The current upheaval can be traced back since colonialists overlooked Siam, in favour of a buffer zone between British India and Burma and French Indochina. The disaster waiting to happen has been a long time coming, it survived the American Indochina cold war satelite wars and post cold war American capitalist aggression because of the West's artificial adoption of it in exchange for logistical and political support as its main ally in South East Asia. It’s therefore no coincidence that as the new World power order shifts East the one country left in the cold will be this one. The recent problems are symptomatic of a wider paradigm shift.
On the ground Thais are intellectually and politically immature making them vunerable to blatant rhetorical polital and economic exploitation. Born of their warped indoctrination of nationalist ‘virtue’ they become worryingly over enthusuastic to discard their well branded, purported national love ‘land of smile’ image for an incongruous quest for their self idealed nation, which can never work as no individual sees the same way. Class divisions are huge here, my Nana Booth’s one vivid re-collection was of a country polarised and she came here in the early 80s, history hasn’t been favourable to levelling out these discrepancies.
The most disappointing element to all this is that it all stems from a deep aminosity between two main media and political moguls who used to be close friends and business partners; Thaksin Shinawatra (who I'm sure you've all heard of) and Sondhi Limthongkul (one of the main protest organisers), people on the ground are so dumb they're willing to put their lives on the line for these super rich personalities. Neither side seems to have a set and coherent plan for what it wants apart from the other side out (or dead) and the PAD which stands for Peoples Alliance for Democracy ironically want an end to the current form of democracy in exchange for a Parliamentary appointed seats process which wouldn't really be democratic.
It’s like England dividing between Roundheads and Cavaliers but with more money, ego, yellow, red, fun and total lack of responsibilty involved. And a virile media waiting to pounce. In reality Thailand is far behind the rest of the world we live in and has been lucky not to have experienced hardship suffered akin to neighbouring Cambodia, Burma, Vietnam or Laos in recent decades, a few more false steps and turns of irreversible misfortune may just see Siam slip into the gulf.
Showing posts with label Thailand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thailand. Show all posts
Friday, November 28, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Indian Rope
One of the many benefits of working legally in Thailand apart from the fact that it massively impinges on your freedom of choice of employer is that when you leave the country for any period of time you have to purchase a re-entry visa so that your existing visa isn't invalidated (what nonsense, I suppose Thais leaving the country invalidate their citizenship by the same logic). This of course costs 1000 baht and takes a small era to obtain from the immigration office on Sathorn. Did I write benefits? Sorry I meant something else beginning with 'b' and ending with 's'.
All credit to those down at immigration, they've designed not only a million and one ridiculous ways to extort money from Johnny Foreigner, they've designed a a queueing system with numbered tickets and counters and digital signs to help make that feeling of being screwed over that much more comfortable and organised.
When you enter the office you queue up for your relevant form (re-entry, lost passport, god bothering missionary visa etc.). Then you go and fill it in, glue your picture to it and go back and queue up for the number I mentioned earlier.
You do all of this, unless, you are a fat Indian cow in a bright pink sari made of enough material to unravel all the way to Kolkata, and a tilak the size of the same city's circumference stuck on your forehead. In that case the system doesn't apply to you and you may negate it by sheer obstinate will.
I mean queue pushing and then quoting Thai maxims such as 'jai yen yen' and 'mai pen rai' is one thing (and she did), but then trying to push in front when you have a ticket that reads 172 and the number at the board is still at 165 is in another dimension, especially when it's at the climax of a two hour wait. It takes some front trying to break the empirical laws of the numerical system.
On pointing out her basic faux pas, she had the cheek to ask 'why you cause problem?' On responding it's not your turn and you're screwing up the system causing everyone who's waiting their turn to wait longer,' she shouted '171 go home,' I replied 'yes but 166, 167, 168, 169 are all still waiting' she shouted 'why you fighting?' At this point, I considered for the first time ever, why Winston Churchill declared in response to requests to send food to India at the height of the Bengal famine of the early 1940s: 'I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion.' (I'm not even a fan of Churchill's apart from his Mary Astor comment, but you get my point)
I think my Grandad Booth had a similar problem with queueing and Indians and he affirmed at the time 'in England we queue'. I could of course be mistaken on this point but if I'm not, I definitely derived his queueing gene and hope it will be passed on to Bamboo.
Take it Easter than India
All credit to those down at immigration, they've designed not only a million and one ridiculous ways to extort money from Johnny Foreigner, they've designed a a queueing system with numbered tickets and counters and digital signs to help make that feeling of being screwed over that much more comfortable and organised.
When you enter the office you queue up for your relevant form (re-entry, lost passport, god bothering missionary visa etc.). Then you go and fill it in, glue your picture to it and go back and queue up for the number I mentioned earlier.
You do all of this, unless, you are a fat Indian cow in a bright pink sari made of enough material to unravel all the way to Kolkata, and a tilak the size of the same city's circumference stuck on your forehead. In that case the system doesn't apply to you and you may negate it by sheer obstinate will.
I mean queue pushing and then quoting Thai maxims such as 'jai yen yen' and 'mai pen rai' is one thing (and she did), but then trying to push in front when you have a ticket that reads 172 and the number at the board is still at 165 is in another dimension, especially when it's at the climax of a two hour wait. It takes some front trying to break the empirical laws of the numerical system.
On pointing out her basic faux pas, she had the cheek to ask 'why you cause problem?' On responding it's not your turn and you're screwing up the system causing everyone who's waiting their turn to wait longer,' she shouted '171 go home,' I replied 'yes but 166, 167, 168, 169 are all still waiting' she shouted 'why you fighting?' At this point, I considered for the first time ever, why Winston Churchill declared in response to requests to send food to India at the height of the Bengal famine of the early 1940s: 'I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion.' (I'm not even a fan of Churchill's apart from his Mary Astor comment, but you get my point)
I think my Grandad Booth had a similar problem with queueing and Indians and he affirmed at the time 'in England we queue'. I could of course be mistaken on this point but if I'm not, I definitely derived his queueing gene and hope it will be passed on to Bamboo.
Take it Easter than India
Friday, February 08, 2008
Discussing Gender in Thai Society
Is it wrong not to always be glad ?
No, its not wrong - but I must add
How can someone so young
Sing words so sad?
Sheila Take a Bow, The Smiths
My highest level class is at the equivalent of lower sixth form in the UK, we've just covered a chapter talking about gender and the differences between men and women and how these differences can manifest themselves in culture and language. I then set the class the essay question for their end of term score: Are boys and girls treated differently in your home culture? Are they taught differently? Discuss similarities and differences in the ways boys and girls are treated.
The first piece of work I had to mark was this, all grammatical errors and syntax have been left 'unadulterated' to give the reader an authentic feel for the writer's raw originality, this is from one of the more gifted students (seriously).
In Thai culture, the family teach boys and girls differently. The boys mostly do anything with father and the girls mostly do anything with mother.
Most of Thai family think that the boys have to do anything with father because father is a man and they can teach the boys about how to be a gentleman. Father can teach the boys everything such as play football, ride a bicycle or do anything that the boys have to do.
Thai families think that if the boys mostly do anything with mother, the boys maybe homosexual or may be bisexual or may be deviate. Similarly, the girls mostly do anything with mother such as cooking, sewing, to iron clothes or how to be a good housewife or how to be a good lady.
So Thai family teach the boys and the girls differently. Because of a lot of reasons such as deviation, homosexual, how to be a good lady, how to be a gentleman etc. Most of Thai family give liberty to the boys and the girls but they also have rules for the boys and the girls to do anything in the right way and in the future, their boys and their girls will be a good gentleman and a good lady.
Panoopong Piroosawan.
I may call the Thais disorganised but when it comes to mind control they're geniuses. Nearly every essay contains myopic, chauvinist, nationalist rhetoric and sentiment. I wish I'd set the task how to make the perfect somtam.
Bob Dylan once said "Colleges are like old-age homes; except for the fact that more people die in colleges than in old age homes, there's really no difference." By that reckoning I'm in the business of mass genocide. And don't tell me you can't have genocide against your own race.
Take it East
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Desperation Soi
They’re selling T-Shirts for the funeral
The pink revolution ran aground
The staffroom’s filled with talk show hosts
And an assortment of clowns
Here comes the blind Westerner
They’ve got him in a trance
As he heads for the naughty boys corner
With both hands in his pants
And the little green boys they’re restless
They need a coup deploy
As Dtocky and I look out tonight
From Desperation Soi
Superporn, she is so busy
Grabbing anyone that she can
reaching inbetween my pockets
she used to be a man
And in comes Lothario he’s moaning
"there’s something wrong with my spleen"
The bar girl says "buy me a drink baksida
and have your Listerine"
And the only silence left
Is the ambulance's noise
They won't be picking up
On Desperation Soi
Now the mess is almost hidden
If you cling to the fancy malls
The fortune telling lady
Is making political calls
All except for the paraplegics
And the Hunchback of Kao San
Everybody is in your way
Or else being a pain
And the good Samaritan, he’s selling
Freedom, feel good jump for joy
Releasing poor innocent birds tonight
On Desperation Soi
Now Noi, she's on an allowance
from her man, he's a nutter
a teacher's wage isn't enough
to keep her out of the gutter
To her life is not romantic
She is full of tricks
Her profession mimics religion
She gets beat on a crucifix
And the crane driver from London
Is moving on to Hanoi
Cos these chicks are getting old
On Desperation Soi
Taksin, disguised as Robin Hood
With cash for votes in a trunk
Sailing just off Hong Kong Island
He’s living in a Chinese junk
He sent his wife to face the charges
But he’ll be following soon
And he went off with Sven Goran
Reciting the Blue Moon
Now you would not think to look at him
He was ousted like a fallen cowboy
For creaming off tax payers
On Desperation Soi
Ajarn Filth, he keeps his world
In a transparent double life
Some of his sixth form pupils
Have gotten him in strife
Now her parents weren’t too happy
When they heard of the crude invite
"Those grades aren’t too far away
Waiting at my bar tonight"
His agency turned a blind eye
They only employ
Any feckless baksida who happens
On Desperation Soi
In the temples they’re taking orders
They’re getting ready for the new regime
The mumbling of the mantra
It’s just gone 4am
They’re spoon feeding veneration
The roofs are lacquered gold
Then they'll wallow in the reflection
Of their fantasy dream world
And the phantom's shouting to skinny girls
"Hold it in don't be annoyed
take it out of the next imbecile's wallet you see
On Desperation Soi"
Now at moonlight all the sampans
Are drifting in the tide
Let’s wait for the sun to rise
And not go to bed tonight
Then we’ll go back to the bungalow
Where a fluro sign reads
on the beam above your hammock
"follow your dreams"
but don't stay here for too long
For Helen of Troy
Is checking to see that nobody is escaping
From Desperation Soi
Praise be to Chinese tea shops
with no tea to be sold
you can bring your mother
but she has to ask in code
and the Swedish extra and the Jewish photographer
making out on baksida's hours
while ladyboy singers ask them for work
and Persian men hold flowers
between the hours of ping pong
Teacher Ron takes on the boys
So nobody tries to think too much
On Desperation Soi
Yes, I received your email yesterday
about that time years ago
When you asked how I was doing
Don't you know the score?
And from this desperate nation
yes, I know it's quite insane
just a plurality of races
except most of them look the same
right now I can't go out too much
because I have to avoid
stooping grovelling salesmen
On Desperation Soi
Take It East
The pink revolution ran aground
The staffroom’s filled with talk show hosts
And an assortment of clowns
Here comes the blind Westerner
They’ve got him in a trance
As he heads for the naughty boys corner
With both hands in his pants
And the little green boys they’re restless
They need a coup deploy
As Dtocky and I look out tonight
From Desperation Soi
Superporn, she is so busy
Grabbing anyone that she can
reaching inbetween my pockets
she used to be a man
And in comes Lothario he’s moaning
"there’s something wrong with my spleen"
The bar girl says "buy me a drink baksida
and have your Listerine"
And the only silence left
Is the ambulance's noise
They won't be picking up
On Desperation Soi
Now the mess is almost hidden
If you cling to the fancy malls
The fortune telling lady
Is making political calls
All except for the paraplegics
And the Hunchback of Kao San
Everybody is in your way
Or else being a pain
And the good Samaritan, he’s selling
Freedom, feel good jump for joy
Releasing poor innocent birds tonight
On Desperation Soi
Now Noi, she's on an allowance
from her man, he's a nutter
a teacher's wage isn't enough
to keep her out of the gutter
To her life is not romantic
She is full of tricks
Her profession mimics religion
She gets beat on a crucifix
And the crane driver from London
Is moving on to Hanoi
Cos these chicks are getting old
On Desperation Soi
Taksin, disguised as Robin Hood
With cash for votes in a trunk
Sailing just off Hong Kong Island
He’s living in a Chinese junk
He sent his wife to face the charges
But he’ll be following soon
And he went off with Sven Goran
Reciting the Blue Moon
Now you would not think to look at him
He was ousted like a fallen cowboy
For creaming off tax payers
On Desperation Soi
Ajarn Filth, he keeps his world
In a transparent double life
Some of his sixth form pupils
Have gotten him in strife
Now her parents weren’t too happy
When they heard of the crude invite
"Those grades aren’t too far away
Waiting at my bar tonight"
His agency turned a blind eye
They only employ
Any feckless baksida who happens
On Desperation Soi
In the temples they’re taking orders
They’re getting ready for the new regime
The mumbling of the mantra
It’s just gone 4am
They’re spoon feeding veneration
The roofs are lacquered gold
Then they'll wallow in the reflection
Of their fantasy dream world
And the phantom's shouting to skinny girls
"Hold it in don't be annoyed
take it out of the next imbecile's wallet you see
On Desperation Soi"
Now at moonlight all the sampans
Are drifting in the tide
Let’s wait for the sun to rise
And not go to bed tonight
Then we’ll go back to the bungalow
Where a fluro sign reads
on the beam above your hammock
"follow your dreams"
but don't stay here for too long
For Helen of Troy
Is checking to see that nobody is escaping
From Desperation Soi
Praise be to Chinese tea shops
with no tea to be sold
you can bring your mother
but she has to ask in code
and the Swedish extra and the Jewish photographer
making out on baksida's hours
while ladyboy singers ask them for work
and Persian men hold flowers
between the hours of ping pong
Teacher Ron takes on the boys
So nobody tries to think too much
On Desperation Soi
Yes, I received your email yesterday
about that time years ago
When you asked how I was doing
Don't you know the score?
And from this desperate nation
yes, I know it's quite insane
just a plurality of races
except most of them look the same
right now I can't go out too much
because I have to avoid
stooping grovelling salesmen
On Desperation Soi
Take It East
Friday, November 16, 2007
A Tale of Two Countries #1 - Thailand
In the same week His Majesty the King of Thailand emerged from 25 days in hospital to a crowd of well wishers dressed in a pink blazer, Burmese troops continued their unabated aggression against their own so called 'revered' Buddhist Monks.Whilst 'Pinkmania' engulfs Thailand, I quote from the front page of the Bangkok Post 8th November, 'Many shed tears of joy as they waited hours just to get a glimpse of the Monarch... Many well wishers dashed to shops near the hospital to buy pink shirts after seeing the King check out in pink... people said they would wear pink to express their loyalty to their King.'
Perhaps the Thai people would do well to listen to what their King said to them as opposed to rushing out to buy whatever colour he happens to favourite that week yellow on Monday, pink, green, don't forget Friday: sky blue for the Queen.
The King urges all Thais to seek the middle path and to live sufficiently. Quite how this latest craze is moderate or even reasonable is beyond me. However, it appears so much easier for them to engulf in the latest fad than to make the slightest effort to understand and/or carry out the reality behind His Majesty's fine wisdom and they do so with aplomb.
Why can't Thai people unite and show their love for their King by doing something constructive like helping so many of the homeless people that populate this country, or create and put into action plans to eradicate the cancer of prostitution in their society?
On one side of the border people are self-consumed with excessive and misdirected unnecessary homage. On the other side the very venerable, reverent monks who propound the same Buddhist philosophy as His Majesty are drowning in their blood.
How ironic, the Burmese Buddhist Monks and people are dying, suffering torture and tremendous hardship for freedom. Thais living under an obviously less brutal military dictatorship without real freedom of speech, are dressing up in pink.
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