Today's song is: With a Little help from my Friends .. Woodstock 69
A few posts ago I mentioned I had purchased a Mix Android TV IPTV device and I am quite happy with it except for 1 problem. Jaidan watched me manipulate the remote control for a few days and then one morning got up and started using the device to watch children's shows from the US, watch YouTube videos, and download and play some of his games.
I already knew that he had mastered my smart phone but I thought he would have trouble adjusting to what amount to a wireless keyboard and a wireless 3D mouse that works on a 3D gyro in space. He is actually better at it than me. Now, I am not sure if the technology is that easy to use or if Jaidan is just really smart. I guess I will discover that over time.
I, myself, am enjoying watching Canadian news channels rather than CNN and Fox news, although I still watch them as I find their alternate views amusing at time. I am also watch March madness and enjoying it. The device is actually saving me quite a bit of money a I stay home more often, rather than going out to a bar to catch sports online.
However, I am spoiled with my internet speeds of 200 mbs down and 100 mbs up, with no cap, all for 1200 baht or about $50 at today's rate which is:
My buddy John traveled to Fon's village and got married Thai style. Friends came from as far as Tokyo to attend and it was lots of fun. The village was located 2 hours out of Udon Thani so all the farangs flew into Udon Thani International airport and were transported by a 12 passenger van provided by John. Some pics:
The out of town visitors
Jaidan is somewhere .. Arthur just to the left
Parading through the streets of the village
We are getting close to Songkran and Thavorn will soon go to pickup up her two older children in the village and bring them to Bangkok for about a month. It makes for a crowded apartment but it is good for them and us, especially Jaidan who likes to rough house with them.
Songkran is a crazy time in Thailand and if you plan to visit Thailand, it is good to experience Songkran if you can fit it in. Definitely a crazy time.
I read an interesting article today about why Thai women are spending lots of money and indeed pain to get a whiter butt. Now it is often true that a Thai women's butt is often quite a bit darker than her face, arms and legs. Some of this is heredity and part is due to the off the shelf whitening products that Thai women are addicted to. Blacks have a different issue in that the palms and soles are much lighter that the rest of their skin.
Buying sun tan lotion is Thailand to aid in getting a nice tan is a waste of time. The reason is the high SPF rating as well as the fact that the product almost always contains whitening agents! The reason Thai women and some Thai men use these products is because HiSo Thais are almost always light skinned and LoSo Thais are invariably darker because they work outdoors and can not afford the whitening products. The famous Isaan girls that farangs like are always darker skinned and no HiSo Thai male would be seen with them.
When you watch Thai television, the news people and the soap stars are always white skinned and mostly Thai Chinese. Most of these folks would also have had a nose job. The only place you see dark skinned Thais are as comedians to be laughed at.
Is there white privilege in Thailand? You bet, but the HiSo Thais just view it as the way society should be and the regular Thais just get on with business earning their 300 baht a day.
However, back in the great white north (Canada), I am not so sure White Privilege exists. It it does, tell that to the young white male trying to get into the police force or a career as a fire fighter. They are butting their heads up against a quota system based on gender and identifiable minorities. Of course this quota system exists for other careers such as trying to get into a Faculty of Medicine and having x spots reserved for minorities.
Maybe White Privilege did exist but watching Canadian Parliament on my new IPTV system it appears that Parliament may be over represented by minorities, partially due to our riding system and the fact that minorities seem to all want to live together in the same area.
White Male Privilege is even worse IMHO as universities approach 70% female enrollment. The K-12 educational system is over represented with females and the end result of that is now playing out in society. In particular how males are portrayed on television as fools and idiots really bothers me. One particular example is the 4 males drinking beers and eating snack food, can't seem to locate the remote to turn the TV on, and the female (nicely represented as a minority) walks into the room, locates the remote and walks off smugly. If this add was reversed there would be outrage.
Randall Denley wrote an interesting article in the Ottawa Citizen in 2016
Here is an excerpt from it: White privilege is generally defined as special advantages given to people simply because they are white. Whites help other whites, the story goes, keeping others on the fringes. Yes, people can point to black, East Indian or Chinese people who have succeeded in pretty much every area of Canadian society, but look how many more good jobs and powerful positions are held by white people. It’s not surprising that white people would dominate many spheres of activity in Canada. They make up about 80 per cent of the population and their families have typically been here far longer than those of immigrants from non-white parts of the world. Among G8 countries, Canada has by far the largest percentage of its population born elsewhere, at 20.6 per cent. If the big priority for white people was maintaining their supposed white privilege, why would Canada be admitting so many non-white immigrants? And why would we have federal laws encouraging employment of visible minorities and human rights commissions to help protect them? In Canada, we even fuss because the top people at our spy agency are not sufficiently diverse
In Thailand, non Thai people of all colors and races are discriminated against but Bangkok is the number 1 tourist destination in the world as is the country. I guess the phrase, 'Would you like some racism with your vacation?' seems appropriate. It does not seem to staunch the flow of tourists. I don't object to being a farang .. after all, it is not my country, I merely live here and accept it for what it is.
Today's song is: One Night in Bangkok .. Is getting more expensive ..
While the price of beer, and bar girls is going up, the western currencies to Baht conversion rates are falling. I have been coming to Thailand for 12 years and the Baht has appreciated significantly during that period of time. Another way of looking at it is the Canadian dollar is tanking, especially under the leadership of Justin Trudope.
Here is the currency chart over the past 10 years.
During this time period the Baht has dropped to 23.8 from a high of 33.4
If I compare the chart to the US to Thai baht we can discover if the Baht is appreciating against the US$ and also decide how much of it is due to the Canadian dollar tanking and how much is due to the Baht appreciating.
We can see that during the same time frame, the US$ was buying 36.5 baht at its peak and is now buying 31.2 for a difference of 4.3 baht.
In contrast, the CDN dollar went from 33.4 to 23.8 for a difference of 9.6 Baht.
It appears approximately 4% is due to Baht appreciation and 5% is due to the Canadian dollar tanking.
It would appear that Thailand is no longer the bargain that it used to be, but then again, neither is Florida for Canadian expats. Now, the interesting observation would be, "Is the average Thai person better off with the stronger Thai Baht. I just don't see that on the street.
Time to check the McDonald's Hamburger Index.
In this graphic we can see that over the 10 years a Hamburger has gone from being about 42% cheaper to about 28% cheaper and is still a bargain for Canadians albeit not as big a bargain. It also means the Thai person on the street is worse off if they are eating at McD's.
I suggest that if you are thing about visiting Thailand, I suggest you do so sooner than later.
I have a 2 rules about buying lady drinks for bar girls. Rule one is they must make me laugh and enter into a conversation. Rule 2 is, the next time I see them they must remember my name, or laugh or not, no lady drink. Hence, the reason I chose this song .. and if you like Rhianna .. I do ..
I am spoiled in Bangkok when it comes to my internet connection. I subscribe to #BB's fibre:
Yes, that is correct! Unlimited download at 200 mbs down and 100 mbs up for 1200 baht or about $45 CDN. Makes you wonder why Canada can't do the same. Bell, Rogers, et al argue it is because they have to provide service in the netherlands, which is the same argument that Air Canada uses. However in Thailand, I still get 20 mbs down and 10 mbs up in Thavorn's remote village, and Nok Air and Air Asia both fly to remote cities (size of towns) for under 1,000 baht.
Regardless, Canada does offer plans that will enable you to cut the cable cord and save you $100 a month while giving you thousands of channels from around the world, anywhere in the world. In order to do this, you need some sort of box. Apple has Apple TV but locks you into the iStore as usual. The best choice is too embrace Google's free android system as it is free and the content is not locked down, however it is a shady area in legal terms.
The problem is there are many android boxes to choose from. I did the research and I believe the Minix 9U-H is the best bang for the buck and future proof for about 3 years (4K streaming).
It cost me 5,500 baht in Thailand and it included 2 remotes, the standard one plus the A3 which makes it easily controllable from across the room. The A3 features a gyro pointer plus a full qwerty keyboard on the reverse side. This is very important as large TV screens do not have touch screens and you would not want to go to the screen to control the output every time you wanted to change something. The Thai store also loaded 4 streaming packages that enable me to view just about anything and I wanted to watch March Madness at home.
The other advantage to choosing an android box is that it means you can buy yourself a dumb TV rather than a smart TV which easily save you more money than the box cost you. Also, only 2 companies offer the android OS, Sony and Sharp. This OS lets you download most packages from the Play Store. Pretty well every Play Store package runs.
There are streaming packages that you pay a subscription for which means there is a cash flow to the company that enables it to run more servers and more powerful servers accessing more bandwidth. I like Simply-TV (https://www.simply-tv.com/) for $20 a month and it has clients for android boxes, android and iPhone smartphones and tablets as well as Windows and Apple computers. You are permitted 3 devices. They have a 3 day free trial that I am currently using.
I am also using the free packages that were installed on my android box and they are working well for me.
Regardless, you should probably also installed a VPN to hide you identity because of the grey nature of streaming services. There are free and paid versions. I am currently not using one as I really can't see a company going after thousands of individual consumers of their content. They are more likely to go after the companies or people streaming the content.
In order to use a box and streaming services you just nee an internet connection that gives you 10 mbs down. In Canada both Bell and Rogers offer this but it is cheaper to go with a third party such as TekSavvy (https://teksavvy.com/) who buy bandwidth from Bell and Rogers in huge quantities and resell it back to consumers at a cheaper rate than Bell or Rogers as they do not have thousands of people hired trying to sell you plans and packages that you do not need.
So, jump into the future and cut the cord and if you have yet to ditch your phone landline then so so immediately. By cutting the cord and ditching your TV package and landline you can save yourself a couple of hundred dollars a month and get more content at the same time.
April signals the end of High Season and brings with it SongKran, the annual water festival and the beginnings of the hot and humid rainy season. Today is March 13 and it has been an interesting high season, mainly due to the high numbers of Asian tourists, Indians, Koreans, Japanese, and lots of Chinese. I have a suspicion that high season may last a bit longer this year.
My buddy Shaun has a new teaching gig in Thailand and is looking forward to teaching some new topics such as a Math AP, starting up a weight lifting club, and embracing Thai life to the fullest. Shaun is entering this new phase of his life with a new hairdo, a buzz #1. I never realized he had blue eyes as hi hair always drew your eyes. I think it is a good look for him and definitely a lot cooler in the tropics.
I am managing to get out one night a week with a buddy or two but I am looking forward to April when Thavorn's 2 older children Tai and Dun arrive for a month during their school holidays. Thavorn and I then get to go out together as we have baby sitters to look after Jaidan. Thavorn, besides being my wife, is my best buddy :-) Tai and Dun look forward to visiting Bangkok and getting out of the dusty, boring village.
Thavorn, Jaidan, and I are also gearing up for our visit to Udon Thani and John and Fon's wedding in Fon's village. King Arthur is also coming and is very interested in visiting a village and seeing, firsthand where all the bar girls come from. I just hope he behaves himself in the village :-)
We just returned from Villa Market which first opened in 1974. The draw at Villa market is they carry a wide range of imported good such as Cheetos, Planters Salted Peanuts and many other of my favorites. Their prices are actually quite good especially when the Cheetos are on sale :-) We also bought some pork rind treats that Jaidan loves to wolf down.
Speaking of food, it is time to get serious about eating less as I seem to be gaining around the stomach. More walking I guess is in order. lately, I have just been jumping on a motorcycle taxi. I think that has been the difference.
Congratulations to the Carleton Mens and Womens basketball teams with the Womens team winning the gold and the Mens team the bronze, which is the reverse of what happened March 2017. What a dynasty in the making!
My friend Arthur and I decided to take a break from Soi Cowboy and decided to spend a night in Nana Plaza visiting bars we have never gone in before, which is not hard to do as their must be 30 bars in the Plaza.
We started off in Mandarin on the second floor and discovered that it is a three level bar and is a fair size with friendly girls, but quite young which some punters may like but they often have the intellect of a table. Not their fault, but a Thai girl of 20 years recently arrived from the village to seek her fortune in the bars just does not have much in the ways of the world to offer up in conversation. What they do have to offer is a keenness to please and an opportunistic outlook life. Arthur and I chatted up a couple, bought a few lady drinks and moved on to Twisters.
Now Twisters in not a new bar to us but we always enjoyed it so we stopped in and bought a lady drink for one of my waitress friends and then moved on to Rainbow 4 which is a huge GoGo bar featuring at least 50 dancers. They dance in 2 shifts, One shift features topless girls in g strings and other shift is bras and panties. We bought a few lady drinks and inquired why the two shifts. It seems the second shift features the modest girls whereas the first shift are chosen for their breast assortment and sizes, many with silicone enhancements. Definitely the best boo show in Bangkok. It seems the topless girls get paid more, which indeed they need, as the price of silicone enhancement is up to 70,000 baht for under arm insertion.
Rainbow 4 was packed with Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese. The Asian invasion is taking over the red light districts in the Big Mango. It appears they have lots of money to spend as price of short term (2 hours, one shot) is now 3,000 baht and long term (all night, 2 or more shots) is now 6,000 baht. When I first arrived in Bangkok in 2010, the rates were 1,500 and 3,000, so they have doubled in 8 years. I believe the internet and the Asian invasion are responsible for the inflation. The internet and smart phones have made the girls much more savvy and they know what they are worth, and the Asians have much shorter flights to get to Thailand, and can come (no pun intended) more often and they stay a shorter period of time and therefore have more money to send on entertainment.
I am also noticing that the GoGo girls are much younger, mostly in their early 20's, often without babies back in the village to support. They are in the business to make lots of money and some of them are getting bar fined 3 times a night, making 10,000 baht a night which probably gives them an income of well over 100,000 baht a month compared to a university graduate making 20,000 baht a month.
This means the older ladies can't compete in the GoGo's and are moving into the beer bars of which there are no shortages along Soi 4. Beer bars have a bar fine but the usual rates are 2,000 and 4,000 but that can be negotiated. You will also find free lancers on the street and in music bars such as Hillary 2. No bar fines and prices are negotiable.
After Rainbow 4 we moved onto Angel Witch which has awesome shows and many pretty girls. The shows are a welcome change from the pole shuffle in Rainbow 4. Unfortunately, there was an idiot farang playing the big time spender, throwing crumpled up 20 baht notes (about 70 cents) at the girls. They were diving for them which I felt was demeaning. I have come across this behavior a couple of times and it is just bad! However, he eventually ran out of bills and Angel Witch has a nice vibe as well as some older girls with real personalities and fun personalities. It I open a GoGo bar, I would populate it with 25 - 35 year ladies who can make you laugh and speak enough English to carry on a conversation.
Speaking of conversation, the second question you get after 'what is your name' is, 'where are you from'? Arthur and I bounce back and forth between coming clean and stating we live in Bangkok, to saying Canada or the US and stating that we are in BKK for a week's holiday. It is always fun to play the player as you get treated very differently depending on how you answer.
It was a good night and we each spent about $100 for a night's entertainment. We called it quits about 1 am as we had imbibed enough alcohol to start thinking about bad decisions. Time to head home.
