Today's song is: Long, Long Way Home ... Foreigner
Working in a rural Thai village is unique. In some senses it is way better than Canada. I just ran a speed test on the internet speed that Thavorn buys for 800 baht a month. Here are the results:
Remember that Thailand is a developing country whereas Canada is a developed country and Trudope promised cheaper internet to get reelected. We are getting hosed in Canada. BTW, we have fibre to the hut!
However my work space in the hut is not ideal.
It is either air conned, mosquito and fly free or outside in the sahe with flies and mosquitoes all over me. Mosquitoes mostly at dawn and dusk. I am asleep by 9PM.
However, outside offers a better viewing envronment.
Our recent land acquisition
Meanwhile back in Bangkok the government makes it plain they don't care about the their citizens as much as offending Chine tourist dollars.
Our departure back to Bangkok is now pushed back to Wednesday February 5th.
Four more days of mosquitoes and flies.
Meanwhile back in the hut I spent 3 hours cleaning the dust and cob webs out of the internet modem and the 55 inch TV which was over heating. Village folks do not know how to look after consumer items or are just too lazy! Easy come easy go. I have warned them that nothing will be bought twice if not looked after. The fridge is filthy, last time cleaned by me a year ago.
1. Stay in the village for 10 more days and die of boredom
2. Go back to Bangkok and perhaps die of the Corona Virus
Tough decision but I have 2 more days of tracking the news which does not look all that promising. Apparently Thailand's tourist areas of Bangkok and Phuket loaded up with tourists from Wuhan during January and we are hearing nothing about any of them being ill or quarantined. I suspect, if they are getting sick, the government is suppressing the news so Thailand's tourist numbers don't suffer.
I also don't know how these Chinese tourists are going to get back into China because few airlines are flying in or out of China at this moment. Mr Smilely Face is much like my Canadian PM, Trudope and is pretending there is nothing to worry about.
Time will tell and that is why I waiting to make a decision. My extraction choices are:
1. I will fly back to Canada asap and Thavorn and Jaidan will follow March 2nd.
2. We all fly back asap.
Choice #2 means we eat Thavorn's and Jaidan's return flights to Phuket so she can say goodbye to her sister and Daughter. We would also have to pay some $$$ to change our 3 one way tickets to Ottawa.
Choice #1 gets me out of the country and covered by my Canadian health coverage. Jaidan and Thavorn are both Thai and are covered by the Thai health plan. They would have to fly by themselves on March 2nd, something Thavorn is hesitant to do.
Another worry is that the virus explodes in Thailand then airlines will also refuse to fly out or into Thailand and we will be stuck here until the virus runs its course.
I do not trust the Thai or Chinese government to report real numbers as it will affect their tourism and GDP growth negatively.
To spend my time constructively, I have started to exercise and read up on new technologies in programming.
Maybe I am becoming cynical these days but I am beginning to believe that sane, rationale thinking people are in danger of becoming extinct. The headline above seems to mean the PC of the world are worried that Emotional Support Animals are being curtailed by some airlines. Pardon the language, 'Are you fucking nuts!' People that need an animal to accompany them while flying should not be flying.
I think I will get a pet skunk to see me through my next flight from Bangkok to Ottawa. At the same time I think I will take some cooked bats with me to chew on while cuddling up with skunky. The Chines must be fucking nuts as well. Eating bats is simply not cool and they all deserve to die a slow death for eating them. Ditto for eating dogs, man's first domesticated animal and man's best friend except for the one that bit me a couple of months ago.
How about dating a civilized western girl these days. On the off chance you may get lucky, 2 things to remember, always use a condom, and make sure she signs a contract that she willingly agrees to engage in the following sexual acts. The condom protects you from all kinds of nasties as well as whatever bat eaters may be carrying, and the contract saves you condemnation for the me-Too girls who may change their their mind after you just made a DNA contribution. Remember, the fact that you have a dick means you are already guilty.
Meanwhile Greta the Grinch has taken the world by storm showboating crossing the Atlantic on a very expensive racing boat. I don'y suppose what thought, if any she gave to how the person who treated Greta to the free ride made their fortune. I guarantee you, it was not carbon neutral. Meanwhile can I get their address as I would like a ride across the Atlantic free of charge. The Grinch does make the valid point that we are not moving fast enough to prevent damage that may not be reversible.
I am also getting tired of so called developing nations getting a free ride on climate change. The 1.3 Billion Indians have to do more. If they land land a space craft on the moon then they can do more. Don't get me going on the 1.4 billion chines firing up more and more coal plants every year. The price of bats, dogs, civets and cats must be going up. As much as Trump disturbs me, kudos for calling them out on just about everything.
The problem with the world is the Elites that count for 1% of the population owning and controlling 50% of the world's wealth. Nobody, I repeat nobody should be worth more than 1 billion dollars. The French had an interesting solution with the 'Off with their heads movement'. The elites will not give up their wealth willingly. It will take a world wide initiative or they will all just move to tax havens like Monaco.
I am not optimistic that politicians can solve the world problems. The number 1 goal of every politician is to get reelected and have a comfortable ride on the speakers circuit or some board of directors once done. Those goals are very short term whereas our problems require long term fixes.
Government for the people by the people has to be realized to have a chance. Trump was correct about the swamp but seems to have just replaced the swamp creatures with the same same, but different.
The airline industry needs to stop getting a free ride.
IMHO it is because the 2.7 billion Indians and Chinese are now flying in quantities. I understand they are late to the party and perhaps think the western world has flown for years and now it is our turn, but in the Bob Dylan song, 'Times are a Changing'.
I realize I am flying from BKK to Ottawa in the near future but I have spent the last 10 years, not owning a car and walking to most of my destinations.
However, I am beginning to feel like Don Quixote
Peaking of flying approximately 5,000 people flew out of Wuhan after the new corona virus surfaced. The common everyday Chinese do not fly. The elite and some of those elitists are carrying the virus. Toronto Canada has one of them now confirmed to have the virus and subsequently passed it on to his wife. He did not self report when entering the country, which our government believes people will do. I have news for our government. The elite in China (China has 1 million millionaires) by lying and cheating and taking advantage through corruption to get where they are. Where do you think all the fake Gucci bags, fake Nike, fake everything is manufactured. The conditions of their sweat shops are well documented. Don't trust the government to be truthful if it is not to their advantage.
Something else to consider. If the Chinese are dying and getting sick, we are more susceptible. From experience, their immune systems are stronger than ours. The reason for that is they live in a hostile environment, where the people do not wash their hands after a shit, never mind before cooking. They sit on the street and in elevators. They cook while rats run around their feet eating scraps. They eat all kinds of bad food that flies are perched on. There are no peanut allergies in Asia that I am aware of because their immune systems have adapted. I expect westerners will not fare as well.
Just following the flight narrative makes me laugh. Only the people sitting in the nearby seats need to be worried. You think this person did not get up and walk around in a 14 hour flight, or use washrooms in the plane, and the airport. Asia has thermal scanners in place wile Canada has self reporting. Good luck with that. There are hand scanners that the Immigration officers could easily use to scan the passengers entering Canada form China. Of course in Canada, the PC will complain of racial profiling. BTW, whenever I fly from Asia to Vancouver, over 90% of the passengers are Asians and the meals are noodles or a stir fry. I am talking Air Canada here. Hardly racial profiling to scan them for a fever. Scan everyone!
Least but not least is the Kobe worship syndrome, especially from LA and the Hollywood crowd. Despite their me-Too attitude, apparently Kobe has been forgiven for raping the 19 year old hotel maid. It is amazing what money can do to make a charge disappear.
Kobe holds some records. One of them is the most missed shots in a career. I believe Kobe would not do as well now in an era of sharing the ball and being unselfish. Kobe never saw a shot he did not like. Even Shaq is singing his praises which he certainly did not do when he did not see the ball while posting up from Kobe. Don't get me wrong, Kobe was exciting and dynamic, but he was a basketball player, not a saint. It is sad and tragic that he died because he was doing some good things, but he was a member of the elite and the elite will try to make him a saint.
This is what happens if your view differs from the elitist view.
Washington Post criticized for suspending reporter over Kobe Bryant tweets
So, why the negativity? I believe that there is very little in the world that is black and white and making things black and white polarizes the world. Most of what we encounter in life have shades of grey. Ying and Yang exist but the middle ground is where most people live. Politicians, media, and elites seldom experience the middle ground that we common folk inhabit.
Against my better judgement, I decide to book some time in the village from January 26 to Feb 3rd. Thavorn needed to say her goodbyes to Dun and Jabba as she will be gone from Thailand for 18 months. I was also a little bit curious to see if the village and Thavorn's family life had changed.
As it turns out, the only change I perceive in the 2 years I have been gone from the village is the plot of land we plot is now covered by 30 truckloads of dirt and has been surveyed to protect our interests.
Thavorn's family is as messy as ever, dust is everywhere and spider webs are the house's primary decor.
We open Jaidan's box of toys to find that Thavorn's brother had stolen half of them and his kids had broken some of the remaining toys. I really dislike Thavorn's brother and I have decided he is a worthless piece if flesh. I still remember loaning Jabba 30,000 baht to pay for his surgery after his GF's father shot him for impregnating his daughter. If I had a gun I would be tempted as well. I doubt if he will show his face for the 8 days we are there.
However, I may find it hard to stay here 6 more days. Sleeping until a mosquito net on a hard rock mattress is not my cup of tea.
Jabba continues to eat everything in sight. She is grossly fat for a reason. She eats at least 5-7 times the amount f food I eat in a day. That and absolutely no exercise may mean she has not much more time on this earth.
However, now that I think about it there is nothing to do in the village but eat and drink Thai whisky. Village Thais do not exercise as they complain it is too hot to walk. They fire up their 125 cc motorcycle to visit a friend 50 meters down the street. The other major activities of the day are gossiping in the morning and sleeping the afternoon.
The live-in boyfriend works when he can find it and starts drinking Thai whisky on Friday night and sleeps it off on Sunday.
Every morning at 5:30 am the music starts playing on the speakers around the village, followed by the head man reading the news. Followed by another 30 minutes of Thai music.
So life goes on in the village. I could not do it day in and day out, but if that is all you know then perhaps I could. No wonder the Thai elite want to keep them uneducated and poor. Only the bar girls back for a visit have a smart phone.
Some pics of the mess they jettison around the house.
I lived through Sars and it was not fun as everyday like got disrupted. Basketball tournaments were cancelled and everyone stayed home as much as possible.
This new corona virus has similarities and was incubated in China. Frankly I do not believe a word China says about the virus. Worse still, millions of Chinese are on the move within China and around the world for Chinese New Year.
It is a recipe for disaster!
Thailand already has 3 cases and I am getting a little worried. I coach at at a school with a very large Chinese population and we have a week of holidays starting this Thursday.
My major concern is not dying from the virus but spending a couple of weeks in a Thai hospital, and getting charged twice the Thai amount because I am a farang. My health insurance was good for only 93 days so I would be out of pocket for at least 500K baht.
I have decided at the first sign of a fever or cough, I will be back to Canada within 24 hours. That resets my health insurance for another 93 days. I may or may not return dependent on the date. My family and I have tickets for march 2nd and Thavorn and Jaidan would follow later dependent on dates.
IMHO this is just nature stating to the 1.4 Billion Chinese citizens that there are too many of you in too small a space. Combine their numbers with the pollution that they emit and it just scares you. Now that millions of them are air travel mobile, look out!
Today's song is: Summer of 69 .. Canadian Bryan Adams at Wembly with 79K fans
Interesting title for the song. In 1969 Bryan was 10 years old! The summer of 69 really refers to the sexual position being enjoyed during that summer, not the date.
Thailand has instituted a ban on plastic bags. Sounds like a good idea, but?
The first problem I foresee is that we use our plastic grocery bags for garbage. Now that we don't get plastic grocery bags, we will have to buy plastic garbage bags. Sounds like a zero sum game to me.
Another problem that has come up, is impulse shopping. Sometimes we are out of something and stop off at the grocery store to pick up a few items and we end up buying, yet another reusable grocery bag. Needles to say, we have quite a few of these bags, which are not cloth but some form of heavy plastic. Not well thought out.
The solution we have come up with, is to always travel with a back pack. No big deal as long as you remember you have a back pack with you and do not lose it. So far, so good. However I think there is a market for a small expandable string bag that can fit in a pocket and be used to transport the equivalent of a plastic shopping bag.
Meanwhile, the biggest problem still exists. Plastic drink bottles and straws. I am trying to buy more canned drinks, assuming the cans are getting recycled. The other big problem is plastic packaging of food items you buy at the grocery store. It is everywhere.
Jaidan continues his countdown as do mamma and poppa. We are hoping there will be snow when we arrive in Canada, but it is not looking good for Ottawa. Last trip, we had a very cool spring but this year may be different.
I continue to vacillate on how much car to lease. I think I will just end going for the best deal at the time I purchase. cars really are about getting from point A to point B, but not so much in Thailand, where they are about being a status symbol.
All these cars in Thailand have given rise to pollution in the larger cities such as Bangkok. I would compare Bangkok to Los Angeles without pollution controls on the cars. Cars last a very long time in Thailand (no rust) and if you think the pollution controls (mufflers, etc.), think again.
This is the prime time of year for tourists but it appears that tourism is down this year. I would blame the rise of the Thai baht for that, and the trade wars between China and the US which is hurting the average Chinese tourist wanting to travel. The only people benefiting from a high Thai baht are the top 1% of Thais travelling abroad and purchasing property outside of Thailand, or luxury goods imported into Thailand.
Today's song is: One Night in Bangkok .. Murray Head
As we approach 50 days, I headed out for a night out with my friend Harvey (who arrived from England the night before) and his mostly English friends. We started off at the Kiwi pub on Soi 8 for their excellent happy hour. Three hours later we headed off, by Tuk Tuk (shame, only tourists take Tuks) and arrived at Nana, a five minute walk from the Kiwi.
We started off at the Black Bar where we played some challenge pool. I lost my first game by one ball and then won my next 3, before departing off to the Nana proper. First stop was Twisters, a favorite of Harvey's and then Butterflies. The usual deal, buy some ladies drinks and chat flirtatiously. All good fun.
Then, Harvey suggested Long Gun at Soi Cowboy for more of the same. We lost Harvey's friends, casualties of bar fines but Harvey was far from done and he suggested we check out the Queen's Park bars which had relocated to Soi 7. It turns out, most of the bars had chosen new names and we strolled around trying to figure which bars were which. We settled in at Tang's new bar and I ended up playing a lot more pool while Harvey bought copious amounts of lady drinks. Harvey has a hard time saying no.
At about 3 am we headed off and were heading home when Harvey saw yet another pretty face and we sat in another bar chatting with 2 ladies and the owner discussing the bar business and how much money a pretty Thai lady requires to leave the bar. One fascinating lady, who was 29 with 5 children stated 70,000 baht would do it. She has 4 Thai kids and one Thai/farang mix. She was managing to make about that amount but admitted, to being bar fined 2 or 3 times a night some weeks. She laughed and said, not too bad, I like sex. I guess that is why she has 5 kids.
She had about 3 farangs sending her monthly cash, thinking they were exclusive. It is always interesting to get a glimpse into the inner workings of a bar girl's mind and moral compass.
Given the choice of heading home at 4:30 am or hanging around for an early breakfast I decide to catch a taxi and head home. It had turned into an expensive evening.
Harvey used to live in Bangkok, but now likes to spend his time in Hua Hin, about 3 hours from Bangkok. He spends 6 months in Thailand a year, in 2 three month stays. I will probably not see Harvey for close to 2 years.
That was probably my last big night out in the Big Mango. Go big or go small, I usually say :-)
Jaidan is enjoying crossing off the days in his calendar while learning how to count backwards from 60. Pic below: You will have to excuse the photo as my phone's camera is having a problem.
I just cleaned the lenses and it is back to normal. Sticky Jaidan fingers is what I suspect as he often uses my phone.
On another note my buddy Harvey (Brit) just flew in yesterday and is spending a night in Bangkok before relocating to Hua Hin for 3 months. I will meet him downtown for a few beers tonight. Like many expats he prefers spending time in Hua Hin or Pattaya as the air is much cleaner and the living less expensive. Bangkok is now listed as one of the top 50 most expensive cities in the world. How times have changed in a decade!
I will have to change my Bangkok saying to:, 'You can't have fun in Bangkok, if you can't afford it!' I guess that accounts for so many 'looky looks' in and around Bangkok these days.
We have a village trip in the planning for the last week in January. It is Chinese New Year so I get a break from coaching. It will also probably be the last time Thavorn sees her family (at least Mom and Dun) for 18 months. I am not sure how she will handle that. Probably better than how I will handle 18 months without Bangkok night life :-)
One of the thinks I will miss is access to a good gym. I think I will have to purchase something for when I am in Canada. Besides free weighs, this half Smith machine is what I use the most. However, they are expensive. I will definitely have to shop around.
Speaking of getting in shape and staying in shape, Thavorn continues to lose a bit of weight and I suspect she is close to her goal of about 48 kilos.
Jaidan has started his own countdown to Canada. I printed out calendars for January and February and numbered the days (BTW, 2020 is a leap year) left before we fly to Canada. Every morning he crosses off that day and tells me the number of days remaining. Today there are 54 days remaining. Jaidan, has obviously learned to count to 60 and recognize and name numbers up to 60.
I thinking, of the 3 of us, Jaidan is most looking forward to living in Canada. Hopefully there will be snow when we arrive, although it is currently not looking good.
Thavorn was out partying last night with Fon and had a great time at Hillary 2. She managed to pick a good night with the best 2 bands playing. However, she did manage to arrive home by 1 am. We will both miss the Bangkok night life.
I am starting to rethink what car to lease. I was originally looking at a budget of $500 a month for something plush and fun to drive. However, I started thinking about cars are for. They are basically transportation to get you from point A to point B and are not really meant to amuse or excite you. I am now looking at a lease of under $250 which gets me a Civic sedan. I will save about $3,000 a year which gets close to getting two us to Thailand and back, perhaps at Christmas. Sounds like a plan.
I have to remember my minimalist philosophy and not get caught up in marketing.
