Poisonous Fruit

February 8, 2010

I followed the usual route today – up or down Ladprao Road to the Ratchada junction and then ready to turn right: the traffic board showed green so I was looking forward to a swift trip – but then, Ratchada Road was pretty jammed up – quite why this should be was not immediately obvious [...]

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Avram Grant and the Thai Siam Massage Parlour, allegedly

February 5, 2010

It is unfortunately the case that the image of Thailand overseas is most strongly influenced by stories such as this, which concerns Portsmouth manager Avram Grant visiting the Thai Siam Massage Parlour, which seems to have occupied an industrial unit, and which is described by intrepid Sun journos as a ‘brothel’ – to verify this, [...]

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Wassana on Anupong

February 4, 2010

Wassana on Anupong In her column in the Bangkok Post this week, Khun Wassana Nanuam looks at the career of General Anupong Paojinda, who has held the post of head of the army under two democratically-elected prime ministers and two military-installed ‘prime ministers.’ She attributes his comparative longevity to the continued power of the military [...]

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Setback for BMA in War against the Poor and Ugly

February 3, 2010

A setback for the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority and its plan to recreate Bangkok as a picturesque, working class-free zone as residents of Ratchaburi have told them where to place the 10,000 pigeons they were planning to ship out from the city. Local residents were concerned about what the pigeons would eat, the spread of avian [...]

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Sihanouk on Thailand

February 3, 2010

In his memoir Sihanouk Reminisces: World Leaders I Have Known (written by Bernard Krisher but dictated by the King, the man himself observes (p.70):
“… my small Cambodia was sandwiched between two powerful and threatening neighbors, Thailand and South Vietnam, which were both not only American allies but also in collusion with the Khmer Serei guerillas, [...]

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Bring Your Own Shovel

February 2, 2010

There is still plenty of gold in the ground across Thailand – deposits have been found in 31 provinces and there are long-term miners, especially at Bang Saphan, who have been using low-technology methods to hunt for nuggets for many years (one man claims to have found enough to have sent his children to university*).
There [...]

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The Useful Mr Red

February 1, 2010

The media have had a lot of joy dramatizing the recent events surrounding Seh Daeng – army specialist Major General Khattiya Sawasdipol, who today reported to the police to hear charges against him. He is accused (inter alia) of being in possession of ‘war weapons’ – you can always tell who is going to be [...]

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Gongsi

January 30, 2010

The word ‘gongsi’ is used to describe a Chinese business – but it is not really a business as it is understood in western countries. According to David Faure,* gongsi were organisations that “…incorporated rather precisely the idea of a body of people coming together for the purpose of trade according to a charter that [...]

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Ban Mankong

January 29, 2010

According to Dr Sopon Pornchokchai, President of the Thai Appraisal Foundation, writing in the Bangkok Post:
“Providing security of tenure for slum-dwellers where land is scare, and too expensive for others to afford, should be reconsidered. In fact, slums can be relocated to provide better use of land for the slum-dwellers themselves, for other members of [...]

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MCOT and Manuel Zelaya

January 28, 2010

There was an interesting approach to a story about Manuel Zelaya on the official radio news this morning: the story covered Zelaya leaving Honduras, some months after he had been ousted in a military coup, much of which time he spent in the Brazilian Embassy in his own country.
The story first reported that ‘left-wing’ Zelaya [...]

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Enter Sereepisut, Pursued by (or Pursuing) …

January 27, 2010

I know that stories beginning ‘Is it just me or …’ cry out for the answer ‘It’s just you, you clown’ but …
Is it just me or does this story represent one of the more important things that should be changed about Thailand? It is in the Bangkok Post and entitled ‘Sereepisut to Enter Politics’:
‘Pol [...]

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Entrepreneurs of Ladprao

January 26, 2010

As part of my exciting rock’n’roll lifestyle, I will a couple of days a week walk from the office here to the Carrefour supermarket on Ladprao Road. The other day I was doing just that very thing but a little later than usual and I noticed that more roadside space had been opened up for [...]

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Thais Spanked by Land of Bacon Trade Representatives

January 25, 2010

Not terribly surprising but Denmark spanked Thailand 3-0 in the last round of the highly ‘coveted’ King’s Cup, while Poland (or some time of people playing as Poland while the first team was probably busy elsewhere) knocked off Singapore 6-1.
As a result, Denmark finished top with three wins, Poland second with two, Thailand third with [...]

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Hate-Filled and Wilfully Ignorant

January 21, 2010

When I lived in fin de siècle Korea, I used to listen to the American Forces Radio station (remind me to tell you my death of Princess Di story some time) and one of the programmes that was regularly broadcast was that of Rush Limbaugh. For a while, listening to Limbaugh was quite entertaining in [...]

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Thailand 1 Poland 3

January 21, 2010

Thailand lost 3-1 to Poland in the ‘coveted’ King’s Cup yesterday, while Denmark saw off Singapore 5-1.
I didn’t get to see the game myself – I rarely have chance to watch anything – but based on the Bangkok Post report, it seems to have been fairly one-sided, with the Poles scoring a couple of times [...]

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Breaking Bangkok Bird News

January 20, 2010

Breaking Bangkok Bird News: Well, it turns out there are two types of myna bird: yesterday morning as I walking along the soi, slightly bleary-eyed, I saw a bird that I thought looked different because of its Mohican style haircut: blow me down if it isn’t the White-vented Myna (Acridotheres javanicus), which is described as [...]

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SET Up after News of UDD Rally

January 20, 2010

After news yesterday that pro-democracy supporters are planning a protest close to Suvarbabhumi Airport, the SET opened up 0.36% this morning, showing that business supports the move.
Ridiculous? No more so than the disgraceful story in the Bangkok Post yesterday claiming the SET was down for the same reason.
 

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Red Shirts Plan Multi-Pronged Campaign?

January 19, 2010

It looks like we may have a month or so of intensified political action as the pro-democracy UDD movement is rumoured to be widening its campaign to take in a number of targets. For example, today we can see:
A rally outside the Department of Special Investigations to find out whether and for what reason the [...]

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Thailand 1 Singapore 0

January 18, 2010

The 40th King’s Cup tournament has kicked off in Nakshon Ratchasima with a victory for Thailand over Singapore. The ten-men Thais, wearing their ‘unlucky’ yellow shirts, were reduced to 10 men when Teerathep Winothai was sent off early in the second half but shortly thereafter got the only goal of the game.
In the other match, [...]

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Never Forgive, Never Forget

January 18, 2010

Suthon Sukphisit in this week’s column in the Bangkok Post writes about the Vietnamese community at Ban Yuan (er, House of the Vietnamese) in Samsen. Specifically, he talks about the food available in and around the community early on a Sunday morning – the time is relevant because, as he notes, many of the ethnic [...]

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