I have some good news and bad news. The good news is for those of you who just couldn't wait to see me again (or more likely those of you who look forward to seeing my children), you are coming back to the U.S. for a month this summer. We just booked a flight on United to fly back to the U.S. on June 25th, and will return back to Thailand on July 31st.
The bad news is that Tim won't be able to join us on the trip. She just has too much work to do to take off that long.
The kids are looking forward to see the family and friends, as am I.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Fruits
One of the things that is wonderful about Thailand is the abundance of fresh and delicious fruit. I guess living in the sub tropics.
There are certainly fruits here that I enjoyed back home. They have very good water melons, although they tend to be of the smaller and rounder variety. Generally they are very good and sweet.
They also have a variety of oranges and tangerines here. One of my favorites are the small tangerines. They are easy to peel and very sweet.
Even more than the small tangerines, I love the oranges that I do not eat at all. Yes, I'm talking about the juice oranges that the use to squeeze fresh orange juice. Fresh squeezed orange juice here is absolutely fantastic. It may be my favorite drink. Sometimes Thais put salt in it, which I don't care for. Still, it is absolutely a fabulous drink. Comparing the taste of commercial orange juice in a carton to fresh squeezed orange juice is like comparing copulation with a prophylactic to copulation without. While both are similar, one is a lot more natural and satisfying. Of course, fresh squeezed orange juice probably won't give you an unexpected surprise in nine months.
Another fruit that you see in the states but that is just a step beyond here is bananas. They simply don't have one type of banana here, they have a whole "bunch"of types. There are the bigger bananas that I was accustomed to seeing, plus smaller bananas such as egg and finger bananas. They all have a slightly different taste and sometimes a slightly different color and texture.
Pineapples are very good here. I've heard that pineapples in Hawaii are very good, and I imagine that these here are comparable. There are also a variety of types of pineapples as well. The pineapples here are so much sweeter than I've ever found at home.
One of the fruits that I had never been a big fan of is mangoes. Mangoes are a bit of a hit or miss. If you get one that is not ripe enough, it is a bit sour and no real pleasure. Tim buys some mangoes from one of her customers who picks out the ripe ones for her and they are absolutely great. If we haven't had them for a few days, Jacob and Nalin will just start devouring them.
I've had papayas and they are okay. I just like the mangoes and oranges a lot more.
Recently I have tried champoos. These are a pink fruit (the Thai word for pink is champoo) that have a taste and texture similar to an apple but distinctive enough that you won't confuse them. The ones I have had are never as sweet as a very sweet apple or quite as tart as the more tart apples. While this isn't my favorite fruit, its actually pretty good. The kids don't eat it as much, so I usually end up munching on them at dinner.
You can get more "traditional" Western fruits here, although sometimes they can be expensive. The grapes and apples from China are generally reasonable in price, but I have a hard time justifying buying $5.00 per pound peaches.
Of course, not all Thai fruits are wonderful. The infamous durian smells awful. While a lot of people enjoy the taste, I didn't really think it was very good. When they were cutting a durian in our kitchen, at first I thought I smelled a natural gas leak. It is just so pungent.
We try to have at least one or two fruits on the table each meal. The fact that we have a maid to cut and prepare the fruit makes it nicer for me.
Another nice thing is that you don't have to go to the grocery store to get good fruit. In fact, you are probably better off not going there and sticking to the small outdoor markets. Not only are the fruits less expensive, but they may be riper.
There are certainly fruits here that I enjoyed back home. They have very good water melons, although they tend to be of the smaller and rounder variety. Generally they are very good and sweet.
They also have a variety of oranges and tangerines here. One of my favorites are the small tangerines. They are easy to peel and very sweet.
Even more than the small tangerines, I love the oranges that I do not eat at all. Yes, I'm talking about the juice oranges that the use to squeeze fresh orange juice. Fresh squeezed orange juice here is absolutely fantastic. It may be my favorite drink. Sometimes Thais put salt in it, which I don't care for. Still, it is absolutely a fabulous drink. Comparing the taste of commercial orange juice in a carton to fresh squeezed orange juice is like comparing copulation with a prophylactic to copulation without. While both are similar, one is a lot more natural and satisfying. Of course, fresh squeezed orange juice probably won't give you an unexpected surprise in nine months.
Another fruit that you see in the states but that is just a step beyond here is bananas. They simply don't have one type of banana here, they have a whole "bunch"of types. There are the bigger bananas that I was accustomed to seeing, plus smaller bananas such as egg and finger bananas. They all have a slightly different taste and sometimes a slightly different color and texture.
Pineapples are very good here. I've heard that pineapples in Hawaii are very good, and I imagine that these here are comparable. There are also a variety of types of pineapples as well. The pineapples here are so much sweeter than I've ever found at home.
One of the fruits that I had never been a big fan of is mangoes. Mangoes are a bit of a hit or miss. If you get one that is not ripe enough, it is a bit sour and no real pleasure. Tim buys some mangoes from one of her customers who picks out the ripe ones for her and they are absolutely great. If we haven't had them for a few days, Jacob and Nalin will just start devouring them.
I've had papayas and they are okay. I just like the mangoes and oranges a lot more.
Recently I have tried champoos. These are a pink fruit (the Thai word for pink is champoo) that have a taste and texture similar to an apple but distinctive enough that you won't confuse them. The ones I have had are never as sweet as a very sweet apple or quite as tart as the more tart apples. While this isn't my favorite fruit, its actually pretty good. The kids don't eat it as much, so I usually end up munching on them at dinner.
You can get more "traditional" Western fruits here, although sometimes they can be expensive. The grapes and apples from China are generally reasonable in price, but I have a hard time justifying buying $5.00 per pound peaches.
Of course, not all Thai fruits are wonderful. The infamous durian smells awful. While a lot of people enjoy the taste, I didn't really think it was very good. When they were cutting a durian in our kitchen, at first I thought I smelled a natural gas leak. It is just so pungent.
We try to have at least one or two fruits on the table each meal. The fact that we have a maid to cut and prepare the fruit makes it nicer for me.
Another nice thing is that you don't have to go to the grocery store to get good fruit. In fact, you are probably better off not going there and sticking to the small outdoor markets. Not only are the fruits less expensive, but they may be riper.
A Birthday Party
Today Jacob went to a birthday party for one of his classmates. I'll have to say that it is probably the most elaborate birthday parties that I have attended.
They held the party at the Nichada club, which has an Olympic sized swimming pool. Around the pool, they had a variety of those giant inflatable slides and games. There was a water slide going into the pool, a regular slide, a 20 foot tall rock climb, a reverse bungee jump (where strapped into 2 giant rubber bands and bounce up and down), basket ball hoops and some sort of laser shooting game.
In addition to the inflatable fun, they also had a band and a clown entertain the kids. They catered a meal for the approximately 75 or more guests. Additionally, they had a cotton candy stand, a Thai desert stand, and a stand that made ornate candy flowers.
The party lasted for four hours. Jacob had a great time. I can't help but think that this party had to cost them several thousand dollars.
Of course, Thai kids who attend ISB generally come from fairly well off families. While a lot of foreigners have their company pay for tuition (although we don't fall into that category), Thais generally pay the entire 15k per kid themselves. There are exceptions to this as there are some Thais who may have been relocated here by their company, but I think this is the exception rather than the rule.
Additionally, it is pretty difficult to get into ISB for Thai students. ISB caps the Thai students at 20% of the student body, and the child's ability to speak English is given a heavy weight local students admission. Some Thai children never make it off the waiting list for ISB. Still, as this is Thailand, I have to believe that being connected helps one get into ISB. Its just the way things are done here.
Interesting, while the Thai kids are generally very well off, the foreign kids are more of a mixed bag. Certainly the higher level managers who are transferred here by U.S. and European countries are likely highly compensated and fairly well off. There are others, who while certainly not poor, of much more modest means. Spending $45k per year to send three of their kids to elementary and middle school would not be part of their plan back in the U.S. For their company, however, its simply the price of doing business.
They held the party at the Nichada club, which has an Olympic sized swimming pool. Around the pool, they had a variety of those giant inflatable slides and games. There was a water slide going into the pool, a regular slide, a 20 foot tall rock climb, a reverse bungee jump (where strapped into 2 giant rubber bands and bounce up and down), basket ball hoops and some sort of laser shooting game.
In addition to the inflatable fun, they also had a band and a clown entertain the kids. They catered a meal for the approximately 75 or more guests. Additionally, they had a cotton candy stand, a Thai desert stand, and a stand that made ornate candy flowers.
The party lasted for four hours. Jacob had a great time. I can't help but think that this party had to cost them several thousand dollars.
Of course, Thai kids who attend ISB generally come from fairly well off families. While a lot of foreigners have their company pay for tuition (although we don't fall into that category), Thais generally pay the entire 15k per kid themselves. There are exceptions to this as there are some Thais who may have been relocated here by their company, but I think this is the exception rather than the rule.
Additionally, it is pretty difficult to get into ISB for Thai students. ISB caps the Thai students at 20% of the student body, and the child's ability to speak English is given a heavy weight local students admission. Some Thai children never make it off the waiting list for ISB. Still, as this is Thailand, I have to believe that being connected helps one get into ISB. Its just the way things are done here.
Interesting, while the Thai kids are generally very well off, the foreign kids are more of a mixed bag. Certainly the higher level managers who are transferred here by U.S. and European countries are likely highly compensated and fairly well off. There are others, who while certainly not poor, of much more modest means. Spending $45k per year to send three of their kids to elementary and middle school would not be part of their plan back in the U.S. For their company, however, its simply the price of doing business.
Politically Incorrect
While most of its citizens are Buddhists, one area that Thailand does not demonstrate "enlightenment" is when it comes to racial equality. I think I've talked before about how there is different treatment between Thais and foreigners, and sometimes between asian foreigners and non-foreigners.
Today I was in the local grocery store and I saw a cleaning cloth. While this is not particularly remarkable, the packaging was something that you won't see on your local Kroger. The name of the product was Black Man Cleaning Clothes, and there was a small picture of a black man on the front.
Today I was in the local grocery store and I saw a cleaning cloth. While this is not particularly remarkable, the packaging was something that you won't see on your local Kroger. The name of the product was Black Man Cleaning Clothes, and there was a small picture of a black man on the front.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Gai Bing
One of the things that I want to write more about is Thai food. There is just so many different kinds of it, and I have such mixed feelings about it, that sometimes it seems like a lot of effort. Instead of trying to write one massive article, I've decided to just do individual blurbs about a dish or two.
If you ask people to name their favorite Thai food, I'm not sure how many will answer grilled childen, but it is certainly one of mine. Known in Thai as gai bing, grilled chicken is sold in stands that dot the side walks and street corners all over Thailand.
The chicken is marinated, placed on a wooden skewer and grilled over a bed of charcoal. They usually have a quarter or half of a small chicken on the skewer. They will also grill the entrails and sell them separately. Additionally, a lot of the stands also grill catfish. These stands usually sell sticky rice to go with the meat.
They usually charge 20 baht (~ $0.66) for a big skewer of chicken and about 5 baht ($0.15) for a bag of sticky rice so it is very inexpensive. You can eat quite a bit for a few dollars.
As these are individual proprietors, the quality is not always the same, although I've never had any that was bad. I'll have to say that some of it is as good or better than any chicken I've eaten back in the states. There are a few reasons. The marinade gives it a really nice flavor. Secondly, the chicken is thin, so its easier to cook it through without drying out part of it.
If you ask people to name their favorite Thai food, I'm not sure how many will answer grilled childen, but it is certainly one of mine. Known in Thai as gai bing, grilled chicken is sold in stands that dot the side walks and street corners all over Thailand.
The chicken is marinated, placed on a wooden skewer and grilled over a bed of charcoal. They usually have a quarter or half of a small chicken on the skewer. They will also grill the entrails and sell them separately. Additionally, a lot of the stands also grill catfish. These stands usually sell sticky rice to go with the meat.
They usually charge 20 baht (~ $0.66) for a big skewer of chicken and about 5 baht ($0.15) for a bag of sticky rice so it is very inexpensive. You can eat quite a bit for a few dollars.
As these are individual proprietors, the quality is not always the same, although I've never had any that was bad. I'll have to say that some of it is as good or better than any chicken I've eaten back in the states. There are a few reasons. The marinade gives it a really nice flavor. Secondly, the chicken is thin, so its easier to cook it through without drying out part of it.
Cell Phones
Cell phones are very common and popular here in Thailand. If you want to see just how popular, just go to one of the many IT malls. There are dozens and dozens of small booths selling both new and used cell phones. Tim's plaza at the Bangkok Bus Terminal has around twenty cell phone shops.
One thing that makes this possible is that the phone you buy is not tied to your service provider. You can buy just about any cell phone, place your carrier's chip in it, and you are ready to go. Decoupling the phone is a big boon for small retailers and in my opinion consumers. When I switched from my really terrible Nokia to my Sony Walkman phone, all I did was place my sim card in the new phone.
Of course all is not perfect here. A few months ago there was an article in the paper about a guy trying to activate his iPhone. Apparently when he got it, it was locked and he couldn't do anything at all with it. He went around to several stores, and most of the employees in apple stores hadn't heard of it, and the one that did refused to touch it. He found someone who said he could unlock it. Eventually, after paying his contact to unlock it, he was able to get the iPod part of the phone working, but he couldn't use it as a phone.
Another thing that I don't like about phones here is that very few people use voicemail. Its really annoying. Sometimes I don't need to actually talk to the person, I may just need to leave a quick message. Other times, when I really need to make sure they get the message, I tend to call multiple times.
One thing that makes this possible is that the phone you buy is not tied to your service provider. You can buy just about any cell phone, place your carrier's chip in it, and you are ready to go. Decoupling the phone is a big boon for small retailers and in my opinion consumers. When I switched from my really terrible Nokia to my Sony Walkman phone, all I did was place my sim card in the new phone.
Of course all is not perfect here. A few months ago there was an article in the paper about a guy trying to activate his iPhone. Apparently when he got it, it was locked and he couldn't do anything at all with it. He went around to several stores, and most of the employees in apple stores hadn't heard of it, and the one that did refused to touch it. He found someone who said he could unlock it. Eventually, after paying his contact to unlock it, he was able to get the iPod part of the phone working, but he couldn't use it as a phone.
Another thing that I don't like about phones here is that very few people use voicemail. Its really annoying. Sometimes I don't need to actually talk to the person, I may just need to leave a quick message. Other times, when I really need to make sure they get the message, I tend to call multiple times.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
1776
Another book I finished recently was 1776 by David McCullough. The book examines the first full year of the revolutionary war from both the American and British perspective.
I really enjoyed the book, and after reading it, I have to say that my admiration for George Washington continues to grow. Its not because he was the best tactical general in the revolutionary army. He was anything but that. On several occasions he proposed attacks that likely would have either led to a resounding defeat (like the plan to attack Boston over the frozen waters) or resulted in much larger losses to his army than necessary (his plan to attack Yorktown head on without first softening it up with artillery). No, Washington's brilliance seemed to be in his ability to inspire his men when things were hopeless, and his willingness to put his ego aside and listen to those around him.
Although the book did not deal with this, Washington was what he did after the war was over. The world is full of stories of successful revolutionary leaders who seized power for themselves. Washington could very well have been the king of America. Instead, he resigned his commission from the army, and gave up whatever power that he had. After two terms in office, he voluntarily stepped down and did not run for another term.
It also struck me how close a thing that the revolution came to failing. Favorable weather and the indecisiveness of British generals were often as important to America's success as its own army. Perhaps that last statement is not completely fair. Those men in the continental army did a wondrous thing, its just that sometimes they had a little help along the way.
I really enjoyed the book, and after reading it, I have to say that my admiration for George Washington continues to grow. Its not because he was the best tactical general in the revolutionary army. He was anything but that. On several occasions he proposed attacks that likely would have either led to a resounding defeat (like the plan to attack Boston over the frozen waters) or resulted in much larger losses to his army than necessary (his plan to attack Yorktown head on without first softening it up with artillery). No, Washington's brilliance seemed to be in his ability to inspire his men when things were hopeless, and his willingness to put his ego aside and listen to those around him.
Although the book did not deal with this, Washington was what he did after the war was over. The world is full of stories of successful revolutionary leaders who seized power for themselves. Washington could very well have been the king of America. Instead, he resigned his commission from the army, and gave up whatever power that he had. After two terms in office, he voluntarily stepped down and did not run for another term.
It also struck me how close a thing that the revolution came to failing. Favorable weather and the indecisiveness of British generals were often as important to America's success as its own army. Perhaps that last statement is not completely fair. Those men in the continental army did a wondrous thing, its just that sometimes they had a little help along the way.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Thaskin's Return
The Bangkok Post reported this morning that deposed Prime Minister Thaskin will return to Thailand tomorrow to face the security and fraud charges leveled against him. The current government is very Thaskin-friendly, so we'll see how things go.
I don't think the smart money is betting on a guilty conviction for Thaskin or his wife. There have already been stories about coup makers reaching out to Thaskin to make amends.
I guess that's a drawback of engineering a bloodless coup and allowing "free" elections where the deposed government members get back control of the government. I quoted "free" because I find it ironic to call an election free if people are paid to vote for a candidate.
I don't think the smart money is betting on a guilty conviction for Thaskin or his wife. There have already been stories about coup makers reaching out to Thaskin to make amends.
I guess that's a drawback of engineering a bloodless coup and allowing "free" elections where the deposed government members get back control of the government. I quoted "free" because I find it ironic to call an election free if people are paid to vote for a candidate.
Craigslist, Warcraft & S$x, Oh My
Before I left the U.S., I learned about craigslist, the internet classified ads site. I ended up buying my Wii off of craigslist. That ended up being strange in that the person that I bought it from actually worked at the same company as I did. It turns out he was later fired, and the speculation was that he was let go because he spent all day selling things.
Today I was looking at craigslist and searched for warcraft to see how much people were selling their World of Warcraft accounts for. One of the first entries was a guying selling his account who closed his ad with:
Otherwise I'm just gonna have to delete everything so that I don't blow off sex for battlegrounds ever again.
For those of you not in the know, battlegrounds are one of the Wow areas where players compete directly against other players (pvp, aka player versus player). As funny as it sounds to non-Wow players, I'm confident that many, many Wow players have given up many sexual opportunities in order to play a bit more Wow.
Ironically a year or so ago I heard that China was considering ways to put some limits on online game play in order to discourage players from spending so much time playing. Maybe they have it wrong. Perhaps games like Warcraft provide a "natural" birth control method to help with population control.
Today I was looking at craigslist and searched for warcraft to see how much people were selling their World of Warcraft accounts for. One of the first entries was a guying selling his account who closed his ad with:
Otherwise I'm just gonna have to delete everything so that I don't blow off sex for battlegrounds ever again.
For those of you not in the know, battlegrounds are one of the Wow areas where players compete directly against other players (pvp, aka player versus player). As funny as it sounds to non-Wow players, I'm confident that many, many Wow players have given up many sexual opportunities in order to play a bit more Wow.
Ironically a year or so ago I heard that China was considering ways to put some limits on online game play in order to discourage players from spending so much time playing. Maybe they have it wrong. Perhaps games like Warcraft provide a "natural" birth control method to help with population control.
Monday, February 25, 2008
How Did You Learn to Speak Thai?
Sometimes when I'm outside of Nichada, I end up in a non-trivial conversation with a native Thai speaker when my wife is not present. The conversation is usually a mix of English and Thai. Invariably the Thai asks me where I learned to speak Thai, and I usually answer that my wife is Thai. What usually follows is somewhat interesting.
A good example of this occurred last week. I was getting a massage (a real one, not one of the erotic flavor) last week and the masseuse was making small talk. She asked me where I learned Thai, and I explained that my wife was Thai. She then asked where my wife was from. "Is she from Isarn, Chang Mai, Phucket, Pattaya?"
I usually just answer Bangkok, which is close enough to true as not to matter. It occurred to me this time, however, that she probably assumed that I had met my wife through the sex industry. Her suggesting Isarn, a very poor part of Thailand where a lot of the bargirls (i.e., sex workers) come from, gave it away. While its certainly not impossible, its probably nto very likely that a guy from America is going to run into a lot of girls from Isarn unless he is visiting the massage parlors (the kind that give the erotic massages) or the sex bars.
I explained that my wife had studied in the U.S and that we met in school. It was funny, her face changed as she nodded her head. She wasn't expecting that.
Of course when we are together it is pretty obvious that we didn't' meet that way for a few reasons. One is the way my wife looks, dresses and behaves. Another is that we are very close in age. If Tim looked ten or fifteen years younger than I, then perhaps people would wonder.
In Nichada, there are a number of falang/Thai couples, and my guess is that most met in the more traditional way. Tim's cousin Pam met an American in college, fell in love and got married.
I can't get too mad at the lady for thinking what she did, after all my wife wasn't with me. When I see an older or unattractive man with a young and pretty Thai woman on his arm, my first thought is hooker and john. While I might be wrong, my guess is that I'm usually not.
Throughout Thailand, I have the feeling that there are quite a few falang/Thai relationships that started out in the sex industry. Bookstores carrying English language inventory have a number of books about falangs falling in love with Thai bar girls. There is one title I remember called "Thai Fever", with a picture of a bargirl on the front, and the back cover promising to tell you all you need to know to help your relationship. I read an interesting novel (Private Dancer) about a falang who fell madly in love with a bargirl and their complicated relationship.
For every relationship of that type that works, I have to imagine that there are many more that fail. Not only are you looking at two completely different cultures, two different socio-economic dynamics, but also very different expectations. The girl is usually looking for money, and may already have a Thai husband or boyfriend. The guy is looking for romance in the Western sense. I read something in a book that said regarding a Thai bargirl girlfriend, "you never lose your girlfriend, sometimes you just lose your place in the queue."
A good example of this occurred last week. I was getting a massage (a real one, not one of the erotic flavor) last week and the masseuse was making small talk. She asked me where I learned Thai, and I explained that my wife was Thai. She then asked where my wife was from. "Is she from Isarn, Chang Mai, Phucket, Pattaya?"
I usually just answer Bangkok, which is close enough to true as not to matter. It occurred to me this time, however, that she probably assumed that I had met my wife through the sex industry. Her suggesting Isarn, a very poor part of Thailand where a lot of the bargirls (i.e., sex workers) come from, gave it away. While its certainly not impossible, its probably nto very likely that a guy from America is going to run into a lot of girls from Isarn unless he is visiting the massage parlors (the kind that give the erotic massages) or the sex bars.
I explained that my wife had studied in the U.S and that we met in school. It was funny, her face changed as she nodded her head. She wasn't expecting that.
Of course when we are together it is pretty obvious that we didn't' meet that way for a few reasons. One is the way my wife looks, dresses and behaves. Another is that we are very close in age. If Tim looked ten or fifteen years younger than I, then perhaps people would wonder.
In Nichada, there are a number of falang/Thai couples, and my guess is that most met in the more traditional way. Tim's cousin Pam met an American in college, fell in love and got married.
I can't get too mad at the lady for thinking what she did, after all my wife wasn't with me. When I see an older or unattractive man with a young and pretty Thai woman on his arm, my first thought is hooker and john. While I might be wrong, my guess is that I'm usually not.
Throughout Thailand, I have the feeling that there are quite a few falang/Thai relationships that started out in the sex industry. Bookstores carrying English language inventory have a number of books about falangs falling in love with Thai bar girls. There is one title I remember called "Thai Fever", with a picture of a bargirl on the front, and the back cover promising to tell you all you need to know to help your relationship. I read an interesting novel (Private Dancer) about a falang who fell madly in love with a bargirl and their complicated relationship.
For every relationship of that type that works, I have to imagine that there are many more that fail. Not only are you looking at two completely different cultures, two different socio-economic dynamics, but also very different expectations. The girl is usually looking for money, and may already have a Thai husband or boyfriend. The guy is looking for romance in the Western sense. I read something in a book that said regarding a Thai bargirl girlfriend, "you never lose your girlfriend, sometimes you just lose your place in the queue."
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Pictures Outside Nichada
A house about two minutes outside of Nichada. The house on the right is a more traditional Thai house with an elevated first floor.
This is a short distance from the house above. It is a big field of trash, it almost looks like a garbage dump. There are three kids playing at the edge of it, and there are house just outside the shot on the right.
A Muslim temple in the background. Although Thailand is 95%+ Buddhist, there is a sizeable Muslim population just outside of Nichada.
More Pictures
Jacob watching TV in the family room. A bit of a downgrade from our home entertainment center in the U.S.
The front of our townhouse.
This is the front gate of Nichada. 
Eat fresh, even in Bangkok. This picture is just outside of Nichada. The road bends to the right. Follow it around the bend, take an immediate left and you are at the gates of Nichada.
A picture of the small shopping plaza outside of Nichda. This is a four or five minute bike ride.
Nichada Pictures
Picture of the road along side our complex. You can see the back of some of the townhouses on the right side.
The same road as the picture above front the opposite direction. The roof on the right is part of the school.
Picture of ISB from the side.
Picture of the road heading out of Nichada.
Nichada sign and ISB behind it. The sign sits in the center of a circle. To the left is the grocery store, Starbucks, the club, etc. To the right is our place.
Picture Police
Tim took the kids over to her brothers on Saturday night. Tim and Top had some work to do, so they decided to have the kids sleep over together and play on Sunday.
This left me with some unexpected free time. I decided to grab my camera and go out and take some pictures of the area in which we live. Not only would it let me hone my photography skills, but it would let you see a bit of what things looked like here.
I walked for about thirty or forty minutes, snapping about thirty pictures in all. My walk started in the community in which I live, Nichada. I also walked outside Nichada to show the contrast. I only hit a part of the community, and no doubt missed some of the nicer views, especially around the lake.
As I think I've written before, Nichada is a planned community catering to ex-pats, mostly of the Western variety. The key to the community is the presence of the school ISB (International School Bangkok) in Nichada. As ISB is arguably the best international school in the country, a lot of foreigners want to live in Nichada and send their kids to ISB.
Nichada is a pretty upscale community. We live in a four bedroom townhouse that rents for 50,000 baht ( about t $1,600) per month. By Thai standards, that is a princly sum as most Thais do not make much in a month. By Nichada standards, our place is at the lower price range. There are homes that rent here for five or six times the price we pay. When I walked by the real estate office, I looked on the postings and saw a house that was on the market for about $1.6 million U.S.
The way Nichada is laid out is as a community with a number of small complexes consisting of twenty to forty homes. There are three entrances, each with guards posted. Each complex then often has its own guard. The main purpose of the guards is to keep out people who don't belong (as is usually the case for guards). Generally, that involves keeping Thais out, as Nichada differs from the rest of the country in that having a Western face usually makes things easier. Guards often won't stop Westerners that they don't recognize.
On my way back from my little jaunt, I was about five minutes from home when one of the security guards for a complex came up to me. He approached me, asked where I was from. I was wearing my ISB ID (issued to parents) and he grabbed it, held it up and looked at it. I was a bit puzzled at this point because I was not trying to enter his complex. I said where I lived and he pointed at my camera. I just decided to keep walking.
When I got to my complex the guard there approached me and pointed at the camera. He said something about the office. He was speaking rapidly in Thai, so I really didn't understand him. I think that he was telling me that I was not allowed to take pictures in Nichada.
Okay, at that point I was pretty pissed off and decided to just turn away and walk home before I said something in English that he was sure to understand and dislike. I understand that Nichada owns the premisis, and that they are private roads, but this was ridiculous. I was taking pictures from the main streets, I wasn't going into people's yards or even complexes. There is nothing in any of my pictures that you couldn't see just driving through the neighborhood. I was also angry because I'm not sure if the guards even saw me take a picture or not. I could have been carrying my camera to take pictures outside of Nichada (which I did).
I wrote an email to the customer service department and asked them to clarify the rule. I was in a bit of a smart ass mood, but I removed the parts where I asked if I was allowed to take pictures in my own home, or if we all needed to gouge out our eyes because our brain might store the image in it. Sometimes its good to write those parts, even if they don't end up in the final draft.
I shouldn't get so pissed. Oh, I mean its absolutely bull shit, but its so typical Thai. People with a little power tend to be authoritarian, and they are always concerned that someone is going to steal an idea. Yes, that's right, I was taking some pictures so that I, a foreigner who is not allowed to own land, could steal their brilliant layout and build a chain of Nichada's across Thailand.
I was in a bad mood then when I went to the local grocery store to pick up a few dozen things. There was a guy in line, who stepped over to look at some things. I made the mistake of trying to be courteous and leave a little room for him since he had only one item. There might have been two feet between my cart and the person being checked out, which was obviously enough for some Thai woman to squeeze in and start unloading her basket in front of me. I was going to say something, but since I didn't know how to say, "Hey f'ing stupid, you every heard of a line? How come the only time someone in this country is in a hurry at all is when they are trying to check out of a line." Of course then the maid was paying on an account which took several minutes. When the bag boy saw that I had several cases of Coke Zero (which I have bought there dozens of times without incident), he ran off with one for a bit, came back and started saying something. At that point, I decided that I'd had enough Thai for one day, so I told him "mai been rai kab" and left.
Was it really a big deal about the grocery store? No it really wasn't (although the line cutting is really annoying), but I was not happy about the whole camera incident.
This morning I saw the real estate agent who helped us find this place and is our neighbor. She has always been very nice. I told her about what happened. She said that they don't like people coming in to take pictures, but that I should have told them that I lived here. I told her that I did, and that when I came in our actual complex the guard here was giving me grief as well. She told me to take down her number and call her if I had any trouble like that in the future and she would talk to them.
This left me with some unexpected free time. I decided to grab my camera and go out and take some pictures of the area in which we live. Not only would it let me hone my photography skills, but it would let you see a bit of what things looked like here.
I walked for about thirty or forty minutes, snapping about thirty pictures in all. My walk started in the community in which I live, Nichada. I also walked outside Nichada to show the contrast. I only hit a part of the community, and no doubt missed some of the nicer views, especially around the lake.
As I think I've written before, Nichada is a planned community catering to ex-pats, mostly of the Western variety. The key to the community is the presence of the school ISB (International School Bangkok) in Nichada. As ISB is arguably the best international school in the country, a lot of foreigners want to live in Nichada and send their kids to ISB.
Nichada is a pretty upscale community. We live in a four bedroom townhouse that rents for 50,000 baht ( about t $1,600) per month. By Thai standards, that is a princly sum as most Thais do not make much in a month. By Nichada standards, our place is at the lower price range. There are homes that rent here for five or six times the price we pay. When I walked by the real estate office, I looked on the postings and saw a house that was on the market for about $1.6 million U.S.
The way Nichada is laid out is as a community with a number of small complexes consisting of twenty to forty homes. There are three entrances, each with guards posted. Each complex then often has its own guard. The main purpose of the guards is to keep out people who don't belong (as is usually the case for guards). Generally, that involves keeping Thais out, as Nichada differs from the rest of the country in that having a Western face usually makes things easier. Guards often won't stop Westerners that they don't recognize.
On my way back from my little jaunt, I was about five minutes from home when one of the security guards for a complex came up to me. He approached me, asked where I was from. I was wearing my ISB ID (issued to parents) and he grabbed it, held it up and looked at it. I was a bit puzzled at this point because I was not trying to enter his complex. I said where I lived and he pointed at my camera. I just decided to keep walking.
When I got to my complex the guard there approached me and pointed at the camera. He said something about the office. He was speaking rapidly in Thai, so I really didn't understand him. I think that he was telling me that I was not allowed to take pictures in Nichada.
Okay, at that point I was pretty pissed off and decided to just turn away and walk home before I said something in English that he was sure to understand and dislike. I understand that Nichada owns the premisis, and that they are private roads, but this was ridiculous. I was taking pictures from the main streets, I wasn't going into people's yards or even complexes. There is nothing in any of my pictures that you couldn't see just driving through the neighborhood. I was also angry because I'm not sure if the guards even saw me take a picture or not. I could have been carrying my camera to take pictures outside of Nichada (which I did).
I wrote an email to the customer service department and asked them to clarify the rule. I was in a bit of a smart ass mood, but I removed the parts where I asked if I was allowed to take pictures in my own home, or if we all needed to gouge out our eyes because our brain might store the image in it. Sometimes its good to write those parts, even if they don't end up in the final draft.
I shouldn't get so pissed. Oh, I mean its absolutely bull shit, but its so typical Thai. People with a little power tend to be authoritarian, and they are always concerned that someone is going to steal an idea. Yes, that's right, I was taking some pictures so that I, a foreigner who is not allowed to own land, could steal their brilliant layout and build a chain of Nichada's across Thailand.
I was in a bad mood then when I went to the local grocery store to pick up a few dozen things. There was a guy in line, who stepped over to look at some things. I made the mistake of trying to be courteous and leave a little room for him since he had only one item. There might have been two feet between my cart and the person being checked out, which was obviously enough for some Thai woman to squeeze in and start unloading her basket in front of me. I was going to say something, but since I didn't know how to say, "Hey f'ing stupid, you every heard of a line? How come the only time someone in this country is in a hurry at all is when they are trying to check out of a line." Of course then the maid was paying on an account which took several minutes. When the bag boy saw that I had several cases of Coke Zero (which I have bought there dozens of times without incident), he ran off with one for a bit, came back and started saying something. At that point, I decided that I'd had enough Thai for one day, so I told him "mai been rai kab" and left.
Was it really a big deal about the grocery store? No it really wasn't (although the line cutting is really annoying), but I was not happy about the whole camera incident.
This morning I saw the real estate agent who helped us find this place and is our neighbor. She has always been very nice. I told her about what happened. She said that they don't like people coming in to take pictures, but that I should have told them that I lived here. I told her that I did, and that when I came in our actual complex the guard here was giving me grief as well. She told me to take down her number and call her if I had any trouble like that in the future and she would talk to them.
Friday, February 22, 2008
More than a Network
On Thursday, I went into Tim's office to try to make some changes to their computer network. A lot of her employees were off, so it gave me the chance to work without disrupting them.
Let me preface this by saying that I am not a network guy. In fact, I really don't like working on networks beyond my own simple one at my house. There are problems that I knew I would encounter that someone with experience would be able to handle easily. A lot of times I learn by trial and error. Unfortunately for me, I am a lot cheaper (free) than experienced and skilled individuals.
The network was a bit of a mess. It was put together ad hoc, and didn't include a lot of the PCs in the company. They had a combination DSL modem and wireless router that was "outdated" to put it kindly. The way it was configured only allowed up to ten specific computers on the network. So I needed to replace the DSL modem, the wireless router, setup the wireless print servers, and set up the printers for each PC.
This isn't the first time I've went to work on this. The Linksys file server which I had installed earlier has malfunctioned, and we had to take it back to the shop for repair. I've run into a lot of other issues, but this time, I was confident that I could at least get the networking and printer servers setup.
I arrived at the office at about 8:00 a.m., and ended up leaving at about 11:30 p.m. After fifteen plus hours of nearly non-stop work (aside from brief meals and a quick trip home), I had accomplished most of what I had set out to do. But like so often is the case in life, just telling you the final result without sharing all the "treasured" moments is a bit of a let down.
Some of the challenges that I encountered:
- Left the print server disk at home, requiring me to go home and get it, wasting time.
- The power cord for the new DSL modem did not have enough ampage. Everything was working well for a few hours when I lost Internet access. After about thirty minutes, I found a new power source and was able to reconnect. Actually, I'm not sure if the power problem caused the outage or it was a problem with the provider that was resolved while I was getting a new power cord.
- One of the print servers was hooked up to an older HP printer. For those of you not familiar, a print server is a device that you hook to a printer that allows you to access the printer from a network. So instead connecting the printer to an individual PC, you connect it to the print server. After setting up the print server, I had to install the software on each PC. Well, the print server required me to set up the printer on each PC first. The HP software wouldn't let me set up the software because the printer wasn't attached. So in some cases, I had to actually carry over the printer to individual PCs, set them up, and then connect it back to the print server.
- A few times the lights on a hub connecting to the new router would start flashing wildly and then the router would lock up. This was made even more lovely by the fact that the Ethernet cable was in a huge tangled mess in their server room.
- On some PCs, the HP installation application displayed in Thai. On a few PCs, I couldn't get it to revert to English, which was a bit of a problem since I don't read Thai.
- There is no firewall or anti-virus software standards at the company (yet). So I would spend quite a bit of time trying to get a particular PC to connect only to find out that the firewall was preventing it from connecting.
- There were keyboards that didn't work as expected. Tim helped me toggle from typing Thai to English, but there were some where pressing keys gave unexpected characters. On one, for instance, clicking "0" gave "*", while clicking "M" gave another result.
- There was a grounding issue on one PC that shocked me when I touched the back of it. That was truly wonderful.
- I thought that I was having an issue with a printer when I discovered that the USB cord that appeared to be connected to a certain PC was instead connected to an extension USB cable.
- An employee had brought his son there who was making annoying and disturbing sounds while playing a computer game.
- I was extra careful around some PCs. The last time I was there I was working on an individual's PC and started to type in "google" in the address bar. The auto complete gave me options for a variety of Thai style male on male entertainment.
That reminded me of a lesson that a computer administrator shared with me back in my days at Computer Science Corporation. The admin was responsible for all the lap tops in the office. He was in the habit of viewing personal files on the laptops when they were turned in. One day that changed when one of our male colleague left pictures on his laptop of himself engaged in very explicit same sex behavior. The admin told me that the pictures were very graphic, so much so that he stopped his file peeping forever. Well, at least for those returned by guys.
In any case, there was a lot of cursing and frustrating moments, but I think things went pretty well. Once I get the file server back, I have to go back and set that up. Then Tim will start using the customer tracking program I wrote for them. Fun stuff.
Let me preface this by saying that I am not a network guy. In fact, I really don't like working on networks beyond my own simple one at my house. There are problems that I knew I would encounter that someone with experience would be able to handle easily. A lot of times I learn by trial and error. Unfortunately for me, I am a lot cheaper (free) than experienced and skilled individuals.
The network was a bit of a mess. It was put together ad hoc, and didn't include a lot of the PCs in the company. They had a combination DSL modem and wireless router that was "outdated" to put it kindly. The way it was configured only allowed up to ten specific computers on the network. So I needed to replace the DSL modem, the wireless router, setup the wireless print servers, and set up the printers for each PC.
This isn't the first time I've went to work on this. The Linksys file server which I had installed earlier has malfunctioned, and we had to take it back to the shop for repair. I've run into a lot of other issues, but this time, I was confident that I could at least get the networking and printer servers setup.
I arrived at the office at about 8:00 a.m., and ended up leaving at about 11:30 p.m. After fifteen plus hours of nearly non-stop work (aside from brief meals and a quick trip home), I had accomplished most of what I had set out to do. But like so often is the case in life, just telling you the final result without sharing all the "treasured" moments is a bit of a let down.
Some of the challenges that I encountered:
- Left the print server disk at home, requiring me to go home and get it, wasting time.
- The power cord for the new DSL modem did not have enough ampage. Everything was working well for a few hours when I lost Internet access. After about thirty minutes, I found a new power source and was able to reconnect. Actually, I'm not sure if the power problem caused the outage or it was a problem with the provider that was resolved while I was getting a new power cord.
- One of the print servers was hooked up to an older HP printer. For those of you not familiar, a print server is a device that you hook to a printer that allows you to access the printer from a network. So instead connecting the printer to an individual PC, you connect it to the print server. After setting up the print server, I had to install the software on each PC. Well, the print server required me to set up the printer on each PC first. The HP software wouldn't let me set up the software because the printer wasn't attached. So in some cases, I had to actually carry over the printer to individual PCs, set them up, and then connect it back to the print server.
- A few times the lights on a hub connecting to the new router would start flashing wildly and then the router would lock up. This was made even more lovely by the fact that the Ethernet cable was in a huge tangled mess in their server room.
- On some PCs, the HP installation application displayed in Thai. On a few PCs, I couldn't get it to revert to English, which was a bit of a problem since I don't read Thai.
- There is no firewall or anti-virus software standards at the company (yet). So I would spend quite a bit of time trying to get a particular PC to connect only to find out that the firewall was preventing it from connecting.
- There were keyboards that didn't work as expected. Tim helped me toggle from typing Thai to English, but there were some where pressing keys gave unexpected characters. On one, for instance, clicking "0" gave "*", while clicking "M" gave another result.
- There was a grounding issue on one PC that shocked me when I touched the back of it. That was truly wonderful.
- I thought that I was having an issue with a printer when I discovered that the USB cord that appeared to be connected to a certain PC was instead connected to an extension USB cable.
- An employee had brought his son there who was making annoying and disturbing sounds while playing a computer game.
- I was extra careful around some PCs. The last time I was there I was working on an individual's PC and started to type in "google" in the address bar. The auto complete gave me options for a variety of Thai style male on male entertainment.
That reminded me of a lesson that a computer administrator shared with me back in my days at Computer Science Corporation. The admin was responsible for all the lap tops in the office. He was in the habit of viewing personal files on the laptops when they were turned in. One day that changed when one of our male colleague left pictures on his laptop of himself engaged in very explicit same sex behavior. The admin told me that the pictures were very graphic, so much so that he stopped his file peeping forever. Well, at least for those returned by guys.
In any case, there was a lot of cursing and frustrating moments, but I think things went pretty well. Once I get the file server back, I have to go back and set that up. Then Tim will start using the customer tracking program I wrote for them. Fun stuff.
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