Mean Thai Resistance Tactics

Yes, some people here are very upset. Another shit tosser has been arrested. Human waste attacks against our dear ruling Democrats are on the rise. They’re a distinctively Thai way of saying: “Hey, you’re shit.”

Human feces as a political statement is nothing new in Thai politics. Excrement tossers hit the headlines all the time in times of political divide. Sometimes there are groups of them. The practice is as old as Thai politics.

But there is much more to the quirky ways and means of opposition politics, of uniquely Thai ways to show utter disgust. Yes, creative cursing can be an act of self-defence.

Read more

Sphere: Related Content

March 2, 2010 | Filed Under Culture Shock, Politics, Society, The Thai Mind | 5 Comments 

Why Morals

Leaping into the morality debate ring, as someone recently wrote. Momma always told you to be nice and not to lie. There will be consequences, you were told. And indeed. You cheat, you get cheated. You betray. In a moment you’re the betrayed.

Morality, a key concept of Western thought, is a much more flexible thing over here in the East. Morals are more pragmatic, more Confucian, less rigid. What’s moral leadership for some here is a culture shock for others.

The more pleased I was to read a piece in The Nation titled Moral students projects rolls across 9 provinces; project that set aside a special quota for students with a record of volunteerism and strong morals to become “good students.”

Read more

Sphere: Related Content

February 1, 2010 | Filed Under Culture & Arts, Culture Shock, Politics, Society, The Thai Mind | 5 Comments 

Urinators Anonymous

They’re one of my favorite spots in Thailand, one of the kingdom’s most romantic places, the hot springs of Hin Dat an hour’s drive northwest of Kanchanaburi. To cut a long story short: The public bath with beautiful hot spring water pools are open from 6 am to 10 pm each day. Enjoy a relaxing bath in the hot thermal water with this distinct odor of rotten eggs, i.e. sulphur. After that enjoy a bath in the refreshing little stream bubbling just alongside. And again, and again. Pure idyll. And maybe a massage.

The brook brabbles, the birds are singing and tweeting … Best to be enjoyed close to the opening and closing hours when there are hardly any visitors. So I went there on a Friday night – and guess what, some eager locals were washing out the pools. All the thermal water got pumped off into the stream and the locals were scrubbing the walls. They do that every Friday night, a worker told me. So Saturday morning I tried to be the first in those pools freshly refilled with healthy thermae spring water.

But what a surprise, eager local residents were enjoying the fresh water already! That early! And I thought I’d be alone … It’s still dark, not a ray of sunlight. Local residents relax in the quiet peace of the hot mineral-rich spring water of Hin Dat before the tourists arrive. Only one guy was talking, and I heard him say – obviously not the least bothered that me farang could understand: “Yesterday afternoon, there were so many farangs in the water. God was that water dirty. Now it’s clean again.”

Read more

Sphere: Related Content

January 24, 2010 | Filed Under Being Farang, Culture Shock, Sports & Fun, The Thai Mind, Travel & Tourism | 9 Comments 

Making Way

“Thai people attend a religious floral offering Saturday, January 9th, 2010, during a religious ceremony at an old military prison, known as Tuk Din, in Bangkok, Thailand.”

“The prison believed to be haunted with the spirits of the dead, is being demolished to make way for several 20 story apartment blocks for senior military officials. The site has been used to hold and execute criminals for hundreds of years.”

Quoted from Daylife/AP. Making way for senior military officials … Nah, no better place for senior military officials? That’s what you call self-sacrifice for the sake and the good of the nation. Being at it, always wondered who will once live above the amazing Christian cemetery between Sathorn and Silom. Prime location.

Read more

Sphere: Related Content

January 13, 2010 | Filed Under Culture & Arts, History, The Thai Mind | Leave a Comment 

Nick Nostitz: Photographer, Documentarian, Communicator

He’s the “most Thai foreigner” I know. After years of work in the twilight of Bangkokian nights and his recent front line coverage of Thailand’s political conflict he has become something of a celebrity around here. Thai Politicians of all sides and the top brass know him. He recently published Red vs. Yellow: Thailand’s Crisis of Identity, has been interviewed twice by Stickman, the rather pro-old The Nation just spoke to him, and now this site: pleased to meet German photographer Nick Nostitz.

Nick came over for a coffee and half a pack of cigarettes – and we talked. I actually wanted to avoid politics as much as possible. Hasn’t everything been said already? Obviously not. There is no way talking to Nick without talking about Thai politics and society. „It’s very difficult to be a Thai in Thailand,“ says Nick who has a grasp of the inner workings of Thailand that makes many seasoned observers look like dilettante newbies. So what lies ahead?

Nick’s not an observer. He’s a man at the front lines. Wrote Stickman: The man once known as “Mr. Nightlife (…) has become the Westerner whose opinions I respect more than any other on many matters Thai as he digs into the deepest, darkest depths of Thai society. When Nick covers an issue, you can be sure that what you are about to read will be a thoroughly researched, unbiased report that doesn’t seek to charm.” Here we go:

Read more

Sphere: Related Content

January 10, 2010 | Filed Under Being Farang, Culture Shock, History, Politics, The Interview, The Thai Mind | 31 Comments 

“Phua Farang”: Demanding Daughter Duty

Just stumbled upon this site: Critical Asian Studies. A worthwhile read caught my eye: “Demanding Daughter Duty: Gender, Community, Village Transformation & Transnational Marriages in Northeast Thailand.” A study about the increased favorable acceptance of Isaan women with foreign partners. An in-depth study about a social phenomenon not known some years ago. From the site’s abstract:

The transnationalization of rural villages in the northeast region of Thailand through women’s transnational marriages is reconfiguring gendered familial obligations in the form of “daughter duty.” This article shows how economic and social remittances from dutiful village daughters who are married to foreign husbands connect local villages and communities to the global, bypassing Thai nation-state institutions and agencies that have inadequately addressed the disadvantageous position of Thailand’s Isaan region.

This transnational process depends on daughters’ (and mothers’) commitment to their care work and to their role as nurturers of the family, kin, schools, temples, and community – the community being seen as a familial extension in this matrilocal society. Women’s upward economic mobility and their adherence to valued filial roles contribute to the community’s increased favorable acceptance of women with foreign partners, leading to a greater number of transnational marriages.

Read more

Sphere: Related Content

January 8, 2010 | Filed Under Culture & Arts, Society, The Thai Mind | 16 Comments 

Next Page →