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