TIT - This is Thailand

It’s been a while since I talked to you. I guess transitioning back to the U.S. has been more of an adjustment then usual and quite frankly it’s been difficult to be motivated to write much about Thailand when I haven’t been there. But today something happened that I need to write about. It has nothing to do with Thailand, but since this is my own personal blog I feel the need to talk about it.

A friend of mine died today. His name was Michael. He was only 37 years old. I got a call from his distraught Mother this afternoon while shopping with my girl. She arrived from Bangkok earlier in the week. I’m really glad she’s here. Lately I’ve figured out just how important she is in my life and that becomes even clearer at a time like this.

Michael was way too young to die. Most people haven’t even figured out how to live by the time they’re 37. Mike was no exception. He had lived with his father after his Mom and Dad divorced when we was in his late teens until just 3 years ago this week when his Dad died of a massive heart attack right in front of Mike as his Dad parked his car in from of their apartment. When Mike got to the car his Dad was already dead. Mike and his Dad were as close as a father and son could be. That was unfortunate in a way for Mike, because his Dad had some very bad eating and lifestyle habits and Mike adopted just about all of them. Mike was not only seriously overweight but also an epileptic. I wrote about a seizure Mike had just a few weeks ago that I had witnessed. That night I was afraid he was going to die. Today he did.

Mike died alone. They found him on the floor of his apartment kitchen. He had apparently been cooking some breakfast and suffered either another massive seizure or perhaps a heart attack. We don’t know yet. Whatever he was cooking set off his smoke alarm. When I got a call from his Mom I knew that he was dead before she ever told me. Myself and all of his friends had feared the worst as this young man’s health got worse and worse. We tried to help counsel him to change his lifestyle, but Mike was unwilling and unable to change. At least not until it was too late.

At the age of 50 and seeing many people around me die, death is nothing new to me. But when it happens to a person so young, a person who really had never totally had the opportunity to live his life to the fullest, it leaves a very empty feeling. This was a real good person. A very giving person. A person that wouldn’t hurt anyone. A guy that everyone loved when they met him. A fun loving guy. He treated everyone well. It’s just a shame that he didn’t treat himself as well. As I’ve told the many friends I’ve talked to tonight, this is a lesson that all of us can use to take better care of ourselves and try to live long and full lives and give ourselves a good quality of life later on in life.

The only good that comes out of something like this is that it brings people together. I called many of my friends tonight and not only did we talk about Mike, but I told many of my friends just how I feel about each of them. That’s something that I’ve been doing more of lately and I had done that with Mike more then once. When you lose a friend or almost do, like I did with Mike before and have now, you take stock in the friends that still are here on earth. And if you don’t, you most certainly should.

Until tomorrow, or whenever I appear in this space again, enjoy your day!

Posted on April 21st, 2008 by webmaster
Filed under: USA | 2 Comments »

Well, it’s been almost a month since I left the City of Angels and it seems more like a year. It’s funny, because I don’t feel that way when I’m away from America. Four months feels like about four months, but for some reason the time away from Thailand always feels like more.

My main contact with Thailand has been through friends (including the infamous Mr. Bill) and my girlfriend. Today Mr. Bill returned to America, much to his sorrow. In a week my girl will come over and visit for awhile. I plan to return in August, along with my girlfriend. That’s assuming that the jerks in U.S. Customs allow her a 6 month visa, as opposed to the 3 month variety. The last time she came to the states they gave her the third degree, for whatever reason I don’t know. Probably because they can.

As for Mr. Bill the odds of him waiting 4 or 5 months to return to Thailand, like he says he will are rather long. Mr. Bill bagged 44 babes in 7 months, yes, 44 women! He can’t even remember all of the names. I suggested that certain parts of his body could use the rest, which he agreed to. But after a month or so of inactivity, something tells me that Bill will be back on that big bird to spend all or part of the hot summer in Bangkok. It just has to happen, it’s human nature. That kind of action just isn’t available here in the states, certainly not for 60 year old guys like Mr. Bill or even 50 year old guys like me. Not even 40 or 30 year old guys can expect to do that well, no matter how rich or good looking they are. It just isn’t there. Plus the women in Thailand are so much hotter and sweeter then American chicks. It just isn’t even close. So yes, I expect Mr. Bill to be back in Thailand soon. I’ll put the over/under line at June 12th. And I’m taking the under.

Until tomorrow (or the next time I get around to posting) enjoy your day!

Posted on April 10th, 2008 by webmaster
Filed under: Thai Women | 1 Comment »

For those of you who frequent this space, you no doubt know that certain elements of the way Thais do business frustrates and sometimes makes me completely crazy. But one thing you get in Thailand that doesn’t seem to be too available in America these days is service.

The last 2 days I did some shopping and saw American retail business at it’s worst. First I went to the UPS shipping center in my area. What can brown do for me today? How about smiling and not being a bitch. I wasn’t clear on how to ship my packages so I asked for help. Big mistake. There was one woman behind the counter and the one thing I’ll say on her behalf is that she was pretty busy with customers. I tried to use their computer to log in to my account, thinking that was what I was supposed to do. When I couldn’t log in I said “excuse me, but I can’t log in”. Well, she tried to make me feel stupid with her tone of voice and said “you have to fill out one of those forms” and pointed in the general direction of where they were. Thanks a lot. So I got a form and once again excused myself and asked if she had a pen (the nerve of me, huh). She said “can’t you see I’m busy, you’ll have to wait”, in a totally bitchy tone. So at that point I said “I guess I’ll just go get one in my car”. That pissed her off even more. I was glad to see that because at that point I was getting real hot under the collar. I went to get the pen and filled out the form. While I was doing that she was complaining to the customer she was dealing with about MY attitude! Then I asked her counterpart (who finally came to help) for the manager. I told the manager about the incident, she apologized and helped me. She was very nice. I said to the manager “she must be in a union”, meaning often in America union people can do whatever they want and not be fired, because businesses are afraid of the unions.

Then I went to Office Depot. The guy behind the cash register was a real doozy. I purchased a keyboard and mouse that was marked 30 dollars off with rebate. I asked the clerk how I would get my rebate forms and he said the cash register would print it up. Well, it didn’t, so this loser told me that the price was net. Wrong, it was 130 dollars, not 100 and no rebate. And the worst part was that he didn’t care if I paid too much. So I told him where I found the product and asked him to get the tag. He told me to go get it! Amazing!!! So I got the tag and he pointed out to me that the rebate expired 2 days ago. Then I pointed out that the law says that he has to honor the price on the shelf, expiration or no expiration. He called the manager for approval and I once again had to tell him about his employee’s lousy service. I mean this guy was a real tool! So he apologized and credited the difference to my credit card. Fair enough.

Also I had two incidents where I had to return merchandise that was defective (the reason I was at UPS in the first place) where I had to pay the shipping! Once again, very poor service.

These incidents are just an example of how American business has deteriorated over the years. There was a time when service was at an all time high about 15-20 years ago, when the Nordstrom stores dominated the retail world. Now everyone is trying to save money and part of that is cutting staff and the quality of the staff they have, hiring employees for minimum wage, which this guy at Office Depot was no doubt one of these.

So for all of the Thai businesses faults, I will say that they bend over backwards to try to make you happy. You certainly can’t say that anymore here in America.

Until tomorrow, enjoy your day!

Posted on April 5th, 2008 by webmaster
Filed under: USA | 1 Comment »

You know, this isn’t supposed to be a political blog, but sometimes things happen in Thai politics that make it so I can’t resist. Just the other day I talked about another possible coup in Thailand. Well every day that goes by the actions of the new Thai government make it clear that they are making their own bed in that regard.

Today I saw this item in the Bangkok Post:

“Lecturers pan charter rewrite bid

PAD says it will seek to impeach MPs involved

POST REPORTERS
Law lecturers from nine campuses yesterday slammed the government’s plan to amend political party dissolution rules while an anti-Thaksin alliance threatened to seek the impeachment of every single MP joining the charter amendment bid.

The academics, led by Somkid Lertpaitoon, dean of Thammasat University’s law faculty, voiced opposition to the proposed amendments to party dissolution rules and to the suspension of political rights of party executives under Article 237.

They claimed the government’s attempt to rewrite the article posed a conflict of interest that was barred by Article 122 of the constitution.

Article 122 stipulates that constitutional amendments by politicians must be made for the common interest of the Thai people and be without any conflicts of interest.

The government’s plan to rewrite five articles of the charter was criticised as self-serving. They deemed it as an attempt to whitewash ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the People Power party (PPP), which faces the prospect of being disbanded after its executive Yongyuth Tiyapairat was found guilty of vote-buying by the Election Commission.

‘‘Changes by political parties which have a stake [in the matter] will undermine the rule of law and we should not sanction this kind of action,’’ said Mr Somkid.

He said that the government owed the public an explanation over what good the amendments would bring if it decided to proceed with a review of Article 237.

He believed amending Article 237 was intended to nullify certain orders of the Council for National Security, especially those involving operations of the Assets Scrutiny Committee.

Prinya Tevanaruemitrkul, vice rector of Thammasat University, said the government’s charter amendment attempt could violate Article 122 and lead to the impeachment of the politicians involved.”

So the Samak government, who is being told what to do by Thaksin and his goons, continues to do things that are completely against the people and against democracy. Now they are trying to undo what was done during and after the last coup, when the Thai Rak Thai party and it’s leaders were banned from politics. It’s so obvious, so blatant and so wrong, there is no doubt in my mind that another coup will eventually happen to these idiots and it will probably be sooner then later. In fact they will no doubt set the new record for the shortest rein of any government in Thailand’s long history. Keep in mind that in Thailand coups are often the way governments change. The last coup had been rumored for quite some time and as soon as Thaksin left the country the deed was done. It will be interesting to see when and how the next one will come down. As I said last week, it’s unlikely that this one will be bloodless. Many people, especially those in the Northeast are supporters of Thaksin and his people. In fact, they consider him a hero. So if Samak gets thrown out on his ear, which he most certainly deserves, they will not be real happy about it.

The good news is that Thai people are very non confrontational by nature and very non violent, so a peaceful solution is always a possibility. Possible, but not likely I’m afraid. When their chosen leaders get thrown out for the second time in a row it won’t be pretty. I guess now there are two possibilities. Either the Samak government backs off and starts doing their jobs for the good of the Thai people. Not likely I’m afraid. Or they continue to do what they’re doing and the military takes over again, no doubt with the support of the King. I guess we’ll just have to wait for the other shoe to drop.

Until tomorrow, enjoy your day!

Posted on April 3rd, 2008 by webmaster
Filed under: Thai Politics | No Comments »

Being back in the United States for a few weeks now I miss my beloved Bangkok, I miss my friends in Thailand and I most certainly miss my girlfriend. But there are still things here in America that I miss when I’m away from here.

Since I’ve been back I’ve been able to enjoy my favorite sport and one of my main motivating factors for coming back here in the summer (besides the oppressive weather in Bangkok), Major League Baseball and my San Francisco Giants. I just finished a couple of weeks of Spring Training games down in Arizona and yesterday the regular season got underway. It’s great to have baseball back even though my Giants have lost the first two games of the season to the hated Los Angeles Dodgers and the Giants are picked by just about every expert to finish in last place in their division. In fact, the New York Daily News picked them as possibly the worst team in baseball this year. Next Monday is the first home game in San Francisco and you can bet I’ll be there. Opening Day is a holiday in my book and it’s not to be missed.

The other thing that would make Thailand perfect is if I had the world class jazz on a consistent basis that’s available here in the San Francisco Bay Area. We are lucky to have one of the world’s best jazz houses, Yoshi’s in Oakland just a half hour away from my house. And Yoshi’s now has a location in San Francisco as well. Sunday night I enjoyed one of world’s best sax players, the great David Sanborn at Yoshi’s in Oakland. In fact a couple of days after getting back from Thailand I saw a wonderful Cuban pianist, Gonzolo Rubalcaba at Yoshi’s. These are the kind of artists that only come to Bangkok occasionally, while it’s almost an every week occurrence in the Bay Area. The San Francisco area is one that has always been rich with culture of all kinds and world class jazz is no exception. In fact the Bay Area and Yoshi’s has become a haven for great jazz and when I’m here I enjoy as much of it as possible. Also the San Francisco Jazz Festival Spring Season is going on now, which brings more big names to the area. Another jazz legend, pianist Joe Sample plays this Sunday in the city and I will get the chance to enjoy Joe playing solo.

It would be nice to get more of this kind of entertainment in Bangkok, but Thailand is way behind in western cultural activities. They are quickly catching up with countries like Japan and Singapore and I anticipate the day when more and more western artists will travel to Thailand to play. I really look forward to that day, then I’ll have less and less reasons to spend much time in America. Of course I don’t anticipate seeing Major League Baseball or my Giants there in my lifetime, so I guess I’ll continue to come back here for awhile.

Until tomorrow, enjoy your day!

Posted on April 2nd, 2008 by webmaster
Filed under: USA | No Comments »

Three months ago a “new” government took over in Thailand. But at the time it was obvious to any casual observer that once again former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was pulling the strings behind this supposedly new government.

Now just three months into new PM Samak’s administration the rumors have started already that a coup is in the works. You remember what happened the last time a coup was rumored, don’t you? It was in the summer of 2006 and in September the tanks rolled into Bangkok while Thaksin was in New York, set to speak to the United Nations. He never made that speech, because by the time he was supposed to speak he was the deposed leader of Thailand, not it’s PM. Army generals took over the government and Thaksin was out on his ear, along with his corrupt family and all of his corrupt friends.

Now Thaksin’s associates who weren’t part of that government (translated to mean the ones without as much intelligence and ability) are running Thailand. Many have already been brought up on charges of election fraud. Some of those have already been convicted. Yes, once again the Thai government is a mess, probably a bigger mess then when Thaksin was on his way out. When these guys took over I predicted that this government would end in yet another coup. I just never thought that it would start to happen so soon. Yesterday the PAD held a big rally, the same kind of rallies that signaled the end of the Thaksin regime.

But this time I don’t expect it to go as smoothly. When Thaksin was thrown out everyone expected it. Yes, he had a lot of support, especially from those in the heavily populated North East of the country. But the better educated people were almost all against Thaksin and for the coup. These are the same people who voted against Samak and his band of crooks. But it seems these people, while not in the majority, wield a great deal of power in the country. Unfortunately Samak and his boys were the people’s choice by an overwhelming margin. So while the last coup was bloodless, it would be hard for me to imagine the next one being as peaceful. I hope it is, but I wouldn’t bet on it. The poor people liked Thaksin, because he did everything he could to make them like him, including buying their votes. 100 baht (about 3 bucks U.S.) goes a long way in the provinces. What’s amazing is that he was giving them their own money when buying their votes! Only in Thailand.

So who will be the next to lead Thailand and what effect will it have on tourism and the Thai economy? That’s anyone’s guess. But it certainly won’t help restore traveler confidence when there are 2 coups in a couple of years. It’s like the Tsunami. Everyone with half a brain knows another one of that magnitude isn’t likely to happen for another hundred years. It’s like the perfect storm, everything has to be just right (or wrong) for that to happen again. But you can’t imagine how many people I talk to who are afraid to come to Thailand for that very reason. If they used their heads they wouldn’t let it bother them. But people don’t always do that now do they? Well, it’s the same with political unrest. When coups happen, people stay away. If people stay away it will hurt the Thai economy.

Until tomorrow, enjoy your day!

Posted on March 29th, 2008 by webmaster
Filed under: Thai Politics | No Comments »

One of the things that have always amazed me about living in Thailand is how long things seems to take. Even the easiest task seems to take forever compared to how things are done in the West.

As an example, you want to book a plane ticket. Now if I want to fly from San Francisco round trip I can book online or on the phone here in the states. The process usually takes a matter of minutes. Not so in Thailand. One of the rules my carrier has is that the traveler has to have possession of the credit card used to charge the trip, if a credit card is used. So when I want to fly my girlfriend over to the states from Thailand and back, first of all the booking needs to be made out of Thailand and second it has to be done in cash. Well I contact my friend in the travel business and he puts in for the reservation with the airlines. Then he has to wait for them to get back to him. That could take a day or two. Then he contacts me with the details, I accept them or change them and it gets done. So a 5 to 10 minute process becomes a 3 or 4 day process.

The same holds true for very simple transactions. I’ve described many instances where things have taken a very long time before in this space. Getting a mobile phone fixed (on two occasions) was just one of them. The first time I took a phone in for service it was to the Motorola store. They said they would have it back in about a week. So first of all I bought a new phone so I’d have something to use. Good thing I did. About 4 weeks later I went down there and asked what the problem was. It was pretty obvious to me that they hadn’t even looked at it yet. First one guy took it in the back, then the next, then a third. After over an hour at the store with no satisfaction I demanded and got a brand new phone. I don’t think my request was out of line at all and since it was under warranty they were obligated to give me a phone.

I’ve always joked that in Thailand when you buy an ice cream cone you feel like you’re buying a car. Well, it’s not quite that bad, but that description isn’t far off either. Any time you make a purchase, it seems like you have to fill out form after form or any time you have to do anything with any company, the paperwork is tremendous. It seems like this society thrives on paperwork and lots of it! Much of it seems duplicated and unnecessary, but whenever you have to do something the paper flows. They kill lots of trees in Thailand with their paperwork. Try dealing with a bank some time. You’ll fill out form after form, much of it with the same information and come to find out that they aren’t the forms you actually needed to fill out, so you do it again. Same thing with customs or any government agency.

Sometimes it seems that the culture and business are about 30 or 40 years behind the U.S. The technology isn’t far behind, in fact in some ways they are ahead of us, but other things are far behind.

So while in service industries the service tends to be excellent and fast, in other businesses it’s tedious and slow. No reason, that’s just the way it is. Not easy for an impatient guy like me. But you learn to live with it. Sometimes I’ll be back in the states and marvel at how fast something happens, then I have to realize I’m back home in America, which is a more efficient society.

Until tomorrow, enjoy your day!

Posted on March 27th, 2008 by webmaster
Filed under: Thai Companies | No Comments »

Now that I’m back in the states for awhile, the differences between Thailand and the United States just come up and hit me in the face. Especially the difference between Thai and American women. You would think they came from different planets, not the same one.

When I first started traveling to Thailand I was amazed at how different the women were. How soft, feminine, nice, sweet and caring they are. That’s because as an American man I had been kicked around so much, having been single my entire 40 years. I continue to be impressed by the Thai women, while I continue to just shake my head at how American women act. Some, no, many of them are just downright nasty and many don’t even act like women at all! Now I’m not saying that all Thai women are good and all American women are bad. Quite the contrary. There are some fantastic American women and some very low Thai women. It’s just that finding a good one in Thailand isn’t near as hard as it is over here.

Now that I’m back I’ve seen some things and had many things confirmed. I have a friend over here in Arizona. And his wife is more then a little hard on him. To get out of the house is a struggle at times and it seems that he always has to apologize to her for having a good time. But I see that a lot in America. My married friends all envy my lifestyle and constantly want to hear all about my life. That’s one of the reasons I started this blog. To give them and all the western guys out there a look at how it is elsewhere. Because it shouldn’t be that way. Just because you have a wife and kids doesn’t mean your life should end when it comes to enjoying some time with your guy friends. I’m not saying that married guys should be out chasing broads every night, or at all, but going to a bar with a buddy, watching a game and checking out some eye candy isn’t a bad thing. Time away gives two people a chance to miss each other. And it works both ways, or at least it should.

I guess that’s one of the reasons I’ve held off so long getting married. Because so many of my friends seem so miserable with their American wives. Oh the horror stories that I’ve heard. And I’m happy being single, so why change my life so drastically when I’m already happy? Especially here in America where the marriage mortality rate is so high? I may change my mind someday and who knows it could be sooner then later. But I can promise you that it won’t with someone born in America.

Until tomorrow, enjoy your day!

Posted on March 26th, 2008 by webmaster
Filed under: Thai Women | No Comments »

When Mr. Bill meets a girl he likes, he takes her to Pattaya. Now you may remember a blog about “One Night in Pattaya”, when Mr. Bill took wife number two to the beach resort for a night.

Well, Mr. Bill has met a new girl and yesterday he took her to Pattaya. Now Mr. Bill’s trips to Pattaya always follow the same program. Hey, why mess up a plan that works? He generally takes the bus (from now on if I go I guess I’ll have to meet him there) from Bangkok. When he gets there he checks into the same hotel. Goes to the same place for lunch. Does some shopping and buys the young lady some trinkets. Then in the evening it’s the same nice restaurant that he’s been to so many times with so many different girls. I can just imagine the looks he gets from the employees of the restaurant and what they must think. I told him yesterday that they must think that he can’t ever hold onto a lady for any length of time.

He likes to take them to the beach the next day and perhaps if the weather is good, out on a boat for some snorkeling, fishing and relaxing on the water.

It’s funny because Mr. Bill is definitely a creature of habit in everything he does. Whether it’s a trip to Pattaya or a night on the town, he finds something that works and he repeats it over and over with different women. I guess we all have things that we like to do and we do them over and over, but with this guy he’s got it down to a science. If it works once he does it over and over and over again.

I find a lot of humor in this. Because I’ve been out with him with different women and we tend to do the same things. I kind of have to laugh inside, because if I broke out laughing in front of his girl de jour it would seem strange. But it is funny to watch and to hear about. I guess it’s one of those situations where you “have to be there”. Well, I’ve been there and I have to tell you that it’s a sight to behold.

Let’s see, right about now he’s out on that boat with his new wife, laughing, having a beer and trying to catch a fish. It’s so predictable, yet it makes good sense. Don’t mess up a good thing. Just keep doing it until it doesn’t work any more.

Until tomorrow, enjoy your day!

Posted on March 25th, 2008 by webmaster
Filed under: Pattaya | 1 Comment »

Tonight, being on the road, I did what many men in America do when they’re away from home and want a cheap thrill, go to a strip club. Trust me, it’s no Soi Cowboy.

First of all, most of the women are white and from America. That puts two strikes against it right there. Oh there were a couple of adorable Asian girls, a hottie from Mexico and one girl from Russia that was very interesting. But half of them look like they came right out of the WNBA. Tall white chicks are interesting to look at, but they just don’t do much for me. And quite frankly, many of the women in the club either had tattoos (strike three) or were just not that great looking, even by American standards. But it was enough to get the 3 young gentlemen next to me to toss dollar bills like they were worthless (oh that’s right, thanks to George W. Idiot they are basically worthless now).

So I hung out there for a couple of hours, had a nice conversation with the cocktail waitress, who was a real sweetie. I even bought her a drink that she downed while I covered for her. It was a good diversion from what has been happening, considering the rather stressful day I had yesterday.

Earlier today we went to another ballgame. I kept my friend out of the sun. Unfortunately he has to go home early because of his condition. But we enjoyed a nice steak dinner at Morton’s, my favorite steak house chain, in Phoenix. We even ran across some baseball people. While at the stoplight I saw the great Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully crossing the street. I first met Vin when I was a young 15 year old kid with contacts to get into the press box at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Vin has been broadcasting Dodger games for 55 years, dating back to the team’s days in Brooklyn. I hadn’t seen him in about 25 years, but said hi briefly as he crossed the street. Lovely man, 80 years young with the gait of a much younger man. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him soon on Dancing With the Stars. Then in the restaurant the entire Dodger team was dining in the back room and a pitcher for the Angels was at the next table. Being a Giants fan I was able to enjoy my meal despite the fact that the Dodgers were in the back room having a banquet. I saw Dodger great Manny Mota walk out and former Yankee and now Dodger manager Joe Torre. Yankee superfan Mr. Bill would be excited. I used to like Torre, but now he’s a Dodger. Tough decision.

So I’m on my own starting tomorrow and through the rest of the trip which ends in a week. My friend is feeling better and that’s a wonderful thing considering what I witnessed last night. I’m in a nice hotel finally after packing and unpacking 3 times. All in all life is good and I’m enjoying the baseball, but missing my dear sweet Bangkok.

Until tomorrow, enjoy your day!

Posted on March 23rd, 2008 by webmaster
Filed under: USA | No Comments »