Archive for June, 2008
Thailand’s Totalitarian Democracy & The West
They do it again and again, the Western media and Western politicians. Ignoring all the shades between white and black. “Democracy in Asia? Beware of Thailand” is the title of an editorial published by the Italian daily La Stampa. The author argues that “the explosive mix of street protests and veiled military threats holds the
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Death In Thailand
“Death” is a very Thai topic. Thais love the morbid, bloody and the shocking – or don’t they? Thais’ odd fondness for a very own cult of a very own danse macabre is legendary. Just have a look at the front page of a local tabloid. Thais have a more natural, more relaxed relation with
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Tidbits: Green Wi-Fi Haven Bangkok & Buy An Island In Thailand
For once Bangkok is not the taillight of the digital progress and environmental concerns. Under its “Green Bangkok” campaign the municipal administration gives away 500,000 free Wi-Fi cards for a network covering 400 square kilometers. Enjoy a blazing 64kbps pipe, slightly better than dial-up – and than wasting money at the gas pump. Free access
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Contemporary Thai Dance
Some time ago I had the pleasure to attend an contemporary Tango dance in Bangkok. The dancers were all Thais. A most amazing feast for the senses. Who would deny that the slender Thai body – be it female or male – is made for this art of the alchemy of human motion. Lithe, pliant
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Thaksin Finally Caught Red-Handed In The Act
Pastrygate: The sentencing and imprisonment of three attorneys for ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife Pojaman is one of the most telling events in Thailand’s modern political turmoil. For the first time, as I can recall, the man himself has been caught red-handed in the very act. Or you seriously fall for the conspiracy
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Real Apocalypse Now, Burma-Style
Vietnam, 1969. Who didn’t admire Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now as mysterious Walter Kurtz, a renegade Green Beret who has set himself up as a God among a local tribe. But take this: Kurtz was fiction. Over in Burma though, decades earlier, a true apocalyptic renegade U.S. soldier existed: Herman Perry, an African-American soldier who
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!@%$#%@ Consumer Rights In Thailand
Wow. Am I pissed off. Just bought a brand new submersible water pump for the fish pond. Two weeks later the pump breaks down. The fish would quickly die without water and air circulation. Heading back to Carrefour, where I bought the pump, they smirk maliciously. Sorry, replacement only within seven days. Forget all Thai
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What’s Driving Chamlong?
You hear the man and know the man – but you don’t really hear him and you know him even less. What’s driving Chamlong Srimuang? Where does he come from? How can this man practically single-handedly keep a government in check? Remember Black May? “Early that afternoon (…) military police, firing continuously in the air,
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Tidbits: Good Son Miss Tiffany, Pricey Durian & Nana To Be Closed
First the bad news. It may soon snow in Bangkok. Asian Sweetheart has a short pithy take on our wannabe governor Khun Pluem. He doesn’t like working girls, “has fresh ideas” and “also a good idea of how Thailand is viewed by the rest of the world.” Blue-blooded governor Pluem’s priority would be to shut
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Real-Time: Another Bangkok D-Day
House dissolution? Prime Minister Samak to resign? PAD protesters using shields with images of the king that police won’t take action? Friday, June 20th, 2008, is another of those days Thailand has an oversupply of. In an address televised the last minute King Bhumibol Adulyadej had urged the prime minister to keep his promises to
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