TIT - This is Thailand

Hey everybody!  It’s certainly been awhile.  The reasons are many.  One, I was in the U.S. for 8 months.  When I’m not in Thailand, it’s hard to find things to write about.  I used to write often about the politics, but all of that has kind of gotten “same, same”, as they like to say here.  I’ve been back over 2 months now and to be honest with you, I haven’t felt very motivated to write.  I guess a lot of the things I used to consider crazy are now quite commonplace.  Maybe it has something to do with being married as well.  I don’t know.  Anyway, I’m back, at least for now.

The reason I picked now to write is that I had to share an experience that has to do with the condo building that I live in here in Bangkok.

About the time we returned in November, we started noticing a strong smell of cigarette smoke in our bedroom at night.  Now being a militant non smoker and also being allergic to the stuff, I was mad as hell and wasn’t going to take it.  So I went down to the building office and was told through my interpreter (my wife) that smoking in the rooms wasn’t allowed and that the guy in the next room would be told to stop or be fined.

The next night the smell was back.  We called the evening manager and he told us that smoking is allowed in the rooms and that there was nothing he could do.

So the next day we went back to the office.  We were told they were mistaken and that the problem would be fixed.  So “engineering” came up to our room.  The reason I use the quotation marks is that these guys must be the lamest group of “engineers” on god’s earth.  Anyway they looked at my air conditioning duct, said something to my wife and were gone.  They told my wife that they would take care of it.

That night the issue remained.  We went back to the office the next day.  They told me they had to fix something in the neighbor’s room and that it would be fixed in 5 days.  5 days later the issue remained.  So we were back in the office.  So they sent engineering back up.  One of the guys got on a ladder and looked into our ceiling.  He asked me to climb up and take a look.  I did and sure enough there was a crack in the wall and I could see into the neighbor’s unit.  So the guy put some temporary insulation like stuff into the hole and once again I was told the problem would be fixed permanently in the neighbor’s unit.  In fact the office even confirmed to us that it had been fixed.

This exercise repeated itself many times more in the next couple weeks.

Some more time went on and I didn’t smell anything, so I just assumed that the problem was solved.  Occasionally I told my wife I thought I smelled it, but she said it was my imagination.  Keep in mind that every time we did smell it before we had to air out the room by opening the sliding doors and turning on the fan.  Not the way you want to go to sleep at night with the sounds of Bangkok keeping you awake.

Well last night the smell was back and it was stronger then ever.  We went to the office and they sent the head “engineer” up.  He looked back in the air duct as did I.  Because it was late afternoon I could see sunlight coming through that insulation.  Sure enough they had never even fixed it!  And to make matters worse, when we went back down to the office they told me it was the owner of the next unit’s responsibility to fix it.

I spoke with the unit’s owner tonight and we are trying to get it done ourselves.

Just another example of the incompetence of Thai “professionals” and of their ability to change the story to suit themselves.  2 months have been wasted.  If I knew from day one that it was up to me and the owner of the unit next door to fix it, the problem would have been fixed in a couple of days.  Instead 2 months had to go by and I have had to spend countless hours dealing with it, lost a lot of sleep and had to deal with a lot of frustration.  Just today we dealt with it for over an hour.  And trust me, the conversations that my wife had in Thai with the building staff, engineers, etc. that took over an hour would have taken a matter of minutes if they were being conducted by two English speaking people.  I guess I need to learn the language to understand what takes so damn long for Thais to communicate.  It’s just amazing.

Well, until next time, enjoy your day!

Posted on January 13th, 2010 by webmaster
Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »

Just when things had settled down in Bangkok it appears that Thaksin Shinawatra is once again attempting to tear Thailand apart.  I just saw this item on the Bangkok Post’s website:

Sondhi Limthongkul, the Manager media mogul and founder of the People’s Alliance for Democracy, survived an assassination attempt Friday that police said left him and two others wounded.

The gunmen fired about 100 rounds from assault rifles through the windows of Mr Sondhi’s car as he was on the way to record a programme for his ASTV station before dawn on Friday.

He suffered head injuries, the most serious of which occurred when a piece of metal, apparently from the car, penetrated the right side of his skull, causing bleeding in his brain, according to director of Vajira Hospital Dr Wanchai Charoenchokethawee.

“Doctors are performing an operation, which is expected to be completed around noon,” Dr Wanchai said, adding that there are no injuries to his body.

“At least two attackers followed Mr Sondhi’s car, overtook it and sprayed it with about 100 rounds of gunfire from AK-47 and M-16s,” said the commander, Colonel King Kwaengwisatchaicharn.

“The motive for the attack is still under investigation,” he said.

The car was attacked at a petrol station near the central bank at around 5am, according to PAD spokesman Panthep Puapongpan.

Mr Sondhi’s driver was in a serious condition, while an aide suffered minor injuries.

So now Thaksin’s latest plan appears to be to bring the PAD back on the streets and incite a full on civil war with his UDD.  The two sides clashed during the PAD’s protests late last year.  Many were injured and some died.  This time if the PAD comes back it will be a bloodbath.  As for the motive for the attack being under investigation, it should be apparent to all concerned who ordered this hit.  It’s fortunate that Sondhi wasn’t killed, but the end result may very well be what Thaksin wanted.  Hopefully the PAD won’t play into his hand.  The people of the PAD are very dedicated and love their leader.  They feel that they accomplished a lot by their protests.  The huge change in the government that was needed finally happened.  Now Thaksin is not only trying to undo it, he is trying to cause all out anarchy in the country he supposedly loves.

What’s amazing that Thaksin’s followers, the ones who aren’t being paid to protest, don’t get it.  They still can’t see what he is trying to do.  He only wants to get his 2.3 billion dollars back, not to mention the power of running Thailand.  But he doesn’t just want to be Prime Minister.  He wants to be the supreme ruler of Thailand.  Where that leaves the monarchy is anyone’s guess.  While he says he loves Thailand and the monarchy, his actions say otherwise.  Apparently he only loves himself.  And a bit too much in my humble opinion.

What’s also surprising is that Thaksin would order a hit on a political opponent when if there is one person who is the most likely to get assassinated at this point it’s Thaksin himself.  And now he doesn’t have a valid passport so he shouldn’t be able to travel.  If I were him I’d tread a little more lightly.  But that isn’t the man’s style.  Hopefully it will be his undoing.

Until next time, enjoy your day!

Posted on April 17th, 2009 by webmaster
Filed under: Thai Politics | 2 Comments »

I was pleased to see this piece in today’s Bangkok Post:

Thaksin’s passport revoked, retains citizenship

The passport of fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been revoked for his role in inciting the protests that caused the cancellation of the weekend Asia summit in Pattaya and subsequent rioting, the chief government spokesman said on Wednesday.

Thaksin still retains his Thai citizenship.

”The foreign ministry has cancelled his passport,” spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said.

”The incident on the 11th [of April] is the reason.

”The decision to cancel his passport was based on passport issuing regulations, which state that the ministry can cancel or recall a passport if it can prove that a person has caused damage to the country,” he said.

“The cancellation will hinder Thaksin’s foreign travel as a Thai, although his Thai citizenship remains intact,” the spokesman said.
So the Thai government and Prime Minister Abhisit has further tightened the noose around Thaksin’s neck.  Without a passport he should be unable to travel, despite now having his own plane.  I wonder what took them so long with Thaksin not only wanted for many crimes, but for his causing so much political unrest in Thailand.

The next step should be either to go get him, wherever he is and that shouldn’t be too hard to find out.  The Thai government should arrest him and bring him back to justice.  If the “red shirts” see their man in shackles, maybe they will finally realize what he really is, a common criminal.  He has stolen from the Thai people, killed numerous Thai citizens in his so called “war on drugs” and caused Thais to fight with Thais over his causes.  He has also caused irrevocable damage to the Thai economy.  Over 200,000 are expected to lose their jobs in the tourism industry in addition to the many who are out of work already.  This is because of the political unrest caused by Thaksin and the world economic downturn.  The bottom line is that he wants his 76 billion baht back and would like to rule Thailand.  In jail that will never happen.  In fact a friend made a great suggestion to me.  Thailand should confiscate the 76 million baht and use it to fuel Thailand’s economic recovery.  After all, Thaksin stole most of his money from the Thai people during his rule.    Thailand should benefit from the money instead of letting it sit there.

One more point I’d like to make.  Although Prime Minister Abhisit has made some mistakes along the way in handling this fiasco, he has remained a strong leader that Thailand and the monarchy can count on to do what’s in the best interests of Thailand.  Revoking Thaksin’s passport is the latest positive move he’s made.  He’s shown that he will do anything to bring Thailand back to what it was before the trouble started.  He has the good qualities that Thaksin had and he seems to be an honest man.  Hopefully in the end Thailand will be a better country for surviving all of this strife.

Until next time, enjoy your day!

Posted on April 15th, 2009 by webmaster
Filed under: Thai Politics | No Comments »

You may have noticed that I haven’t posted for awhile.  We’ve gotten settled back into our lives in the states for the spring and summer.  But I’ve been reading about the daily political news coming out of Thailand and I’ve stayed silent.  I can’t be silent any more.  Thaksin Shinawatra is ruining Thailand.

Now Thaksin and his goons have given Thailand a huge black eye by ruining the Asean Summit. UDD protesters have caused the summit to be canceled and the leaders of the summit countries have gotten out of Pattaya with their lives.  How do you think Thailand looks to the world now?

After Thaksin was thrown out in the 2006 coup he got corrupt candidate after candidate put into every significant political office in the land.  He did this by buying votes.  One by one these corrupt political parties and candidates have been thrown out of office.  Now the Democrats have put themselves into power.  Are they the choice of the people?  No.  Unfortunately the majority of Thai people are too ignorant to realize what Thaksin is doing and how they are being manipulated.  They are also too ignorant to realize what is best for them and their country.  But the current PM Abhisit is doing a good job and is a strong leader.  He seems to want what’s best for Thailand and despite the actions of Thaksin and his goons, he forges on.

But because of Thaksin’s actions, Thailand is stuck in a political stalemate.  This man is too egotistical and stubborn to let things alone, even as he runs from country to country to escape extradition for the crimes he has committed.  In the meantime, the country he claims to love is being ruined and he’s the one that’s doing it.  Tourism is about to become non existent.  Think about it, if you didn’t already know Thailand and it’s people very well, would you take a trip over there.  I try to explain to people that politics don’t affect tourists.  But they can’t be convinced.  Thailand already has plenty of negative connotations to the person that doesn’t know it.  This situation just makes it much worse.

The time has come to do something about Thaksin.  He either needs to be brought to justice or taken out.  Either way Thailand could move forward and start patching up all the wounds that have been created.  If this doesn’t happen things won’t get better.  At lease until Thaksin gives up or dies.  The economy which is already hurting will get worse and Thai people, many of which support Thaksin, will continue to suffer.

Until next time, enjoy your day.

Posted on April 11th, 2009 by webmaster
Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

One thing that has bothered me since spending any amount of time here in Thailand is the quality or I should say lack of quality of Thai men.

Now there are exceptions to every rule and I know of some.  I have a very dear friend who is a wonderful man, a great husband and an all around great guy.  I’ve also met many fine Thai men.  But unfortunately this doesn’t seem to be the rule.  More the exception.

Let me give you some examples from my own new family.  My wife has 3 sisters.  The unmarried one dumped her idiot American boyfriend (thank god).  This was one of those young guys who thought he knew everything and really knew nothing, you know the type.  Now the 2 married ones are great examples of what I’m talking about.  My wife’s younger sister was married to a guy and everything seemed to be going fine.  They had a fine boy and a girl on the way.  Then he left and didn’t come back!

My wife’s older sister is the best example of all.  She had a husband and 3 beautiful girls, including an infant.  And her SOB husband also left and hasn’t been heard of since.  Not too long ago she started a relationship with a new man.  This guy was supposedly a monk who was leaving the monkhood to be with her.  Then after he supposedly left, he told her that he was really a cop that was doing an undercover investigation of monks using drugs and gambling (that stuff does happen here).  She came to find out that neither was true.

The guy moved into her house (without an invitation) and has been living off her for months.  She is a nurse who works long hours to barely support her daughters.  In the meantime this guy has done lovely things like steal money out of her purse, take the rice that my wife and her parents brought from their province and give it to his family (yes he took the food out of the kids mouths).  Plus he has taken the money for the electricity bill, not paid the bill and now the electric is in danger of being cut off.  He even stole the money for the kids school bus ride!  The man is absolute scum of the worst kind.

And speaking of scum, let’s talk about the Thai Police.  I’ve come to the conclusion that if it doesn’t involve a bribe, the Thai Police aren’t interested in getting involved.  Even though this man had a gun in the house, the police wouldn’t come out to take him out.  My wife’s sister has tried to get rid of this scumbag many times and he picks locks, climbs through windows and comes back every time.

Now we are bringing out the heavy artillery.  My friend Mr. Bill has a friend in the Thai Police department who has very good friends among the higher up’s in the Royal Thai Police department.  So hopefully something will get done when we go out there tomorrow.  Now I’m not a violent person, but I have a tremendous disdain for any guy who abuses women and children and this guy is a very bad abuser in many ways.  He has dominated this woman’s life to the point that she can’t think and act for herself.  I understand that this idiot resisted when he was stopped for not wearing a helmet on his motorcycle (that he by the way got this woman to sign for).  I hope to god that he resists tomorrow when the police try to remove him from the house and he gets the living shit beat out of him.  A bullet in the head wouldn’t be bad either.

Until tomorrow, enjoy your day!

Posted on March 2nd, 2009 by webmaster
Filed under: Thai Culture | 1 Comment »

I had a real interesting day yesterday.  But I knew ahead of time that it would be.  I had scheduled appointments with 4 attorneys to discuss some contracts I need drawn up for a real estate deal I’m working on.

The first appointment was going well enough.  The other party in the deal and myself were meeting with the attorney’s assistant (something between a paralegal and an attorney here) and we were getting the information that we needed.  All of a sudden the attorney walked in.  He was making some good points, when out of the blue he asked me if I was interested in buying a vacation house in Ko Chang or Pattaya.  He said “it will just take 2 minutes”.  I said sure, I’ll take a look and the guy came in with a full blown presentation on 2 real estate communities, chock full of floorplans, pictures and prices.

Needless to say, we decided not to deal with that attorney.

The guy we met with next was an older gentleman who had obviously been practicing law for quite a long time.  In fact his office looked like he had never thrown anything away.  It was a dump.  We didn’t use him either.

Stop number three was to meet a young attorney at a Starbucks.  The reason he met with us there is that he will be soon opening his own firm.  Fair enough.  But he really didn’t have much to say and didn’t give us much information on what we wanted to find out about.  Another one eliminated.

Stop four was a little more productive.  We met with one lawyer who was pleasant enough and seemed knowledgeable.  Then he brought his partner in who talked a mile a minute, in English.  But these guys had some creative ways to deal with our situation and we will probably use them, even though they were the most expensive.  Funny enough their proposal quickly dropped from 73,000 to 37,000 baht when we complained about the price.  Hey, times are certainly tough everywhere.

Then we got the proposals today.  One firms proposal (the first one) had no numbers on it and the last firm’s proposal had the number added up wrong (on their side of course).  Then when I called them on it I got it back, wrong again.  I hope their legal work is more accurate then their math.

The other thing that was interesting was that no one firm completely agreed with the interpretation of the law with any other one.  That’s a little scary.  However I did confirm some things today with the firms other then the last one and things started to line up in one area anyway.

Needless to say, I’m finding that the law profession is much like every other one in Thailand, slightly less then professional by western standards.  Oh well, TIT!

Until tomorrow, enjoy your day!

Posted on February 11th, 2009 by webmaster
Filed under: Thai Companies | No Comments »

It’s been a very sad week for myself and my wife and her family.  On Wednesday night we found out that her cousin, only 49 years old, had passed away in my wife’s home province in the North East.  Friday morning we flew to Ubon Ratchathani for the funeral.  Her cousin had been sick for quite some time from cancer and finally succumbed to the disease.

So we arrived in Ubon on Friday and made the drive to the family’s village and to my wife’s cousin’s home.  Her husband, a British guy was there along with the entire family and many friends.  Many had also made the trip from Bangkok.  Unlike us they had made the long 12 hour drive.  The husband was understandably upset, but relieved that the long ordeal was over for him and for his wife of 17 years.   The family and some friends were eating and drinking.  Many of the close relative went into the house for the start of the service with the monks.  Many of the rest almost seemed oblivious to what was going on inside.  I found that very strange.

Suddenly during the service I saw the husband of the late woman talking to my wife and to his wife’s sisters while the monks were chanting away.  I was just outside the front door, which was open.  Then he left the room and started talking to me and some other friends, visibly upset.  He told me that this was the 5th time the monks had come to the house since her death and that they had been given some 200,000 baht (over 5700 dollars U.S.) in funds by the 2 sisters that the family and friends had donated to the him to help pay for the funeral and to help him out.  He explained that the medical bills had cleaned them out financially and that he had nothing.  My wife tried to calm him down, which caused him to get upset at her, saying that these people “don’t get it”.  He told me these poor people always give money to the temple, even if they can’t afford to put food on the table.  My wife explained that Budhist people believed that anything they gave to the monks would come back to them many times over in the next life.

You know, it kind of reminds me of the TV evangelists and how they take money from poor people, promising salvation.  In fact, I told my wife this.  Organized religion has been known throughout the world to prey on the poor, who are the most vulnerable to this kind of idea and who can least afford to pay for it.

Anyway after the monk ceremony at the house the casket, inside of a huge ornamental box was placed in a pickup truck and the entire group of family and friends accompanied it to the temple, about a mile away.  Wearing a black shirt in the hot sun was quite uncomfortable as we walked the dirt roads to the temple.  Everyone held a rope that the monks also held in the pickup truck.

When we got to the temple we circled the crematory 3 times we went inside a room in the temple and kneeling on the floor in front of the monks we prayed.  We also each had to give the monks 100 baht in an envelope (at least we did).  Once again, more money to the monks, who put it in their pockets.  After this service we sat down outside as people from the village were called up to receive donations for local charities.  At least something wasn’t going to the monks!  The body was now up on the stage at the creamatory, which we faced.  We then all put sticks with paper attached on the stage, which were to be used as fuel for the creamation.  Finally after some more praying by the monks, the casket was lifted into the creamatory, the husband lit fireworks on a string that shot into the creamatory to light the fire, the fire was lit and the service soon ended.

We later went back to the house and eat and drank that evening.  The husband slept through much of this party and later woke up and greeted us.  I flew back to Bangkok the next morning while my wife stayed behind.

I found the experience interesting (my first Budhist funeral) and at the same time very sad.  I couldn’t help but feel that these very poor farmers were being taken advantage of by their faith.  It was very apparent to me.  Of course my wife doesn’t see it that way and I understand.  Nobody is better at brainwashing then organized religion.  I have to say that my faith, the Jewish faith does it less then most.  For that I’m very thankful.

Today my wife’s family got another shock.  Last night another cousin, a 38 year old guy, after a night of heavy drinking and gambling, colapsed on her parent’s kitchen floor.  She called me today to tell me that he is in the hospital, essentially brain dead!  Unfortunately, since the nearest hospital is almost an hour away from this village and there are no ambulances nearby, any chance for him to get oxygen, which could have saved his life and which probably would have were gone.  An amazing week of grief for this family.

This brings up another thought.  If you live in the village and a medical emergency happens you will probably die before getting help.  And if you live in Bangkok and the ambulance does get to you in time, you may also die on the way to the hospital, because of the horendous traffic!  Of course if the ambulance gets stuck in traffic, you may as well be in a remote village as you die waiting for help.  This is one of many dangers of living in this country.

Well, that’s about it for today.  More tomorrow.  Until tomorrow, enjoy your day!

Posted on February 8th, 2009 by webmaster
Filed under: Thai Culture | No Comments »

It seems like every time I pick up the Bangkok Post there is a new twist to the Santika tragedy. And it keeps getting worse. Here’s the latest from today’s Post:

The Justice Ministry is seeking to take over the investigation into the Santika pub fire on New Year’s Day after claiming the police investigation is riddled with flaws.

The ministry’s investigations have found the entertainment venue was possibly involved with illicit drugs and money laundering, minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga said yesterday.

He said the case which involved the deaths of 66 revelers and hundreds of injuries should be handled by the ministry’s Department of Special Investigation (DSI). The minister said he would propose the DSI take over the case from Bangkok police next Tuesday.

Mr Pirapan said the Bangkok police investigation had placed the blame for the fire on Saravuth Ariya, lead vocalist of rock band Burn. Mr Saravuth was accused of using a lighter to ignite fireworks and of starting the blaze.

However, Justice Ministry investigators have since found surveillance camera footage that rules out the charge.

Mr Pirapan said the footage showed the singer did not light fireworks and had in fact left the stage before the fire started. The tape shows the fireworks had been lit with an electronic device, not a lighter.

The minister said there were concerns why there were so few witness accounts in the police reports, despite the fact that several people were keen to testify after the incident.

The ministry’s investigators also found traces of heroin and cocaine in the pub’s offices and in the musicians room. Drug traces were found on money wraps, sofas and filing cabinets.

This would indicate that narcotics had been traded at Santika and the Office of the Narcotics Control Board would look into the matter, he said.

The Anti-Money Laundering Office has been ordered to investigate the matter as 20 million baht had been transferred to the pub’s account but its source could not be verified, he said. The pub management said a liquor company had paid the money but the company concerned denied the claim, Mr Pirapan said.

The minister said police had taken repeated action against the pub management for unauthorized operations and selling liquor after hours.

Yet, since deputy chief of the Crime Suppression Division, Prayont Lasua, had become a shareholder in the company that ran the pub in 2006, the police raids had stopped.

Suriya Ritrabue, identified as manager of the company, has been arrested in the past on drug charges, Mr Pirapan said.

He said the pub did not pay excise tax throughout its five years of operations and signatures of an architect and a construction-supervising engineer were found to have been forged.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday agreed with the ministry’s proposal to have the DSI take over the case.

He dismissed speculation that Mr Pirapan’s plan could create a rift between the police and the DSI, saying he had instructed the two agencies to work together on the case.

It was just revealed a day or two ago that one of the owners of the club was Deputy Police Chief Lasua. And all of a sudden police stopped raiding the facility and citing them for violations. Now we come to find out that evidence of drugs dealing and money laundering is apparent and that the investigation is heavily flawed. So much so that the investigation has to be taken out of the hands of the police!

It became apparent to me very early in my time here in Thailand that virtually everyone is on the take. If you did somebody a favor, they got money for it. Not all of it illegal. If a cabbie took me to a bar or a massage parlor, they got money. If my tour guide took me to a tailor shop, he got money. If a cop stopped the cab I was in for an illegal U turn, the cop got money. I had started to find the whole thing kind of humorous. But it stops being humorous when people lose their lives.

Here’s a club that was never granted a license for the purpose that it conducted business and was open for 5 years! The police had many opportunities to close the club and were obviously paid off. Then a top level cop got involved in the ownership of the club (my guess is for free) and all of a sudden there is no prosecution of the facility. Imagine that. Now we come to find out that drugs were involved in a facility that was partially owned by a high ranking cop. Fortunately this country now has a prime minister who is willing to take on corruption as opposed to creating it himself. At least that’s how it looks on the surface. I’ve come to find out that in Thailand, things aren’t always what they seem. Hopefully this police chief will be brought to justice along with his partners in the club for drugs and the murder of innocent people. Because that’s what these people did by allowing large amounts of people into such an unsafe facility. They murdered them.

Until tomorrow, enjoy your day!

Posted on February 3rd, 2009 by webmaster
Filed under: Safety in Thailand | 1 Comment »

First of all, my apologies on being away for a couple weeks. I encountered some major technical problems and was without a computer and without access to even access my own blog. A piece of advice to all, even 2 backups don’t guarantee that everything won’t be lost. Yes, I had a hard drive crash and BOTH of my backup drives encountered crashes. Fortunately my last line of defense had my data, despite problems I was having with both backup hard drives. I lost some data, but for the most part I’m back up and running.

That aside, today was one of the most exciting and emotional days in my life and once again I can feel proud to be an American. The last 8 years under the Bush administration, while living and traveling overseas, I have always somewhat hesitated when telling people I’m from the United States. America hasn’t been real popular. Since the election of Barack Obama I tell everyone proudly that I am from the United States of America.

Watching Obama take the oath of office and all of the pomp and circumstance that goes along with the inauguration has been very emotional, even more so then I expected. I found myself thinking about my late Mother and just how proud she would be in the great accomplishment carried out by the American populace. That brought me to tears many times. Not only has America elected the first Black President, they have elected a man that myself and many throughout the U.S. and the World feel can help solve many of the World’s problems.

Listening to Obama speak and watching his confidence and self assurance gives me confidence that he can do the job. And as hard a Presidency as George W. Bush has had, Obama has more challenges then perhaps any President in history let alone any World leader. With the U.S. and the World economy in crisis, the wars in Iraq and in Gaza and the threats from Iran, North Korea and Arab extremists, Obama will have his hands full. And no doubt there are surprises to come. I know his experience is limited. After all, he has only been a U.S. Senator for 3 years and he spent two of those years campaigning. But there is something about this man that is special. And most of the people in the U.S. and around the World support him as the man to get the job done.

I don’t expect miracles from Obama. I know that some people do. He has turned into a larger then life figure. And many think that his mere presence in the White House will make the World’s problems go away. I’m not that naive. But I do believe that he is smart enough, charismatic enough and popular enough to get the people of the U.S., the people of the World, the U.S. Congress and leaders of the major nations of the World behind his plans. He will talk to our enemies and reach out to them. He will tackle the challenges ahead. And with all of that going for him then change, that word that was used so much during the campaign and has been scoffed at so much by his political opponents, is not only possible, but likely. Remember in politics as in much of life, perception is reality. If you think you can get things done then perhaps you can.

He’s also not George W. Bush, a guy that the entire World grew to despise, no more so then in his own country. Obama is the anti-Bush. He’s smooth, Bush isn’t. He’s articulate, Bush stumbles over and messes up his words. He speaks with command that makes you want to listen, Bush doesn’t. He’s intelligent, well, at least more so then Bush, we’ll just leave it at that. He’s popular, Bush’s popularity sank so low that you’d have to dig deep to find it. Really Bush is kind of a pathetic figure and I feel sorry for him. You can’t say he didn’t try. You can’t say he didn’t do what he believed in. But it didn’t work and his policies didn’t bring cooperation from other countries. In the end, it was just the opposite. Yes, Bush helped prevent another terrorist attack on American soil and for that I thank him. But his policies in Iraq made a mess of that country and attracted thousands of attacks on Americans and other Westerners overseas. I and many others think he could have attained what he attained in the U.S. without going into Iraq. I’m sure in his heart of hearts he knows Iraq was a mistake. You just wouldn’t get him to admit it.

I have also been impressed at the class that Bush has showed during the transition and up to his departure on that helicopter this morning. He seems to truly like and admire Obama. He has had nothing but wonderful things to say about the new President in interviews. The two embraced more then once. Obama and his wife Michelle accompanied him and his wife Laura to his helicopter ride into the sunset. Class up and down on both their parts. I feel good seeing Bush go out that way. It makes me proud of him as well, like the pride I felt in him after 9/11. I almost wish that he was allowed to speak during the ceremony. His silence almost felt empty.

So today the U.S. and the World have a new leader. He’s young, he’s bright and he’s ready. The World will be watching his every move. I just hope that he’s everything he seems to be.

Until tomorrow, enjoy your day!

Posted on January 21st, 2009 by webmaster
Filed under: USA | 2 Comments »

I rarely post twice in a day, but shortly after my last post I saw an item in the same Bangkok Post which I found very interesting and would like to share with you. It’s a piece written by a westerner who witnessed the Santika tragedy first hand:

Setting the record straight about a horrific tragedy

I am the guy in the photographs and films in the white shirt covered in blood dragging people out of the window by the main door and the smoking lounge.
The fire at the Santika pub on Ekamai road shortly after the New Year left 59 dead and at least 243 injured. The blaze broke out in the early hours of Jan 1 while some 1,000 revelers were celebrating New Year’s Eve and bidding farewell to the pub, which was to be closed after the Goodbye Santika party.

I would actually like to take exception to the comments made by some of the press and armchair critics in all forums and to defend some of the people accused of what was a tragic accident.

I think you are all forgetting that this was an accident and it was actually the stampede and the panic that caused the problem for the majority, resulting in the deaths that occurred.

The owner was with us for the whole time, helping us get people out of the club and to say he has crocodile tears or something similar is a gross misrepresentation of a very concerned man and someone I know very well who put his life on the line along with the rest of the helpers (less than 15 people, by the way, out of the 800 or so people who remained outside and felt it better to get their phone cameras out than to help the dying people at the club).

There are also claims that the fire crews could not get to the club for up to 45 minutes. The girls in the toilets, who included one of my best friends, were rescued within 25 minutes as she remained on the phone with her boyfriend throughout the whole ordeal and it took 21 minutes from start to finish of that phone call to when the fire brigade reached them.

In that time the club had burned as much as it was going to, as the emergency services were flooding the place (in a completely disorganized way) and the people in full rescue gear could take over.

The club was my local haunt and the owner is a close personal friend of mine. He is distraught and completely at odds with what has happened. However, I do think the record should be set straight on this, as the people at the club rightly say that the club was engulfed within seconds of the fire starting.

My own theory on this is that the bottles of alcohol on the tables significantly worsened the effect as the heat rose in the club. This is a common feature of Bangkok and all Asian nightclubs, where the alcohol is kept by the customer on their table. Basically, each and every table has a Molotov cocktail on it in a situation of this nature and I witnessed first-hand the bottles exploding as the heat from the fire reached them. I believe this is what caused the majority of the burns and the speed with which the fire spread, regardless of materials used at the club. Within 90 seconds the club was engulfed — now who do you wish to blame for this?

The start was probably by either the pyrotechnic display on the stage or the sparklers and firecrackers which the customers had brought with them. The outside effects, I seriously doubt, could have caused the problem, as being outside by the front of the club no embers came our way from that main display. This use of firecrackers and sparklers is another Thai/Asian tradition. Inside the club it probably set the alcove by the stage on fire, which quickly spread to the upper area of the club which was a mosaic created from gypsum board. However, as the heat descended the bottles started to explode and covered everything in their vicinity in highly flammable liquid.

My friends and I (including the owner), who were outside when the fire started, only noticed the problem inside when the clubbers started to stream through the side and main doors. Again, just to set the record straight, there were three exits and they were all used by the escapees.

The problem was the panic and stampede and the lack of emergency lighting in the club, although I seriously doubt that this would have had any benefit as the club was engulfed in thick, black, acrid smoke that fell immediately onto the floor and caused a lot of the deaths by smoke inhalation.

Downstairs in the toilet area, each toilet was connected to the outside as they are open to the elements; however the boardwalk above covered any means of escape. We did manage to get through that (this is where the owner was ripping his way through to try and reach the toilet area) and rescue the people from the men’s and women’s toilet areas, again a misreport. My friend Jic was in the ladies toilet and I sent two firemen down to reach her after they sprayed water on the club entrance area. They chain-led four girls from the toilet and saved them, others were pulled up from the now open boardwalk area at the side of the club.

There was myself, another two foreign guys and about 8-10 Thai guys (mostly staff) who risked going back in; everyone else (a symptom of Thai society) decided that they should take their camera phones out and start filming.

I have to say I am very disappointed in the press and media who were on the scene faster than the emergency services and who got in the way, as you can see from the films. Again, another symptom of the age we live in, when capturing a person’s death on your digital device so you can sell it to the press for a few baht, is more important than saving that life.

I do not want recognition for this all I ask is that the facts are reported correctly. I was front line and tried to save as many people as possible. There are images I will never forget from going back into the club. This is, and always has been, my favorite place in Bangkok and it was a tragedy which probably could have been lessened but not prevented due to the reasons I have stated.

As for the problems regarding the licensing, etc, let’s all be realistic and show we know how this works in Thailand. We all know enforcement or the lack thereof is a paid-for service within this community and that the tea money covers a lot of misdemeanors and also protection.

The authorities act as a semi-legal mafia and these sort of protection rackets are an everyday occurrence here; that is not to say that a lot of policemen and emergency services don’t risk their own lives. But the facts should come out.

I really would like to set the record straight on this, as the emergency services while completely disorganized due to the lack of a consensus in Bangkok and Thailand as a whole (this is a point for a much longer conversation on how to ensure organization is maintained, which is sorely lacking, I am afraid) were onsite fairly quickly given the traffic conditions on Ekamai road, which is notoriously busy at night. And they included some of the bravest people I have ever seen.

Posted on January 7th, 2009 by webmaster
Filed under: Safety in Thailand | No Comments »