Developing Countries

Today's song is: This is What You Came For  .. Rihanna

I get a kick out of developing countries, especially when they use their developing countries status to opt out of things like shutting down sweat shops and climate change regulations.

Perfect examples are Malaysia and Thailand which are both classified as developing countries. They both have astounding, beautiful airports and malls that make everything in Canada look like a strip mall. There are more Ferrari, Maserati, etc. dealerships in those countries then there are in Canada and the US combined. They have excellent transit systems, especially the BTS/MRT systems in Thailand. They are rolling out fiber optic networks that puts Canada to shame, especially when it comes to speed and price and unlimited downloads.

What prompted this post was my visit to the new Thai passport office for Thai nationals. Where the Thais usually fall down on is common sense, but this passport office is located right at the Klontoey MRT station so it is extremely easy to get to from anywhere in central Bangkok. Kudos to whoever thought this up. It is also a state of the art setup with about 50 stations, all equipped with state of the art Canon cameras and digital finger print scanners. I also noticed each station has a camera recording the whole session. The canon cameras are used to take your photo which bypasses the archaic system in Canada where you have to show up with the appropriate photos in hand.

The Klongtoey station also has a convenience store and a Coffee shop to while away the fairly short wait times. Pony up 60 baht and the passport is hand delivered to you house/apartment within 3 days. Really, really efficient. Third world or developing country  .. not!

Developed countries are going to find themselves leap-frogged by these developing countries, which includes the behemoths China and India.Trump has it right  .. We are being played as fools and more power to these countries to have the smarts to pull that libertarian toque (needed a winter reference) over our eyes.

The other thing I noticed is that the new passport office has about 79 employees and 69 of them where young females. I think the job requires a university degree and most Thai males seem to end up driving taxis, motorcycle taxis and tuk tuks.

It kind of portends where Canadian society will be in another 10 years now that most Canadian universities have over 70% female enrollment. Not that I do not prefer to be serviced (no pun intended) by pretty young Thai females.

TTYL

Boxing Day .. Prices

Today's song is: Don't Let the Sun  .. George Michael  .. RIP at 53 years of age

Traditionally, the day after Christmas features the boxing day sales. In Thailand, there are no boxing day sales. The next week is quiet up to New Years when the partying and buying starts again. However, prices in Thailand tend to be better than North America for most things, except vehicles.

Some items are incredibly cheaper. I am astounded at what North Americans pay for a soft drink from a vending machine. The last time I was in Canada during the summer, it was very hot, so I stopped into a supermarket and pulled a bottle of coke out of the machine at the checkout counter and put it back immediately as soon as I noticed the price $2.50, WTF!

Here is a pick of a similar machine outside a restaurant on my street.

You will notice the same bottle of coke is 15 baht or approximately $.50. This begs the question, 'When are you dumb f..ks in North American going to wise up and stop paying such outlandish prices for a soft drink out of a machine. I can guarantee Coca Cola is making a profit in Thailand, as is the restaurant who owns the machine. Some people in Canada are laughing all the way to the bank!!!

I did not buy any Christmas gifts this year as a protest to the commercialization of Christmas, but I did buy Thavorn 2 pairs of Converse shoes today, that we had been trying to find in Thavorn's size (5) for the past couple of weeks. Thavorn now owns the coveted Triad of Converse shoes that every Thai girl under 35 wants to have.

The triad consists of red, black, and white high tops

Sveta, my Russian friend is staying on at our place until December 28th when she will fly back to Malaysia. She seems to be enjoying her time in Bangkok and joined us for our post gym lunch at McDonald's. She had not eaten at MacDonald's in 2 years and thought the prices in Thailand were higher than she remembered in Malaysia so I decided to fact check it at the McDonald's Hamburger Index on the internet

and sure enough, Malaysia's McDonald's prices are the second lowest in the world and cheaper than Thailand. The McDonald's Hamburger Index is an excellent method of judging how expensive a country is to travel within.

TTYL

Christmas Day

Today's song is: Hotel California  .. Eagles

Every seven years, Christmas falls on a Sunday which used to be a traditional day of rest in Christian societies. That changed many years ago in Canada coinciding with stores being open on Sundays.  In Thailand, a Buddhist country, Christmas falling on a Sunday, means the stores ramp up even more for Christmas sales. I don't think the average Thai buys a present for their significant other, but they may take advantage of the sales to buy something for themselves.

Pope Francis chimed in today stating that materialism has taken over Christmas. I am not sure where he has been the past 20 years but it should not have been a revelation to him. Christmas, and the associated boxing day sales is the biggest shopping period of the year, with Black Friday being the warm up.

So what is Christmas all about. In Thailand, it seems to be the warm up for New Years. In North America it is all about presents and perhaps, getting together with family, unfortunately, where the major topic of conversation seems to be. 'What did you get for Christmas?'. Sad, really.

Christianity is really about community and family and that is why traditionally, Christians got together to celebrate the life and death of Jesus. They often got together, despite being hunted down and persecuted, making getting together in a group, rather dangerous. Muslems, pride themselves on praying five times a day, but this is often done in seclusion, except when their schedule permits them to get to their local mosque.

I consider Christmas as a time for reflection on how you live your life in relation to the teachings of the new gospel especially in relation to friends and family. Maybe we should consider it a precursor to your New Year resolutions which often fail to last the month of January. However, don't beat yourself up on your failings, because it is so easy to fail when caught up in such a materialistic society.

Of course it is easy for me to say because I have divested myself of 4 cars, a house, and 2 motorcycles, plus a houseful of things I thought I needed, but not needed. Everything I own except for my 55 inch 4K television fits in 2 suitcases and I can sincerely say I am very, very happy. The television is used mostly by jaidan who watches educational videos on YouTube. It freed up my 32 inch Curved Samsung monitor so I can write my blog and complete my programming tasks more efficiently.

I used to think that the boy who died with the most toys won  .. but now realize, you can't take those same toys with you .. consider them baggage on the journey of life  ..

TTYL

Merry Christmas

Today's song is: 50 Beautiful Christmas songs

It is Christmas Eve here in Bangkok so I will wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Christmas is very low key for us here in Bangkok. We do not exchange or buy gifts. We will wish each other a Merry Christmas and will not be hitting the bars tonight because we were out last night. The bars will have some drink specials and the ladies will be wearing reindeer antlers or Santa hats, but that is about it.

Here are some pics of the Christmas tree in our building.:

Christmas in Bangkok is a stark contrast to my Christmas's in Ottawa where our family spent well over a thousand dollars on gifts and always seemed to be travelling to some place to celebrate. Now my travel will be by Skype as we connect up to my sister Ann's internet in the wilds of Quebec and share a video conference with my other children, Jaime and Jordan.

I will try to convince Sveta, my visiting Russian friend, to head out for some fun in the bars

Take care and enjoy the holiday season  .. It is really about friends and family  ..

TTYL

My Russian Friend

Today's song is: Rasputin  .. Nitecore

My Russian friend decided to quit her job in Malaysia and look for something else. Of course without a work permit and a job, she triggers the 30 day visa limit for Russians and had to go on a visa run to a nearby country to get another 30 day visitor's visa when she travels back to Malaysia.  Canadians, being the stalwart tourists that they are get allocated 90 days, not that I would want to spend 90 days in Malaysia.

She arrived in Don Muang airport at about 8pm on on Wednesday night and I met her on arrival and decided to test my theory that the A1 bus to the Mo Chit BTS transit station is much cheaper and faster than taking a taxi downtown.  I was correct. It is about 1/4 the cost and at least half the transit time, and the MRT/BTS will drop you right at Soi Cowboy so what is not to like?

We decided to take a taxi from Cowboy to my apartment so she could meet Jaidan before he fell asleep but after a brief hello and a nice gift for each of us (Ferarri toy car for Jaidan, perfume for Thavorn, and a bottle of red wine for me) we headed off for an orientation walk to Crazy Girls (Soi 22) and Soi Cowboy, Crazy House and Doll House. When midnight arrived we decided to walk back to the apartment and catch some zzzzz's.

The next morning Sveta headed off to Emporium after a great feed of pork, veggies, and rice and spent the day walking around the mall and the neighborhood. That night, Thursday we headed back to Cowboy, Crazy House and Country Road and then down to Nana and Hillary 2 where we lasted until about 2 am and walked back as far as the Holiday Inn before wimping out and taking motorcycle taxis back home.

Today, Friday was more of the same for breakfast and then Sveta wanted to go to terminal 21 for a look see and was back at 7 pm as she offered to babysit Jaidan, who seems to like her a lot and give Thavorn and I a chance to go see our first movie in a theater in a year. We may stop by Country Road on the way home for a beer.

All in all, it's great to see Sveta as it has been 5 years since I last saw her. She has not changed at all so time has been kind to her.

Pics follow:

Sveta and Thavorn enjoying Thavorn's cooking

 Jaidan and his new friend Sveta

Sveta and her new Thai friend at Hillary 2

TTYL

3 Bears

Today's song is: Let it Snow  .. Buble

Today was a gym day and I always watch CNN when I am on the treadmill and much of the talk was on Aleppo.My thoughts drifted off to a version of 3 bears  ...

Russia can be depicted by a grizzly bear. Definitely formidable and is wont to mark out its territory by scratching at trees and pissing around. China can be characterized as a Panda Bear. It appears cute and harmless but Panda Bears are bears first and foremost and our dangerous as such.

Then there is Pooh Bear that happy go lucky bear who sees the world as full of milk and honey and no matter what, things will be good. We will will call this bear Obama Bear and during Obama Bear's time in the White House, the grizzly and panda bears have been thumping their breast and taking advantage of Obama Bear's milk and honey approach to the world. Whether Obama bear was drawing red lines in the Syrian sand or bending over backwards to Iranian hardliners, the world has changed.

There is a new bear in town and I have a feeling that this new bear will be a Polar bear and will be able to take a stand against grizzly and panda. Time will tell, and time will forget that Obama bear's red line in the sand paved the way for the tragedy that is unfolding in Aleppo. Pooh Bear gets his legacy.

The weather outside is frightful  .. definitely applies to my hometown of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, which along with most of the North Eastern part of North America is experiencing snow, sleet, and rain in vast quantities this past week. I must admit I don't miss it one bit, but when Thavorn and I were discussing when to visit Canada, January of 2018 popped up as a good time. I thought, why go in July and August when the weather is just Bangkok in December and January. It would be better for Thavorn and Jaidan to experience snow, frozen rivers and lakes, and cold.  Surprisingly, she agreed.

Meanwhile, the bars are gearing up for Christmas and New Year's parties so I should have some good experiences to share wit you in the coming 10 days.

TTYL

Off the Chart

Today's song is: Nights in White Satin  .. Moody Blues

Jaidan continues to grow in height and weight. I am afraid when we send him off to school they will ask why our 4 year boy is going to school so late?  Here is the Canadian growth chart with Jaidan with Jaidan plotted at 2 years 6 months although he is only 2 years 4 months. He is off the chart in both height and weight, but especially weight, although he is not fat but muscled for a little guy.

As I said, quite muscled .. here he is lifting six 1.5 liter bottles of water

I mentioned before that Bangkok is finally getting into the Christmas festive season and many of the shopping malls are decorating. Terminal 21 always does a great job. Here are some pics of Jaidan inspecting the Christmas tree ornaments outside Terminal 21.

Of course Jaidan would not be my child if he did not love anything tech. Here he is watching an educational cartoon on his cheapo smart phone. 

The weather today is great, 24 degrees all day long, and the aircon is off for the first time in 6 months. Our apartment is a corner unit so we get a great cross breeze when we can finally open the windows.

I continue to enjoy my gym but I have cut back to every second day now that I am approaching my goals (90 kilos, bench press of 255 lbs, 3.2 kilos in 15 mins). My weight at first dipped, but then I have added quite a bit of muscle lately and that has pushed my weight up.

Tonight is Friday night but seeing it was a gym day, I think we will go out on Saturday to play some pool and have a beer or 2 at Country Road on Soi Cowboy.

TTYL

Too Much to Drink

Today's song is: Like a Rolling Stone  .. Dylan  .. Nobel Literary Prize 2016

This was one of his last performances with 'The Band' who are perhaps best backup band ever!

Yesterday I headed off to Hillary 4 on Nana (Soi 4) and had a few drinks (about 2 pm) and then strolled down Sukhumvit to Soi Cowboy where I played some pool while waiting for Thavorn and Jaidan to arrive.  Country Road bar is very Jaidan friendly as most of the girls and waitresses know him. We go there to socialize and play pool. Jaidan is content to play at the empty tables, dropping down cue balls and tuning to the far end to collect them. When not doing that, he is content to watch kid's videos on YouTube.  When the band starts playing at 6 pm we move into the bar area and listen for 30 mins to an hour and then head off home.

What made this outing different was that there was a group of 4 Thais (2 boys and 2 girls) who were playing pool a couple of tables over. One of the young girls was completely blasted and could not make it to the toilet without stumbling around, falling, and having to be carried into the toilet to talk to the great white telephone. She repeated this 3 times in the next 90 minutes before being carried out of the place and deposited into a taxi with her friends.

I asked Dum, who is the pool lady, we often play pool with, what the occasion was. She said the girl does this once a month when her out of country farang boy friend sends her monthly allowance. She blows a huge chunk of it entertaining her Thai BF and their friends. Thai girls do not handle their liquor well and often drink to success. Thai bars have no compunction on selling them alcohol until they drop, unlike western countries where it is illegal to do so.

If you are a part-timer in Thailand and sending your Thai GF money, I can almost guarantee you that it is not being used for what you think. You also may be one of a few farangs who are sending the same girl her monthly allowance. One Thai girl I know, who now owns her own bar, had 4 farangs on the hook at the same time. A sure waning sign is the girl's unavailability to see you immediately or all the time when you visit the LOS.

Unless you are married to a Thai girl you should consider yourself  renting the young lady. You may not be the only person renting her, not unlike dating a western lady when she is playing the field. For some reason farangs just get a little stupid when it comes to renting their Thai ladies.  The usual rate seems to be about 30,000 baht which is over $1,000 a month. How many of these same men would give their western GF's the same allowance. No wonder we are nicknamed walking ATM's.

TTYL

Visit Bangkok

Today's song is: Stairway to Heaven .. Led Zeppelin

The best time to visit Bangkok is now. The weather in Dec, Jan, and February is next to perfect. Although hot during the daytime with highs of 32, there is very little humidity so it is quite livable. The weather at night is perfect with lows around 23 degrees. You can put away your umbrellas for the next 3 months!

It is nighttime when Bangkok comes alive and with temperatures in the low twenties you do not have to worry about working up a sweat and arriving dripping with perspiration at your preferred entertainment venue. During the rainy season Bangkok is often referred to as sauna hell by visiting farangs who are not acclimatized to hot and sticky.

Lifers, like myself, do get acclimatized. It is important to hydrate, with at least 2 liters of water a day, or you will feel a little bit sick and light headed. Now that I go to the gym frequently, I have to add at least a liter on my workout days.  Alcohol and coffee will only make hydration more important so do drink water frequently throughout the day. The good news is that water and soft drinks are very inexpensive.  A bottle of water can be had for 10 baht just about anywhere in Bangkok and a soft drink that sells for $2.50 in Canada sells for 18 baht (about $.55) at 7/11.

New Years is a big holiday for most Thais and the girls working the bars will try to be back home for the 1st of January. That means the best time to hit the bars is the last week in December and from January 5th onwards.  Many visiting punters do not take holidays into account.

The Christmas decorations are starting to appear, although quite a bit late due to the King's death. Christmas buffets at major hotels are very inexpensive at about 1,500 baht ($50) and offer free flow beer and wine which makes them a great deal.

Bangkok (City of Angels) remains the most fun city in the world and if you can't find some kind of fun here, there is something seriously wrong with you, so lighten up, and explore the wild side of life  :-)

TTYL

Saving Face

Today's song is: Satisfaction .. Stones

A tragic, but not uncommon event occurred on the soi I live on this week.  The Marriott hotel has been under renovations for the past 2 years and is due to reopen very soon. A couple, whom I will consider to be hiso because they owned a car had an argument over whether or not the woman had a new BF. The argument continued out to the car where the man doused the woman with BBQ starter fluid while she was in the car and set her ablaze. The man ended up in flames as well as the auto which ended up toast.

Thais would appear to have very volatile tempers especially when they lose face. I have had many discussions with Thai females who don't get upset at their butterfly husbands and BF's as long as they are discrete and don't play around in the home ball park.

I decided to research the concept of face to understand why it is so important. This site has some great, easy to understand information. Here is a quote that sums it up.

'It is important to remember that many Chinese see themselves as seamlessly integrated with a wide range of other people, including their schoolmates, co-workers, and extended family, as well as their social, professional, and friendship networks.

Since Americans don't have this same strong sense of integration with an extensive community, the concept of Face is based on a kind of relationship between people that is literally foreign to us.

By explaining Face as shame, embarrassment, or loss of honor we are individualizing and personalizing the concept in a very American way, which prevents us from truly understanding it the Chinese way. An individual's loss of Face can unravel the complicated, carefully woven fabric of social relationships, what the Chinese call Guanxi, upon which every person's success in society depends.

One of the most damaging reputations any person can have in a Chinese community is to be called bu gei mianzi, which means one who does not care enough to give Face. Such a person can easily offend others because he appears not to care about their Face. This description, unfortunately, is most frequently applied to foreigners who don't know any better. Conversely, a person who is proficient in the art of Giving Face not only enhances his own Face, but also ensures the most effective possible professional and personal relations with others.

Losing Face is much more intense than suffering embarrassment or shame. In extreme cases it can be like losing all the senses, or losing one's place in life. Complete loss of Face is like full exile - you become a non-person, even to family and close friends. You can't speak or be spoken to. You can't be heard or seen. You are just not present.'

When I reflect on it, it is not much different than the principles I applied when disciplining a high school student in my classroom. Ridicule in front of classmates was not a good thing! You usually got a lot farther, faster by asking the student to step outside the classroom for a moment and talk to them outside. That left the student lots of room to save face by bullshitting what was discussed when asked by other students after class. Not in the ball park applied there as well.

The Thai concept of face applies to both hiso and loso and all age levels.  Many farangs just don't get it and will loudly argue with a Thai person which will invariably attract a crowd and result in the Thai person losing face. Not a winning strategy. You must look for a win/win outcome and will not score points with the locals unless you do.

A perfect example of this was last Songkran when I purchased a watergun from a mom/pop store on my soi. I immediately discovered that it was defective and went back and asked for a new one which is what one would do in farangland. Not so in Thailand. The proprietor said I would have to buy a new one. His thinking was he had purchased 50 units and was counting on making 100 baht per unit for a total 5,000 baht profit. I tried to reason with him that he would have to bite the bullet on this one and end up with a profit of 4,900 baht which went right over his head.

Needless to say, the farang in me was getting a little steamed but I realized a crowd was gathering (farang/Thai discussions always draw a crowd). I suggested that perhaps if I paid his cost then he could supply me with a new unit. He was not happy with this but it allowed him to save face and I chalked it up to Thai business practices (Thai not go moon).

When living in a foreign country you should learn to adapt  ..

TTYL

Neverland

Today's song is: I do Believe in Fairies

Many of the male tourists that visit Thailand fall into the category of Peter Pan. They regret growing older and never want to truly grow up. I must admit I subscribe to that aspiration as well. Growing older basically sucks. The only thing that comes with age is wisdom and that can easily be lost after a couple of vodkas and RedBulls. It is amazing how consuming great quantities of alcohol seems like a good idea at the time  .. Next day, not so much ..

However, alcohol does tend to take you back in time. I have seen many farangs, especially women, out for a good time in Bangkok reliving their youth as they hit the dance floor to tunes of their teens. I think, wow, terrific, why can't everyone be like this. I think, that is part of the magic of Bangkok, it is a sort of wonderland. Unlike the Stones song, 'You can always get what you want  .. but their may be a price to pay :-) or maybe not  :-) :-) :-)

Today's reflection came about because I discovered 2 young Thai girls working in a gogo bar as Coyote dancers who struck me as living their dream. They are only 18 years of age so I will not mention the name of the bar or their names but perhaps I will call them TweedleDum and TweedleDee. They are obviously working illegally and did not know each other before arriving in Bangkok about a month ago. I asked the mamasan if they were agency girls and she said no, they just showed up looking for work one week.

What makes these girls unique? They are part of the internet generation and want to take advantage of their good looks, great bodies, fun personalities and terrific dancing. In short, they enjoy themselves in their line of work. They have no babies or boyfriends but I have no doubt they are contributing money back home to mamma and poppa but I doubt that will be an onerous task for them as they will be in high demand.  They are definitely not GFE types but would be a hoot for a night or weekend.

TweedleDum has the most engaging personality and smile but TweedleDee is the very image of a real life Tinkerbell. I shit you not. To refresh your memory of Tinkerbell  ..

This is how you probably remember her  ..

But in a land, far away ...

However, there is one caveat to Wonderland  .. 

in the immortal words of Peter Pan  .. 

beware the last line  ..

Maybe I can convince TweedleDee to let me take a photo of her that I can share .. no promises :-)

TTYL

Internet Access

Today's song is: You Can't Always Get What You Want  .. Stones

The search for internet access is finally over  .. I think  .. and you can get what you need  :-)

The major players in the mobile Thai space are True and AIS with Dtac in third spot. I was originally with True which was great in the village but not so great in Bangkok when it came to the internet rush hours of 5 pm on wards and the weekend. It was often very slow as True's capacity was oversold. I then moved to AIS and I found it to be very stable and fast in both the village and Bangkok at all times of the day.

The only problem I have with AIS is that there is a download cap of 75 gigs which is very easy for me to go above because of Windows 10 ongoing upgrades and any sort of video watching for a couple of hours a day.

So about October 1st I started the search for a landline connection of some sort with fibre being the preferred medium. The major players in this area are TOT (the government telephone company), True, AIS, and 3BB. I started off working through the building management team as they speak Thai but I quickly decided that this was moving at a snail's pace so I researched online.  True seemed to have the greatest coverage but trying to get an answer out of them was nigh impossible. Ditto for TOT.

Then, one day while walking down Soi 22 I noticed that 3BB was stringing fibre and I went online to their site and started talking to a sales rep via LINE (the Asian WhatsApp) and after a couple of days it appears I could have either vdsl (advanced adsl, via telephone line) or fibre, if I could get the building management to agree to a hole being drilled in the wall of the building, which they agreed to because we are such wonderful tenants (actually they all love Jaidan).

So quiet when he is sleeping  ..

The 3BB team showed up today (on Sunday) and Thavorn signed the contract as she only needs to pay a month in advance, whereas your truly, farang needs to pay 6 months in advance.  The cost was a 3,000 deposit on the optical modem/router, and 1200 baht a month for 200/50 download/upload speeds and short pings. Now before we get too excited, those are speeds in Thailand and if I want to access anything outside of Thailand then the network traffic goes through one of 2 gateways which have government filters and sniffers on them which slows everything down, but at least it will be more stable and quicker than what I currently have, without a download cap.

Apparently True throttles some internet traffic such as voip and torrents so it was good that I did not go with them, although they have the second route out of Thailand, but who knows what capacity it has compared to the TOT (government telephone) exit gateway route.

The end result is I will keep my mobile plan for when I am out and about or in the village, as well as a backup for my business needs if I lose the landline. All my computers and virtual machines, my voip, and my smart TV will use the 3BB fibre connection.

The total cost is 1,800 (mobile AIS) + 1,200 (3BB fibre) or 3,000 baht, or about $110 CDN which is still cheaper than a mobile data plan and cable access in Canada, which would be about $150, last time I looked.

Getting things done in Thailand is so much easier when Thavorn is involved because the level of English that is understood and spoken by the average Thai person is really bad.  Thavorn's English is much better and of course her Thai is excellent!

TTYL