46 Days and Plastic Bags

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.

TTYL