Monday, March 31, 2008
Camoflague
To the dismay of army surplus stores in the land of smiles, the government announced that it is now against the law for civilians to wear military uniforms and clothing. So those who like to look bad ass in camo are now out of luck. The reason given for the law is that it is important that civilians be able to easily tell who is actually in the military. They expressed concerns that civilians in military uniforms could trick other people and take advantage of them.
Pawn Shops
I recently discovered that there are a number of state owned pawnshops here in Thailand. The government recently loosened restrictions on the pawnshops in order to try to help lesser income people to help stimulate the economy.
No ID Please
We took our passports on our trip to Krabi. They never checked any identification for our flight from Bangkok to Krabi. I was a little bit surprised that they didn't.
It turns out that it wasn't a waste to have brought the passports with us. On the return flight, they did check our passports. I'm not sure what would have happened if we had left them at home. Perhaps a ten our car ride home.
It turns out that it wasn't a waste to have brought the passports with us. On the return flight, they did check our passports. I'm not sure what would have happened if we had left them at home. Perhaps a ten our car ride home.
Krabi Vacation
The kids had a four day weekend so we flew down to Krabi in the south of Thailand. Krabi is a small beach town located near Phucket and Pee Pee Islands. The sea in this part of Thailand is full of small islands. These islands were used in a boat chase in a James Bond movie.
We left Bangkok at 8:00 a.m. and arrived in Krabi at around 9:30. The airport sent a car to pick us up, but unfortunately they were late so we waited about 15 or so minutes before we took our 30 minute ride to the hotel and the beach. Our rooms at the Pakasai Resort were not yet ready, so we took a stroll down along the road with the shops on one side and the beach on the other. The shops mainly consisted of vendors selling clothes, sunglasses, and beach gear, massage parlors, restaurants, travel agents/tour bookings, and bars.
We had lunch at a Thai Seafood restaurant which was decent. After lunch we checked in and spent the afternoon at the pool. The hotel was nice, but it was spread out. There were a series of buildings with 4 rooms each. It took us about 5 minutes to walk from the lobby to our room. What made it more challenging was it was an uphill walk.
We were all pretty tired, as we had to get up at 5:30 a.m. to make it to the airport by 7:00 a.m. For dinner, we went to a seafood restaurant on the beach which was decent.
On Friday, we rented on a long tail boat and visited four islands. A long tail boat is a wooden boat powered by a gas powered propeller. There are pictures of the long tail boats in my pictures from the trip.
The boat ride is absolutely beautiful. The contrast of blue sky, white clouds and the green islands dotted around the blue sea were just gorgeous. Even though it was quite hot, the wind over the swift moving boat (had to put a verb between swift and boat to avoid any political commentary) made it quite cool and comfortable.
Our first stop was a beach that is only above water during low tide. It was a strip of sand between two small rocky islands. This was a national park which cost 100 baht for me and 20 baht for Tim. When the tide comes up, the sand bar is under water.
The next stop was an island with a small restaurant. Jacob was the first to comment on the topless woman sun bathing about twenty feet away from us while we ate. I think we only saw two or three topless sun bathers the entire time that we were there. While I generally have no issue with topless sunbathers, its not something that the Thais do or care to have on their beaches, so I think its a little bit rude to do it. Its unlikely that they would say anything to you, but think about it this way, there is only one profession of Thai ladies that would go topless on the beach.
Our third stop of Friday was a nice beach where the kids swam and played in the sand. Jacob asked me to bury him in the sand, which I was happy to do. He did not ask me to give him the form of a mermaid, but I was happy to do that as well. Jacob was not at all pleased by the boobs that I gave him. Fortunately for him, I didn't take any pictures.
The final island was not as nice as the third. I can't remember that much about it.
On Saturday we rented another long boat and went to Hong Island. The highlight of our four trip stop was a bay where kids could feed fish, snorkel and play in the sand. Jacob made a friend there and was building a sand fort. Aleena got bitten by a small crab and did not want to get too close to the water after that.
The long tails are supposed to be in by 4:00, but of course we pushed it until 5:30. Tim had asked why they needed to be in so early, and we found out why. The water on the way back was a lot choppier than the ride out in the morning. The waves really weren't that big, but the boats don't sit that deep in the water, so you could definitely feel them.
Aleena was being a real trooper all day, but at the end of our boat ride she was just exhausted. She really tries to keep up, and we help her by carrying her sometimes, but its not easy for her to do everything like her older brother and sister. She felt kind of warm when we got to the hotel, so we decided to just eat at the hotel restaurant so we could get back and put her to bed.
It turns out that this was the best meal of the trip. They had a seafood buffet, which we were the only guests at for about 45 minutes. Aleena slept through the entire meal. I think one other group joined later.
The food was pretty good, particularly the grilled shrimp, but a few things made it really fun. At one point Tim sent Nalin over to ask the waitress for something. Now, if I haven't mentioned it, Nalin is getting very good at speaking Thai. When the waitresses learned that she could speak Thai, four of them came over and started talking to Tim and Nalin. They were asking Nalin questions and doting over her. You could tell that Nalin was enjoying being the center of attention. They asked if they could braid Nalin's hair, which Nalin eagerly accepted. They took her over to another table and one of them braided Nalin's hair. Nalin told Tim that she was very happy because she had wanted the pretty girl to braid her hair, and she had.
While Jacob was not particularly impressed by Thai waitresses, hair braids, or the woman singing in English with a strong Thai accent, he was thrilled by the fire show. While we ate desert, we were entertained by a performer who breathed fire and had spun two flaming pots. My description doesn't do it justice, but it really was a pretty neat show. He spun the pots like flaming nunchuks. Jacob moved up to the chair closest to him and watched in silent rapture. At one point, the performer spun the flames closer and closer to Jacob who let them get within a foot of him and never flinched.
Our flight out was at 4:30 on Sunday. We spent the morning and early afternoon doing some shopping and hanging out at the pool. As we were getting ready to board our return flight, we noticed that we were flying into a different airport. Domestic flights here can originate out of either the new or the old airport. We had left from the new airport, but would return to the old one. Unfortunately, this was one of the few times that we had driven to the airport (we are usually dropped off), so Tim called Top who sent his driver to pick us up. There is a free shuttle between the two for ticketed passengers, but we didn't want to the kids to be up too late.
Overall the trip was a lot of fun. My pictures didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. I accidentally changed the auto focus setting on my camera so that it didn't lock focus. I thought it was broken, so I was manually focusing. Tim was using auto focus, and while it would focus, it wouldn't really lock. While we have some nice pictures, there are a lot of ones that would have been good if I hadn't screwed up the focus. Of course, I finally figured out what I had done when we got home.
We left Bangkok at 8:00 a.m. and arrived in Krabi at around 9:30. The airport sent a car to pick us up, but unfortunately they were late so we waited about 15 or so minutes before we took our 30 minute ride to the hotel and the beach. Our rooms at the Pakasai Resort were not yet ready, so we took a stroll down along the road with the shops on one side and the beach on the other. The shops mainly consisted of vendors selling clothes, sunglasses, and beach gear, massage parlors, restaurants, travel agents/tour bookings, and bars.
We had lunch at a Thai Seafood restaurant which was decent. After lunch we checked in and spent the afternoon at the pool. The hotel was nice, but it was spread out. There were a series of buildings with 4 rooms each. It took us about 5 minutes to walk from the lobby to our room. What made it more challenging was it was an uphill walk.
We were all pretty tired, as we had to get up at 5:30 a.m. to make it to the airport by 7:00 a.m. For dinner, we went to a seafood restaurant on the beach which was decent.
On Friday, we rented on a long tail boat and visited four islands. A long tail boat is a wooden boat powered by a gas powered propeller. There are pictures of the long tail boats in my pictures from the trip.
The boat ride is absolutely beautiful. The contrast of blue sky, white clouds and the green islands dotted around the blue sea were just gorgeous. Even though it was quite hot, the wind over the swift moving boat (had to put a verb between swift and boat to avoid any political commentary) made it quite cool and comfortable.
Our first stop was a beach that is only above water during low tide. It was a strip of sand between two small rocky islands. This was a national park which cost 100 baht for me and 20 baht for Tim. When the tide comes up, the sand bar is under water.
The next stop was an island with a small restaurant. Jacob was the first to comment on the topless woman sun bathing about twenty feet away from us while we ate. I think we only saw two or three topless sun bathers the entire time that we were there. While I generally have no issue with topless sunbathers, its not something that the Thais do or care to have on their beaches, so I think its a little bit rude to do it. Its unlikely that they would say anything to you, but think about it this way, there is only one profession of Thai ladies that would go topless on the beach.
Our third stop of Friday was a nice beach where the kids swam and played in the sand. Jacob asked me to bury him in the sand, which I was happy to do. He did not ask me to give him the form of a mermaid, but I was happy to do that as well. Jacob was not at all pleased by the boobs that I gave him. Fortunately for him, I didn't take any pictures.
The final island was not as nice as the third. I can't remember that much about it.
On Saturday we rented another long boat and went to Hong Island. The highlight of our four trip stop was a bay where kids could feed fish, snorkel and play in the sand. Jacob made a friend there and was building a sand fort. Aleena got bitten by a small crab and did not want to get too close to the water after that.
The long tails are supposed to be in by 4:00, but of course we pushed it until 5:30. Tim had asked why they needed to be in so early, and we found out why. The water on the way back was a lot choppier than the ride out in the morning. The waves really weren't that big, but the boats don't sit that deep in the water, so you could definitely feel them.
Aleena was being a real trooper all day, but at the end of our boat ride she was just exhausted. She really tries to keep up, and we help her by carrying her sometimes, but its not easy for her to do everything like her older brother and sister. She felt kind of warm when we got to the hotel, so we decided to just eat at the hotel restaurant so we could get back and put her to bed.
It turns out that this was the best meal of the trip. They had a seafood buffet, which we were the only guests at for about 45 minutes. Aleena slept through the entire meal. I think one other group joined later.
The food was pretty good, particularly the grilled shrimp, but a few things made it really fun. At one point Tim sent Nalin over to ask the waitress for something. Now, if I haven't mentioned it, Nalin is getting very good at speaking Thai. When the waitresses learned that she could speak Thai, four of them came over and started talking to Tim and Nalin. They were asking Nalin questions and doting over her. You could tell that Nalin was enjoying being the center of attention. They asked if they could braid Nalin's hair, which Nalin eagerly accepted. They took her over to another table and one of them braided Nalin's hair. Nalin told Tim that she was very happy because she had wanted the pretty girl to braid her hair, and she had.
While Jacob was not particularly impressed by Thai waitresses, hair braids, or the woman singing in English with a strong Thai accent, he was thrilled by the fire show. While we ate desert, we were entertained by a performer who breathed fire and had spun two flaming pots. My description doesn't do it justice, but it really was a pretty neat show. He spun the pots like flaming nunchuks. Jacob moved up to the chair closest to him and watched in silent rapture. At one point, the performer spun the flames closer and closer to Jacob who let them get within a foot of him and never flinched.
Our flight out was at 4:30 on Sunday. We spent the morning and early afternoon doing some shopping and hanging out at the pool. As we were getting ready to board our return flight, we noticed that we were flying into a different airport. Domestic flights here can originate out of either the new or the old airport. We had left from the new airport, but would return to the old one. Unfortunately, this was one of the few times that we had driven to the airport (we are usually dropped off), so Tim called Top who sent his driver to pick us up. There is a free shuttle between the two for ticketed passengers, but we didn't want to the kids to be up too late.
Overall the trip was a lot of fun. My pictures didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. I accidentally changed the auto focus setting on my camera so that it didn't lock focus. I thought it was broken, so I was manually focusing. Tim was using auto focus, and while it would focus, it wouldn't really lock. While we have some nice pictures, there are a lot of ones that would have been good if I hadn't screwed up the focus. Of course, I finally figured out what I had done when we got home.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Update
Well, it seems like I confused some people with my post last week about our trip. We are actually leaving on Thursday morning (3/27) to go to Krabi. We'll return on Sunday the 30th.
Tim and I went out with a real estate agent on Monday to look at some houses. We can terminate our lease in July, and we are thinking of moving to a different house in Nichada. The townhouse that we live in now is not bad, there are a just a lot of steps and it seems like things have been breaking. Not big things, but just lots of little things.
We really haven't decided whether we want to rent or buy. If we buy a house, then we will keep it as an investment property or sell it when we leave. One thing that we have decided is that we are going to stay in Nichada. We could get more for our money elsewhere, but its location relative to the school is a compelling draw.
We went and visited about a dozen or so places. Some of the places were for sale, and some for rent. Some of the places were privately owned, and some owned by the Nichada group and rented out.
Out of the dozen or so places we visited, I think that there were 4 or so that we thought were nice. All of those were only for rent and not for sale. I think our favorite was a house that had a pool just outside the patio doors, and a common play area for kids outside the back gate. This house, like the others we liked, had a more open floor plan.
One common theme of the places that we didn't like was the closed floor plan. In a lot of the Thai houses, the rooms are very much separated and distinct. Many don't flow into each other. Thais tend to close off the kitchen or keep it distinct in order to keep the smell of the food from the main part of the house.
I was a bit surprised at how poorly some people presented the houses that they were selling. Tim pointed out that it was different for the rental property. The property for rent generally looked very nice and well kept. The property for sale looked, as Tim described it, as something that they just wanted to rid themselves of. Take for example the house we visited where we were greeted by a rusty metal gate, a rusty bike in the drive way, paper garbage piled in the driveway, and a swimming pool that was half filled with yellowish brown water. The house itself had other issues, but the initial presentation was off putting. Its not like they were offering the house as a cheap fixer up, the purchase price of this would have been significantly more than our house in the U.S. How much could it cost to drain the pool, paint the fence, move the bike and clean up some paper refuse? Probably less than the lost sales opportunity or reduced sales price.
Tim and I went out with a real estate agent on Monday to look at some houses. We can terminate our lease in July, and we are thinking of moving to a different house in Nichada. The townhouse that we live in now is not bad, there are a just a lot of steps and it seems like things have been breaking. Not big things, but just lots of little things.
We really haven't decided whether we want to rent or buy. If we buy a house, then we will keep it as an investment property or sell it when we leave. One thing that we have decided is that we are going to stay in Nichada. We could get more for our money elsewhere, but its location relative to the school is a compelling draw.
We went and visited about a dozen or so places. Some of the places were for sale, and some for rent. Some of the places were privately owned, and some owned by the Nichada group and rented out.
Out of the dozen or so places we visited, I think that there were 4 or so that we thought were nice. All of those were only for rent and not for sale. I think our favorite was a house that had a pool just outside the patio doors, and a common play area for kids outside the back gate. This house, like the others we liked, had a more open floor plan.
One common theme of the places that we didn't like was the closed floor plan. In a lot of the Thai houses, the rooms are very much separated and distinct. Many don't flow into each other. Thais tend to close off the kitchen or keep it distinct in order to keep the smell of the food from the main part of the house.
I was a bit surprised at how poorly some people presented the houses that they were selling. Tim pointed out that it was different for the rental property. The property for rent generally looked very nice and well kept. The property for sale looked, as Tim described it, as something that they just wanted to rid themselves of. Take for example the house we visited where we were greeted by a rusty metal gate, a rusty bike in the drive way, paper garbage piled in the driveway, and a swimming pool that was half filled with yellowish brown water. The house itself had other issues, but the initial presentation was off putting. Its not like they were offering the house as a cheap fixer up, the purchase price of this would have been significantly more than our house in the U.S. How much could it cost to drain the pool, paint the fence, move the bike and clean up some paper refuse? Probably less than the lost sales opportunity or reduced sales price.
More Changes?
The PPP announced that instead of targeting only one constitutional provision, that they want to make much more sweeping changes. We'll see what happens.
Aleena
Its been a while since I posted any pictures. I took this one today. Aleena saw my green headphones and wanted to listen to my iPod.
What was she jamming to you ask? Well, I was actually listening to a podcast about the television show Lost. Exciting stuff I know.
Constitutional Changes
The PPP and its allies are seeking to change one section of the 2007 Constitution. There is an article that states that if an MP (Member of Parliment) candidate engages in voter fraud and if the party leadership knows and does nothing about it, that the party will be disolved.
The largest two PPP allies have already had their leadership found to have engaged in voter fraud by buying votes. Additionally, the PPP itself has senior leadership under investigation for voter fraud. Some pundits are saying that the courts will have no choice but to dissolve the parties. Disolving the parties would probably result in the collapse of this government, and likely new elections.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the Democrats, the only party not part of the coalition government, are very cool to the idea of changing the Constitution. While their leadership supports changes for the better of the country, they expressed opposition to changes to help a political party.
There is some concern that the uncertainty about the stability of this government is hurting the economy by keeping foreign investment away. Proponents of the change argue that the true victims of disolving the political parties are the people through the economy. Cynics might claim that those who engage in voter fraud in the first place might not have the best interest of the country in their heart at all.
The largest two PPP allies have already had their leadership found to have engaged in voter fraud by buying votes. Additionally, the PPP itself has senior leadership under investigation for voter fraud. Some pundits are saying that the courts will have no choice but to dissolve the parties. Disolving the parties would probably result in the collapse of this government, and likely new elections.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the Democrats, the only party not part of the coalition government, are very cool to the idea of changing the Constitution. While their leadership supports changes for the better of the country, they expressed opposition to changes to help a political party.
There is some concern that the uncertainty about the stability of this government is hurting the economy by keeping foreign investment away. Proponents of the change argue that the true victims of disolving the political parties are the people through the economy. Cynics might claim that those who engage in voter fraud in the first place might not have the best interest of the country in their heart at all.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
U.S. Embassy Trip and Monica Lewinski
Today I went to the U.S. Embassy to get a document to allow me to get a driver's license. The lady at the American Citizen Services was pretty abrupt and curt with people. When you enter, you take a number and wait until it is called. At one point she called a number, waited about 5 seconds, barked another, and then another.
So as to not miss my turn (and due to the fact that there were no seats available) I stood near the service windows while waiting. One American stepped up to the counter and asked about a form to export a Buddha statue from Thailand. She said that she was told that she needed a form from the U.S. Embassy. The clerk told her that she didn't. The woman responded that she had been told by someone earlier today that she would need it. The clerk told her "we have a lot of summer interns working here and they don't know what they are doing. You know, like Monica Lewinski." It was pretty funny.
So as to not miss my turn (and due to the fact that there were no seats available) I stood near the service windows while waiting. One American stepped up to the counter and asked about a form to export a Buddha statue from Thailand. She said that she was told that she needed a form from the U.S. Embassy. The clerk told her that she didn't. The woman responded that she had been told by someone earlier today that she would need it. The clerk told her "we have a lot of summer interns working here and they don't know what they are doing. You know, like Monica Lewinski." It was pretty funny.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Krabi & Burning Alive
We are going to Krabi next week for a four day holiday. Krabi is in the south and is popular for its beaches. We are probably going to do some snorkeling.
My main objective, however, is to make sure that I have the proper sun screen. The last time I went to the south with Tim was on our Phucket trip, back before we were married. Phucket is around 6 degrees from the equator, so the sun is pretty strong there. Tim went and got me sun screen which I dutifully put on. As I read the bottle, however, I noticed that she had gotten me UV protection 2.
No, I didn't leave off the second digit, she bought protection two. I think that cooking oil may be related a two, because cook I did. Even though it was cloudy a good part of the day, my shoulders and back turned bright red. By evening it was almost too painful to wear a shirt. We went to the night market and bought the softest shirt that we could find. We flew back a few days later, and by that time my skin was peeling like crazy. The person sitting next to me on the plane probably thought I had the worst dandruff ever.
My main objective, however, is to make sure that I have the proper sun screen. The last time I went to the south with Tim was on our Phucket trip, back before we were married. Phucket is around 6 degrees from the equator, so the sun is pretty strong there. Tim went and got me sun screen which I dutifully put on. As I read the bottle, however, I noticed that she had gotten me UV protection 2.
No, I didn't leave off the second digit, she bought protection two. I think that cooking oil may be related a two, because cook I did. Even though it was cloudy a good part of the day, my shoulders and back turned bright red. By evening it was almost too painful to wear a shirt. We went to the night market and bought the softest shirt that we could find. We flew back a few days later, and by that time my skin was peeling like crazy. The person sitting next to me on the plane probably thought I had the worst dandruff ever.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Scotch - Loch Lomond
A couple of years back, a friend of Tim's (actually the spouse of a friend of Tim's) introduced me to Scotch. I'm not a beer drinker, and up until then never drank a whole lot of the harder stuff either. The taste of beer and hard liquor just didn't appeal to me.
The Scotch that John introduced me to was Glenlivet, a fine 12 year old single malt Scotch. I really enjoyed it, and have been drinking Scotch ever since. Don't get me wrong, I don't down a bottle every night (well, not usually anyway (just kidding mom)), but I enjoy the taste, and if I am going to drink it will almost certainly be Scotch.
There is really good Scotch, good affordable Scotch, and then there is stuff that is better served to clean off paint brushes. As I do not have an endless supply of money, I tend to avoid the first category, and I try to avoid the last category for health reasons.
I am hardly a connoisseur of Scotch, but I am going to blog about what I try in order to advise others and so that I remember what is good and bad. Tonight I tried a bottle of Loch Lomond, a single malt Scotch. It cost about $33 a bottle here, about the same price as Johnnie Walker Black Label, a passable, but hardly spectacular selection.
My first clue as to my reaction should have been the fact that there was no age on the bottle. After I got home, i scoured the label, the only clue being that it was aged "the perfect amount of time". When I opened the bottle, and poured a glass, I didn't like the smell. It had a strong and sour smell. Unfortunately, the taste was consistent with the smell.
I really don't like this Scotch very much. Its definitely no Glenlivet (which in fairness costs about 50% more here) and its not even a match for its equal priced Johnie Walker Black. This is one of those bottles that I will probably finish eventually, but I'll probably try some others prior to forcing myself to finish this one.
The Scotch that John introduced me to was Glenlivet, a fine 12 year old single malt Scotch. I really enjoyed it, and have been drinking Scotch ever since. Don't get me wrong, I don't down a bottle every night (well, not usually anyway (just kidding mom)), but I enjoy the taste, and if I am going to drink it will almost certainly be Scotch.
There is really good Scotch, good affordable Scotch, and then there is stuff that is better served to clean off paint brushes. As I do not have an endless supply of money, I tend to avoid the first category, and I try to avoid the last category for health reasons.
I am hardly a connoisseur of Scotch, but I am going to blog about what I try in order to advise others and so that I remember what is good and bad. Tonight I tried a bottle of Loch Lomond, a single malt Scotch. It cost about $33 a bottle here, about the same price as Johnnie Walker Black Label, a passable, but hardly spectacular selection.
My first clue as to my reaction should have been the fact that there was no age on the bottle. After I got home, i scoured the label, the only clue being that it was aged "the perfect amount of time". When I opened the bottle, and poured a glass, I didn't like the smell. It had a strong and sour smell. Unfortunately, the taste was consistent with the smell.
I really don't like this Scotch very much. Its definitely no Glenlivet (which in fairness costs about 50% more here) and its not even a match for its equal priced Johnie Walker Black. This is one of those bottles that I will probably finish eventually, but I'll probably try some others prior to forcing myself to finish this one.
BBQ Denied
I had lunch with the mom of one of Nalin's classmates today. I know her from the cub scouts and from when I pick up Nalin after school.
There is a new restaurant named the BBQ Sandwich King close by which serves American BBQ. I was really looking forward to it. We arrived at 11:00, entered the restaurant and were greeted by the wonderful smell of smoked meat. Unfortunately, we were then greeted by the owner who informed us that they were not open until noon.
As we didn't really want to wait an hour to start lunch, we went to a close by Thai place. I ended up getting some fried wings and sticky rice. It was pretty solid.
I don't understand how a place doesn't open until noon. The owner did say that he plans on opening up at 10:30 starting next fall, and the menu says they deliver. Perhaps there is still hope for it.
There is a new restaurant named the BBQ Sandwich King close by which serves American BBQ. I was really looking forward to it. We arrived at 11:00, entered the restaurant and were greeted by the wonderful smell of smoked meat. Unfortunately, we were then greeted by the owner who informed us that they were not open until noon.
As we didn't really want to wait an hour to start lunch, we went to a close by Thai place. I ended up getting some fried wings and sticky rice. It was pretty solid.
I don't understand how a place doesn't open until noon. The owner did say that he plans on opening up at 10:30 starting next fall, and the menu says they deliver. Perhaps there is still hope for it.
Monday, March 17, 2008
PM's Say the Darnedest Things
Thailand's Prime Minister (PM) extraordinaire again shared his unique wisdom with his fellow countryman. You might recall that he has offered such opinions as corruption isn't really bad because it doesn't kill anyone, and denied the killing of forty-six protesters thirty years ago.
Yesterday, PM Samark expressed some admiration for the military junta leaders in Burma. For those of you who follow the news, a few months ago the military junta (a dictatorship) in Burma violently cracked down on protests led by monks. The junta shot and killed protestors and raided monasteries, dragging monks off to prison.
PM Samark said that critics were too hard on the junta leadership. His reasoning was that the generals stated that they meditated prior to making decisions. That was enough to impress the Thai PM. As we all know, anyone who claims to meditate or pray is a benevolent and wise leader. I think that we all admire those genuflecting leaders of the Spanish Inquisition.
I understand the reasoning for Thailand's relationship with Burma. They are a neighbor from which Thailand buys energy and does business. While isolating Burma might have little impact on the U.S., it would be somewhat painful for the kingdom here. Does that mean I think that Thailand should turn a blind eye? Not necessarily, but I understand the reason for the relationship. Even so, the PM's comments lead me to believe that either he is stupid or that he believes that others or stupid. My bet would be the later.
When discussing this, PM Samark talked about how Thailand is surrounded by three neighbors, Laos, Burma and Cambodia. The last line of the newspaper article adroitly pointed out that Thailand is also bordered by Malaysia to the south. Those PMs say the darnedest things.
Yesterday, PM Samark expressed some admiration for the military junta leaders in Burma. For those of you who follow the news, a few months ago the military junta (a dictatorship) in Burma violently cracked down on protests led by monks. The junta shot and killed protestors and raided monasteries, dragging monks off to prison.
PM Samark said that critics were too hard on the junta leadership. His reasoning was that the generals stated that they meditated prior to making decisions. That was enough to impress the Thai PM. As we all know, anyone who claims to meditate or pray is a benevolent and wise leader. I think that we all admire those genuflecting leaders of the Spanish Inquisition.
I understand the reasoning for Thailand's relationship with Burma. They are a neighbor from which Thailand buys energy and does business. While isolating Burma might have little impact on the U.S., it would be somewhat painful for the kingdom here. Does that mean I think that Thailand should turn a blind eye? Not necessarily, but I understand the reason for the relationship. Even so, the PM's comments lead me to believe that either he is stupid or that he believes that others or stupid. My bet would be the later.
When discussing this, PM Samark talked about how Thailand is surrounded by three neighbors, Laos, Burma and Cambodia. The last line of the newspaper article adroitly pointed out that Thailand is also bordered by Malaysia to the south. Those PMs say the darnedest things.
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