Living In Thailand Blog
Friday 10th August 2007
I went to collect my work permit yesterday morning and was greeted with a yung mai set - it's not finished yet. They had decided the person who signed one of the forms wasn't high enough in the organisation. Great.
This is very Thai. Everyone is very status conscious and there is no such thing as empowerment. It didn't matter that the signatory is a senior lecturer who has been working there for 25 years; the form had to be signed by a director.
I was given back all my paperwork, plus a new form, and sent on my way like a naughty boy. I managed to get the new form signed by the appropriate person and took it back in the afternoon (figuring it was better to completely waste one day than partially waste two) but this little episode cost about six hours of my own time.
I ate lunch at a place near the Saalaa Glaang where I have been a few times before and the owner remembers me now. She asked if I went there every month. It's not quite every month but it certainly seems like it.
I told her what had happened and - with a resigned look on her face - she said it's normal when dealing with the government. Sometimes, as a farang in Thailand, I forget that it's the same (or worse) for Thais. Thais at the bottom of the social hierarchy, especially, can have lots of problems with bureaucracy.
My next two administrative tasks involve making trips to Bangkok and either Malaysia or Singapore. If a Thai bureaucrat in one of those places takes exception to a signature, date, rubber stamp or any other piece of information, and sends me on my way, it will cost a lot more than six hours of my time.
It has been interesting over the years observing the Thai social hierarchy in operation. Thais know exactly where they and where every other Thai person stands and there is certainly no such thing as a flat organisation structure.
They are generally quite subservient to those higher in society and within individual organisations and the hierarchy is strictly observed. Farangs are difficult for Thais to place and very often foreigners are accorded a higher position than they really deserve.
Despite this, I know my place, and that place happens to be fairly near the bottom of the heap. If I ever need anything doing by someone higher up the ladder, I ask the person on the next rung to me who then escalates the request.
This process can sometimes take a long time and when I've made enquiries in the past about how much longer it would take to get something signed, I've always been told that the top person is very, very busy.
However, also based on experience, I don't believe this to be strictly true. On a couple of occasions, I've bypassed the system and gone directly to the top person. They have always been extremely friendly with, apparently, lots of time to talk and they have enjoyed chatting.
The Thai cultural aspect of greng jai can seriously slow down any process that requires a Thai to get something from one of his superiors. They don't like to bother or impose upon their bosses so requests can be put to one side while they wait for a convenient time to ask.
Yesterday, I was able to bypass the system because the guy I work for is currently out of the country. Being able to go straight to the top man worked in my favour and, because my immediate boss is unavailable, he hasn't lost face or anything by me going above him. This kind of thing can cause problems though.
A couple of years ago I was having some major problems with a guy who happened to be not only my boss but also my landlord. He was a crafty bugger who tried to screw me in many different ways, both as an employee and a tenant.
For some reason he seemed to think he could control me and do whatever he wanted but he miscalculated. I decided enough was enough and found another place to stay. When I told him I was leaving, he was furious and acted as if I had no right to leave.
To get his own back, he decided not to pay me for some work I had done for him. Every time I asked, he blamed someone else for the delay. It then happened, quite by chance, that someone at the university started talking to me one day and a little into the conversation it transpired it was the other guy's boss. How interesting.
I mentioned I had worked for one of his employees and also that I hadn't been paid for work I had done several months ago. He didn't say much at the time but when he got back to his office he hand wrote a memo and sent it to the other guy.
My ex landlord and employer called me the very next day asking me to go to his office. He had an envelope containing my wages but there was steam coming from his ears and he proceeded to give me a lecture on Thai culture, reminding me very aggressively I was just a farang (using that word) who didn't understand Thai ways.
In Thailand it can make a huge difference knowing the right people to talk to. Certain people have the power to make any problem disappear but there are rules to observe and failing to do so can cause problems.
Tuesday 7th August 2007
This afternoon, some of my students were telling me about a ring around the sun yesterday. I assume it was a partial solar eclipse but, to be honest, I didn't understand much of what they were saying.
If my assumption is correct and it was a partial solar eclipse, it was different to other partial solar eclipses. As I understand it, they are normally caused by an alignment of the earth, moon and sun. This one wasn't. It was a result of the power of the cult of Jatukham Ramathep. Amazing.
It's bad enough with so many Thai men these days looking like 1970's Medallion Men sporting huge Jatukham amulets around their necks but I've also spotted a few old farangs wearing them. They are normally the same guys who only ever wear yellow polo shirts and who have lots of pieces of coloured string and yellow bracelets around their wrists. So sad.
Following on from what I wrote on Sunday, I heard a nice example of incorrect pronunciation of a Thai place name caused by poor and confusing transliteration. It was in a podcast that I downloaded for my students as a listening exercise and the topic was visiting Bangkok.
The presenter, Ben Curtis, mentioned the district on the other side of the river to Bangkok which is commonly transliterated as Thonburi (ธนบุรี). His pronunciation of the 'th' was the same as the 'th' in 'thought'. This is wrong. The pronunciation is actually the same as 'ton', as in 'tonic'. The 'th' sound as in 'thought' doesn't exist in Thai.
It's not his fault. He's a Brit living in Spain who speaks fluent Spanish - probably with a very nice Spanish lisp when he says, "Barthelona," I would imagine. There was no evidence in the podcast that he speaks or reads Thai.
This is the very point I was trying to make earlier that when English speakers see 'th' or 'ph' they think of sounds other than 't' and 'p'. It gets even worse because in English 'th' can be pronounced two ways - 'th' as in 'thin' or 'th' as in 'this'.
Written Thai doesn't have this problem. On the contrary, rather than using one letter or one combination of letters for different sounds, as English does, Thai often has several letters for the same sound.
Why all the confusion? The science of pronunciation is complex and I can only explain it in simple terms because I'm a simple-minded person but I will give it a shot.
With English there is the problem I just mentioned that the same letters (or combinations of letters) make different sounds in different words. Some sounds are aspirated and result in a puff of air coming from the mouth that can be felt on your hand.
If you put you hand up to your mouth and say 'tea' you should feel a puff of air when you voice the 't'. However, if you say 'assisted' you shouldn't feel the same puff of air when you voice the 't' that begins the last syllable.
The 't' in 'assisted' has an element of 'd' in it. It's almost half way between a 'd' and a 't' but in English there is no letter for that sound. In Thai there is - in fact, there are two.
At some stage, someone ... somewhere decided that when transliterating Thai words into English characters, the unaspirated 't' sound, as in 'assisted', would remain a 't' but the aspirated 't', as in 'tea' would inherit an 'h' to show it is aspirated. Brilliant.
But ... and Ben Curtis will verify this ... as English speakers, when we see 'th' we think of 'th' as in 'thought'. It's really horrible.
To add to the problems, most English speakers will use standard English inflection on the different syllables. With Thonburi, the emphasis for English speakers will be on the first syllable with a high tone, with the second and third syllables quite short and low or falling.
In Thai, the second and third syllables are a lot longer than spoken by most English speakers and the final syllable is spoken in a higher tone.
The result of all this is millions of Thai phrase books with English transliterations that, when spoken by the average English speaker, are totally unintelligible to the average Thai. They basically fail in doing the very thing they were written to do.
What's annoying is that it needn't be this way. Just drop the unnecessary 'h' and use 't' or 'dt' as appropriate. Problem solved.
By the way, the example quoted above came from a Lonely Planet podcast. My Lonely Planet Thai phrase book was the first one I bought and I bought it based on Lonely Planet's reputation. It turned out to be completely useless and has sat unused for several years while all of my other dictionaries and phrase books get used quite often.
What is really unfortunate is how certain transliterations - as bad as they are - have become standardised. I still find myself writing sawng-thaew when the pronunciation of the second word is ambiguous.
Before I knew any better, I used to pronounce it incorrectly, making exactly the same mistake as Ben Curtis. A better version might be sawng-tell but (most probably due to Lonely Planet) sawng-thaew has become the standard transliteration and I bet that as a result of this, many people still pronounce it incorrectly.
Monday 6th August 2007
Today's blog is long, boring and even more rambling than usual. There is a temptation when writing here to give an edited version of life in Thailand, leaving out a lot of the minor crap. However, that approach wouldn't meet with my objective which has always been to give an honest account of living here, warts and all.
The blog is aimed at people outside of Thailand who are thinking about making a move to the country, which is the situation I was in a few years ago. I therefore think it is important to be balanced but that means sharing some of the bad (and dull) stuff, as well as talking about all the good things.
Most of the time, living here is good but there are a lot of small irritations and crazy aspects of Thai life that add up and, just occasionally, I ask myself what I'm doing here. At the risk of being bored, read on.
It hasn't been a great start to my week. Generally, I am fairly tolerant and patient in Thailand but there are times - such as this morning - when I begin to get a little frustrated. What I am about to explain sounds really nitpicking and trivial but what I can't accurately describe is the cumulative effect of continual minor irritations.
Individual incidents in isolation wouldn't be a problem but with similar things happening every day - several times a day, the cumulative effect isn't to be underestimated.
The cause is often communication problems but not necessarily language. I can speak and read a little Thai but even though I am a very long way from being fluent, that isn't the problem. Often, it is not language that is the barrier; the problem is the different way of thinking between me and Thais.
A couple of weeks ago I was asked by a university student to proofread his thesis. I have done this kind of thing for a number of Master's degree and PhD students, as well as for Thai researchers wishing to publish their work internationally.
He sent me his thesis last Sunday. I had a free day so decided to get the task out of the way quickly. I spent four hours proofreading (which was quite heavy-going with all the technical terms) and sent it back to him the same day. Great service, I thought.
I told him to contact me for a meeting if he had any questions about anything I had corrected. He contacted me and asked to meet last Thursday (one of my free days) so I went to see him.
When I got there, he asked what I wanted to speak to him about. I didn't want to speak to him about anything; it was him supposedly who wanted to speak with me. After a few questions he decided that he agreed with all my corrections. The meeting, to be honest, was really a waste of time. Anyway, the task was finished. Or so I thought.
He sent me an e-mail yesterday and called this morning while I was teaching asking when I would return the corrected version of his thesis to him.
What, the same one I had already corrected and sent back to him? The same one he had told me was all OK? After a frustrating phone call he then decided he had found it. However, if he wasn't even aware I had sent back a corrected version to him, it makes me wonder if I have been wasting my time.
This all happened while I was supposed to be teaching. The classes this morning were cut short because of some kind of sports event that is taking place. Wherever I have taught in Thailand, there have always been lots of extra-curricular activities.
What I have found is that they are taken very seriously by both the students and staff, and while these activities are taking place, studying stops. The students will spend hours making signs or polystyrene models, or whatever, for the event which is probably fun for them but they don't learn anything. In Thailand, sanook activities are always prioritised way above educational ones.
The other thing I've noticed is that no one ever tells me about these events, or even public holidays. I knew nothing about this until this morning. In the past, I have turned up for work on a public holiday to find no one there. I now rely on my Thai calendar rather than anyone informing me.
The next little frustration is the Thai mai bpen rai attitude. Sometimes this is translated to 'never mind' but at other times it is just apathy.
My brief for this job was to concentrate on speaking and listening with the students. I have therefore spent a lot of time downloading podcasts and going through them all to obtain appropriate material. I play them on my iPod through the class PA system.
This morning there was a lot of static noise with the microphone. I highlighted this problem before my class began and was told the technician would be called later. No one turned up.
The noise started to get very distracting and one of the students attempted to investigate. He went off and came back with the news it was caused by a low battery in the microphone. Ah, simple. Where's the new battery, then?
There are no new batteries. I've been waiting three weeks for them to replace the battery in the clock at the back of the classroom. I need to keep an eye on the time during lessons but it doesn't look good to keep glancing at my watch.
What I will do today is buy a couple of batteries - one for the clock and one for the microphone. This is another lesson that you learn very quickly in Thailand. If you want something done, do it yourself.
On the way back from teaching, the sawng-thaew driver - as usual - kept stopping in the hope of picking up more passengers but most times, after waiting fruitlessly for a few minutes, he just started going again.
Time is of little importance in Thailand but money is. The drivers aren't worried about their own time or the time of passengers they already have on board. They continually stop in the hope of getting another passenger (and a few more Baht) even if there are no potential passengers around - and often there aren't.
As a passenger trying to get somewhere, it is a little irritating keep stopping and starting for no good reason other than the driver wants to get another five or ten Baht. They probably waste more money in fuel with all the stopping and starting than what they would make if another passenger was to turn up.
As I started off by saying, none of these things are significant in isolation but the minor annoyances and frustrations occur continuously and after a while the cumulative effect can start to take its toll.
Do you believe in dream analysis? In the last couple of months I've had three or four dreams about ants and I couldn't figure out why. I did a quick search and the first page I found described ants in dreams as being the, "... symbol of pettiness and annoyance."
It was a stunningly accurate analysis. I have no major problems in my life in Thailand but Thailand can be full of petty irritations, frustrations and annoyances.
Having had my lessons cut short this morning, I was able to go back to my room for a few hours where I met Iss who is staying for a few days. We had a conversation that has become very familiar in the four years since we met.
She went to meet a friend this morning whose son has just been killed in a motorbike accident. He was 14. The pickup truck driver that caused the accident was drunk. Her mother-in-law who was on the back of the bike was also killed. The driver escaped going to jail by giving the family Bt350,000. Life in Thailand is cheap.
In the last three years she has probably told me on about six occasions about close relatives of friends of hers who have been killed in road traffic accidents.
The senseless waste of young life on Thailand's roads as a result of lunatic driving is something I have never been able to, and will never be able to, accept or understand.
After we ate lunch, I went to my second job which is at a combined university and hospital. As I approached the hospital, an ambulance appeared with lights flashing and sirens blaring. This is a common sight and my first thought always is that it is the victim of a motorbike accident. The ambulance had to stop as it was unable to get past some traffic at a traffic light.
In most other countries the drivers would make an effort to get out of the way so the ambulance could pass but I have seen this happen quite a few times in Thailand and the drivers make no effort to get out of the way. Why, when the delay could mean the difference between life or death?
What was different today was that a panic-stricken Thai man jumped from the back of the ambulance, ran to the front of the queue of traffic and signalled frantically to the drivers to pull over. The poor guy was in a bad way, possibly being a friend or relative of the victim. The ambulance was then able to get through and the man ran after it to the hospital.
The weather has been exceptionally hot today and the physical exertion of all that running must have left him exhausted. A crowd had gathered outside A&E and I too watched as they stretchered the victim into intensive care. I think he was still alive but I couldn't tell for sure.
After first hearing about Iss's friend's young son and mother-in-law being killed and then seeing another RTA victim I started to get that sick feeling in my stomach again that I get fairly often in Thailand.
The atmosphere isn't the friendliest at my second job at the moment. I was hired to teach hospital staff how to interact with foreign patients but there are two basic problems. Firstly, the decision wasn't that of the students, and secondly, some have never been interested. I have done what I can but I can't make students learn if they don't want to.
In June, the top man decided that the staff should be tested. This did not go down at all well with the staff but, had I been in his position, I would have made exactly the same request. The tests took place a couple of weeks ago and the results didn't surprise me.
The students who have made an effort did OK but those who haven't bothered learning anything for the last year did pretty miserably. I was honest about everything and didn't inflate scores to make my teaching look better.
The students with low scores weren't happy. I didn't see them last week because of a Thai holiday but I saw them today and there was no hiding the fact that I am not a very popular person at the moment. What can I do?
What I ended up doing was speaking personally to a few people to try to make them understand the position I am in. I can't lie about someone's ability if they can't be bothered to learn. It doesn't benefit me or them; they are easily found out; it's not fair on the people who do make an effort to learn; and I would be cheating the very people who pay me.
I have adopted some Thai ways but I still have an English sense of fair play and don't like to lie or deceive.
So, there you have it. Not a great day but life in Thailand isn't a constant bed of roses. There are lots of little irritations that could easily be avoided if people could be bothered. As a teacher, it can be a headache with some students getting them to actually learn.
The number of road accidents here is beyond belief but there are perhaps two explanations why they drive as if they want to die. Firstly, in Buddhist thinking, death isn't as final as it might be elsewhere. Secondly, the Phra Farang book I have just finished reading mentions that Thai temples make a lot of money from funerals.
In a country where giving money to the temple is the number one way to make merit, perhaps sacrificing a family member or two in road traffic accidents is the ultimate tum-boon? I don't know.
When you add in the constantly scorching weather, tuk-tuk drivers who insist on charging you double the normal fare because you are a farang, swarms of mosquitoes that regard you as a food source, and a few other little annoyances, Thailand - occasionally - can be a frustrating, irritating and annoying place in which to live.
What will probably happen now (having written all this) is that I will have a fantastic day tomorrow and will be writing about what a wonderful country it is to live in. It has been like this since I moved here - a roller coaster ride that never stops going up and down.
Iss also told me today of a local massage shop owner who has just been shot and killed but she didn't know what the motive was. It's a shop I've been to and I know a couple of the staff who used to work there quite well. I will try to find out why he was gunned down.
She was also telling me that it is dangerous owning certain cars in Thailand, notably Toyota Fortuner SUVs. The reason for this is demand from Cambodia and criminals in Thailand who will stop at nothing to supply cars to order. Apparently, the centre for this criminal activity is Poipet.
A view we have both taken for a long time is that it is much better, as far as peace of mind is concerned, not to have a nice car or house here. I try to keep as low a profile as I can in Thailand and I certainly don't flash money around as it just attracts trouble.
What is quite noticeable in Thailand is the amount of security protecting private houses. In my travelling experience, the amount of bars, gates, high walls and fences surrounding many private houses is second only to South Africa. In terms of violent crime, there is absolutely no comparison. I generally feel safe at all times in Thailand but there is a lot of theft and sometimes it does get violent.
Sunday 5th August 2007
2007 has been a bad year for flooding around the world with the worst UK floods for 60 years and now more floods in South Asia. It has been unusually dry in the deep south of Thailand for a long time; the last floods occurring at the end of 2005.
I recently discovered in the book I am currently reading that there was a terrible flood in Thailand in 1831. Here's an extract from the book which is part of a report written at that time:
"The agricultural state of the country is sadly changed, especially since the great inundation in 1831. About the beginning of October that year, the water began to rise higher than usual, and in the middle of the month there were three or four feet of water over the face of the whole country. Several people in the interior lost their lives; whole fields of paddy were swept away; and the sugar plantations were nearly all destroyed.
In this state the country remained for upwards of three months, during which most of the cattle in the interior perished. In the river Meinam (Chao Phraya), there was no visible flood-tide, but the ebb was dreadfully strong, running at the rate of 5 or 6 knots an hour.
The country is now beginning to recover from this calamity, as far as regards rice, sugar and salt; but alas, the fruit trees have been mostly all destroyed; and Siam from being one of the finest fruit countries in the east, is now the very worst. There is but one durian tree alive in all Siam, and when this sad tale was told to the king, he said that tree should be called the Chow Phya durian."
How do you 'legally' drive through a set of red traffic lights? It's not difficult if you are Thai.
Turning left at a red traffic light in Thailand is perfectly legal, just as turning right at a red traffic light is perfectly legal in many parts of America. The difference is that Americans stop first and only proceed if there are no pedestrians crossing.
Thais don't bother stopping and the last thing on their mind is pedestrians. People who walk obviously don't have cars and therefore must be pretty low down in the social hierarchy so they are unimportant and can be run over.
To drive straight through the lights, they have figured out that two 'legal' left turns, separated by a quick U-turn, actually has them going in the same direction. This crafty move can be observed all over Thailand every second of the day. It is so common that many motorcyclists do it without even thinking.
Some motorcyclists can't be bothered with pointless U-turns though, so they have reduced this complicated manoeuvre to the smallest of twists by means of wiggling their handlebars ever so slightly. In their minds they are doing the same thing as described above and acting legally, but to me they are blatantly running red lights.
Quite a few motorcyclists (including, occasionally, motorcycle taxis with me on the back) don't even bother with the second technique. After sitting at red lights for a few seconds, they simply take off through the light if there isn't much traffic going the other way. No one raises an eyebrow and with no police around, no one ever gets caught. In fact, even if a cop was to see this happen, it is unlikely he would do anything.
In one English lesson, my students wanted to know why I didn't ride a motorbike. I explained why, pointing out a few of the Thai driving techniques I wasn't very enthusiastic about. Their reaction was to hoot with laughter. A long-term expat once told me that if Thais can lie and get away with it, it is something to be proud of. This also seems to be the case with breaking the law and getting away with it.
The students asked me how I knew about these things and it seemed a really dumb question. When so many people do this kind of stuff so blatantly every single second of every single day, how can anyone with a pair of eyes fail to see what goes on? Do they really think it goes unnoticed?
Next - how to turn right at a busy intersection on a motorbike without having to stop (remember, Thais drive on the left).
Here's an imaginary situation to illustrate a point that I feel quite strongly about.
A non-English speaking tourist in England wishes to purchase a few things and buys an English phrase book to help him. Using his phrase book, he asks for a koldfish, a ban, and a kan. The cold fish and the can he is given are wrong and the shopkeeper wants to know what he wants a ban on? Foxhunting? Smoking in pubs?
Some further investigation reveals that what he actually wanted was a goldfish, a bun and a gun. The phrase book had substituted 'g's for 'k's and 'u's for 'a's. As a result, he could not make himself understood and the situation became very confusing.
If this were to happen in real life, what would you think about his English phrase book? You would probably think it was next to useless. What if I were to tell you that many Thai phrase books do exactly this and no one complains? (Apart from me.)
Because Thai and English words use completely different letters, there is a process known as transliteration where the Thai words are written phonetically using the English alphabet but most of the time the transliterations are totally wrong and only serve to mislead people.
There is one easy way to get around this and that is to learn how to read Thai but if you can't read Thai you are at the mercy of some pretty hopeless phrase books. And that includes certain very well known publications with undeservedly high reputations for knowledge and accuracy.
This doesn't affect me now, provided I can see words written in Thai. I sometimes have problems with pronunciation if I only have a badly transliterated word to go on. What frustrates me is that it is so unnecessary. I could have been saved a lot of grief in the past if this dumb situation didn't exist.
Why is it like this? Why are 'g' sounds transliterated into 'k's and both 'u' and 'aa' sounds into 'a's? (There are more examples that I won't go into right now.)
I'm not sure. There is an official Thai government system of transliteration (RTGS) which is actually quite hopeless and maybe phrase book writers think the best thing to do is use this official system. I would actually prefer them just to open their ears.
Perhaps they have programmed computers to do the transliteration automatically? The approach that converts each Thai letter into an equivalent English letter goes horribly wrong though because the sound of Thai consonants changes depending on whether the consonant comes at the beginning or end of a syllable.
Something else that has happened is for the transliterated versions of well-known Thai place names to become standardised, even though the transliterations are bad.
However, I also sense that some people have tried to be a little too clever and, in the process, have just screwed things up. They have tried to be clever dealing with things such as aspirated sounds instead of just keeping things simple. Here's one example.
Hold your hand up to your mouth and say 'gate'. Now say the girl's name 'Kate'. When you say 'Kate' you will feel a puff of air on your hand because it is an aspirated sound. When you say 'gate' you won't feel the same puff of air because it isn't an aspirated sound.
Now, what the clever buggers have decided is that the 'k' in Kate is an aspirated 'k' therefore it should have an 'h' after it. They have also decided (for unknown reasons) that the 'g' in gate is an unaspirated 'k'. So, instead of 'gate' and 'Kate' they would actually write 'kate' and 'khate'. Confusing, or what?
Both Thai and English have different consonants for 'g' and 'k' sounds so why frig around with 'k's that are either aspirated or unaspirated? It makes no sense and just confuses people. But it gets worse.
Some systems have also decided that an unaspirated 'dt' is a 't' and an aspirated 't' is a 'th'. And it's the same with unaspirated 'bp' sounds being 'p's and aspirated 'p's being 'ph's.
The problem, as you may have seen already, is that when English readers see 'ph' and 'th' they don't think of these as aspirated 'p's and 't's but as consonant clusters that make completely different sounds. To make things even more confusing, the 'th' consonant cluster at the beginning of an English word makes a different sound depending on the word.
Bah, as the Thais would say. It's crazy. Just learn to read Thai - it solves so many problems.
From The Nation:
"Natives of Isaan, and provinces in the North and South who immigrate to Bangkok, are reticent to speak in their own dialects. This reflects a weakness of anthropological development, and shows a lack of esteem for their roots."
Er ... no, it's because if they spoke in their own dialect, Thais from the central region would not be able to understand them. Have you ever heard a southern Thai speaking (singing?) in the southern dialect at full flow? The article this quote came from concerned the latest cultural crisis in Thailand.
Saturday 4th August 2007
Last month I reported on how the taxi fleet in Singapore is being replaced in order to meet strict new exhaust emission regulations. The old Toyotas, despite still being in pretty good shape, are slowly being replaced by fancy new Hyundais. I wonder where the old Toyotas will go?
The following passage might give us a few clues. It's from some records titled 'Kingdom of the Yellow Robe' and was written by one Ernest Young. I don't know the exact date. All I know is that it was written before 1932.
"When the rickshaws of Singapore and Hong Kong have reached a condition of extreme old age, and are so broken down that the authorities in those ports refuse to grant them licences any longer, they are sent on to Bangkok, where no licences are required."
And here's another passage from the same account, still on the theme of transport in Siam.
"Every kind of vehicle is crowded to its fullest capacity. A rickshaw will ordinarily hold two; you may often see four or five in one. A gharry should carry four, but by crowding inside and piling one person on top of the other, with the addition of a couple hanging on behind, one on each doorstep, and one on each hub of the wheels, a whole family manages to get conveyed to its destination by means of a single conveyance. Omnibuses are similarly crowded and packed, to an extent which is only possible on account, first, of the absence of any law to prevent it, and secondly, of the genial good temper of the natives themselves."
I have read a number of old accounts about Siam and what is quite remarkable is how little has changed to the present day. Much of what was written in 1907, or 1807, is just as applicable today as it was then.
Whenever I get a bus or minivan at peak times, the vehicle is packed with as many people as it will hold, while families of four and five travel around on small motorbikes. Still, the natives don't complain and still, there appear to be no laws to prevent it.
Where do you draw the line regarding charity in Thailand?
The local supermarket is a 10 minute walk away from where I live and on the way I pass a typical Thai construction worker's camp. The people there live in temporary shacks made from old pieces of wood with corrugated iron roofs. Around the camp are the usual assortment of chickens and dogs running free.
They are simple-living but nice people and we normally exchange greetings. There are quite a few kids as well and over a period of time they have got to know me. They're good kids with no chips on their shoulders regarding the conditions they live in and they have the normal Thai sense of fun.
On one occasion they asked where I was going and when I said the supermarket, they asked for kanom (a generic Thai term for cakes and anything sweet). I bought them a few bits and pieces (actually spending more on their bits than I did on my loaf of bread).
After the first time, it continued to happen. Sometimes I'd buy them bits and other times I wouldn't. I have stopped now and the reason was that the last time it happened, a woman living there just snatched the bag from me without saying a word, let alone a thank you.
She then started to distribute the sweets to the kids with a preference for her own kids. The small girl who had originally asked me didn't get anything and started to cry. I was quite angry but let it pass and decided not to buy anything else to prevent further problems.
A kitten has just turned up at the apartment building. I have a soft spot for cats anyway and he's a nice little fella. I guess he's about six months old; friendly with a nice face but painfully thin to the extent his ribs stick out.
I've bought food for him a few times out of pity but now, of course, he keeps coming back. The security guards and other staff at the apartment told me the other day that he is mai sabai tong sia (sick with a 'broken stomach' as the Thais refer to tummy problems).
They have told me he needs to go to the vet but what they really mean is they want me to pay to take him to the vet. Now what do I do?
I feel sorry for the cat but he is hardly the only stray animal in Thailand. There are millions of stray cats and dogs in Thailand. Where do you draw the line?
Every time I use a pedestrian bridge in Thailand there is someone with a begging bowl sitting up there. It's difficult to walk around someone on a bridge and it is perhaps through guilt why people give money.
Some are old ladies in their 80s and I always give a few Baht. There is also a small girl and her father who both seem to have the same hereditary skin condition. They are not in the best of health and have to smother themselves with some kind of oil. The condition has also affected their hair.
Presumably they need fairly frequent medical attention and obviously neither can work so I give them a few Baht as well.
However, there is another young girl I see fairly often who looks quite healthy. One day, I saw her with her mother who is a food vendor working close to the bridge. She never gets any money because she doesn't need it and she is quite capable of working.
I've read stories of Burmese, Laotians and Cambodians who come to Thailand to beg. In tourist areas it can be quite lucrative apparently. If you consider that many Thais earn less than Bt200 a day for honest toil, Bt1,000 or more for a day's begging is an easy option.
Compared to many countries in the world, Thailand is not poor - not by any means. There is always enough rice to fill the stomach of the poorest person and anyone begging will not have a problem getting enough money to fulfil that basic need.
Even if people only give Bt10 or Bt5, Bt30 is probably all it takes in Thailand to feed someone for a day. It won't be a gourmet feast but it will keep them from starving.
Friday 3rd August 2007
World War II saw the collapse of the old European colonial powers in many parts of the world and the emergence of an era of American domination. The end of the war signalled a time when America would start to have far greater influence in Thailand than previously, even though American missionaries such as Dan Beach Bradley had been around for a long time.
The United States involved Thailand with its post-war, anti-Communist offensives in Southeast Asia by setting up air force bases in the country - mainly in the northeast Isaan region; the poorest region of Thailand.
I received an e-mail from a correspondent with some more information about this particular era, and some links. The links include some good photos of Thailand in the 1970s when there were thousands of US servicemen stationed there.
"The US influence in Isan (indeed in Thailand) didn't pick up pace until from 1963 when the US involvement in South Vietnam escalated. Thai air force bases in Ubon and Korat were used to provide aerial support for US troops in Vietnam. Later, they - and other military bases in Isan - were also used as staging and logistics support areas for the "secret war" conducted in Cambodia and, in particular, in Laos.
Many US veterans got married and settled in Isan. So many that the US in fact had a consular office in Ubon Ratchathani up until the mid-1990s.
"Many" was actually quite few in the context .. they had no influence whatsoever on local culture ... and since they were so few and relatively isolated (try to imagine how rural and third world Isan was in the 1970s) they formed a tight network. My first boss in Bangkok had served 12 months with USMC, so during my first trips to Ubon and to Laos (via Nong Khai) I was given names and addresses to connect into this network. I was fascinated by their life stories."
Links:
Thursday 2nd August 2007
I have just managed to get another administrative task out of the way so I thought I would discuss some of the paperwork issues I have to deal with in Thailand.
I should point out that my experience has been in provincial Thailand and what happens in Bangkok is probably quite different. Also, if you are employed full-time by an organisation that is accustomed to employing foreigners, they will probably do a lot of the paperwork for you.
Neither of my employers are very familiar with employing foreigners and, anyway, as I only work for each one for a few hours each week, they have never shown much interest in getting involved with any of this stuff on my behalf. Not only do I do everything myself, but I also pay for everything myself.
Basically, the administrative tasks can be put into two categories - even though the two are closely linked. There is visa paperwork to complete to be able to stay in Thailand and work permit paperwork to complete to be able to work in Thailand.
Possessing a work permit does not allow you to stay in Thailand and neither does having a visa allow you to work in Thailand.
In the 'good old days' none of this was strictly necessary. To stay permanently in Thailand fully legally, people went to the nearest border every month, exited Thailand, came straight back in and got another free 30 day stamp. They then worked illegally knowing full well they would never get caught because no one ever checked. No hassle, no expense, no tax to pay. Sheer bliss.
The task I have just completed turned out to be very straightforward. I needed to add the details of my second job to my work permit.
Having a work permit does not give you carte blanche to do any kind of work anywhere in Thailand.
Work permits are issued to do a specific job at a specific location. If you change what you do or where you do it you are breaking the law and technically you can be arrested, fined and deported; not that it's very likely to happen.
In a country where I have never seen a driver checked to see if he is drunk, the authorities are hardly likely to pay much attention to farang English teachers teaching illegally, and they don't, even though they are likely to keep close tabs on foreign workers from Laos, Burma, Cambodia, the Philippines, etc.
The reason for getting everything in order is that I will be using the contract from the new job as supporting documentation to apply for my new visa soon and, therefore, I need to get my work permit up to date.
By the way, when I asked about a contract at the new place, my request drew a blank look. Contract? What's that then? It was me who had to get a copy of the contract from my first job, modify it, and give it to them to sign. They were happy to sign and stamp it but yes, I had to write my own contract. This was not the first time I have had to write a document myself that I needed, just leaving my Thai boss the simple task of signing it.
I'm sure that many Thais think any farang can walk in off the street and work without needing to complete any paperwork. This is probably because so many did - and probably still do. However, things are changing and it is difficult for illegal teachers to stay in the country permanently now because of the new immigration rules. There is no more running to the border every month for a new 30 day stamp ad infinitum.
I'm also sure that many Thais think all farangs are exactly the same as far as their teaching abilities are concerned. "Just teach them conversation," is something I have heard many times as if teaching English involves no more than having cosy chats with the students, requiring no skill or experience. If they don't help me with paperwork and I decide to quit, there are always plenty more farangs around who can do just as good a job, aren't there?
Most tasks like the one I have just completed take a minimum of three visits. The first visit entails picking up the relevant forms and finding out what you need. I was pleasantly surprised with this particular task to be given a list of what was required. This can be a big problem and is something I will talk about in a minute.
The second visit entails going back with what is required and hoping that everything is in order. Some of the requirements I was given didn't seem relevant to teaching at an education establishment so I ignored them. Fortunately for me, it was OK to do so, but if you are unlucky it can quickly turn into four, five or six visits.
Here is the actual list I was given:
- Application form Dtor Tor 7
- Work permit and one copy
- Letter of employment
- Copy of the company's affidavit
- Copy of the company's list of shareholders
- Map of the company's location
- Organisation chart
These things never seem to get done on the same day so a third visit is usually required to collect whatever you need after it is finished.
When I started working in Thailand the first thing I had to do was get a non-B visa. A three month non-B visa can be acquired on the strength of getting an offer of employment but - in that three months - you are expected to get a work permit. On my 90 day non-B visa they stamped a message that basically said don't bother coming back for another non-B unless you have a work permit.
Once you have your work permit, you can go back to get a one year non-B visa. Visas can only be issued outside of Thailand. An obvious problem is that if you leave the country only to be told by the Embassy or Consulate you visit that something else is required, you have to go all the way back to Thailand and then back to the Embassy or Consulate again.
I saw this happen to a Cambodian monk the last time I was in Penang who was there to get a visa so he could attend a Buddhist university in Thailand. Poor guy.
The biggest headache is constantly changing regulations and inconsistency. Visas are issued at Thai Embassies and Consulates around the world at their own discretion. Certain Consulates and Embassies will issue certain types of visa, and certain ones won't.
This changes though and just because someone got a visa at a particular Consulate last year, it doesn't mean you will be able to get the same type of visa from the same Consulate this year. Each Embassy and Consulate has different requirements.
What you should do is try to find out the requirements from the actual Embassy or Consulate that you will be visiting but this information isn't always readily available.
The Hull Consulate in England is not only very friendly but its web site has great information. If you are planning to visit Hull and follow the instructions on their web site, I'm sure you won't have any problems at all.
However, if you are planning to visit another Consulate, that Consulate may not publish any readily available information. If you follow the instructions on the Hull web site, for example, and then go to another Embassy or Consulate to apply for your visa, it is possible that there will be a different set of requirements.
This is why forums such as those on Thaivisa.com are so active. With official information so difficult to come by, people rely on the experiences of other people who have already done what they want to do. In my opinion, it's an entirely unsatisfactory situation but that's how it is.
Regulations change. Last year, along with my work permit, I just needed a contract of employment and a letter from my employer as supporting documentation to get a new visa. On the Hull Consulate web site, I have seen there is now another requirement for people teaching in Thailand - a police clearance report.
From what I can ascertain, I need to go to a special police department in Bangkok to have my fingerprints taken to get this additional document. Getting to Bangkok isn't exactly convenient for me and the round trip with flights and hotels will be quite expensive but it is something I believe I need to do.
I can't be absolutely sure at the moment because (as per the reasons stated above) the information comes from the Hull Consulate web site but in all probability I will be going to the Embassy in Singapore or the Consulate in Penang to apply for my new visa. They may or may not need this document. Moreover, they may need something else completely different that I am not aware of.
I've heard mention about something called a teachers' license but I don't know what this is yet. The worst scenario for me is going down to Penang or Singapore to get a new visa and being told to go back to Thailand to get something else.
Once you have a one year visa and then re-enter Thailand, immigration at the border will only stamp 90 days into your passport. When you get your work permit extended, it is kept in synch with your passport stamp, thus your work permit extension will also be just short of 90 days.
One good thing about the one year visa is that if you leave and re-enter the country just before it expires, you will still get another 90 day extension. The one year visa then effectively becomes a 15 month visa.
For the last couple of years, I've been leaving the country every 80-something days to get a new 90 day stamp and than making a couple of visits to the provincial administration centre (Saalaa Glaang) where they handle work permits. One visit to apply for a work permit extension and a second to collect my work permit.
The local immigration department did tell me that if I get a letter from my employer guaranteeing my employment for a year, they will give me a one year extension so that I won't have to leave the country every three months. This is something I will consider next time round if I manage successfully to get another one year visa.
I wondered - if I did this - what would happen when leaving and re-entering the country. Local immigration might give me a year but immigration at the border would then only stamp 90 days, thus nullifying my one year.
The way round this, apparently, is to get a re-entry permit which would stop this happening. These cost Bt1,000 for a single re-entry or Bt3,800 for multiple re-entries within one year.
Visa and work permits are closely linked. One danger is that if you have a problem with immigration which doesn't get resolved before your work permit extension expires, you then have to apply for a new work permit from scratch and it's not a pleasant task.
On top of this, there is a requirement to report to the local immigration office every three months to sign a form telling them where you are living. This is supposed to be done within 24 hours of arriving in Thailand.
One of the worst problems I had with Thai red tape was getting my Thai driving license renewed. That was a real headache because no one was able to give me a definitive list of requirements and every time I spoke to someone different it changed.
This kind of bureaucracy is one of the worst aspects of living in Thailand. Thais living abroad have lots of red tape with their initial applications but then they seem to be left alone once they are in the country. For foreigners in Thailand though, it just goes on and on.
Here are some general tips that might help. Thais love lots of paperwork. After living in Thailand for a while, the ink in your passport will begin to fade from where it has been photocopied so many times. Remember also to sign every single photocopy. When you apply for anything, just make copies of whatever you can to add to the pile.
Substance is irrelevant - just concentrate on quantity. It is better to give them documents that aren't required rather than for them to tell you something is missing. Back in England I have some really fancy looking swimming certificates from my primary school days, some of which even have gold leaf around the edges. I left them behind but they would have been perfect here.
Always get documents printed on official headed paper from wherever you are working. Get signatures from people as far up the organisation chart as is possible, name drop if you know anyone vaguely important, and - very important - go crazy with the rubber stamps. In addition to paperwork, Thais love rubber stamps.
When applying for things, dress neatly but don't go over the top. Some Americans I saw at the Penang Consulate a few years ago in neckties and polished black leather shoes looked ridiculous dressed as they were in the tropical heat.
Never stand over a Thai official who is sitting down. Sit down and get your head below the level of his head. If you can, take a Thai friend with you and let your friend do all the talking while you sit there with your mouth firmly shut, just smiling occasionally. Unless you can speak Thai to a fairly decent level, just keep your gob shut.
If you are asked to jump through a hoop for no good reason, smile politely and jump. Don't bring your own brand of culture to Thailand because it will just get you into trouble. Never lose your temper. Often it's just a game and you simply have to learn to play by the rules.
Remember that you can't beat the system and whatever crap you have to put up with, it's a fairly small price to pay for being able to live in Thailand.
In which countries do Brits travelling abroad need most consular assistance after running into problems? The BBC published some statistics that made for interesting reading.
At a quick glance, you will see Spain is at the top of the list and Thailand comes in at number 8. However, the list rankings ignore the total number of visitors that visit those countries. Although there are more incidents requiring consular assistance in Spain, 13.8m Brits go to Spain each year whereas only 381,000 travel to Thailand.
I did a few quick sums to calculate ratios instead of numbers of incidents and the list ranking started to look very different.
Far from being the number one location for Brits abroad having problems, Spain is relatively safe with only one in 2,452 tourists needing consular assistance. Only France is safer, with just one in 7,812 people needing assistance.
And the new number one? According to the figures in the report, Thailand is the country where Brits need help most often with one in 424 visitors (897 out of 381,000) requiring consular assistance.
When I observe how a lot of tourists behave in Thailand with apparently no awareness of the potential risks and dangers around them, this hardly surprises me.
The Land of Smiles may appear on the surface to be the friendliest, safest, most welcoming country on earth but a myriad of risks and dangers lurk just beneath the surface. I don't know what it is about Thailand (maybe the euphoria of being in what appears at first as being heaven on earth for single males) but many visitors - especially single males - end up completely losing the plot.
Wednesday 1st August 2007
I mentioned recently that there has been a big dengue fever outbreak in the Southeast Asia region. I also mentioned how Singapore is taking the threat extremely seriously with a highly visible government campaign to educate people of the risk and advice on measures to take to eradicate the problem.
In Singapore, residential and public areas are sprayed every day to control mosquito populations and people are prosecuted for allowing water to settle where mosquitoes might breed.
Thailand, on the other hand, is doing what Thailand does best. Nothing. There is no evidence of any kind of a campaign to fight the problem and - from what I can see - no sign of anyone doing anything to kill mosquitoes in residential areas despite the fact I live in one of the 10 worst affected provinces (Samut Sakhon, Trat, Phang Nga, Pattani, Songkhla, Yala, Samut Prakan, Chanthaburi, Samut Songkhram and Surat Thani).
The latest World Health Organisation (WHO) report underscores how dangerous the disease is and gives some statistics. Cambodia is the worst affected country but it is a poor country, unlike Thailand. Thailand is not a poor country, just an apathetic one.
Anyway, why waste taxpayers money on something boring like public health when it can be spent on much better things, just as sending 50 (yes 50) local government officials to Australia for a week on an all-expenses-paid 'fact-finding' mission to get ideas on how to improve things in their home province?
As usual in Thailand, if something constitutes a risk to your safety, it is up to you to be aware of it and to take measures to protect yourself because no one else will. Mai bpen rai.
Finally, someone who understands. Why can't people just see this man for what he really is? Are they blind? A fit and proper Premiership?
Noppadol Pattama, Thaksin's lawyer, has to be a prime contender for the role of the new Comical Ali. Certainly not since Saddam's Information Minister's hilarious statements during the Iraq war have I heard so much drivel spouted forth from one man.
More on this from The Nation: Rights groups oppose Thaksin
Why can't every month be like this one. On my calendar for August I have just one engagement; a Thai wedding I have been asked to attend to take some photos. There are some things I need to get done at my own leisure but I have nothing urgent to do, no one to meet, and nowhere to go. Heaven.
I was asked recently if I ever got bored. In general, the answer is no but the things that stop me from getting bored have gradually changed.
As a tourist and newbie resident, just being in Thailand was enough for me never to get bored. I would wander the streets for hours taking in every new sight, sound and smell. Everything was new and everything was fascinating.
After a while though, you realise there is a great deal of monotony in Thai daily life and doing that kind of thing now probably would make me bored.
Starting work changed a lot of things. My three teaching days are quite busy and I spend at least half a day of my own time preparing lessons and downloading audio material, etc. With work also comes the bureaucracy of visas and work permits which takes up a lot of time.
In addition to my own web sites, I administer a couple of other sites but the work load is less because they are purely administrative tasks where I don't create any content.
Trying to improve my Thai takes up time, as does trying to improve my photography and post-processing techniques. Getting to grips fully with either the Thai language or Photoshop could both easily become full-time pursuits.
Occasionally people show up in the region who I am expected to meet and sometimes I go off travelling myself. I just haven't had an opportunity to get bored so far this year.
Boredom does strike now and again but it has nothing to do with being in Thailand. There have always been times in my life when I have had things to do but just couldn't find the motivation to do them and I still have days like that.
Back in my old life I used to get terribly bored with my job but it felt like a prison where I couldn't go anywhere or do anything else. At least here, if I get bored, I am free to go off and do something to relieve the boredom.
But no, if I do have any problems here, then boredom isn't one of them.
The quantity and variety of fruit in Thailand never ceases to amaze me.
A couple of years ago on a works beano, I went to the beach resort of Kanom in Nakhon Sri Thammarat and as we drove through the province, there were large fruit plantations absolutely everywhere. On a subsequent visit to the Amphoe Muang district of the same province, I visited probably the largest fruit market I have ever seen.
The weather this year must have provided very favourable growing conditions for fruit because there is a huge glut at the moment. Many Thais own land and most land in Thailand bears some kind of fruit. Consequently, there are lots of people at the moment who aren't farmers but who have excess fruit to get rid of.
A common sight right now is pickup trucks loaded up with fruit standing by the roadside acting as temporary shops. The most abundant fruit appears to be rambutan (the ones that look like bright red, hairy testicles - ngo in Thai) but there are also lots of longan and mangosteen.
I was given a bag of rambutan last week and a couple of days ago I picked up another 3kg for Bt20. 3kg of rambutan is a lot of fruit and I still haven't finished them. Eating so much fruit is getting me out of bed very early every morning but at least it's keeping my body healthy.
Of course, regardless of whether there is a shortage of something or an abundance, someone is always going to be unhappy and this time it's the turn of Thai fruit farmers.
To protest over low prices, they dumped a tonne of mangosteen outside City Hall in Nakhon Sri Thammarat, insisting that the government should provide some kind of a subsidy. What was that about a free market economy?
Thailand and France are often compared in terms of land mass, the people's attitude to life, their love of food, the notion of joie de vivre, etc., but the two countries share some other less attractive qualities, this little tantrum from Thai fruit farmers being a good example. How long before I start to see blazing sheep in Thailand or find roads blockaded by angry Thai truck drivers?
Recently I made a few critical comments about Thai students, regarding how many underachieve by sleeping, reading comics, or playing computer games when they could actually be improving their minds.
But at least they are nice kids and would never dream of beating up someone in the street.
Whatever criticisms I may have about Thai culture and society, it is immeasurably preferable to the violent, aggressive, confrontational and sick culture I left behind in England.
A craze started a few years ago involving gangs of UK youths participating in a charming activity which they referred to as 'happy slapping'. They would beat up an innocent person in the street while one of the gang members filmed the violence with a mobile camera and they would all have a great laugh watching it later. Ho ho.
Now, however, there are means by which to distribute this kind of mindless violence to a much larger audience and movie clips of violent street fights are appearing on sites such as YouTube (still blocked in Thailand, incidentally, and there are now calls from British teachers for YouTube to be closed down in order to stop cyber bullying).
The BBC's Panorama programme uncovered this information in a piece of investigative journalism shown on British TV a couple of days ago: Web child fight videos criticised.
Mindless violence isn't unknown in Thailand. Intense rivalries sometimes develop between rival colleges which then result in some very nasty violence between students but generally it just isn't a problem in Thailand where, most of the time, I don't feel concerned about walking around at night.
In fact, it's not a big problem in most developed countries (and many developing ones) ... the notable exception being Britain. The only other countries I can think of where violence for the sake of violence on city streets at night is a problem are those where there has been a lot of immigration from Britain. Unfortunately the violent and confrontational culture was exported along with the people.
This year has seen a big rise in gun crime in England and, in addition, the mindless beatings continue which normally only make the news when the victim is killed. See Gang jailed over viaduct killing and Disabled man 'attacked by gang' for recent stories.
In the stories I have given links to, one of the victims was described as 'vulnerable', one was disabled and one was homeless. The 'culture' of violence normally involves picking on people who are different and stand out from the crowd.
In the Phra Farang book that I finished reading a couple of days ago, the author describes how he was taunted and pelted with stones when he returned to England dressed in monk's robes. There was one incident when he thought he was going to get a severe beating on the underground and was only saved when two policemen entered his carriage. And all this because he was dressed as a monk.
I know the problem well, as do all Brits. Unfortunately, there are too many sick individuals in British society who thrive on this violence to get their kicks and all it takes to become a victim is being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
It's simply another reason why at the moment I just cannot ever imagine returning to England to live (to add to all the other reasons). Even if things don't work out in Thailand in the long run, there are still plenty of other places where I'd rather live before considering moving back to England.
It's an extremely sad state of affairs but one which politicians seem completely unable to resolve. The problem is that politicians only ever look at sticking plaster fixes without trying to understand - and fix - the root causes of the issues.
Some serious 'Singapore-style' justice is one answer but in this ridiculous age of political correctness, it is something we are unlikely to see any time soon.
The human rights lobby would of course make a big fuss about the 'rights' of a thuggish minority while completely ignoring the rights of the vast majority of law-abiding citizens to be able to walk safely in the streets at night. Ask any expat in Singapore what they think about the justice system there and I guarantee they will totally agree with it.
Law-abiding people have absolutely nothing to fear about justice systems with such strict punishments. All it does is make their lives better and safer but while there are no effective deterrents, the thugs in Britain will continue to taunt police and carry out more sickening acts of violence.