldn't believe she was from the US and assumed she was from Canada, because she was so nice. Once I met an American expat and business man in Vietnam who was so negative about his home country, that I felt I had to remind him about the good things.
Be very specific if you talk about America. Distinguish between the government and the people since like with so many countries there's a huge difference.

Germany: "The war"
"Don't mention the war" has become a cliché ever since the episode "The Germans" from Fawlty Towers was broadcasted.
Germans are really fed up talking or being reminded of the war. Germans who actively participated in the second world war are well over 80 now, so it would be hard to talk with any wrongdoers nowadays.
Unlike for example the Japanese, Germans learn at school in every detail how bad their (great)(grand)parents were at that time.
As a result a certain number of people are so fed up with it, that some of the sickest jokes about this period are being told amongst Germans, just to compensate for the trauma.
Personally if I like to, I am able talk with most older Germans about the war. Stating that my grandfather was one of the 100,000 members of the Dutch colaborating fascist party, will usually break the ice.
If I add the conveniently forgotten fact that the Netherlands had the highest percentage of jews deported in West Europe nl. 71.4% vs. 25% in Germany, I got myself a free beer.
In general however it's not the best topic of conversation. Talks about the people, their rich culture and food score much better.

Italy: "I love Italian food", "I love Italy"
To say both of the above to an Italian is quite okay, but when being asked what food you exactly like; just mentioning spaghetti and pizza will almost be an insult to every patriotic Italian.
- The rich Italian kitchen has numerous delicacies which will need years of study just to discover.
Although habits are changing, for most spaghetti is just a starter, not a meal.
The word spaghetti is not used that often, most Italians will simply refer to it as pasta.
- Although this habit is changing as well, pizza is still widely regarded as a poor man's snack, commonly eaten by groups e.g. students, who don't have enough money to visit a 'decent' restaurant.
Some Italians show little emotion when being told you love their country.
- There's still a big difference between the 'rich' North and the 'poorer' South.
Some Italians even regret Garibaldi, unifier of modern Italy, ever existed and some North-Italians contemptuously refer to the Southeners as 'Africans'.
Having been in Milano wouldn't impress a Southener, similar to North Italians who wouldn't be much impressed about your trip to Napoli.

Netherlands: "Do you live in Amsterdam?", "Windmills, wooden shoes and tulips", "Marijuana"
-Really, I hear this question being asked 8 out of 10 times. Not only by Asians but by anybody.
No, not all Dutch people are from Amsterdam, in fact more than 95% of the population does not live there.
- Talks about windmills, wooden shoes and tulips will make one look even more naive.
Many Dutch children probably have never seen a windmill or wooden shoes and the tulip is an export product.
- Talks about the cliché of legally smoking marijuana are usually considered okay, but tend to get boring.
- Except with me, football will be a good topic of conversation for most Dutch men and some women too.
Personally, I only watch the world championships and I don't really care that much if Holland lost, they do each time anyway. Also I didn't come to S-E Asia to smoke marijuana.
Note: As of june 2011, foreigners can be banned from purchasing soft-drugs in the Netherlands.

Probably every foreigner abroad has to deal with tiresome clichés one way or another, unless you come from Palau or something.
I'm very interested to hear your stories, so feel free to comment.

Kanhu - My "ear" is itching

2011-10-11T18:28:00.000+07:00

Last summer a YouTube video became an overnight hit in Thailand.
In the video singer Jah performs an old luk thung song named Kanhu, which mean as much as; [my] ear [is] itching.
Although the old song was indended to be unambiguous and innocent, scarcely dressed Jah managed to give a whole new meaning to the title in her show. When the video went viral, similar to the bare breasted songkran scandal in Silom earlier this year, the conservative part of Thailand was upset and questions were being raised by government officials.

As of now a warning to all foreigners learning/speaking Thai is in it's place. When you're referring to an itchy ear, saying kanhu can lead to embarrassement.

Sniff Kissing

2011-10-11T16:47:00.001+07:00

Read in the Thai for Lovers guide:
A "sniff kiss" is the traditional Thai romantic kiss. You plant your nose on your loved one's cheek (or other part of the body) and gently sniff in.
Thai people consider this very sweet and romantic. It is also used by parents to show affection for their children.
In general, men tend to "sniff kiss" their lovers more than women do.
Lips on lips western style kissing is a relatively recent introduction, but is increasingly popular between lovers.
Nevertheless, if you learn to "sniff kiss", your Thai lover will certainly appreciate it and be very pleased!

Multifunctional urinal

2011-10-07T17:41:00.006+07:00

Seen in Ao Nang at Amy's bar.
Now men can comb their hair or wash hands and pee at the same time.
While doing so, make sure you keep aiming in the right direction though.

The poor woman with the blind singing husband

2011-09-24T18:16:00.015+07:00

Now that the poor man with the elephant or the man with the poor elephant is more or less being banned from Thai streetviews, another profitable franchise concept has emerged.
The poor woman with the blind singing husband.
For those unaware: A woman with a collection cup is being followed by her blind husband holding her shoulder while he's singing through a little portable karaoke portable set.
They will stop at every bar or restaurant to cash in on their effort.
Actually I first thought it was the same couple stalking us on our journeys through Thailand, since the act looks so alike, but they are simply all over the place. So, similarily to the many South American Pan flutist groups in Europe playing the same tunes, I had to drop that idea.
Actually the husband is not only blind, he must be deaf too, since without exception he will utter false and unmelodious sounds, invariably with the volume wide open.
This sound which cannot be called music by any standard causes a feeling of misplaced embarrassment to the unfortunate onlookers. In fact the couple hijacks your heart, since non-cooperation, let alone protest would look pitiless. The woman will continue to look pathetic while her husband taunts the ears untill a compromise is reached. If not enough people are willing to pay the ransom, the owner of the establishment will finally handover the remainder of the f*ck off money out of own pocket. Apart that it looks good to Buddha, the're used to overcome these moments of despair by boldy paying as if it was paying protection fee to the police. So next time if you recognise the sound, which is a no-brainer, just duck and cover.
Similarly to begging women on the streets of Bangkok who rent baby's to get larger turnovers, I wonder if there's a place for women to rent blind men who cannot sing. Or are the men just acting?
If not, wouldn't they not be better off with a guide-dog, since at the same time the wife could collect extra money in other ways, but the drill to stop at every crowded place and to continue after extorting enough cash would require months of expensive training for the dog, so it's probably not worthwhile.
From the looks, I'm pretty sure the couples must at least have had a basic training course and a starters-kit from somewhere.
Anyway, it's probably just another effective money making scheme from a Thai exploitation through despair syndicate.
On to the poor man and his blind singing wife.

Shared Planet™

2011-09-22T20:05:00.004+07:00

Seen at Starbucks:
First you start a program for fair trade and fair sharing of resources called Shared Planet.
Then you trademark it to prevent others to do the same. How fair is that?

UFO's or Unexplainable Flourishing Outlets in Thailand

2011-09-22T12:23:00.015+07:00

Compared to Phuket city and Patong, Ao Nang in Krabi is quite provincial. According to GeoNames it has a population of 8000, but wether this figure is correct or not it still managed to maintain a bit of a village atmosphere.
Ao Nang sometimes reminds me of a miniature Patong; there's a multitude of tourists of different nationalities.
With the Swedish coming en mass to Krabi in the 80's, Scandinavian probably represent the largest group of expats here. The town has more than enough accomodations of all levels, international restaurants and even one McDonald, a Burger King, a Subway, no not undergound, a Starbucks, Swensen and Häagen Dazs ice cream parlour and nightlife activities at various locations.
Besides a bus load of people touring through Thailand who stopped for a treat of bitter balls, in the two weeks we have been staying here, I haven't been able to spot a single Dutch tourist. Fine with me, I'm not dying to meet one. Suprisingly, Dutch or Thai-Dutch businesses seems to be disproportionally represented here.
As many of us will know, Dutch food is like English food, nothing to write to home about. Am I making enemies now?
Still, Ao Nang boasts two Thai-Dutch restaurants, one Dutch snackbar, one hotel, two (partly) Dutch owned foreign restaurants with some Dutch food on the menu as well and one Dutch owned bar. Together this is actually more than can be found on the whole of Phuket island.
In comparison there seem to be just one Thai-German restaurant, but in contrast we met a fair share of Germans.

A Dutch snack bar in Ao Nang

The menu with exotic things like a bami-ball or a mexicano, a mixture of horse, pig, beef and chicken.

To me Dutch restaurants are like Nepalese tailors here; plenty of shops, hardly any demand.
I wonder how many P's of marketing were considered before getting into business? How on earth do they survive or is it just a hobby to keep busy?
Well, I guess at least the guy below would rather sleep at home.

My boyfriend the sex tourist

2011-09-19T18:28:00.016+07:00

The less one knows of a culture the harder it is not to stereo-type or be prejudice about relations between women of economically less developed countries and foreign men who are better off.
The cliche image of Thailand is that single ladies are easy to get by practically any foreign man of a richer country, regardless of age, personality, brains and physical apperance. Money talks.
Dealing with Thai - foreign relations, it's often hard for foreigners to really understand what such a '(younger) exotic beautiful' woman is doing with such an '(older) ugly' man, 'normally' the man would be able to find a nice local wife, so obviously she must be merely out for his little capital.
Vice versa Thai who feel they belong to the middle class or higher class often stereotype relations between foreign men and Thai women as well. Often the Thai lady has a darker skin and is therefore seen as low class, say a poor countrygirl with little education.
For these people it's hard to understand what the 'well-off' foreigners find so attractive in such 'ugly' women of a lower class background.
Apart from people to whom the S in L.O.S. (Land of Smiles) has a complete different meaning and frequently boost their macho ego in pussy paradise, the majority of Thai women wouldn't even give it a single thought to have a one-night stand or bring a foreign man over to her parents house.
So, can we call the other foreigners visiting the country and falling in a long lasting love relation with the beauty of the Thai culture and people, with a single person in particular, sex tourists?
I would argue that in many relations all over the world so-called 'succesful' people have partners who seem to complement their shortcomings. How many 'less handsome' but famous and wealthy man have 'beautiful' wifes? Do we call them whores? No, usually we don't, so to label foreing men with a Thai partners as sex tourists is demeaning as well, regardless how they met.
Average people usually have average partners. So far no difference with foreign - Thai relations. The only difference is the perspective of your looking glasses: Less 'successful' foreigners in foreign eyes usually have 'low class' wifes in Thai eyes. So in either country, prejudice towards one of the partners remains.
Similar to common love relations between two people, in the longer lasting ones, sex is usually a pleasant by-product not the single reason to settle down, so the title of the 2007 BBC documentary "My boyfriend the sex tourist" sounds like a contradictio in terminis, since the main characters and husbands to be are all looking for long lasting relations. In my opinion the contradicting title is exactly the stigma many Thai ladies and foreign partners are facing. As far as the topic bar ladies is concerned, without trying to moralise too much, but wether one is back home or in Thailand and meet up in a bar or disco, get drunk, having a one night stand are usually not the bonding factors of long lasting affairs.
Still, director Monica Garnsey gives a wonderful insight into the lives of two Thai women called Fon and Lek.
Fon is working in a beer bar in Bangkok, she has a British boyfriend, with whom she maintains daily phone and Skype contact. Will this relationship succeed?
Lek wants that too, but initially she relies on an online dating agency from her home in the Isan. Eventually, she sees herself forced to go try her luck in the pleasure industry in the Thai capital, with all the problems this entails.
The ladies are followed both in Bangkok and Isan and the documentary provides a rarely seen realistic glimpse into the life of many Thai single mothers who became disappointed by Thai men and are trying to solve their daily problems by finding a foreign alternative.
Personally, I got to know the professional and home situation of a handfull of sweet and cute bar ladies who have foreign boyfriends, but in all honesty I still have to meet one as faithful as Lek. Then again many bar ladies are not fully being put on 'freehold' by a single boyfriend such as in Lek's case.
Some Thai bar ladies deserve well paid jobs in logistics, since I actually met some who managed to maintain relations with up to six boyfriends simultaneously, all visiting Thailand on a regular basis. The general attitude is something like; enhance your opportunities and may the best man win. Foreign candidates don't be deceived; some shrewd ladies even maintain different facebook profiles.
My advise: don't fall in the venus flytrap, if you want to obtain a 'permanent souvenir' from your Thai holiday, tourist places are the worst spots to find one. Go out and discover.
Anyway, apart from my sceptical side notes, the documentary is a must for foreign men who are into Thai ladies. Even if you don't identify with the provoking title (which of course you don't :), The 47 minutes might help you to enhance your insight by seeing both sides of the coin of a considerable group of Thai ladies seeking relationship with a foreigner.

N.B.: After staying here for two years, and altough it's sometimes sad to see, the behaviour of ignorant farang in girly bars is often a larger source of entertainment for Polly and I than the actual girls.

Source: thailandblog.nl

English subtitling fail

2011-09-15T16:47:00.007+07:00

Seen on Thai MVtv channel:
Not only do they show a 'for screening purposes only movie', which is illegal, but despite the fact that the movie is broadcasted in the original English version, MVtv or the company they bought/copied it from took the effort to subtitle it in English as well.
Perhaps for the deaf and hearing impaired? A small problem is that for the latter group the movie will hardly makes any sense, since someone got the bright idea to translate the Chinese version back to English instead of using the original English one.
The movie is called Revolutionary Road with Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank and Kate Winslet as April, but in this version she is dubbed Yi Pulli.
At a certain moment 'Yi Pulli' tells Frank that she's ten weeks pregnant, which is translated as ten months. Wow!
For more failures see below:

Green frog and bullfrog concert

2011-09-11T03:59:00.007+07:00

Ao Nang, Krabi
When returning to my hotel last night I heard a strange sound coming from the kitchen.
I first thought they had turned the TV on very loud with a show about Tibetan long horns or so, but that seemed a bit weird, so I went in to see what was going on.
What I witnessed was 100% nature:
in

A day at Ao Nang beach, Krabi

2011-09-09T18:01:00.002+07:00

Where the streets have no name II

2011-09-09T15:02:00.011+07:00

When in Ao Nang, annother place of interest are the girly bars.
They are all concentrated in one street which is a miniature sanitized version of Bangla Rd. in Patong or Walking street in Pattaya. Similar to bamboo bars and restaurants (street) it has no official name, because the land is privately owned. Instead it goes by many nicknames:The Soi, Soi Sunrise, Soi Bar, RCA entertainment, Soi Loki (sex maniac street) and Disappointment street.
The dead end street can be found on Airport Road opposite of White Sand Resort. The soi is one of the three nightlife spots in Ao Nang, featuring 18 bars (3 of which are closed at the moment), hundreds of girls and a handful of ladyboys. It's a noisy place; if you listen well, one can hear at least four different beats jamming from surrounding bars, but hey this is Thailand. Fun closes down at 01:00am to be partly continued in the local discotheques in Center Point. A money saving tip would be to wait untill one elsewhere and head straight for the disco's.

Plenty of girls and a few ladyboys in The Soi.

View from the dead end

That night, I got my share of pussy

Day trip quality

2011-09-08T17:29:00.005+07:00

Seen in Airport Road, Ao Nang, Krabi:

Fancy a low quality elephant ride?
On the sign it says for high quality you get "Minimum of People less than limited of Boat".
Does that mean that if you choose the low quality boat trip options, they are about to capsize or you will not be paddling in your kayak alone?

Where the streets have no name

2011-09-07T04:21:00.098+07:00

Seen in Ao Nang, Krabi; Mr. Long bar and restaurant.
The spot is a bit hard to find, since it's situated on a dirt road, which has no official name and as far as I know is just being referred to as Soi Bamboo or just bamboo bars.
The road which is a side street of Airport Road, opposite of Vogue resort and spa, accommodates about 10 bars and is one of the three main area's where Ao Nang's miniature night live is going on.
The owner mr. Long, sometimes nicknamed Jack Sparrow, used to own a restaurant in Bangkok, but moved to the more relaxing atmosphere of Ao Nang.
Like most locale in the street it is fully made of wood and bamboo, everything constructed by own design. Reggae is the prevalent choise of music here.
A specialty of mr. Long is the production of tequilla, a skill which runs in the family for three generations.
Mr. Long's grandfarther, who started destilling the beverage more than a century ago, became 99 years. Time enough to perfect the recipe, I guess.
Usually tequilla is made from agave, a plant which only grows in Mexico.
According to mr. Long, his drink is made from palm sugar, so I could hardly believe it would share any resemblance with the original drink. Surprisingly it did, the taste being somewhat smoother than your average tequilla.
The price is 80 Baht (€1.91 / $2.64) per shot, not that cheap for 'bootleg', but usually mr. Long will give out a couple of free shots once you're there.

See also his facebook

Thai street food safety

2011-09-02T18:23:00.005+07:00

Street food can be dangerous in unexpected ways.
The owner of a mobile grill and fry shop drives around Patong with boiling oil uncovered and still on. When he passed around the corner, hot oil splashed around the sides of the bin.
When in town, take care, crashing with this vehicle might permanently transform you into Freddy Krueger.

Thai handbook of English love letters

2011-09-02T17:38:00.007+07:00

Borrowed this book from a bar lady in Patong, she told me she got the last copy, since it was sold out, but it looks like it still can be ordered online. Below a few pages: (Click to enlarge).

Cover

By knowing how to begin and end a letter you've got the basic framework set-up

A silly letter about a friend of a friend requesting a friend of a friend to transfer money

How to cordially break up

Didn't really quit smoking, just adapted my way how

2011-08-27T14:20:00.016+07:00

I have a friend who likes smoking, but no more than a few cigarettes a month. Obviously he possesses special DNA which makes him insensitive to the addictive elements contained in cigarettes.
When I grew up in the 60's everybody smoked, all the cool people did anyway. Both my parents smoked. They even smoked in the car when we went on holidays and teachers smoked at schools. At later age in some classes even students were allowed to smoke.
Nowadays it might seem mad why people knowing all the health risks are still smoking.
In most cases smoking lowers the day to day quality of life, but for many quitting isn't as easy as it sounds.
I've seen people falling back into the old habit after quitting for periods of five years or longer.
A friend was diagnosed with lung cancer and had 1/3 of her lungs removed. Three months later she picked up the dirty old habit.
I know an old guy who couldn't quit and eventually was about to die. Even this wasn't enough motivation to stop, but soon the birth of his first grandson was. He still loves the smell of tabacco and likes to sit in rooms where people are smoking. Ask him how long ago he quit and he will tell the number of days, which are over a 1000 now. There isn't an hour he doesn't think about smoking, so he says, but his lungs and his grandson prevent him from falling back.

I seem belong to the group who didn't find effective ways to quit yet. Even being mentally 'fully' prepared to stop, cold turkey or aided with nicotine patches or acupuncture, quitting usually lasted just a month or so.

Since 2006 thanks to Chinese pharmacist Hon Lik there's a healthier alternative.

E-cigarette and accessories

Smoking laptop? Use a USB to recharge batteries for the internal vaporizer.

Despite the obvious health benefits as opposed to real thing, from the time they came on the market, there has been a lot of controversy about the next thing as good as smoking.

According to Cancer Research UK, "For a smoker, the health hazards of continuing to smoke greatly outweigh any potential risks of using nicotine replacement therapy"

Many countries however restrict the sales of e-cigarettes to certain extents. In a number of Western countries use or sales of e-cigarettes are not really restricted, but In some nations they can be obtained through doctors prescription only, similar for example like nicotine patches in Malaysia. In Singapore e-cigs are banned all together, since they are regarded as "an industry's attempt to attract new users and were marketed to appeal to younger customers, including women". Forbid all sales of tabacco products as well and let the new target group go and sniff glue, fascist c*nts.
As far as I know here in Thailand e-cigs are currently illegal as well, the rumour goes that someone from the ministry of health minister is also the single producer of nicotine chewing gum. If true, how typical Tailand.
Anyway, also typical for Thailand is that knowbody knows and nobody cares.
E-cigs can be found here in small electronic shops in larger cities or tourist territories, usually next to a shop which unlocks your cellphone.
Price is between ฿500 (€ 12 / $16.20) and ฿600 (€ 14.41 / $ 19.44). I've seen Thai wholesale prices of $ 15.- so ฿500 seems reasonable. Cartridges with 10 butts with e-liquid cost ฿200 (€ 4.80 / $ 6.48).

E-cigarettes surely work for me, in fact I like it better than the real stuff. Besides being basically able to smoke everywhere I want, like in the old days, e-cigs taste a bit like smoking a water-pipe, since you will inhale cold smoke where one can choose from flavours like mint, apple and coffee, to mention a few.
Most people are not familiar with the device, so they just will think I'm smoking the real thing. Often I'm given an ashtray and get suprised looks when I hold the end, which is lit by a red LED after a puff, on my cheek or against my eye-lid.
Just be sure to have a spare one, since when you run out of liquid or batteries, within the hour you will just be running to the nearest 7/11. I now bring the small USB charger with me as well, since the batteries as well as the vaporizer slowly wear off.

Still, the addiction remains.

Showers in Patong

2011-08-27T14:06:00.002+07:00

We were at a party in Otop area. The problem was: we couldn't leave till the next day

The situation, the next day (Photo thanks to Hans v/d Peppel)

Coral Island today III

2011-08-27T13:45:00.003+07:00

Local showers coming (lasted 1 min.)

Sea star (30 cm diam.)

Hermit crab

Fishing trips around the world

2011-08-09T11:50:00.011+07:00

Coral Island, Thailand - A couple of Germans wanted to go on a fishing trip.
The boat was expected to arrive at 9:00 and they were all set and ready. For a long time it didn't show up and they called several times to the office in Phuket, who assured them that the boat was on its way. Of course the cliche joke about 'Thai time' was made. Finally the boat arrived at 9:45.
I thought it would be fun to imagine what could happen in the same situation in other countries.

Here are some examples:

Germany	Boat arrives at 8:45, just to be on the safe side.
France	Boat is delayed for indefinite time due to strikes.
UK	Boat arrives on time, but all gear is looted.
Greece	Boat is sold due to lack of funds.
Ireland	Boat arrives, but the captain was pissed and fell overboard.
Norway	Boat arrives as planned, but the guy on deck starts shooting at you.
Netherlands	Boat arrives on time, but is hindered by Greenpeace activists to set sail, since fishing is cruel.
Italy	Boat arrives at 4:00, but is sent back by immigration.
Suriname	Boat arrives at 9:00 sharp, but not that day and probably not that week.
Indonesia	You set out fishing, but use of dynamite kind of spoils the sport.
Russia	Boat arrives, but after a while the vodka makes you forget what you came for.
Japan	You go fishing as planned, but you feel kind of sorry for the whale.
Bangladesh	Boat arrives on time, but is taken apart on the spot.
Jamaica	Hey don't worry man!
Somalia	At sea you board a bigger boat and amongst others steal their fish.
Nigeria	No boat, but then again you should never pay in advance.
Bermuda	Boat arrived on time, but no one has heard from you since.
Palestina	The crew arrives on time and blow up the rubber boat.
Libya	It's kind of cramped in there with the other 100 passengers.
US	Boat arrives on time and sets sail, but hey, who wants to fish when you can drink beer in the onboard jacuzzi.

Contributions anyone?

Google+ invitations

2011-08-08T22:48:00.004+07:00

Click here (Good for 150 invitations)

The unsolved mystery of paper cocktail and ice cream parasols

2011-08-03T00:58:00.066+07:00

During the course of my life a lot of questions have been answered, like if the earth is round why don't the people on the other side fall off? Or why do we have lightning and thunder? Where is the end of the universe and other mind bogglers people have been wondering about since their very existence.
Thanks to modern education all has become a bit more comprehensible. Well at least I'd like to think so.

On a personal level one great mystery still remains, namely paper cocktail and ice cream parasols.

At the time when Mao Zedong had just finished his little red book, my elder sister and I aged 5 discovered after reverse engineering several ice cream parasols they revealed a big secret.
When we occasionally visited the local Chinese restaurant we both never passed the ice cream desert.
As far as I remember this was the only place in our city which decorated their ice creams with this complimentary artifact.
The most interesting parts were the small top and bottom paper cylinders which each had a piece of Chinese newspaper hidden inside.
As long as I can remember it has struck me as akward that one would take the trouble to use recycled newspaper rather than custom made parts for such small components, but at the time it just seemed funny and a bit mysterious since we were in fact more intrigued by the strange characters and the idea that people in China would actually be able to decipher those weird hieroglyphs.
But hey, this was a Chinese restaurant, so as children it made kind of sense that they used weird stuff from China. Or for all we knew a grandmother in the back of the kitchen was creating these decorations just to please children like us. Well, at least such thoughts must have crossed our minds.
As a matter of fact as I grew older, paper parasols continued to intrigue me and sampling wise kept on disassembling them now and then until current age. Surprisingly I found out that in more than 40 years not much that I know of has changed. I vaguely remember that the ribs used to be made out of wood instead of thin carton, but during 4 decades that must have been the only major innovation.
While traveling during the years, I noticed all cocktail and ice cream parasols seem to come from one area or perhaps even one factory, since without exceptions they are all constructed in the same way.
So far, nobody I met or whom I showed it to had ever taken the trouble to dissect it in a way my sister and I did. So in retrospect we were kind of the first Western discoverers of an Eastern secret hidden away in the billions of pieces produced and globally exported for almost half a century and possibly even longer.

A paper cocktail and ice cream parasol.

The top consists of a small strip of rolled up newspaper.
The end is glued together and dipped in chalk.

The bottom which also consists of a strip of
newspaper is covered with a piece of white
paper glued onto it.

The disassembled version:
Twist the top and bottom paper cylinders off, carefully remove the cover and unwrap.
If you don't succeed, use a hobby knife.

Regardless of the place you got it from,
you will be able to see these kind of strands from
Chinese newspaper.

The question is where and how are these parasols actually being produced?
A few facts:
1. The paper parasols cost a few dollar cents and even less at wholesale prices.
2. Since each top is slightly different they are most likely dipped in liquid chalk by hand.
3. Because of it's irregular distribution, the carton ribs are most likely glued to the paper cover manually as well.
4. Who collects Chinese newspapers and who cuts them up into small pieces. The paper strips are not 100% straight, so again manual labour (using siccors)?
5. How are the paper strips rolled up? The rolling looks irregular when you take different samples, so it seems to be done by hand.
6. How is it possible that the manufacturing process has hardly changed during the last 43 years?
7. Due to the great consistency of the product over the years, are they made in just one place?

8. Even with the relatively low salaries in China, the product seems too labour intensive for such a low sales price. And now with China's growing welfare this almost seems impossible.

9. Are perhaps thousands of Chinese prisoners doing this tedious job?

In the mean time I have asked several Chinese trading companies these kind of questions, but so far my attempts were in vain. So I would appreciate it if someone happens to know anything more.

iBabe Thai edition

2011-07-29T19:53:00.002+07:00

Blogging in English

2011-07-25T19:40:00.009+07:00

Although I learned English at school for six years and lived for about five years in Japan and Thailand, where I mainly use(d) English as well, it was a personal challenge to start blogging in English as opposed to my native language Dutch. Mistakes remain undetected much easier than using one's mother tongue. Also the choice of words and grammar would not be that sophisticated as blogs of native speakers, making it less attractive.
After 16 months, the advantages are clear; I'm now able to reach a much larger group and statistics show I get visitors from all over the world, which I prefer rather than having a (larger) Dutch reader base only.
By writing in English I noticed I got to know the language better, since in attempts to look a bit more professional I often look for translations and synonyms.
Also I don't specialise in niche blogging, since I'll elaborate on any subject which entertains or interests me, so quite possibly I'm my own biggest fan.

Today I came across this test, which estimated my vocabulary at 21,200 words, which for me seems quite a lot, but still remains on the low end of native speakers.
Naturally for me this is a good ego-booster, keep up the good work I-nomad, up to the 30,000 :).

Your total vocabulary size is estimated to be:

21,200

words

Link thanks to the Presurfer.

Electricity

2011-07-24T15:53:00.038+07:00

Image thanks to sustainablog

I once heard a story from an old man about a Dutch village in the begin of the 20th century.
In those days they did have electricity which was mainly used for light since there were not many other electrical things around the house like radio's or TV's. The electrician in the village was in charge of the generator and faithfully turned it on every morning at around 6 and turned it off at about 9 in the evening, since at these times the villagers were more or less supposed to wake up and go to bed.
The only exception was on Friday's, when he used to drink in the local pub and after a few beers wasn't too concerned about his job and turned the generator off after he finished drinking at 11 or later.
Almost everyone in the village knew when the electrician was in the pub, since they had some extra hours of light and so by the courtesy of the electrician they could stay up a bit longer as well.

Nowadays access to electricity belongs to basic human rights, however not everyone in the world takes that for granted.
Here on Coral Island the generator is turned off roughly between 9 and 12 in the morning and 3 and 6 in the afternoon. No wifi internet during these times, the only thing modern one can still enjoy is DTAC phone reception via a solar powered mast.
Most guests like to believe the cuts are done for ecological reasons, and some told me it made them feel closer connected to the environment, since you're more or less forced out of your room.
In fact only the eco-part is true, as far as it is used in the word economical. The bulk of the electricity is used for airconditioning and this measure cuts 25% of the fuel costs, where for idealists it contributes to a greener planet as well.
An exception is made on rainy days when people stay indoors, spend time watching TV or use internet in the lobby.
Another exception is when large groups of Chinese visit the resort, since according to some of the staff they seem to show little understanding towards the eco part.
Today we had no rain in the daytime nor any Chinese, but for unknown reasons power was only cut off for less than an hour in the morning.
So now, due to the courtesy of the island's 'electrician', I got some extra time to tell you this story.

Marriage on Coral Island

2011-07-22T12:44:00.002+07:00

Perhaps the box office hit Hangover II triggered some people to get married in Thailand
Here are some photo's of a privately held wedding on the secluded Coral Island:

Preparations

Arrival

Ceremony

Intimate moments

For more information click here.

Gefundenes Fressen

2011-07-19T18:57:00.003+07:00

Image thanks to Mark Parisi

I don't know the proper English translation for the German title, something like: Free lunch?
Today a group of French left these unopened in their room and I got it from the staff who didn't know what it was and wouldn't like to try in the first place.
From left to right: Port Salut cheese, French Salami (I had a piece at lunch), Caprice cheese and Spanish chorizo.

Even though some items might be bought on Phuket mainland, I'm not sure why I would never bring these to the island myself, but this way it kind of made my day.

Coral Island today II

2011-07-17T22:42:00.011+07:00

A couple at the beach

Two Chinese sisters enjoying the waves.
One day the girl on the right could
perhaps become the next Connie Chiu

Nothing here is complete without a splendid sunset.

Coral Island today

2011-07-16T00:45:00.008+07:00

Seen on Coral Island (Koh Hae), Phuket:

In the morning: Cleaning the rooms.
On the foreground: Somkid, the manager of housekeeping.
And in my opinion the defacto daily boss of the resort.
She works here since 2001 and told me she would like to die here on the island. Not a bad choice if one day this might happen, I think.

Rough sea all day

A large number of bats decides to find a new hideout

At night: Big snails maintaining their species

Swedish breakfast

2011-07-11T02:11:00.004+07:00

Seen in a Thai-Swedish restaurant in Patong, Phuket:

Singha Hangover

2011-07-11T01:54:00.003+07:00

Seen in Patong, Phuket:
Sponsorship from Singha Beer.
I'm not really sure if the're doing sensible marketing this way:

Sashimi art

2011-07-10T14:44:00.002+07:00

Seen at Fuji restaurant Patong, Phuket:

New Thai handicraft: Drinking straw art

2011-07-07T15:46:00.006+07:00

The objects you see below are made from plastic drinking straws, which are cut open, sliced and folded into triangular pieces (mathematically called double tetrahedra, but forget about that). The pieces are then sewn together into different objects like hearts, fish, butterflies, etc.
Just to see what it would look like, I made a custom order last week.
After sketching up the design, two girls needed five days to finish it:

At night:

Actually it turned out to be a bit of a kitsch lamp.
Even if I would like to, I have no space in my suitcase to bring it, so it's now hanging in the shop.

Massage for different classes

2011-07-06T14:05:00.007+07:00

Seen in Patong, Phuket:
Suppose you own two hotels in the same street, both with a massage and beauty salon.
You decide to call the first salon: HI-SO.
So far all up to standards..

.
.
What about the second one?
.
.
.
.
.

Brilliant!

The last ball

2011-07-01T23:14:00.011+07:00

From the Futility Closet:

Posted in Puzzles by Greg Ross on June 30th, 2011

An urn contains 75 white balls and 150 black ones. A pile of black ones is also available.
The following two-step operation occurs repeatedly. First we withdraw two balls at random from the urn, then:

If both are black, we put one of them back in the urn and throw other away.
If one is black and the other white, we put the white one back and throw the black one away.
If both are white, we throw both away and put a black ball from the pile into the urn.

Because the urn loses a ball at each step, eventually it will contain a single ball. What color is that ball?
I will give the answer tomorrow.

I like these kind of riddles, Greg will post his answer tomorrow, meanwhile if you have no clue, see my guess here.

Funny Thai no vote billboards

2011-06-19T16:28:00.016+07:00

Seen today in Roi Et city:
Towards the upcoming election July the 3rd, the People's Alliance for Democracy PAD and the Heaven and Earth Party have joined forces in a campaign to promote casting blank votes. Both parties are against the politics of both current pm Abhisit and former pm Thaksin. A previous campaign in begin of June, where animal heads were used as well, was ruled to be illegal. The official reason was that the billboards were too large and were displayed in an unproportionally high quantity.
Purely relying on Thai sources, the new slogan states: "Don't vote for an animal to become prime minister", but I'm not fully sure if this is correct. (Masters of Thai help me out here..)

Alltough all other parties seem to be represented in Roi Et city, billboards of Abhisit's Democratic Party are marked by absence. The bitter truth is; they wouldn't last very long.
On highways outside the city many billboards of Abhisit have been damaged, defaced and in some cases daubed with red paint. As in many countries this is an illegal act here as well, but so far law enforcement and replacing billboards have sorted little effect.

Washington, Dictatorship City?

2011-06-15T15:18:00.050+07:00

Forget the North African and Arab revolutions for a moment. Are you aware that right now 600,000 Americans are being deprived to exercize their current or future democratic rights? They haven't commited any crime, which would abort further equalitarianism in a dozen states or so.
Amazingly, all citizens of the country's metropole are not allowed to vote in the same way as the rest of the people in the 50 states are allowed to.
Washington DC has historically been declared an independent district which doesn't belong to any state, thereby rendering it impossible to be fairly represented in US congress, or at least up to now legislators treat their status apart this way.
The District of Columbia has become a kind of overseas colony like Puerto Rico or Guam which have no members in congress as well. Still, DC is fully under US authority, so people pay the same taxes but are deprived of exercizing all liberties as other Americans do.
Isn't it ironic that a country famous for post order deliveries of freedom and democracy to doorsteps all over the world since 1819 still doesn't grant the same courtecy to folks in their own capital for almost two centuries later to say the least?
A rally is planned coming June 25th.

When in DC, besides admiring it's grandeur, I recommend to listen to different points of view, for example by having a chat with the president's closest neighbour.
I love Washington DC, I really do and feel sympathetic toward the people's cause.
Let's hope the populace find ways for tweeting, youtubing or facebooking their message out, bringing it on the agenda of the free world.

The Laughing Lama

2011-06-15T09:13:00.021+07:00

Besides being regarded as a person with great wisdom, the Dalai Lama is well known for his openess and cheerfulness which often goes accompanied with laugther.
It is being said that one time when he met up with John Cleese and that although they didn't understand eachother very well, they spent 10 minutes together laughing out loud.
Here's a more recent example:

One might argue that the Dalai Lama's English is not sufficient or his concept of humour is too narrow, whatever the case, word jokes are always hard to grasp straight away if the're not being told in your mother tongue. Anyway, he must have gotten the clue by now. Noone likes a good laugh as much as the Dalai Lama.

Karl could have continued with:
The pizza vendor said "that will be $5" and the Dalai Lama handed him a tenner and waited.
Finally the Dalai Lama said: "Hey, where's my change?"
The pizza vendor replied: "Change must come from within.."

For more serious stuff from the Dalai Lama listen to this forgotten gem (poor visual quality due to dubbing), which is a fragment of 34 hours footage of talks with Carl Sagan, recorded from 1991, which has somehow never been released.

Just another generalization: Do Thai people have a high external locus of control?

2011-06-10T12:32:00.018+07:00

Image thanks to Micheal Kwan, who questions:
"Are you the puppeteer or are you the puppet?"

"Locus of control in social psychology refers to the extent to which individuals believe that they can control events that affect them. Understanding of the concept was developed by Julian B. Rotter in 1954, and has since become an important aspect of personality studies.

Individuals with a high internal locus of control believe that events result primarily from their own behavior and actions. Those with a high external locus of control believe that powerful others, fate, or chance primarily determine events."

In Thailand where Buddhism is more prevalent than in any other nation and in fact has become a religion rather than a philosophy, lots of people seem to be reluctant to set factual goals in life. Adding superstition and hopes for winning the lottery to the equation, it seems obvious that a significant number of Thai people are being brought up to have a high external locus of control.

Personally, being brought up without a specific religion, I am inclined to follow the internal locus control way and scored 78% internal, 22% external in a test.
However, I find Rotter's theory a somewhat Western atheistic approach on how to look at things.
What I mean is that when we seperate schools of thought, we get a division of people who leave things up to chance and higher powers, thereby generally considered being less successful of achieving progress, against the more dominant and prospering self-made people, who like to believe that in practically any situation one can take destiny into own hands. "Internal" people seem to try and find out how to control external factors, without asking why they are so anxious to control things in the first place. How much does this bring you happiness?

In my opinion it could very well be that one is satisfied feeling to be the puppeteer of some, but without being aware that at the same time they are the puppet of others. And this pyramid the structure of powers might be a very complex one.

It looks like a game where everyone is so busy not losing control of things or is trying to play god all the time, that we tend to forget what it is to just enjoy life in it's simplicity.

Quote of the day: "Take everything in moderation. Including moderation."

Improvised Beef-Burger Birthday Breakfast

2011-06-06T15:20:00.011+07:00

Today is my birthday and instead of having the standard toast, bad sausages and boring fried eggs breakfast, I ordered a beef-burger for a change.
"Sorry, no have" didn't satisfy spoilt me, it was my birthday after all. They really should help me out here.
Go and accuse me of neo-colonialism or orientalism or whatever, I don't care: Me want burger!
Anyway, 15 minutes later the cook came up with this unique creation:

Oh yeah, despite some minor shortcomings, it tasted great and made me a happy man.

Farang tuk-tuk

2011-06-06T14:47:00.012+07:00

In Roi Et and in fact in large parts of Thailand the typical means of private transportation for expats will be a pickup, scooter or motorbike.
Today I saw someone who formed an exception to the rule.
He told he bought the vehicle from a tuk-tuk driver for ฿15,000 (€338/$495).
Since many farangers in Isanistan value their privacy, I didn't want to bother the guy too much.
Yet it would be interesting to know how the locals react to his newly acquired curio.
I don't think folks around here, who almost invariably dream of owning a Mercedes or BMW, consider his alternative means of transport cool.
Still, I guess one could get a fair bit of attention value for money in the more densely populated expat hangouts of Thailand.

Update 7-6-2011: Heard at least 2 other foreigners permanently living or frequently visiting Roi Et are the proud owner of a tuk-tuk. The advantage is that it's a economic city vehicle, where it offers more space than say a Robin Reliant and can be used for shopping or going places with your family.
Should you really run out of funds, you could easily start a local taxi service as well.

Walmart

2011-06-04T21:00:00.009+07:00

Had a similar car before, but never tried shopping for any 'bitches' in Walmart.
In fact I've never seen a Walmart and more importantly; I aint so cool like dis bro from da hood..

Frog and cow: A Thai fable

2011-06-04T13:18:00.012+07:00

Image thanks to Tiphanie Beeke

Once upon a time there was a baby-frog who happily lived with his mother near a pond.
One day the baby-frog decided that he wanted to explore the world.
He hopped for hours until he met for the very first time in his life, a cow.
The cow scared the hell out of the tiny frog, so he quickly hurried back to his mom.
After the baby-frog told the story of the frightening big animal, his mother wanted to know how big the beast exactly was.
"Was it this big?" she asked before pumping up her cheeks full with air.
"No mother, it was bigger than that" said the baby-frog.
"Was it this big then?" his mother asked, after which she blew more air into her cheeks.
"No mother, it was more big than that" said the baby-frog.
"Did you mean it was this big?" his mother replied while she tried to pump even more air into her cheeks.
Finally the mother frog exploded from the high pressure which had built up.

Moral of story: One's horizon is limited by fear, lack of knowledge and imagination.

Thank you, my dear Polly.

That will teach you..

2011-06-03T18:30:00.005+07:00

The expat co-owner of a restaurant in Roi Et came home too late, so his Thai wife let his pizza in the oven wait as well. Just when we were leaving, he arrived. We greeted him, unaware that he was going to dine with Duke Humphrey:

Baan Jarn street view

2011-06-03T17:24:00.008+07:00

When coming to Baan Jarn in Roi Et province, it seems like an average Isaan village.

Yet, there's something special going on..Click on the photo's to enlarge.

Below the so-called Haus Müller:

For a view from behind, see here.

Still, not everybody in Baan Jarn seems to prosper..

For more info on what's going on in Baan Jarn, see this post from last year.

Prostitute

2011-05-20T00:58:00.020+07:00

Uhmpasa, seems like Kooffrey is celebrating racial sexist stereotyping.

One Philipino lady seems to be Kooffrey's wife, the other a friend or relative from Manila.

Eat this: ฿itcoin

2011-05-16T13:57:00.138+07:00

No, not the Thai Baht

Would you like to have a bank which transfers your money without delay all over the world and practically for free? Your access to this bank is online, however the actual money is kept on your PC, phone, somewhere online or on a USB-stick used as a hard drive, where it is out of reach by others, such as nasty governments, just as gold did in the old days.. After Paypal hit upon the Wikileaks donation account, global awareness of a project called bitcoin rose. Bitcoin is the first implementation of a concept now being referred to as crypto currency. The idea was first suggested by Wei Dai in 1998 naming it b-money. Whoever he/she/they will be, we may never know, but in 2009 Satoshi Nakomoto managed to work it out as a real life experiment. The only underlying value of bitcoin is the costs involved for computers to create one, a process referred to as mining. Mining bitcoins will become proportionally more difficult as market adoption and techgnology progresses. The total number of bitcoins ever to be issued is limited by design. Each new bitcoin produced is archived in a decentralised clearence database, which renders counterfeit attempts useless. The result is a tradable new 'commodity' with a supply and demand mechanism. A mathematically compassionate approach to loop back recources to money. Purely relying on p2p storage and processing, bitcoin is not just your average get rich quick scheme by some party behind the scenes. The bitcoin concept of digital currency seems cunning and incredibly well thought through in a way that it is likely here to stay. Provided there's a continuing demand, bitcoin will be impossible to take down. It could even threat governments, like in: Help, people found a new technology to ignore us.
As of present the market in bitcoins still represents just about $50M (6.2M BTC), with under 4000 transactions per day, but is abound to rise considerably when widely adopted. By design the currency allows for a maximum of 21 million bitcoins on the market by 2141, not really that much, so deflation is being anticipated for to a further split up in decimals, up to eight, theoretically allowing for 2.1 peta (10^15) currency units.
Starting at a value of about a few dollarcents last year, a single bitcoin will trade for as much as $7.53 today (16-5-2011). A considerable increase since then and even since yesterday when the new currency was pegged at $6.70. At the same time the number of shops and services which accept bitcoin as legal tender is expanding.
On the downside black and grey money versus online gambling, illegal circuits such as drugs trade and even sponsorship of terrorists are quickly to meet eachother. Since bitcoin money changes hands anonymously without control by anybody, no supervision by authorities or national banks is feasible whatsoever. A very uncomfortable position for a government to be put in indeed.
Launch.is calls bitcoin "the most dangerous project we've ever seen". Furthermore they mention:
Bitcoin is a P2P currency that could topple governments, destabilize economies and create uncontrollable global bazaars for contraband. (...) After month of research and discovery, we've learned the following:
1. Bitcoin is a technologically sound project.
2. Bitcoin is unstoppable without end-user prosecution.
3. Bitcoin is the most dangerous open-source project ever created.
4. Bitcoin may be the most dangerous technological project since the internet itself.
5. Bitcoin is a political statement by technotarians (technological libertarians).*
6. Bitcoins will change the world unless governments ban them with harsh penalties.

Since demand is getting much higher than supply (the mining results), the currency is bound to get deflated, in fact it is designed to just do that. The expectation of a getting rich quick scheme might result in speculative prices as of today.
Once bitcoin currency exchange offices will be declared illegal or banned by banks and credit card companies, like Paypal already does, trade will go down and can cause bitcoins to drop big time, but likely not as bad as the Zimbabwean dollar.
Still, one could make big profits by buying bitcoins now (16-7-2011) and selling them at the right moment (soon).
Once bitcoin becomes outlawed by major economies and/or are seriously inflated, it will become the Wikileaks of currencies and is bound to be safe harboured in several nations with high digital freedom as a true digital currency fit for micro payments.

Update 17-05-2011: Besides the US, where a lot of libertarian minded idealists are busy to make efforts to indroduce the bitcoin as well as making cash, India, where Paypal stopped it's busines, seems like a pretyy big market ready to accept bitcoins right now.

The power of smile

2011-05-14T11:22:00.010+07:00

In a TED presentation Ron Gutman, CEO of HealthTap, aggregates results of worldwide studies regarding the act of smiling.
A study conducted by Hewlet Packard UK in 2005 shows that looking at a simple smile from a baby, will make you smile internally and will actually induce more positive stimuli in your body than having sex, to a lesser extend the same applies to adults. Next time when you decline an offer to engage in sex by giving just a smile will represent an unintrusive attempt to offer you the same happiness. Furthermore the study reveals a baby's smile mood-boosting value equals receiving $25,000 in cash or eating 2000 bars of chocolate (without throwing up I assume). From birth there seems to be some cultural imposed drop in frequency we smile, since it is a nutural facial expression found on baby's still in the womb. Children will smile 400 times a day by average, whereas adults resort to this conduct just about 20 times.
As Ron Gutman puts it: Quite a few kids out there feel like Marc Zuckerberg every day.
More over, there are clear indications to believe that frequent smiling lead to a happier and possibly even longer life.
Surprising enough, to my knowledge little or no research has been done about the long term effects of smiling habits in Thailand, the land of smiles after all, but my preliminary conclusion is that this Thai custom does a lot of good for the population. Amongst others it might explain why many foreigners including myself feel very comfortable to live here. A Thai smile can mean anything from I haven't a clue to I understand you, we're all human, if your're lucky.

BONUS:

IF YOU HADN'T ENOUGH, CHECK THIS OUT:
Don't cheat, if you noticed you had a faint smiled while reading this post or watching the vids, it'll be just like I just gave you some dirty cash, right? Now you owe me. Make me smile too, I accept Paypal and Bitcoin donations
(For bitcoins send it to: 1Ff855LWbHuEiKQM378f5oD7e1STXgAXLL )..
Hey, why is your smile gone now?

Read more about the untapped power of smiling.

Bin Laden gate: Meanwhile in Abbottabad

2011-05-08T07:10:00.003+07:00

Extinct Thai deer might have survived in haunted Laos jungle

2011-04-29T15:54:00.003+07:00

Photo:West Berlin Zoo, Lothar Schlawe (1911)

The Schomburgk's deer may once have occurred as far north as Yunnan (China) and Laos, but is known with certainty only from central Thailand in swampy plains, especially the Chao Phya River Valley.
It's antlers also used for medical purposes made nice trophies for hunters, until the animal finally became extinct.
The last known specimen, an adult male, was kept as a pet at a temple in the Samut Sakhon province of Thailand. A drunk local killed this male in 1938 (Huffman, 2004). No confirmed reports of this species have since been heard and it is formally declared extinct since 1996.
During a visit to a Chinese medicine shop in a relativley remote area of Laos in February 1991, Laurent Chazée, an agronomist with the United Nations, saw a pair of antlers for sale. Not recognising the species, he photographed the antlers. The shop owner told Chazée the antlers came from a nearby district and that the animal had been killed in 1990. Later Chazée identified the antlers as coming from a Schomburgk's deer.
Local people consider the site to have strong animal spirits and hunting is prohibited there. This may explain why the Schomburgk's deer possibly survived in that area. (Schoering, 1995), (MacPhee & Flemming, 1999). Further research is needed.
For more on this topic see: the exctinction website, Schomburk's deer, List of mammals of Thailand, Animals and plants unique to Thailand

Top 41 signs you've been living in Isaan too long

2011-04-28T17:16:00.016+07:00

41. You can't wait till friday, since you'll meet up with the other expats.
40. You know all expats living in a 10 mile radius by name, the same applies to their wifes, children and grandchildren.
39. Your daily life mainly revolves around a bamboo platform in front of your house.
38. You give directions using the holes in the road as reference.
37. You wear your finest polo shirt since you're going to dine at the local KFC. It's the red one.
36. Weekend excitement involves a trip to the Tesco-Lotus.
35. Your Thai still sucks but you manage pretty well in Lao.
34. You worry about visiting your family for Christmas back home because you cannot do without som tam that long.
33. You start to suffer from farang phobia.
32. You want to vote red. It's in your blood.
31. You drop your children sitting in the back of your pickup off at school.
30. You send your 13 y/o daughter out to go get beer and ice using your motorbike.
29. Your 15 y/o daughter wants to join a party in the next village and you tell her to drive carefully while handing over the keys of your tractor.
28. You hate the idea that your neighbour's rice field is 5 rai bigger.
27. You're in a commitee to make bi-langual street signs.
26. You're elected chief of the village.
25. You don't find the outcome surpising since you own the biggest house over there.
24. You find out your tattoo's don't match your new 'hiso' status, so you consider removal by laser.
23. You ask your wife to do the same.
22. You teach English to the boys and girls who finished school and will move to Pattaya soon.
21. You routinely claxon while passing any Buddhist temple.
20. You co-support the village idiot by occasionally giving him food and alcohol, and you forbid your children to make fun of him.
19. After he dies you find out you replace him.
18. You refer to anyone with a BMW, Mercedes or a house built in this century as hiso.
17. You like to lean over the fence chatting with your neighbours, a 55 y/o ladyboy and her wife, while watching their grandchildren play.
16. You find out 20% of the village population are retired ladyboys.
15. Altough you know all their names you still haven figured out how many people are actually living in your village.
14. You feel quite happy with your "my other car is a Kubota" bumper sticker.
13. You don't care much what happens outside your area, things will happen there decades later anyway.
12. You start having nightmares about scary ghosts.
11. The nightmares stop after following up the advise from a local Buddhist monk.
10. You find out your wife has a thing going on with your minor wife.
9. You're suprised to learn that a friend from overseas comments on your throwing garbage in a corner of the garden.
8. You last visited Bangkok in the back of a pickup, march 2010.
7. You still can become very upset about the Silom bare breasted girls Songkran 2011 incident.
6. You tell your children your buffalo is sick.
5. You throw in a party after your paycheck arrives.
4. The paycheck comes from your sun and daughter in Pattaya.
3. You tell your 19 y/o daughter to stop dating a black guy.
2. You feel better after finding out he comes from the same city as you do.
1. You feel worse after finding out he's a former classmate.

Cannot eat fruit

2011-04-27T11:03:00.008+07:00

This morning after breakfast we walked a bit around when I came across fruit which looked like green apples hanging from an unfamiliar tree. Usually Polly can tell me the name of any plant we stumble upon, so I asked her what it was.
She answered that it was a 'Cannot eat fruit tree'. She further explained that the actual name of this tree was not that interesting because the fruit was inedible anyway.
Polly left me behind a bit puzzled when I later met a man who told me earlier he worked around there for over 10 years, so surely he would know, or so I thought. I got the same answer: "Cannot eat fruit". Then I almost started to believe it was forbidden fruit similar like Adam and Eve's apple tree.
It appeared to me that everybody around here is merely interested in edible things and that's quite a lot or so I have noticed. When whatching a documentary on Next Step channel (the Thai Nat Geo), we do see some strange animals and while trying to learn a bit more, Polly will often be able to tell me how good it tastes.
Rouseau already told that going back to nature is good for you and I suppose he should know.

After more inquiry, I finally found out the tree is called 'Dad nam' (forgive my spelling), which translates to something like 'duck flipper water'. It's called this way since the leaves resemble flippers (with some imagination) and it grows near the water side. The tree belongs to the so-called dogbane family and is family of the oleander.

"Sorry boss, I didn't know banning Facebook makes Thailand lose face.."

2011-04-25T15:17:00.033+07:00

Seen today at 14:30: A complete Facebook ban.
A somewhat drastic measure against Thailand's 2nd most popular website.
Understandbly during the Cambodian temple conflict Thai authorithies are a bit edgy right now.
15 minutes later when I was about to pack my bags and book a ticket to a freer country, the ban had been lifted. Now probably just a few pages in particular have been selected inappropriate for the Thai ego instead of all 900 million.

Although in the past other countries have banned the social networking service, at the moment it is permanently being blocked in China and Vietnam only. The latter one not to be taken that serious, since in Vietnam Facebook still manages to rank no.7.
In Thailand all information regarding bans is kept classified, but according to one source in 2007 an estimated 45,000 sites were being intercepted for violating the law and threatening so-called national security issues.
"He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know" (Lao Tzu).

Translation:
"We apologize for any inconvenience.
The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology ordered to stop publishing the web site that you want to visit because the images and text contain inappropriate content. For more information contact
the Ministry of Information and Communication Tel: 0 2141 6950 ".

See also Bangkok Post: National security v. democracy.

Petcharat Garden Hotel, a nice place to stay while in Roi Et city, Thailand

2011-04-21T00:52:00.022+07:00

After staying in three other places in Roi Et city, Petcharat garden hotel offering 148 rooms is probably the best place to spend your time. I don't know who designed the building; but besides the large dinner/breakfast room co-functioning as karaoke hall in the evenings as well, the 'Feng Shui' of everything else is really excellent, it just makes you feel comfortable everywhere.
The hotel offers decent clean rooms with all basic facilities including free wifi for about ฿600 or €14/$20 till ฿900 or €21/$30. This includes a decent breakfast for average standards. Also Petcharat's offers pretty good a la carte Thai, Thai-Chinese and a bit of Thai-Japanese food (no, Western food is not on the menu).
Apart from the fact that the owner is currently way too busy with a far too high priced property scheme, which will never succeed, the 'forgotten' staff tries to do their utmost to make you feel welcome, even though not everyone around here will be able to speak English that well.
Below is one of the views I like to enjoy in the evenings; sitting at the swimming pool.
At day-time from about 9:30am it becomes much too crowded with local children and their families, since it's one of the very few places to take a swim around here. Also the pool is about 100 cm/39" deep, safe for children but as an adult a little bit unconfomfortable to excercise your 500 yards breast stroke. Anyway around here you'll just have to settle with that. At 7:00pm after adding a large quantity of chloride, things become quiet, so before 9:30am and after about 8:00pm it's a perfect opportunity to relax, take a quick dip and if anybody there, meet up with other guests.

What our 24 hour global economy has to offer us, or how close is the nearest 7/11?

2011-04-20T01:16:00.046+07:00

Today I wanted to know how much convenience our 24 hours modern economy actually has to offer to us, the people.
Sure the internet gave us more information, easy communication, e-shopping and e-commerce etc., but still not everybody will be able to easily obtain more essential things like basic food, drinks and condoms when needed.
A solution which comes closest is being offered in countries where w're able to buy life necessities at any time of the day at the nearest 7/11. Okay besides 7/11 the're many other convenience stores, but data is not publicly available. Besides that Japanese owned 7/11 is world's largest, best known and widely appreciated; it even has it's own official page on facebook with many people who encountered the luxery abroad requesting to open outlets in their home country.
Below is a map of capita per 7/11 which I created with targetmap, covering 17 active countries (China, Hong Kong and Macau regarded as one).
It turns out that Taiwan has the most 7/11's per capita offering one store per 4,898 citizens. Singapore follows with one per 9,281 people. Third ranking is home base Japan with one per 9,900. (Data mentioned by wikipedia and some other websites need to be updated.)
In these countries it's not uncommon to find shops facing eachother on both sides of the road, very much a contrast to huge area's of the world like Africa, South America, West and North Asia and practically all of Europe where people are still deprived of up to date standard basic life necessities for large parts of the day. Just the relatively small populations of Norway, Sweden and Denmark seem to form about the only exception here.
Thailand, where I'm fortunate enough to live right now, is 5% the size of the US, but offers one store for every 11,845 people to choose from, open 24 hours per day. The US offers one 7/11 per 37,950 inhabitants but luckily they compensated with enough alternatives.
In these countries things are taken for granted, but we often forget that people in large parts of the world still lack any basic comfort concerning this matter at all.
One may find it hard to believe, but in fact in some more fundamentalist regimes, mostly situated in Europe, will not tolerate 7/11's formula by law. This measure oppresses store owners and clients to restrict service to daytime and early evening only, whereby service on sunday's is prohibited all day. How disrespectful towards the people's freedom of choise regarding day/night schedule and non-Christian religions to say the least.
See below the sad truth of the unfair inequality in our world today..

Capita per 7/11

New: Italian pizza

2011-04-20T00:33:00.006+07:00

Seen today near Tesco-Lotus in Roi Et:
Brilliant, now The Pizza Company even offers Italian pizza.

High increase of Russian tourists expected in Thailand

2011-04-18T12:57:00.021+07:00

Image thanks to
family Seckel

According to Maurice de Rooij, general manager of Coral Beach Rotana Resorts in Sharm El Sheikh, tourism in Egypt has dropped dramatically due to unrest in the country. Last february Egypte received 221,000 tourists instead of 1,100,000 last year, (a decrease of 80%). In the same month hotels had an occupancy of about 10%.
In a rescue attempt some 5 star all inclusive hotels dumped their prices to $20 (฿600) per night. Things are slowly recovering but the summer season is lost. This year Egypt tourist authorities expect a decline of 25% in the industry, but this is a cautious estimate, de Rooij mentions and expects recovery after the September elections.
Many Egypt goers now opt for safer alternatives like Turkey, Spain, Bulgaria and Thailand.
Especially Thailand will benefit from more Russian tourists, de Rooij says. Annually Egypt attracts about 2.8 million people from Russia alone.

According to the department of Tourism in 2010 Thailand welcomed 15,841,683 guests, whereby Russia ranked no. 11 (611,019 people), just below Germany and USA. So this year they are most likely to trade places. Possibly in 2011 Russians will outnumber the Australians and perhaps even the British. Be prepared for the borscht..

Sources: Thailandblog.nl, Misset Horeca (both in Dutch)

Evil tree

2011-04-16T22:56:00.011+07:00

Seen in Roi Et: The palm tree has an evil eye and on left side somebody attached an orchid plant which appears a bit like Medusa's face.

Hotel proverbs, sayings & quotes

2011-04-13T18:18:00.019+07:00

Photo thanks to news.travel.aol.com

Below some proverbs, sayings and quotes about hotels I came up with today:

General:
Don't judge a hotel by (it's) entrance, judge it by (it's) egress.
Boss' away, staff play.
The less one has traveled the more one is tempted to steal things from hotels.
The bigger the country the fewer languages spoken.
Guests:
The uniqueness of the guests is inversely proportional to the room charge.
Close guests are more important than distant relatives.
Breakfast:
The greater the drop in shower pressure and temperature, the busier the breakfast.
The early bird catches the warm boiled egg.
Small hotels and B&B's:
The gayer the owner, the cleaner the room.
As the host is, he trusts his guests. (Old Dutch proverb, really)

Quotes:
- At breakfast with the exception of Germany, having simple things like a boiled egg same as at home will usually cost you an extra $250.
- Breakfast buffets will at least force you to open your eyes.
- When staying in a hotel longer get friendly with the people backstage, like the cook, cleaning ladies and the owner. A good cook as your friend is better than having your mum cooking, cleaners have interesting stories to tell about what is going on, owners often make good guides. One disadvantage is that after longer time the staff will start to act as if you were the owner.
- According to all hotels outside Europe, including England, Europeans have toast and jam for breakfast, whereas in Asia toast, bacon and eggs is American.

Quotes about hotels from others:
- “I stayed in a really old hotel last night. They sent me a wake-up letter.” (Steven Wright)
- “The great advantage of a hotel is that it's a great refuge from home life” (George Bernard Shaw)
- “There was a girl knocking on my hotel room door all night! Finally, I let her out.” (Henny Youngman)
- “Do Not Disturb" signs should be written in the language of the hotel maids” (Tim Bedore)
- “I've always thought a hotel ought to offer optional small animals. I mean a cat to sleep on your bed at night, or a dog of some kind to act pleased when you come in. You ever notice how a hotel room feels so lifeless?” (Anne Tyler)
- “This is an elegant hotel! Room service has an unlisted number.” (Henny Youngman)
- "In light of heaven, the worst suffering on earth, a life full of the most atrocious tortures on earth, will be seen to be no more serious than one night in an inconvenient hotel." (Mother Teresa)
I really hope for her, now being there, she had it right..

More suggestions anyone? If provided, your link will be mentioned above.

Happy Songkran!

2011-04-12T17:05:00.003+07:00

Thai Happy New Year Photoshop. Images thanks to: Thailand-Festivals.com, Autodesk.com, G-ville

Smart new bank card phone

2011-04-11T19:29:00.016+07:00

I don't like to cary much around in my pockets: banknotes and coins usually never exceeding $100, cigarettes + lighter, my bank card, my phone and a camera in a pocket on my belt, that's it.
Actually I don't like to take my camera as extra weight, but often when I didn't, I saw the most interesting and/or funny things and was not able to take a picture. Now it belongs to my default outfit, even during breakfasts.
My phone is a 2007 Samsung credit card sized type with a protective leather case, which includes an additional thin integrated battery, in my case co-functioning as a protection for my bank card.
A potential problem was that during calls, if I didn't take care, the card could fall out..

Today Polly solved my little problem and glued a plastic pocket inside the phone cover, where the card is safe to keep also during calls.

For one of the many other creations by Polly, mostly modifications of clothes, see How to create a wine glass.
Now who said Thai were not inventive?

Roi Et 101 club and other places to meet locals and farangs

2011-04-11T17:15:00.009+07:00

The traffic light turns red, the traffic light turns green
in short Muang Roi Et is the place one must have been

In Roi-Et the place to be seen is the 101-club, which can accomodate about 2000 people and offers Isan style popular live music till 3:00 am, 7 days a week. Besides that 101 offers an outdoor BBQ and hotpot restaurant. 101 is located at Kolchapalayuk road. Next door on the corner there's a large outdoor BBQ buffet restaurant.

Another popular night life place is My Thai disco near My Thay hotel which besides Western popular music offers live music and coyote dancers. By the way did you know that Coyote is an accronym for Cast Off Your Old Tired Ethics?
Farangers can meet up at the German/Thai runned White Elephant restaurant, Canadian/Thai owned 101 pizza besides the lake, Danish/Thai owned JJ restaurant, opposite Rose hotel, or at the Petcharat garden hotel.
Also around Roi Et the're seem to be two more 'farang' restaurants, one with a Swedish guy and another one called 'Enjoy' co-owned by a Swiss man, but I still have to locate them.
Estimates about the number of farang living in Roi Et city vary from 10 till 50.

It's a Sony

2011-04-10T20:23:00.003+07:00

Seen in Roi Et City, Roi Et Plaza road:

S O N Y drinking water

Gee! What's that?

2011-04-09T18:40:00.003+07:00

Seen in the hotel's restaurant in Roi Et city; "one thousand years gees with chilli"?

Seems to be century eggs

Guns and planes

2011-04-09T18:25:00.005+07:00

Seen in Nok Air's in-flight magazine, an advertisment for Colt guns:

Nowadays guns and planes are not really considered to be compatible are they?