Bangkok never ceases to amaze.
When walking about the streets one gets all kind of marketing fliers thrust into ones hands.
This one was given to me by a cute girl after I stepped aside to let her by - I didn't read it until I got back to my room and I ended up in tears as a result.
It started out normal enough...
Now Grand Opening,
NAREE SUITES
Room for Rent
700THB/NIGHT
Standard Room
Family Room
Safe and Clean 100%
Free Internet Wi=Fi
Free Cable TV
Free Safety Box
Free Car Parking
This sounded good and it was on the street where I am currently staying and half the price - maybe I will consider this the next time (as the airlines would say) my travel plans bring me to Bangkok (when don't they as I would say) - then the flier had the following line which led me to tears of laughter..
DUNGEON ROOM FOR RENT
Yes it was all in capitals - my only overriding thought was "where is the dungeon room in relation to the Family Room".
That line was followed by “24h Services” but by that point who cared what services were being offered – my god it was a dungeon room!!
My god I love this country.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Geek Heaven
Imagine 60 Frys Electronics stores, 50 Best Buy stores, 50 Apple stores and about 500 computer geeks in their parents' basements and their girlfriends (funny geeks in Asia are cool and have girlfriends). Cram them all into 6 floors of a city block sized building - add plentiful food stalls, hundreds (seemingly) of ATMs - multiply it by a factor of 4 - make it REALLY noisy and insert every floodlight from every football stadium in the country - take a couple of tabs of LSD - spin yourself around about 30 times - you may at this point have an approximation of Panthip Plaza - IT City in Bangkok. Unbelievable. No idea why I had not visited before - I spent about 4 hours just looking around - amazing. Every conceivable computer product, video product, video game and equipment etc. Every peice of software (some of it maybe even legal copies) every possible DVD - probably very few of them legal copies and guys who leap out of random corners magically revealing porno DVDs (which are illegal here) out of their clothing to try to tempt you. If Gates and Jobs were to build Sodom and Gormorrah - this is it - fabulously anarchic and amazingly interesting. I bought a cheap pair of sunglasses as I was leaving - cue ZZ Top.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Buddhist Death Metal
I have often wondered what that Buddhist monk in his saffron robes is listening to on his IPod when he is sitting in the airport departure lounge - Dharma? Chanting? - what? I dont know that there is an acceptable protocol for asking. Yesterday in the Taipei airport there was one siting there and he was tapping his feet and playing air drums on his knees in such a tempo that it could have been the hardest death-metal band he was listening to. I am even more confused now.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
If anyone reads alarmist reports...
Political upheavals continue in Thailand - a court verdict on seizing the assets of the former Prime Minister is due next Friday - I will be well away from any potential trouble spots so, Mother don't be concerned...
Report below from Agence France Press sums it up pretty well - this has been years in the making...
Thailand braces for explosive Thaksin verdict - Focus
by Claire Truscott
BANGKOK: -- (AFP) - Thailand has stepped up security and is braced for fresh turmoil this week as the country's top court decides the fate of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra's 2.2-billion-dollar fortune.
The government has deployed thousands of troops and assigned guards to Supreme Court judges while embassies have issued travel warnings due to fears of a violent backlash if the tycoon's funds are seized on Friday.
Thaksin's supporters, known as Red Shirts for their signature garb, have vowed to demonstrate after the verdict, expecting that he will lose at least some of the assets frozen after he was deposed in a 2006 coup.
They have insisted any action will be non-violent.
"We will wait and see what the court says, but any injustice will bring about a phenomenon," Red Shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan told AFP, adding that the government "underestimates the Red Shirts".
The current Thaksin-hating administration has done little to quell fears of trouble, analysts say, instead stoking anxieties by casting the Red Shirts as a dangerous force in a bid to take the focus off the fragile governing coalition.
At least 20,000 extra security personnel have been deployed across Bangkok and pro-Thaksin regions, including around the homes of judges, politicians and government and commercial institutions.
Last week a bomb was defused near the Supreme Court and a grenade exploded at government offices, prompting the United States, Britain and Australia to warn people visiting Bangkok to exercise caution.
The government has announced it will cede control of security to the army and even declare an emergency if necessary, but says it hopes to control the situation.
"We hope that the security measures that we have put in place can handle the instability or incidents that can cause violence," government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn told AFP.
"If the security measures are employed accordingly we should not have any trouble."
Thailand has been beset by political turbulence since the 2006 coup.
Thaksin's "Yellow Shirt" opponents -- a disparate collection of royalist and military elites -- forced the closure of Bangkok's airports in late 2008 after months of sometimes violent rallies.
Now the Red Shirts, mainly from the rural north and northeast, want to see the return of Thaksin, who is living abroad to avoid a two-year jail term for corruption.
They have numbered no more than 30,000 at protests this year but 100,000 turned out last April, when they forced a major Asian summit to shut down and rioting broke out in Bangkok.
The threat they pose could, however, have been overblown for political gain, said Michael Montesano, an expert on Thai politics at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.
"The fact that they need to put in place these measures today is a reminder of how little progress the Abhisit government has made since coming to power in changing the political landscape," he said. "I think a lot of it's propaganda."
Eton and Oxford-educated Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is seen as an elitist among the Red Shirts, who remain a key electoral force.
Talk of an imminent coup is relentless in Thailand, where there have been 18 coups and attempted coups in the 64-year reign of King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
But analysts say Abhisit, who came to power in 2008, will hang on as long as he maintains the wavering support of the country's top brass.
Report below from Agence France Press sums it up pretty well - this has been years in the making...
Thailand braces for explosive Thaksin verdict - Focus
by Claire Truscott
BANGKOK: -- (AFP) - Thailand has stepped up security and is braced for fresh turmoil this week as the country's top court decides the fate of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra's 2.2-billion-dollar fortune.
The government has deployed thousands of troops and assigned guards to Supreme Court judges while embassies have issued travel warnings due to fears of a violent backlash if the tycoon's funds are seized on Friday.
Thaksin's supporters, known as Red Shirts for their signature garb, have vowed to demonstrate after the verdict, expecting that he will lose at least some of the assets frozen after he was deposed in a 2006 coup.
They have insisted any action will be non-violent.
"We will wait and see what the court says, but any injustice will bring about a phenomenon," Red Shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan told AFP, adding that the government "underestimates the Red Shirts".
The current Thaksin-hating administration has done little to quell fears of trouble, analysts say, instead stoking anxieties by casting the Red Shirts as a dangerous force in a bid to take the focus off the fragile governing coalition.
At least 20,000 extra security personnel have been deployed across Bangkok and pro-Thaksin regions, including around the homes of judges, politicians and government and commercial institutions.
Last week a bomb was defused near the Supreme Court and a grenade exploded at government offices, prompting the United States, Britain and Australia to warn people visiting Bangkok to exercise caution.
The government has announced it will cede control of security to the army and even declare an emergency if necessary, but says it hopes to control the situation.
"We hope that the security measures that we have put in place can handle the instability or incidents that can cause violence," government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn told AFP.
"If the security measures are employed accordingly we should not have any trouble."
Thailand has been beset by political turbulence since the 2006 coup.
Thaksin's "Yellow Shirt" opponents -- a disparate collection of royalist and military elites -- forced the closure of Bangkok's airports in late 2008 after months of sometimes violent rallies.
Now the Red Shirts, mainly from the rural north and northeast, want to see the return of Thaksin, who is living abroad to avoid a two-year jail term for corruption.
They have numbered no more than 30,000 at protests this year but 100,000 turned out last April, when they forced a major Asian summit to shut down and rioting broke out in Bangkok.
The threat they pose could, however, have been overblown for political gain, said Michael Montesano, an expert on Thai politics at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.
"The fact that they need to put in place these measures today is a reminder of how little progress the Abhisit government has made since coming to power in changing the political landscape," he said. "I think a lot of it's propaganda."
Eton and Oxford-educated Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is seen as an elitist among the Red Shirts, who remain a key electoral force.
Talk of an imminent coup is relentless in Thailand, where there have been 18 coups and attempted coups in the 64-year reign of King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
But analysts say Abhisit, who came to power in 2008, will hang on as long as he maintains the wavering support of the country's top brass.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Amtrak
More opinionated ramblings but this time from someone who has in all likelihood ridden more trains in more countries than you ever will...
Amtrak seems to try hard - the Cascades service which runs from Vancouver to Portland has nice rolling stock (albeit rather dated by European standards) clean, fresh and leather reclining seats with (even for me) sufficient legroom - I would certainly recommend it as a route to Portland if expense/stress is a concern but timeliness isnt - unfortunately whereas everywhere else I have ridden the train passenger trains have precedence over freight - in this transit-confused country the tracks are owned by the freight hauling companies which can (and did on Friday) lead to extremely annoying periods of "waiting for freight traffic" - three 20+ minute stops en route. As with trains everywhere you get a wonderful voyeuristic view of the communities through which you pass (I would hang myself within a month if I lived in one of those small towns along the way - Winlock, Kelso etc - they looked like death incarnate) - as a result we arrived in Portland about 2 hours later than scheduled. The trip home on Sunday was a different matter - we were within 3 minutes of the scheduled time. Maybe some day a dedicated high speed (300kph) line will provide a one hour service between Seattle and Portland - and maybe 4 hours to San Francisco - which when you compare to the time to get to, from and through airports is comparable (or better). As a lifelong train fan I can hold out hope but in this country I will not be holding my breath.
Amtrak seems to try hard - the Cascades service which runs from Vancouver to Portland has nice rolling stock (albeit rather dated by European standards) clean, fresh and leather reclining seats with (even for me) sufficient legroom - I would certainly recommend it as a route to Portland if expense/stress is a concern but timeliness isnt - unfortunately whereas everywhere else I have ridden the train passenger trains have precedence over freight - in this transit-confused country the tracks are owned by the freight hauling companies which can (and did on Friday) lead to extremely annoying periods of "waiting for freight traffic" - three 20+ minute stops en route. As with trains everywhere you get a wonderful voyeuristic view of the communities through which you pass (I would hang myself within a month if I lived in one of those small towns along the way - Winlock, Kelso etc - they looked like death incarnate) - as a result we arrived in Portland about 2 hours later than scheduled. The trip home on Sunday was a different matter - we were within 3 minutes of the scheduled time. Maybe some day a dedicated high speed (300kph) line will provide a one hour service between Seattle and Portland - and maybe 4 hours to San Francisco - which when you compare to the time to get to, from and through airports is comparable (or better). As a lifelong train fan I can hold out hope but in this country I will not be holding my breath.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Random pictures from Cambodia
There are some random unexplained and unsorted pictures from my time in Cambodia on Picasa - along with a bunch of pictures of Cambodia and Thailand from several years ago.
Some time I will get around to compiling and posting some more videos - there just doesnt seem to be sufficient time despite not having a job to go to - how the hell did I manage to function when 8+ hours per day were devoted to "the man"? - unfortunately I will need to rediscover that state in the none too distant future.
http://picasaweb.google.com/dpgraves666
Some time I will get around to compiling and posting some more videos - there just doesnt seem to be sufficient time despite not having a job to go to - how the hell did I manage to function when 8+ hours per day were devoted to "the man"? - unfortunately I will need to rediscover that state in the none too distant future.
http://picasaweb.google.com/dpgraves666
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