Living In Thailand Blog
Tuesday 14th December 2010
The prices in any market are governed by the laws of supply and demand. This universal law always applies regardless of what is being sold. If lots of people want something but demand is limited, they will pay high prices. If there is lots of something and supply outstrips demand, prices go down.
Used car prices in Thailand defy this most basic law of economics and I've never quite been able to figure out why. One farang I spoke to suggested it was because getting repairs done in Thailand is cheap.
He theorised that because it was cheap to keep a used car running, the initial cost of used cars was therefore high. I didn't agree because this still defies the basic law of supply and demand.
There are dozens of used car dealerships in the area where I live with thousands of cars in stock and turnover is very low. You see the same cars sitting on their forecourts for months. Some used cars appear to be permanent fixtures at some used car dealers.
Things that I don't understand in Thailand bug me. If something seems strange compared to the rest of the world, I want to know why.
My first theory about stupid used car prices was that it had something to do with the Thai obsession for material objects (which, incidentally, is totally contrary to Buddhist thinking). Thais are extremely status conscious and a car is the ultimate status symbol. Foreign makes, especially Mercedes, are worshipped and of course anything that is elevated to such a level in society where it is worshipped can't possibly depreciate in value, can it?
I still believe this has something to do with it but a conversation with my brothers-in-law recently revealed another reason.
There are many Thai males whose lives revolve around driving and messing around with vehicles. For them, nothing else is interesting or worthwhile doing in life.
It starts at an early age and you see lots of school age boys who are completely uninterested in education. They just mess around at school waiting for school to finish so that they can race around the streets on their motorbikes with their friends.
They are a menace to everyone but when you look at the expressions on their faces you can see that they are having the time of their lives.
Most of these boys don't continue their education apart from those who go to technical college to learn how to fix cars so they can then become mechanics. Many others end up driving for a living. They get to race vehicles still, and they even get paid for it.
The next time you are on a bus in Thailand with 80 other passengers, or in a minivan, and the driver is driving like Michael Schumacher you will know why.
Some Thai boys who are obsessed with vehicles decide to go into the used car business. This profession still allows them to mess around with cars and it isn't like real work to them.
The only problem is that there isn't much turnover and if you sell used cars for a low profit you can't make a living. But they want to make a living selling used cars so what do they do?
Cartel systems are very popular among Thais who work in the same business. Price fixing allows them to keep prices artificially high as opposed to working in a free market. Price fixing is practised by all the massage shops in my area, as well as tuk-tuk drivers in Phuket and elsewhere.
It appears that used car dealers do the same. To compensate for the low turnover, they make a lot of profit on each car sold.
I saw a car I liked the look of recently and spoke to my wife's brothers about it because they are both in the trade. The price was Bt580,000. I was told that the dealer is trying to make about Bt100,000 profit. From what I could find out on the Internet, this is significantly more than the profit on similarly priced used cars in other countries.
I asked my brother-in-law to keep a look out for a similar car. A couple of days ago he called to say he had located one in Phuket. He's been in the trade a long time and has friends all over the country who buy and sell cars. The cheapest place to buy used cars in Thailand is Bangkok but they turn up everywhere.
I haven't seen the car yet but the description sounds almost exactly the same as the one I saw. It is the same year, same mileage, and the condition sounds about the same. His friend has checked it out already and given it the OK but he will also go to give it the once over.
The only difference to the one I saw previously is the price. If I go ahead and buy this car I will pay the same price as it was sold to the dealer for with no profit. That price is Bt100,000 cheaper than the dealer's car which confirms what my brother-in-law was saying about the dealer's Bt100,000 profit.
Even at the trade price, the car is still expensive compared to many Western countries but there's not a lot more I can do.
My latest theory, therefore, is that there are a couple of reasons why used cars in Thailand are so expensive: The way Thais worship material things, especially cars, and the high profit margin on used cars.
This is allowed to happen because many professions in Thailand are closed to foreigners and there is a lot of protectionism.
If the market was opened up, I am sure that cheap used cars would start to appear and this would drive prices down across the board.
In any market that is being manipulated there is a danger that eventually the bubble will burst and the natural laws of supply and demand will take over. I still think that could happen in the future and lots of people in Thailand will wake up one day to find they have lots of very overpriced used cars on their hands.
Incidentally, the car I'm looking at is a Ford Escape. I firmly believe that driving should be fun and I can't stand driving boring cars. In the past year I have hired a Honda City and a Toyota Vios which were boring as hell. There is no way I could own a pickup truck.
If I still lived in the UK I would be looking at a good condition used Porsche because this is the most fun per UK pound you can buy. This option isn't open to me in Thailand because of ridiculous prices, and anyway, with a baby on the way this wouldn't be a good choice unless it was a Cayenne.
Cheap cars that look expensive (in the UK, but definitely not in Thailand)
Gas-guzzling SUVs aren't exactly friendly to the environment but they are fun. I narrowed my choice down to a Honda CR-V or Ford Escape. They are both a useful size and neither model is excessively big. They both drive like cars, unlike some larger SUVs that are built on a pickup chassis and drive like pickup trucks.
Hondas are very common here and everyone has one. Fords are a lot rarer and thus look more exotic. (Coming from East London/Essex and owning a house that is five minutes walk from Ford's UK Headquarters, I never believed I would ever say that, but this is Thailand.)
I test drove a Honda CR-V recently and it was fun, apart from a 'floaty' suspension that made the car feel a bit boat-like.
I remember an incident in Thailand where a woman named Duenpen Silaket bought a CR-V and it was a lemon. She wasn't having any luck with the dealership so made a very public protest to get her problems fixed.
The Escape reviews I've read have been very positive and it seems like a good car. I've arranged for the money to be transferred and provided my brother-in-law doesn't find anything wrong I will buy it.
If the exchange rate was better at the moment I would pay cash. However, with the UK pound to Baht exchange rate at it's lowest point since before the Asian financial crisis of 1997 I will make a down payment and pay in instalments. The decision to do this is because I am hoping that the exchange rate will start to improve soon.
The Thai economy is running artificially high and I suspect there could be some problems soon. Meanwhile, there are some indicators that the UK economy will soon start to recover but it is still very fragile.
It hurts that now I am ready to start transferring large sums of money to Thailand the exchange rate is so low. But what can I do? I can't turn the clock back and I can't put my life on hold waiting for an improvement. It's just one of those things.
What's the difference between Honda and Ford in Thailand?
According to those in the trade, Hondas can be repaired in Thailand anywhere and parts are easy to get. Additionally, cheap non-original parts are available and this lowers running costs. The Ford service network isn't as extensive and only original parts are available which are more expensive.
Because of this Hondas are a little more expensive to buy used. On the other hand, I am told that the Escape is better made and stronger. However, with its bigger 3.0 V6 engine it uses more fuel.
Cars can be modified in Thailand to run on Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG). This is becoming a popular option and more LPG stations are springing up across the country.
My brother-in-law has a BMW 3 Series that I have borrowed many times and it has a switch inside to switch between petrol and LPG. There is a performance hit when running on LPG but on long journeys it works out quite a lot cheaper.
The conversion costs about Bt40,000 and it is worth looking at if you do a lot of miles. Minivans here run almost constantly and clock up huge mileages each year. Many run on LPG because of the cost savings.
If I buy this car, and if I start doing a lot of mileage, I will consider the LPG option.
Monday 13th December 2010
The wealth gap in Thailand is huge. There are houses near to me that are like small palaces; they are magnificent. Additionally, the owners of these residences own cars that don't look at all out of place in such huge, expensive houses. At the other end of the scale are lots of small shacks made from waste wood and corrugated iron. Sometimes these two extremes exist side-by-side. Thailand - Land of Contrasts and Contradictions.
The shack in the photo was hit by last month's flood. The water level in the area in which it is located was so high that it would probably have completely submerged whoever's dwelling this was. It now looks to be abandoned.
Greece is often referred to as a poor country with lots of rich people. In contrast, Thailand is a rich country with lots of poor people. I have no statistics but from what I have observed a small percentage of Thais have more money than they will ever be able to spend; a smallish middle-class live very comfortably; and the majority live a very basic existence, with many Thais quite poor but not starving.
All foreigners in Thailand are believed to be wealthy and Thais are not shy about asking for money. The first request I had for money was at the first apartment I stayed at after only being in Thailand a few weeks. One of the girls on reception had crashed her motorbike and needed Bt2,000 for repairs.
Of course, she had no money and neither did anyone she knew so she decided to ask the farang who had just moved into a room on the fifth floor. I said no.
Just after I moved into my house recently one of the neighbours came ringing on the doorbell asking to borrow money. It was the first time she had spoken to us. She sounded sincere and I felt sorry for her. She was holding a small child and she said she was pregnant. I loaned her some money.
She repaid it the following week but then asked for another loan a day or two later, which seemed strange. I gave her another loan. This time the money wasn't repaid. She asked for more (which I gave her), and then more again.
The last time she came calling my wife answered the door and told her no more. The woman keeps promising to repay the money but on the day it is due she comes over and gives me a new repayment date. When the new date arrives she gives me another, and so on.
Just after the flood we spoke to a lot of our neighbours and they told us that she had borrowed money from everyone and not repaid it. We hadn't told them what was going on but they had seen the woman at our door and knew what was happening. No one has any secrets in Thailand and everyone knows what everyone else is doing. They warned us not to loan her more money and they told us she was lying about being pregnant.
It's up to her. The amount of money involved is insignificant to me but her behaviour is not doing her personal karma account any good.
My little sister called recently and I knew from the sheepish tone of her voice that something was wrong. She told me she had a big problem and whenever Thais tell you this it is normally always about money. I wasn't wrong.
She was my first girlfriend in Thailand but it was a relationship that - for various reasons - was never destined to work out.
It was a shame that things didn't work out between us but we have kept in touch and still have a very close relationship. I really do think of her as the little sister I never had and there's not a lot that I wouldn't do for her.
She's had a tough life. Her parents divorced just after she was born and neither of them wanted her. They both remarried and had families of their own. Iss was brought up by her grandmother.
She married young and had twin boys but the marriage didn't last and her husband took custody of the children. There was some bad stuff that went on in the marriage but she would never tell me what happened.
She got remarried earlier this year and had a daughter three months ago. Her first marriage was a failure and she hardly saw her sons. When she told me about her new husband and baby she sounded really happy and that made me really happy too.
The news the other night wasn't so good.
She didn't know it at the time but her husband had been betting heavily on the World Cup. He lost quite a lot of money. She was angry with him and now it has given them money problems. She has had to give up work while she takes care of her new daughter. She's a hard worker and not lazy at all.
She told me last night that she has wanted to ask me for help many times but every time she cries. Finally, she asked me. It's no problem to me and I'm glad she asked.
I met her on the second day after I arrived in Thailand just over seven years ago. We've been through a lot together and we know each other well. I know I can trust her and I know that this request is genuine, otherwise she wouldn't have asked.
At the same time, I am disappointed with her husband. You hear so many bad things about Thai men if you live here but he sounded like a decent enough guy. He's not a teenager and he should know that irresponsible gambling while you have a wife and daughter to look after isn't a good thing.
As a Westerner in Thailand you will probably be asked for money at some stage. Sometimes it will be clear that the money won't be repaid and at other times it will be referred to as loan even though there will be no intention of repaying the money.
It's easy to feel sorry for Thais but unfortunately there are quite a few Thais around who milk the situation and abuse this sympathy.
I would never presume to tell anyone what to do in Thailand, but if you get asked for money keep in my mind that some Thais make a habit of asking foreigners just because they know foreigners often pity Thais. Also, even if Thais ask to 'borrow' money, it is unlikely you will be repaid.
The loan to my little sister is Bt20,000 and therefore it isn't insignificant. She has promised to repay it when she can - which could take a long time - but if she doesn't repay the money it won't be a problem because of who she is and the relationship we have.
Teaching is a good way to find out how Thais think. Last week I gave some of my students the assignment: "If I were Prime Minister, I would ..."
As well as getting them to practice their English, I was interested to know what young Thais perceive as problems in Thailand and what they would do to solve those problems if they had the power.
They should return their assignments this week but while they were doing them last week I saw comments about doing more to improve opportunities for women in Thailand (they are all girls) and reducing the wealth gap in Thai society. I found this all very encouraging.
I sometimes think that the problems I see in Thailand are invisible to Thais because most have never lived in another country and therefore they have nothing to compare Thailand against, but they are fully aware.
There is terrible discrimination in Thailand and it is crazy that women still can't do certain jobs because of 'Thai tradition'. In terms of sexual equality, Thailand is about a century behind Western countries.
Despite Margaret Thatcher, Angela Merkel, Julia Gillard, et al, I think it will be a very long time before we see a female Thai PM. It's crazy because Thai women are certainly as capable as Thai men; in many cases a lot more capable.
In professions such as dentistry where there is no bias there are lots of superb female Thai dentists but in politics, the armed forces, senior management, and in any position of real power, it is a very male dominated world in Thailand. The monkhood, of course, is another very powerful Thai institution that is completely male dominated.
It will change eventually but as I have said many times, you can't change culture overnight. Thailand is at a crossroads. You can see that things are starting to change but Thais are still hanging on to a lot of their old ways and the country still has a long way to go.
Wednesday 8th December 2010
For the first time in what seems like weeks it didn't rain all night last night. The sky is a beautiful shade of blue this morning and there is that wonderful light that photographers love. The temperature is about perfect, not being too hot.
For most of the year Thailand is too hot for me. The rainy season is a pain when it is raining but when it isn't raining this time of year is about the best it gets. Unfortunately, I have to go to work.
Monday was an interesting day. The first lump sum payment and monthly instalment of my occupational pension arrived in my bank account just after midnight UK time. I had been waiting for this moment for several years because the additional money now gives me lots of freedom to choose what I want to do in Thailand.
Monday should have been my day off but I got a call at 10am telling me to go in to work at 10:30am because the school are trying to make up for the lost two weeks when it was closed due to flooding.
I could have just said no but because my wife is a teacher there I don't want to make things difficult for her. My day off turned into a regular teaching day and I also got the news later that they have added an additional teaching period every day before regular lessons.
I, of course, am simply expected to do this with no extra compensation. My wife and the other Thai teachers get this crap all the time. They are told to work in the evening or at weekends and they aren't paid, or they are given a nominal amount.
Whenever I tell Bpom that it isn't right she tells me, "I can't choose." Most Thais work because they need the money (Thailand isn't a welfare state) and they do whatever they are told because they can't choose. Employers are fully aware of this and take advantage of their employees.
I am a stroppy farang and I don't take kindly to being taken advantage of. Additionally, I no longer need the salary and I now have a couple more options for getting a visa.
My initial reaction was just to hand in my notice and tell them I've had enough. However, it's not that straightforward because I don't work directly for the school. The company I work for wasn't responsible for the change of schedule and the owners have also been good to me in recent years so I didn't want to give them a problem.
My schedule at the start of the year wasn't very good compared to last year but now it's bloody awful. Anyway, I have agreed to complete the end of the school year which should finish at the end of February. I will then have to do a summer camp in March but will then get two months paid vacation for the Thai school summer holiday.
As soon as the summer camp finishes I will be a free man. There are lots of opportunities here for part-time teaching but I'm not sure that I want to continue. At the moment I need a complete break from teaching and I already have another career in mind.
My proposed new career isn't about making money, but just doing something I enjoy for fun. The potential to make some money out of it is there but I will regard any money I make as a bonus rather than a salary.
Things are looking quite good at the moment. I think the next thing will be buying a car. I spoke to my brothers-in-law about this recently (who are both in the trade) and I will talk more about this later.
This is a personal site with no agenda. I'm not promoting anything; I'm not paid by anyone; and no one pays me directly to advertise. I describe things how I see them - sometimes not very flatteringly - and often I like to try to analyse behaviour to see if I can make sense of it. You could say that I am cynical, or you could say that I am honest. I like to think the latter.
I try to talk about all aspects of living in Thailand but remember that there are certain things people living in Thailand can't speak about, and therefore they need to exercise self-censorship.
Readers of the BBC News site living outside the UK are forced to watch adverts if they want to watch a news video. Currently, there is an 'Amazing Thailand' campaign running. It's very polished and it really does make Thailand look amazing but the Thailand it portrays doesn't exist.
It only exists in glossy magazines and the imagination of advertising people. But the people behind the campaign have an agenda, which is to get as many tourists to visit Thailand as possible. It doesn't matter that their portrayal of the country doesn't exist because that isn't their objective. Their objective is to attract visitors.
Another thing I need to remind readers of now and again is that I am different to most Westerners in Thailand. I chose not to live in one of the well-known places where lots of Westerners live and that was a very deliberate choice. I actually avoid those places.
We all have different ideas about the Thailand we want to experience and it so happens that my ideas are different to most other farangs.
I remember having a conversation with a young software developer in the UK before I came here. When I mentioned Thailand his eyes glazed over and he started spewing out all the Lonely Planet cliches.
The places he knew in Thailand were all on the standard Banana Pancake Trail and he even had his clothing figured out. Once again, his choice of attire consisted entirely of Lonely Planet cliches - baggy fisherman pants and the like.
The last thing I would ever want to do is go to a Full Moon Party, stuck on an island with thousands of farang backpackers. It would be a nightmare. Some years ago I had to add another place to my list of places to avoid in Thailand: All roads lead to Pai
And the point of this post? Remember that my views aren't mainstream and that they differ from the views of most other people. Don't take anything here too seriously and always make decisions based on what is best for you.
Tuesday 7th December 2010
There was an interesting article on the BBC recently but now I can't find the link. It addressed the topic of news and stated that by its very nature news has to be unusual. If something gets to a point where it it isn't unusual, then it isn't news. It is just normal life. As we all know, normal life is boring, and thus not very newsworthy.
One of the big news stories at the moment is shark attacks in the Red Sea. A big 'Jaws' type man-eating shark story is always going to be big news. This story has been dominating headlines in the last week.
In another article (Egypt shark attacks: Red Sea resorts seek explanation) it is stated that sharks kill between five to 15 people a year.
With a world population of six billion, even the most mathematically challenged can probably work out that the chances of being eaten by a shark are quite slim.
Disease is the biggest threat to human life (heart disease, lung cancer, respiratory disease) and in places such as Thailand there are some additional risks. There are different diseases (many mosquito-borne), and deaths from road traffic accidents are a lot higher compared to developed countries. Thai roads are dangerous.
There have been many occasions in recent years when panic has set in about a 'new' viral disease and people stop travelling to certain places temporarily, even though there is virtually no risk, yet they completely ignore the real threats.
This has puzzled me but now it makes a little more sense. Being killed in a road accident or contracting malaria is normal life so it is nothing to worry about. However, contracting bird flu or being eaten by a shark isn't normal and thus it is something to be afraid of.
I understand now but this mentality can completely distort people's perception of danger. It can result in people worrying unnecessarily about things that aren't really dangerous while ignoring, or becoming very blasé, about real dangers.
There are some very real dangers in Thailand. There are also some low risk threats. Because of the way the media distorts and reports news, it is possible that visitors could have a skewed view of what these are.
If you plan to visit Thailand, make sure you understand the real dangers.
Egypt happens to be one of the few places in the world where driving standards are even worse than in Thailand. It's difficult to believe but, from what I understand, negotiating your way through Bangkok is a picnic compared to driving in Cairo.
This BBC video is hilarious. The reporter talks with an air of disbelief at seeing three men on a motorbike without crash helmets. He has obviously never been to Thailand where it isn't uncommon to see five or six on a motorbike without crash helmets.
He also cannot believe that drivers don't stop at zebra crossings, and that drivers don't allow ambulances to get through traffic. He really needs to experience Amazing Thailand.
The threat to Egypt's tourist industry will now be from completely irrational fears rather than real ones, such as crazy Egyptian drivers. Shark attacks in Egypt spark tourism fears
This incident reminds me of one of the best - and also one of the cheapest - vacations I ever had.
I spent about 10 days in Hurghada just after the Luxor Massacre in 1997. Tourists stopped going there after the incident because of irrational fears and this caused a big problem for the Egyptian tourist industry.
In order to try to get tourists back, they announced all kinds of fantastic promotions.
I stayed in a very expensive hotel which was being offered for a bargain bucket price and the locals couldn't do enough to help me. To make it even better, there were very few tourists around.
If this shark business really does stop tourists from visiting Egypt, keep an eye out for cheap holidays because there will be some great deals.
There is a dark side to tourism in Thailand that the glossy photo books and the Tourist Authority of Thailand's 'Amazing Thailand' campaign never mention.
HIV positive man on trial for sex with Thai child prostitutes
The location in Thailand is often the same. Another thing that is never mentioned when discussing this topic are the thousands of Asian men who cross the border into southern Thailand regularly for the same reason. It's not just Germans and Pattaya, as this article may imply.
Monday 6th December 2010
We all have very different ideas about what is good to eat and what isn't. Offal, especially pig offal, is very popular in Thailand but when I see it displayed at fresh markets (normally unrefrigerated and covered in flies) I know there is no way I could eat it.
Some vendors make an effort to keep the flies off the meat by waving sticks around but normally they don't bother and there are flies everywhere.
What is strange is that when I was a kid my mother used to dish up lambs' hearts, liver and onions, steak and kidney pie, etc, and I thought nothing of eating it. Admittedly, food hygiene in the UK tends to be better than the average Thai fresh market but I still ate offal.
Most Brits eat some offal and my parents' generation (born just before WW2) ate a lot - probably due to rationing and the unavailability of meat in the post-war era of austerity.
Americans, on the other hand, seem to find the practice of eating any kind of offal disgusting. I remember an American colleague coming to work with me in London some years ago and at lunchtime we went to the cafeteria.
On the menu was steak and kidney pie. Very gingerly, he enquired whether 'kidney' meant kidney beans. After a quick explanation I think he opted for a hamburger. What he couldn't have realised was that there was probably more offal in the burger than there was in the steak and kidney pie.
Here in Thailand, deep-fried insects are sold at many markets. Some Thais won't eat them but the ones who do say they are good and packed with protein. Field rodents are eaten in Isaan, as are dogs in certain areas of Isaan.
The big geckos (dtuuk-gair in Thai) are skewered, grilled and eaten by some Thais. I've not heard of Thais eating snake but for many years there was quite a famous shop nearby that sold snakes for culinary purposes.
Three varieties were kept live in cages. After a customer had picked out the snake he wanted, it was killed and its blood drained to be drunk. The snake meat was then made into soup and the skin made into wallets, belts and things.
'Snake House' closed down a a few years ago, unfortunately. Although I would never eat snake myself, it was a classic piece of Asian culture that was always good to show visitors. Local Thais told me that the shop was only there for visiting Chinese from Malaysia and Singapore.
I was walking around a local Sunday market yesterday and saw some large lizards ready for the pot. I'm not sure what type they were but they were quite big - just a bit smaller than water monitors.
I asked the vendor how they were cooked. She told me they were made into a curry and pointed to a pot that she had already prepared. Before I knew it, she presented me with a sample to taste. Rather rudely, but fearful that I might throw up, I declined.
I thought that my regular readers (both of you) were getting fed up with weather updates, but then someone found this blog while searching for information on current weather conditions in Thailand so here's a quick update.
The last spell of high pressure from China was supposed to depart on 4th December but this made absolutely no difference to the weather. It has hardly stopped raining for weeks (months?) and as I write all I can hear is the sound of rain falling heavily outside.
This is the wettest spell of weather I have ever experienced in Thailand.
During the last couple of months various provinces have been affected by heavy rain and flooding. Currently, judging by the TV news reports, the worst affected province is also one of my favourites.
Poor Phattalung is suffering badly right now. Phattalung is nearby to where I live and it is one of my favourites places to escape from the traffic, the noise, and the general hustle and bustle of Hat Yai.
The limestone karsts that feature prominently in Krabi and Phang Nga provinces start to appear in Phattalung and in addition to some great landscapes it is full of birds. Cattle egrets are as abundant in Phattalung as pigeons are in Trafalgar Square.
I have visited Phattalung's Thale Noi waterfowl reserve on the north shore of Songkhla Lake many times and it really is one of my favourite places in Thailand.
What makes Phattalung so special is that there has been little development. Many other places in Thailand have been ruined in the last 25 years by over-development.
The flip-side of the coin, however, is that neither has the general infrastructure been developed very much. There has been so much rain recently that many parts of Phattalung have simply been inundated.
This wet weather seems to be affecting the southern region particularly badly in every province south of Chumpon. A few days ago, I called my friend Cartoon who is working in Koh Samui and she said there had been lots of rain and flooding.
When will it stop? No one seems to know. Just as one ridge of high pressure leaves, then another one arrives. La Niña - the cause of all the problems - is set to last into the early part of 2011 but no one knows exactly when.
If you are planning to visit Thailand soon, expect some wet weather.
Friday 3rd December 2010
I shouldn't laugh, but reading through one of my students' account of the recent flood she described how she was sad because her dog had been downstairs and 'sank'.
I had visions of Fido saluting as the water level rose, much like the captain on the bridge of a sinking ship. I didn't have the heart to correct her English after the loss of her pet.
Talking of sinking, this is a very interesting article: Agency needed to deal with 'sinking Bangkok'
I read something else recently that described how parts of Bangkok would be uninhabitable in another seven or eight years due to flooding, and this article explains how Bangkok will be submerged within 25 years.
It's all very scientific and 30mm per year is a lot. I had no idea. I found the comment 'flood-prevention systems remained scattered' interesting.
As Hat Yai discovered last month, just building improved flood defences in one place is pointless when millions of gallons of water can so easily come from other places.
The flood problems in Thailand need to be looked at nationally and an integrated defence system developed to protect the whole country.
What will happen now?
Thais don't tend to worry about the future too much (kit maak mai dee) but allow problems to happen and then deal with them, rather than trying to prevent them in the first place. This tendency to think only about the present, while not worrying about the future or getting hung up on problems from the past, fits in with Buddhist thinking, but I have another theory.
I wrote something elsewhere on this web site a long time ago about Thai people being shaped by their environment. Thailand is a lush, tropical country with a warm climate and plenty of rain where food is abundant year-round.
Rice production is seasonal, but there isn't a harsh season during part of the year where food isn't available, as there is in some other countries. In countries with harsh winters people have to plan ahead otherwise they won't survive. Thais have never had to do this and I suspect this is another reason why they don't pay much attention to the future.
It's just a theory.
I also read recently about: Giant tunnels to ease Bangkok flood risk
It will be interesting to see what happens in coming years. Whereas many parts of Thailand suffered from flooding this year, Bangkok didn't seem to have too much of a problem. According to this latest report, that situation could change very soon.
2010 sets new temperature records
Britain has seen the driest six months for 80 years
Britain facing one of the coldest winters in 100 years
Mexico soaked in wettest year on record
Balkans flooding prompts emergency call
Southern Australia on high alert after floods
Two dead, including German woman in Malaysia floods
Thousands of families homeless in S. Philippines floods
Indonesia floods and landslides kill over 80 people
The weather this year has been the most extreme I can remember. The first of these reports mentions La Niña. There has been lots of warm weather in the last 10 years and inevitably people will start to talk about global warming but I'm still not totally convinced.
There seem to be some big weather cycles and these are influenced by far more powerful cosmic forces than merely the activities that humans are performing on Earth. The UK is very cold now but when was the last time the Thames froze over, as it used to do regularly? That used to happen a long time before any talk of man-made global warming.
La Niña has been a foe so far this year but if it makes Thailand a little cooler during next year's hot season it will become my friend for a while.
After more heavy rain yesterday - and then a power cut in the morning, which seemed quite ominous - I started moving things upstairs again in readiness for another flood. The rain then stopped and the danger passed. Tomorrow is forecast as being the last day when there will be a ridge of high pressure over the Gulf of Thailand.
This is getting tiresome. It's difficult going anywhere in torrential rain, but much worse is living with the constant threat of more flooding. Our sofa is still halfway up the stairs and there are lots of things upstairs that should be downstairs ... just in case.
All I want is to put everything back where it should be and to get on with living normally again.
This has been a big year for me but I can't wait to say goodbye to 2010. Yesterday, my students were talking about the calamitous events that are about to befall Thailand on 30th December 2010. They tell me that rumours have been flying around the Internet.
I am sick to the back teeth of hearing nothing but doom and gloom. Hopefully, when everyone wakes up on 31st December and realises that nothing has happened then Thais will start smiling again and life will return to normal.
Wednesday 1st December 2010
Thai TV is warning of heavy rain in most southern provinces but the Thai Meteorological Department has downgraded its flood warnings from 'Prachuap Khiri Khan southward' to just five provinces: Chumphon, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung and Songkhla.
Therefore, I'm still not off the hook yet.
The sky is grey without a patch of blue anywhere and the atmosphere is heavy and foreboding. The rain continues to fall and it is getting steadily heavier. It's really miserable at the moment.
Chumpon and Surat Thani are the mainland jump off points for the popular tourist resort islands of Koh Tao and Koh Samui. The Thai Meteorological Department doesn't specifically mention these places but due to the path of the latest storm I would imagine that these two places are fairly wet at the moment.
Shipping warnings have been issued and it's even possible that ferries may have been suspended (there's an airport on Koh Samui these days but it is only possible to get to Koh Tao by boat).
With December here already, we are now well into farang tourist season and while walking around yesterday I noticed quite a few scruffy backpackers.
I don't wish to be rude, but why do so many young (and some not so young) farang visitors to Thailand revert to being cavemen as soon as they cross the border? That Thai stamp in their passport seems to be the signal they were waiting for to start wearing the tattiest clothes possible and to stop washing and cutting their hair.
Thais don't do it. The only scruffy Thais I see dressed like farang kee-nok are those who are destitute and sleeping on the streets. And even then, there aren't that many. Thais may never say anything, but farangs dressing and acting like destitute bums don't impress them ... at all.
On my last trip to Phuket I saw lots of farangs who had left the beach for a day to go into Phuket town. I saw middle-aged farang men walking around the town without shirts, and a few young farang girls who were revealing so much bosom that they may as well have been topless as well.
The way the girls were dressed wasn't appropriate for a Thai beach, let alone a main town. Occasionally, young foreign girls travelling alone in Thailand run into problems with Thai men but when you see how some of them dress and act they really don't help themselves.
Thailand, as I've said many times before, is a land of contradictions. 'Land of Contradictions' or 'Land of Contrasts' would be a more accurate sobriquet than 'Land of Smiles'.
It's easy for tourists to walk around Patong's Soi Bangla looking at all the ladyboys and bargirls flashing their breasts at foreign tourists and to think that what they see is representative of the whole of Thailand. This couldn't be any further from the truth. Thais are some of the most conservative people on earth and they expect appropriate levels of conservatism from other people.
I was in the local immigration office earlier this year and a farang appeared who was being helped by a Thai. Like many foreigners in Thailand, he was wearing the usual beachwear: a cheap tacky T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops.
Because the immigration officials were dealing with his Thai friend he got what he wanted but had he gone there alone dressed like that I don't think he would have got anything. All Thais, especially government officials, expect the people they deal with to be suparp and riep roi.
Irrefutable proof that something is very wrong with the world this year was delivered last night when my team (who are rapidly heading towards the English Championship division) stuffed Man United 4-0 in the League Cup.
I can't remember having anything to feel good about for several weeks but looking at photos of dour Glaswegian Sir Alex Ferguson looking even more miserable than usual in the dugout at a very snowy Upton Park brought a smile to my face.
Southeast Asian countries, such as Thailand and Singapore, where everyone 'supports' either Manchester United or Liverpool will be unhappy places today.
Devastating floods kill at least 20 in Venezuela
The weather this year has been exceptionally severe in many parts of the world. The UK is exceptionally cold at the moment, Thailand is exceptionally wet, and so apparently is Venezuela. I am convinced that stronger than usual La Niña conditions are to blame.
Many tourists to Thailand fall in love with the image of Thailand they are presented with and quite a few, such as myself, decide later in life to move there permanently because it seems like probably the most perfect country on earth. (It isn't, but that's how it seems at first when you don't understand anything about Thailand.)
For this reason you might think that every foreigner who relocates to Thailand lives happily ever after, but sadly that isn't the case. A number of foreigners perform the 'Pattaya Death Leap' each year, which involves leaping off the nearest tall building and making a horrible mess on the pavement that some poor, unfortunate Thai has to clear up.
The Pattaya Death Leap is a generic term but it is performed wherever there are lots of farangs in Thailand. For example:
Norwegian jumps to death from Phuket hotel
Other farangs perform acts of self-mortification and some use quite interesting methods:
Briton stabs himself, allegedly sets fire to apartment
What's going on? Thailand is supposed to be a farang paradise, isn't it? Why would anyone want to take their own life in the Land of Smiles?
I remember reading about a guy who was terminally ill with cancer and decided to end it all by jumping out of a light aircraft some years ago. I can understand this to some degree.
Others get taken in by deceitful Thai girls and lose everything. For many, I think they just get hoodwinked by the clever presentation of the country and burn all their bridges to live in Thailand but after a few years they realise that everything in Thailand is just an illusion. By the time they realise, it is too late and for many there is no going back.
I've said it many times before, but I'll say it again. Thailand isn't a bad country - by any means - but the reality of Thailand is very different to the image that foreigners are first presented with.
Because of the notion of saving face, an awful lot of the bad stuff is hidden from view and swept under the carpet. This is done very cleverly and it takes a long time for outsiders to start to see the real Thailand. You need to spend a number of years in the country and get close to normal Thais.
The average amount of time a tourist spends in the country is nowhere near long enough, and most tourists only go to tourist resorts which are completely artificial and not representative of real Thailand.
If you are considering a permanent move to Thailand, my advice would be to go about the whole thing seriously. Plan to learn about the country, plan to learn about the cultural behaviour of Thais, plan to learn the language, plan to get to know real Thais, plan to get to know real Thailand and not just an artificial beach resort somewhere, think about what you can do in Thailand to fill your time productively and meaningfully, etc etc.
You may believe that it is possible to simply extend a two-week beer, sun and bargirl vacation indefinitely. In my humble opinion, I don't believe that is the best way to start a new life in Thailand.
At 4pm local time today Krabi, Trang and Satun were added to the list of southern Thai provinces affected by severe heavy rain and possible flooding. Krabi is another popular tourist destination, as are some of the islands off Trang and Satun.
Tourists having just arrived in these places ready for a little winter sunshine to brighten up their anaemic complexions might be a tad disappointed at the moment. It may not be as cold, but the weather in sunny southern Thailand at the moment is as miserable as a wet winter's day in Manchester.