Living In Thailand Blog
Tuesday 31st July 2018
We got back from Samui on Sunday and I have just completed the first draft version of a new travelogue about the island. As is usually the case, I will add some more stuff later.
Briefly, I went to Samui with extremely low expectations and none of those expectations were exceeded. When I visited Pattaya a few years ago it actually turned out to be a lot better than I had imagined, but not Samui.
I first saw Samui in 1987 when it was virtually untouched. There were no hotels, no airport, no electricity. The only accommodation options were little rustic bungalows on the beach with light bulbs powered by generators. There was so little there that I got bored very quickly.
My next visit was in the winter of 2002/2003. Samui had changed beyong recognition and although it already had a lot of the ugliness that blights other Thai tourist resorts, it still wasn't as bad as Pattaya or Patong. But it is now, at least Chaweng is - the main town in Samui.
There appears to be no stopping the development rollercoaster. The flat land on the east coast has already been developed, so now they are building on the very steep hillsides. It is relentless and while there is still tourist money to be made the Thais won't restrict anything.
It is very unlikely that I will ever visit again. I only made this visit because my wife had never been to Samui and wanted to go. However, she only ever wants to go to new places and now she has been to Samui she won't want to go back. She also wasn't very impressed.
Please remember that my opinions are just that. I am very different to most other farangs living in and visiting Thailand. Lots of people obviously love Samui and that's fine, but it's just not my cup of tea.
Thursday 26th July 2018
If I want to get my hair cut, I have three options. There are Western style hair salons that mainly cater to women, but some will also cut men's hair. In recent years a number of trendy barber shops have also opened. They often refer to themselves using the English term 'barber shop' and because they are 'trendy' places they tend to charge quite a lot (relatively speaking).
Finally, there are the traditional Thai style men's barber shops. At first I wouldn't use these places, but I have used these places exclusively now for around 10 years. They aren't always the fanciest of places, but you get a good haircut, good service, and they are dirt cheap.
I found with the salons that many of the female hairdressers weren't that confident cutting men's hair. They would snip around my hair very cautiously trying to shorten the length while also trying to keep the same basic shape. I've never cut anyone's hair, but if I did I would do it like this.
They are also quite expensive and there aren't normally any fixed prices. I always get the feeling that whenever I ask the price at these places I automatically get the farang price.
The 'trendy' barber shops offer basically the same service as the traditional barber shops, but at a higher price. Granted, the shops are fitted out a lot more comfortably and normally have A/C, but when I am having a haircut these things don't matter to me.
The traditional barber shops are normally always open plan with fans. They aren't at all plush, but the prices are fixed and the service is normally excellent.
Road leading out to the reservoir
Since I started using these places I used various shops, but earlier this year I found one in the countryside near to where I live. There is a great stretch of road near me that goes out to a large reservoir. The road is fairly new and gets very little traffic. I find it so peaceful riding the scooter along this road and getting into the heart of the countryside. The barber shop is located on this road.
My local barber shop - made of wood and corrugated iron
The barber owns about a rai of land and grows fruit to sell. He is also into cockfighting and keeps cockerels in large cages. At the front of his land he has erected a small barber shop for another stream of income.
My local barber shop
The price for a man's haircut is Bt70 (about US$2.10). First he cuts my hair, then he reclines the chair and gives me a full shave. The price for a shave alone is Bt40, therefore the haircut price is really only Bt30.
He shaves all round my neck and ears, wipes my face with a scented iced towel, and dabs some alcohol on my skin afterwards. This feels a bit sharp, but it is very refreshing.
Chair reclined for shaving purposes
The shop is open with just an old ceiling fan above the chair and there are lots of mosquitoes, but it's a great place. Other people must think the same way because there is a constant stream of customers.
As with the vast majority of hair cutting establishments in Thailand, the shop is closed on Wednesdays. For a long time I didn't know why this was, but a reader sent me an e-mail some years ago with an explanation. Apparently, the King has his hair cut on Wednesdays and therefore Thais won't have their hair cut on the same day out of respect for the King.
To find these places you normally have to look outside of city centres. A year or two ago I was waiting for my daughter to finish her tutoring and I wandered around downtown Hat Yai looking for a traditional barber shop. There weren't any and every haircutting shop wanted at least Bt200. It's cheap compared to other countries, but when I know I can get a really good haircut for Bt70 I resent paying Bt200.
My lad in the barber's chair for a Bt40 haircut
Occasionally, I just get my hair washed in one of the salons. As we all know, Thailand is very hot and humid, and after walking around for hours you get very sticky and uncomfortable. The salons use cold water and rather than just shampooing your head they give you a full head massage.
The combination of the head massage and cold water feels really good and it's a great way to cool down and feel refreshed. However, the cost of this service keeps going up.
There was a time a few years ago when I could get this done for Bt50. I made an inquiry recently and was told Bt200, although that may have been the farang price and I could possibly have negotiated a better deal. I would now pay up to Bt100, but no more.
Incidentally, washing your hair is not a part of the normal service at the traditional barber shops. They will do it, but for an additional charge. You can also get your ears picked for an additional charge. It's not an unpleasant sensation, but I always worry that they are going to damage my eardrum or something.
As with everything in Thailand, it's always better if you can speak and read some Thai, but it isn't essential at the traditional barber shops and you can normally find some way of communicating. My barber comes from somewhere in Isaan and (thankfully) doesn't speak the southern dialect, which I find almost unintelligible. We do just fine in the central dialect.
UK hairdressing prices - and not the most expensive prices by a long way
I always watch Thai men when they pay for a haircut and I have never seen one leave a tip. Tipping for a haircut is traditional in the UK, but obviously not in Thailand. I always give my barber another Bt20. It's not a lot, but it's more than he gets from Thai men.
Bt70, the charge for a man's haircut, is about £1.60. When I was in the UK last year I checked some prices in my home town (which is outside of central London) and was quite shocked. The price would be up to £30 (plus a tip).
This UK salon would also charge up to £12 to get my lad's hair cut, whereas the price for him at my local barber shop is Bt40 (around 91 pence). That's a big difference. Incomes in Thailand are a lot lower, but for many things prices are lower too. When I was in the UK last year I found the price of almost everything shockingly expensive.
Wednesday 18th July 2018
An interesting little video from the BBC following the cave rescue.
Saying Sorry To A Thai Cave Spirit
Ask anyone what is the religion of Thailand and they will say Buddhism, but a lot of Thai behaviour does not follow Buddhist concepts and there is an awful lot of animism on display. Things that Westerners would regard as inanimate objects are seen as animated and alive by animists and they have a spiritual essence that must be respected and looked after.
The spirit shelf in our house
When we moved into our current house the very first task I had to perform was to put up a spirit shelf (hing pra in Thai). My wife adorned the shelf with Buddhist images, flowers, candles and incense and her father came to the house to perform a special ceremony. On Buddhist observance days (wun pra) she performs a similar ceremony, showing respect to the spirit of our house (the jao tee).
Thai spirit houses
Some houses, but not ours, have a spirit house outside (saan pra poom) for the same purpose. The bigger the building, the bigger the spirit house. Large shopping malls in Bangkok, such as MBK, have enormous spirit houses outside.
Large spirit house outside the MBK shopping mall in Bangkok
In addition to each house having its own spirit, there is a separate spirit who looks after our overall housing development and there is another larger spirit house at the front of the development to appease this spirit.
Appeasing the tree spirit
Old trees also have spirits living in them and you will often see coloured cloth tied around trees. Various offerings will often be left at the base of the trunk. As the BBC video explains, the cave in Chiang Rai where the boys were trapped also has its own spirit. The events of the last few weeks caused a great disruption inside the cave and now the guardian spirit needs to be appeased, otherwise there will be more problems.
Offerings for the tree spirit
Wherever there are spirits Thais will make offerings of food, drink and incense and they will wai the spirits to show their respect.
Food offerings for the local spirits
Westerners may roll their eye at such beliefs, but these beliefs are extremely powerful in Thailand. As I've said many times, on the surface Thailand may seem quite familiar to Westerners, but only when you start delving a little deeper and start uncovering aspects of the Thai belief and value systems will you realise how completely different it is.
Underestimating these differences can cause lots of issues for foreigners living in Thailand.
Elon Musk apologises to Thai cave diver for Twitter attack
The least he could do, but this general assumption that anyone who goes to live in Thailand must obviously be a pedophile or some other kind of sexual deviant still annoys me. They certainly exist, but please don't tar everyone with the same brush.
Two apology posts in today's blog and the etymology behind the Thai phrase for an apology is quite interesting.
ขอโทษ
There are no correct ways to transliterate, only wrong ways, but this phrase sounds something like kor tort. Some foreigners will argue until they are blue in the face that it is kaw tawt but, as I said, there are only wrong ways to transliterate. There are no correct ways. Arguing over transliteration is pointless.
The word kor is used as a polite request for something. For example, kor naam krup would be a polite request for some water made my a male. I always use kor in shops and restaurants, but I very rarely hear it used by Thais. Thais tend to use ao, which is the Thai word 'to want'. Ao naam, which is what I hear most of the time, basically means, "I want water."
My parents made it very clear when they were bringing me up that telling someone you 'want' something is very rude, however, Thais don't seem to regard it as being impolite and will happily tell restaurant staff what they want, rather than using the polite kor to ask for something.
The word tort means harm, punishment, penalty, sentence.
Therefore when Thais apologise by saying kor tort, they are actually asking in a polite way to be punished.
Tuesday 17th July 2018
Everyone will have read the comments by Elon Musk regarding one of the British cave divers. Musk is another Branson-like character and I have always had mixed feelings about him.
You have to admire people who come from nothing and build huge, successful businesses because it takes a level of vision, technical skill, business acumen, effort and determination that the vast majority of people will never be capable of. Some people have some of these qualities, but very few people have all of them. People like Elon Musk have the ability to change our world.
On the other hand, you will never be that successful in business by being honest and considerate to other people. Business is a dog-eat-dog world and you have to be quite nasty to survive. I was only reading yesterday how the late Steve Jobs threatened to destroy Dropbox because the owners refused to sell the company to him and it competed with his Apple iCloud business. Very successful businessmen also tend to be extremely narcissistic and don't respond well to any form of criticism.
As a Thailand expat myself, I am probably more sensitive to 'pedo' comments than most other people. Apparently, Musk's accusation that the British cave diver is a 'pedo guy' is based purely on the fact that he is an expat in Thailand. Nothing more.
Using this logic, I am also a 'pedo guy' as are tens of thousands of other expats in Thailand, including many of Musk's fellow South African countrymen and women who have moved to Thailand to seek better lives.
There are still lots of people who assume that anyone who moves to Thailand (or other countries in Asia with a lot of poor people) does so only because they have perverted sexual proclivities involving children or ladyboys that can't be satisfied in their home countries. Occasionally, I hear similar remarks or observe raised eyebrows.
Yes, there are foreigners in Thailand (and elsewhere) who are like this, but actually, not that many. If you live in Pattaya you may know people like this because it is their favourite destination in Thailand, but I don't know any in the part of Thailand where I live. The expats I know are actually a very switched on and respectable group of people. They do nothing wrong and actually contribute to Thai society in many ways.
As I explained a little yesterday, there are many reasons why a person may not enjoy life in the country in which they were born and in later life they decide to live somewhere else. In my case, and in the case of many others, these reasons have nothing to do with sexual preference.
I have seen Vern Unsworth's interview and he said nothing wrong. It was simply a PR stunt.
As he pointed out, Musk had no idea of the actual conditions inside the cave and his mini-submarine wouldn't have made the first 50 meters.
There was no need for Musk to go to Thailand. His visit was unnecessary and distracting. In a very low key manner, he should simply have made it known to the Thai authorities that he was willing to help and listed the resources he had available, stating that these resources could be made available if required. Finish.
Turning up at the scene in a blaze of publicity with a novelty mini-submarine that divers in the cave knew wouldn't work was totally wrong and his response when this was pointed out was reprehensible.
Normally when rich people say something that is wrong they get away with it. This particular outburst was so despicable that I hope his comments come back to haunt him. Sorry Elon, you're a very clever guy, but you got it wrong this time.
My advice to both Trump and Musk would be to delete their Twitter accounts. Of all the social media platforms, this is the one that really seems to bring out the worst in people in the way that it allows people to write comments before thinking about what they are actually saying. Musk's comments have now all been deleted, but the damage has already been done.
Monday 16th July 2018
What's Your Secret Nationality?
I travelled quite a lot before I came to Thailand and when I decided to leave the UK in the early noughties I didn't need to think where to go. I already knew. Based on my previous travel experiences I figured that I would be most at home in Thailand.
However, I just did the test that I've linked to above and the result was that my personality type is most suited to a life in Chile. I always had plans to visit South America, but never made it. Maybe the test result is correct? Maybe I would have been happier had I moved to Chile. I will never know and now it's too late to change anything.
SerpentZA released another video recently on his YouTube channel explaining how his life in China is much better than his life was in his native South Africa. South Africa's demise is a tragedy. I went for a vacation in 2000 and it's the most amazing country in terms of natural scenery, climate, wildlife, cuisine, etc, but it has a horrendous crime rate and there is massive corruption. I loved what I experienced in South Africa, but I was always looking over my shoulder and I could never fully relax.
South Africa has not been a good country for white South Africans to live in for several years. It isn't safe and there is limited opportunity. I know South Africans living in Thailand and most of the teachers who are now employed by my old employer are South African.
SerpentZA is very grateful to China for giving him a better life (he actually credits China with saving his life) and giving him opportunities but, at the same time, he says there are certain aspects of China that he doesn't accept and will never be able to accept.
This is how I feel about Thailand. At the age of 40 my life was going nowhere in the UK. I had money and material possessions, but these things are meaningless if there is nothing deeper. Time was running out quickly and, had I stayed in the UK, nothing would have changed.
I've talked about Thai value systems, but the value system for a lot of people in the UK is one that I could never accept. Just recently I read a comment about how wonderful it was to be in the UK at the moment, and three reasons were cited.
- The weather was warm
- A certain reality TV show was being aired every night
- The England football team were doing well
I found this comment quite disturbing, but it reminded me of the attitudes of a lot of British people. For me, personally, all of these things are superficial and I was never going to be happy and fulfilled in a country where it is expected that superficial things have the ability to make people happy.
There was (probably still is) a big drinking culture in the UK. No matter how bad life was, it didn't seem to matter to a lot of people provided that they could go to the pub a couple of times a week and get drunk.
Again, this was an attitude that I could never agree with. I always wanted a better life. I wasn't prepared to put up with an unfulfilled life on the basis that getting drunk frequently would make a bad life acceptable. This never made any sense to me and after I moved to Thailand and found a better life I stopped drinking altogether.
Moving to Thailand gave me the opportunity to find a wife 20+ years younger than myself and subsequently I had the opportunity to have the children that I would never have had in the UK. These are the important things in life. Material things aren't as important, but I'm not complaining about being able to buy a far larger house in Thailand than I could ever afford in the UK.
Moving to Thailand was one of the best decisions of my life and I owe a lot to Thailand. However, like SerpentZA, there are certain aspects of living in Thailand than I cannot accept and will never be able to accept.
I thought I would make this clear just in case it sounds as if I criticise Thailand too much or if it seems that I contradict myself. Nowhere is perfect. Every place has good aspects and bad aspects. In Thailand there is also lots of behaviour and thinking that isn't bad, but it is very different compared to Western countries.
This blog gets a few visitors for Thailand, but most visitors are from outside of Thailand and presumably those people are interested in what someone living in Thailand thinks about the country. The only way to give a balanced view is to write about everything - good, bad and different.
Often, the differences are good because they make life interesting. Had I stayed in the UK, not only would my life have been lonely, unfulfilled and depressing, it would also have been extremely boring. My life in Thailand is many things, but rarely is it boring. Sometimes the differences in thinking and behaviour affect me personally and I tend to moan a little, but overall life is good and far better than my old life.
Sunday 15th July 2018
I've written a lot about the Thai value and belief systems because I think it is essential that any foreigner with any kind of interest in Thailand should know about these things. Having an understanding of Thai beliefs and the things they believe are important helps to explain a lot of Thai behaviour.
The problem for me these days, with a Thai wife and two children in the Thai 'education' system, is that Thai values and beliefs affect me very much and even though I disagree with a lot of Thai thinking I am helpless to do anything.
The school sports day parade
Much of what I have to do I feel is unnecessary and it also costs me time and money. There are times when I actually quite resent doing things but, as my wife reminds me, I have no choice because we live in Thailand. She's right. Once you have made your bed, you then have to lie in it.
A couple of weeks ago I spent an enormous amount of time, and also some money, because of the school sports day events. When I was at school there was a sports day, but it was quite simple. No parents were involved and students simply spent a day on the sports field instead of in the classrooms. Not so in Thailand.
The school marching band
In Thailand this is a big event for the school and an opportunity to present a good image of the school to the outside world, which is extremely important to Thais. All the kids are dressed up and paraded around town, along with the school's marching band.
Parents have to put in a lot of effort, and also money. The costume my daughter had to wear was expensive to hire and because she had to get up so early to have her face painted I had to book a hotel room for my wife the night before. By the end of Friday I felt exhausted after my daughter's sports day, and on Saturday we had to return to do it all again for my son's sports day.
As a parent it is supposed to fill me with pride that my kids attend such a wonderful school, but my actual thoughts are that if they didn't concern themselves so much with image and just got on with the business of teaching, my kids wouldn't have to do so much extra tutoring, I would save money, and everyone would be happier.
English contest, Nakhon Sri Thammarat, 2018
The trip to Nakhon Sri Thammarat that I have just returned from was tiring and also unnecessary. Years ago I was recruited for one day by a large school to verbally assess Thai students. I thought this event would be the same, but it wasn't.
My daughter, along with about a thousand other kids from all over southern Thailand, sat down to do a written test with 50 questions. There was actually no need to go to Nakhon Sri Thammarat. No need to get caught up in huge traffic jams, and no need to book hotels. They could have sent the test questions in an e-mail.
Also, based on my experience as a teacher, I don't believe that written tests with multiple choice answers are an effective way to test language ability. Some kids are very good at doing written tests and some are good at guessing when there are multiple choice answers. Some kids can get full marks on these tests, but their real ability in English is almost zero.
Dressing up the little kids
In a similar way to sports day, this English contest was all about image without there being any real substance. My kids' school wants to improve its image through its students doing well, but the parents have to pay.
I don't mind putting in effort and/or spending money when I believe something is worthwhile, but in the last couple of weeks I have been forced to do things that I think are unnecessary. Once again, it's a case of the Thai value system being very different to my own.
Phra Mahathat temple, Nakhon Sri Thammarat
We didn't get much of a chance to look around Nakhon Sri Thammarat. While my daughter was doing her test, I went with my wife and son to Phra Mahathat temple, which is one of the oldest and most important temples in southern Thailand. I've been several times before, but it's still a great place to visit. This is the most famous temple in Nakhon, but there are other stunning temples in the province.
Phra Mahathat temple, Nakhon Sri Thammarat
When I booked the hotel a few weeks ago I found that many hotels were full. This surprised me because Nakhon is a sleepy little town. I think the reason was this English contest. There were probably a thousand kids there from different parts of southern Thailand and many were staying in hotels.
When the contest was over there was a horrendous traffic jam and it took about an hour just to get out of the city centre. The contest is held every year and my wife asked if we will go again next year. My feeling at the moment is not to go, but maybe I will change my mind (or my wife will change it for me).
The classroom where my daughter sat her test
The school in Nakhon where the contest was held was large and old-fashioned. The classrooms had no A/C and must be very hot in the hot season. Like many schools in Thailand there is an expensive English program and kids enrolled in this program probably get A/C in their rooms, but not the kids in the regular program.
Nakhon is like many provincial Thai towns and will probably be quite unfamiliar to those foreign tourists who have only ever visited tourist resorts in Thailand. Some areas are quite attractive, but other areas are full of drab, grey concrete buildings and quite ugly. There are no girlie bars, no tacky T-shirt shops and little of interest for the average foreign tourist.
Phra Mahathat temple, Nakhon Sri Thammarat
Whereas hotels in tourist resorts are geared up to cater for the needs of foreigners, the hotel we stayed at caters predominantly for Thais. For breakfast there are tasteless sausages and fried eggs for farangs, but not a lot else. There were no knives for spreading marmalade on toast and no fresh milk - just the sweet, condensed Carnation variety of milk that Thais love. In a hotel that caters mainly to Thais, why should there be things that foreigners want?
I'm not having a particularly enjoyable time in Thailand at the moment, mainly because of my children's school, and I'm not looking forward to the trip to Koh Samui at the end of the month. I've read some really bad reports about customer service on the ferry and I'm not looking forward to the boat crossing.
Collision outside the school in NST - an extremely common sight in Thailand
The drive to Nakhon was completely typical for Thailand and you see things done on the road that would result in driving bans in other countries. It always feels like a major achievement driving anywhere in Thailand and simply getting home without being involved in any major accidents. I'm not looking forward to the drive to Surat Thani when we go to Samui and I'm not looking forward to spending time in a tourist resort that attracts so many foreigners.
Never mind, it will keep my wife happy and after the Samui trip I will be able to stay at home for a few months doing more enjoyable activities, such as cleaning out my cat's litter tray and rearranging my sock drawer.
Friday 13th July 2018
Friday the 13th. Many Westerners will be very wary of doing things today because of an old Western superstition. Friday the 13th means nothing to Thais, but some Thais will be putting stickers on the back of the vehicles to say the vehicle is a different colour to the one it actually is because of Thai superstition.
Is there any hope for the human race when we all have these weird beliefs?
My daughter is attending some kind of English competition in Nakhon Sri Thammarat tomorrow. It starts early so we will travel this evening and stay in a hotel. I like Nakhon and haven't been for a while so I'm quite looking forward to the trip.
I don't know what this competition is about or how it might benefit my daughter. I've tried asking my wife, but I have found in Thailand that it is impossible to get answers to certain questions. Every time I ask her I get a non-answer.
My guess is that it is simply something for parents to boast about if their child does well in a regional English competition. The schools also like it if one of their students does well in a regional or national competition. They can then erect a poster at the front of the school declaring that Dek Ying or Dek Chaay 'name here' came 1st/2nd/3rd (delete as applicable) in a regional or national competition. It looks good for the school and image is everything in Thailand.
The daughter of a friend of ours got caught up in this English competition business a few years ago. Her English is regarded as being good by Thai standards, but not mine (more of that in a minute) and her parents were taking her all over the country for competitions. It cost her parents a small fortune and the school loved the publicity, but never helped to cover any costs.
My daughter is good, but not because she has any unique language abilities. I speak Thai with my wife, but I have always spoken to my kids in English and they have learned in a natural way. Eventually they will go through the university sausage machine and emerge with a degree the same as hundreds of thousands of other kids in Thailand.
Degrees are next to useless these days and a young person needs something else to set them apart from the rest. I always figured that my kids would have an advantage if they were genuinely bilingual. Learning to speak Thai while living in Thailand will never be a problem, but English language skills in Thailand are almost the lowest in Asia, which is why I have made an effort with my children.
She speaks English without a trace of a Thai accent and her listening and comprehension is very good. Last week she came home and told my wife that her foreign teacher had asked the kids to print out maps and bring them into school. My wife duly obliged.
My daughter was the only student to take a map into school because none of the other kids had understood what the teacher asked for. However, assessing real-world speaking, listening and comprehension skills aren't important at her school.
The poor kid has been getting grief all week from her teachers and from her mother about her poor handwriting. Every evening for several hours she has been made to write out the English alphabet in upper and lower case according to her teacher's standards.
I consider this a complete waste of time when she could be playing, relaxing or learning something useful. Even when I was at school in the 70's there was no emphasis on handwriting. In England you have to go back to my parents' or grandparents' era to find a time when handwriting was important at school. Whenever I write something now it is only ever for my benefit and I am the only person who reads it. People don't write by hand these days, they use computers. Or does Thailand fail to see this?
I can't believe how much emphasis is placed on 'beautiful' handwriting in Thai schools. The teachers are expected to write 'beautifully', as are the students, but if you look at the big picture and look at the things that students really need to know to prepare them for life after school, it isn't important.
When I was teaching English in Thailand the first thing I had to do before teaching a class was to wipe the whiteboard and this often seemed a shame because the previous teacher's writing was perfect. Being able to write attractively is fine, but it's just not that important compared to other things.
Well, that's how I think but it isn't how Thai teachers think.
A Thai teacher's handwriting - it looks as if it was printed rather than written by hand
One of the problems is that Thais have their own way of doing things and refuse to change because of the national arrogance. They just continue doing things the way they have always been done.
Another problem is with the (in)ability of Thai teachers teaching English. The two senior English teachers at the school are quite good and I can have a conversation with them, but not the others. The others are comfortable with, "Good morning," and, "How are you?" but they can't understand anything else I say.
They simply copy material from text books and the kids then copy from them. They don't actually add any value. If the English curriculum was changed so that it was actually useful, most Thai teachers who teach English wouldn't be able to teach. One of my neighbours is a retired English teacher, but whenever I speak with her it is always in Thai.
They make a big thing about handwriting because it is something they can deal with. They don't teach the important aspects of language because they don't understand themselves. Thai students who write 'beautifully' and do exactly as the teacher says will get great marks, even if they can't understand a word of English.
Based on these criteria my daughter is not regarded as a good student at English, mainly because her handwriting is poor, but in reality I know she is the best in her class - probably in her year.
This is not a criticism of Thai students, but of the education system. The students are no less able than students from other countries, in fact, some are very bright. However, they just don't get the education they deserve. I also feel it's sad that all Thai students have to spend an enormous amount of time at private tutoring schools. They always look tired, their parents spend a fortune in fees, and if the school system worked efficiently without making students spend hours writing out the alphabet this private tutoring wouldn't be necessary.
The Thailand/Burma border at Mae Sai
A big deal has been made of the fact that when British divers discovered the lost boys last week, one of the boys could speak a little English. I understand he is originally from Burma, but now living in Thailand. I visited Mae Sai, where the cave is located, when I went to Chiang Rai in 2006. It is on the Burmese border and lots of Burmese kids climb over the fence to get into Thailand. There are also lots of Burmese beggars trying to get money from sympathetic tourists.
Lots of Thai kids start learning English at school at the age of three. Therefore, some of those boys in the cave would have been learning English for more than 10 years. Is it really such a big thing that one could answer a few simple questions?
Quite often when I am walking around Thailand, groups of young Thais will say hello because I am a farang and it's highly amusing for them to say hello to a farang. I don't know why, but they find it hilarious. When this happens I stop and try to encourage them to speak in English beyond just, "Hello."
In most cases they can't and some I have met have been university students who have studied English for around 18 years since Kindergarten. Eighteen years of education and they can't ask basic questions or put together a simple sentence. Something has to be very wrong.
Burmese kids climbing the border fence into Thailand at Mae Sai
Some years ago I taught an English course to a group of qualified dentists who were studying Master's degrees. Most were Thai, but there were also non-Thais, including Burmese. It was noticeable how the non-Thais spoke much better English than the Thais.
It works both ways and most farangs living in Thailand are just as bad. Some of the YouTube videos I watched about Koh Samui were made by retired expats. Their Thai language ability was zero. They couldn't speak any Thai and I would bet my house that they couldn't read a single word of Thai.
They were jolly types who spoke in heavy regional English accents that even I had a problem understanding. They insisted on speaking to the types of Thai people who wouldn't be able to understand any English, let alone regional accents. The Thais smiled, of course, but they didn't understand.
It never ceases to amaze me how many farangs living in Thailand can't even pronounce the names of the places where they live. I have yet to hear a farang pronounce Pattaya or Koh Samui correctly. The 'Koh' in Samui doesn't rhyme with 'toe'. If you think of the English word 'got' without pronouncing the final 't' you will be a lot closer.
But I should be grateful. With most foreigners in Thailand being completely incompetent regarding the Thai language and most Thais being completely incompetent regarding the English language, it should give my kids more opportunities in the future.
Wednesday 11th July 2018
Over the years I have identified four stages that tourist locations go through in Thailand.
- Stage 1 - Tourism has just started. The environment remains virtually untouched, locals are genuinely happy to meet tourists because tourism provides them with an income and a better way of life. The tourist infrastructure is very basic, which may suit some tourists but not others. Prices are the same as they are for Thais and thus very cheap. There are very few tourists.
- Stage 2 - As the location gets more developed, the tourist infrastructure improves - making things more comfortable and more convenient for tourists - but the good aspects still remain. There are more tourists but the numbers aren't excessive, prices remain cheap, the locals remain genuinely friendly and the environment suffers little damage.
- Stage 3 - Mass tourism commences and enormous numbers of tourists arrive. Much of the natural environment is destroyed to make way for hotels, shops and other things that tourists want. In some places the infrastructure cannot cope with the number of tourists and the environment starts to be destroyed. Prices rocket as a result of high demand and greed. Locals have become very jaded and start to resent tourists. The smiles are no longer genuine, but for show only. Thais from all over the country hear about these locations where naive farangs throw their money around and the streets are paved with gold. Many bad Thais arrive whose only intention it is to extract money from dumb tourists.
- Stage 4 - Mass tourism becomes so excessive and out of control that the authorities are forced to take action before the environment (or reputation) is completely destroyed. An attempt is made to return the location to Stage 3, but no further. These places will never see Stages 1 or 2 ever again.
Most tourist resorts in Thailand are now heavily into Stage 3. Pattaya has already been through Stage 4 and has had to try to reinvent itself on several occasions. The sleaze can still be found but, as I discovered a couple of years ago, there are now some family-friendly areas.
Beautiful Phi Phi island, which became famous around the world after the movie 'The Beach', also reached Stage 4 and this year the Thai authorities were forced to close Maya Bay. Beautiful as it is, Phi Phi is tiny and simply can't cope with the huge number of tourists that descend every day. I visited in 1996 and it was almost deserted. The last time I was there was in 2002 and it was infested with tourists.
Boracay island in the Philippines, a place I visited in 1997 when it was at Stage 2, also entered Stage 4 this year and the whole island had to be closed to tourists for six months.
My ideal stage is Stage 2 and I have been fortunate enough to visit many parts of Thailand when they were at Stage 2 before they went into Stage 3. Unfortunately, there aren't many left now. When I went to Samui in 1987 it was at Stage 1, but there was so little there I got bored and didn't feel very comfortable.
Most tourists seem to like Stage 3, but I don't know why. Why would you want to share a beautiful place with thousands of other tourists and why would you want to pay enormous amounts of money to do so?
It takes remarkably little time for tourist locations to change stage. I saw Pattaya go from Stage 2 to Stage 3 between 1987 and 1992 and I saw the same thing with Phuket between 1992 and 1996.
When I went to Samui for the second time in 2002 it was at Stage 2. It was quite different to my first visit, but better. It wasn't heaving with tourists, but the tourist infrastructure was a lot better. There were more things to do and everything was more comfortable and convenient.
A couple of days ago I watched some YouTube videos of Samui and it confirmed what I already knew to be the case. Samui is deep into Stage 3 and possibly it might go to stage 4 in the next few years. I didn't enjoy what I saw and I'm not really looking forward to my trip there at the end of the month. Oh, well.
Samui doesn't have anything that doesn't exist on the mainland, but it has a lot of the things I dislike about well-known Thai tourist resorts. There are tacky tourist shops everywhere and tens of thousands of farang tourists. There were several comments in the videos about how expensive everything is and apparently taxis in Samui are the most expensive in Thailand, not that I will have any need to use taxis.
I was telling my wife about my 1987 trip to Samui and how there were millions of coconut trees. She told me that was no longer the case as many were cut down to make way for new development. Samui island, which is in Surat Thai province, is actually more developed than any town on the mainland in Surat Thai province including the provincial capital.
I will try to keep an open mind before I go without having too many preconceived ideas, but from what I have seen so far it doesn't look promising. Fortunately, the hotel I booked seems to be in a fairly quiet place and it should provide a peaceful retreat. I will write a trip report in early August, provided that the ferry doesn't sink.
As everyone will know already, everyone is out of the cave now. From what I have read there are already plans to make a movie. There are also plans to construct a museum and to turn the cave into a tourist attraction. Money is never far away from the Thai way of thinking.
This has been a story of heroes and villains, the biggest villains - it appears - being the news media. Everyone wants to be the first with news and there have been stories of media outlets tuning into emergency radio frequencies to get news.
Some reports have been wrong and because of the lightning fast way that news circulates on social media, these fake news reports get around the globe in no time. There was also a report of a media-owned drone flying in the way of a rescue helicopter.
There has also been some bickering about the capsizing boats in Phuket. I believe the death count now stands at 44 with another three people still missing. Tourism in Thailand is meant to bring in money to Thailand, but some tourism companies operating in Thailand are foreign owned and Thais don't see any money. The companies are set up using Thai nominees to get around the law. Understandably, Thais get quite upset about this 'zero dollar tourism' because no money comes into Thailand.
A Thai politician made some comments about this incident being the fault of such companies and these comments haven't gone down well in China (most of the victims were Chinese), with some Chinese tour companies threatening to send their customers elsewhere. Most tourists in Thailand nowadays come from mainland China.
Monday 9th July 2018
Despite seeing a news report of the British divers saying their farewells at a Thai airport a few days ago, a TV report this morning said they were still at the scene of the rescue operation. I guess they were called back once the authorities decided to go ahead with the evacuation of the boys.
This story has mainly brought out the good in people and reminded us of the humanity that we all share, but yesterday I picked up on a few things that I hadn't seen previously. Apparently, some Thais are claiming that the boys were only found because of Thai determination and prayer (no mention of the British cave divers who put their own lives at risk to find the boys) and that this episode should serve as an example to the rest of the world.
This is ridiculous and Thais who think this way must be quite deluded in thinking that other countries wouldn't have reacted in exactly the same way. The comments really upset one foreigner and he made an excellent response in a letter to The Bangkok Post.
Tourists in Thailand are probably never aware of this, but after you have lived in Thailand for a while you realise that some Thais believe they - and they alone - have a set of unique characteristics (referred to as 'Thainess' even though no one can really define what exactly this is) that sets Thais apart and makes them superior to other people.
The sign reads 'kwaam bpen thai' = Thainess
This starts at a very young age and a lot of it comes from the education system. Plaek Phibunsongkhram, who led Thailand from 1938 to 1944, introduced a culture of extreme nationalism and most Thais are still very nationalistic.
The author of the response also points out that there is a plan to send the boys off to the World Cup final in Russia. There are millions of people who would love to go to the final, but can't afford it or can't get tickets. Everyone feels sympathy for what the boys have been through, but entering the cave in the rainy season was reckless and the rescue operation has required a massive amount of effort and money. Should they really be given such a big reward for causing this situation?
My wife has seen comments from Thais about this on social media and some Thais are saying it will encourage other youngsters to get themselves into difficult situations so that they can be rescued and then receive big financial rewards.
Someone else also left a comment saying that the Tourist Authority of Thailand (TAT) is planning to turn the cave into a tourist attraction. If true, this is something else that doesn't seem entirely appropriate but it wouldn't surprise me.
Anyway, four boys are out. My wife read on Facebook that it was six, but this was more fake news. The operation has been paused while oxygen tanks are refilled and it could take 3-4 days to get everyone out.
Sunday 8th July 2018
I sense the euphoria after the boys were found alive and well last week has now started to fade. They are no nearer to being rescued, oxygen levels in the cave have fallen from 21% to 15%, more heavy rain is expected, and the death of a professional diver involved in the rescue has highlighted how dangerous the conditions are inside the cave.
The boys are located 4km inside the cave and this journey has been taking professional cave divers five to six hours to make.
The previous suggestion of keeping the boys inside the cave until conditions improve - which could be several months - doesn't now seem viable. Many reports now seem to infer that they need to be extricated as soon as possible, but it won't be an easy task. The boys can't swim or dive and some parts of the cave are so narrow that scuba equipment won't go through. This is a nightmare.
Update: About an hour after writing this (10am local Thai time) the big rescue operation began. Reports of journalists being told to leave and comments from the provincial governor that there wouldn't be a better opportunity gave strong hints that something would be done today.
Thai TV is broadcasting scenes inside the cave continuously and the cave is full of rescue personnel. There must be hundreds of people inside.
The sections of the cave that are semi-submerged and can be waded through aren't too bad, however, the very narrow sections which can only be traversed under water will be frightening for young boys who can't even swim. The water is extremely murky and I would imagine that visibility is almost zero.
It's going to be a long day for the boys, the rescuers and everyone following this drama. Hopefully, there will be good news by the end of today or tomorrow.
Thailand cave rescue: Mission to save boys under way
Opinions regarding the actions of the boys' coach have been mixed. In Thailand, generally, he has been praised for taking care of the boys after they became trapped. However, some people have said he was irresponsible for taking young boys inside the cave during the rainy season. I asked my wife what she thought.
She doesn't blame him at all. Her view is that the entire group decided to go in and that he didn't force anyone to go. No one anticipated that the cave would be flooded, not allowing them to get out. As a group it seems they had been inside the cave previously on several occasions.
He has apologised to the boys' parents and he obviously has a close bond with his football team. The situation won't be helped by pinning the blame on any one individual and I think that to try to blame him would be very unfair.
The BBC is reporting events live and there is lots more information at the link.
You will know from previous posts that the UK pound to Thai Baht exchange rate affects and concerns me. One reason cited for the weakness of the pound is continued low interest rates. Bank of England governor, Mark Carney (referred to in some circles as 'Calamity Carney') has been given hints that there will be an interest rate rise next month.
He has come to the conclusion that a slump in the UK economy earlier this year was because of the weather, not the underlying economic conditions.
I have also read a few reports recently suggesting that if England win the World Cup it will boost the strength of the pound. Now that England have progressed to the semi-final stage of the tournament, we can all expect the pound to jump a little when markets open tomorrow. Last week the pound crept to just above the Bt44 mark.
My best friend at school went into the financial services industry in the City of London and when I was also working in the City we sometimes met for a drink after work.
On one occasion I tried to press him into giving me some inside secrets on how I should invest my money. His advice was to put it on a horse racing in the 3:30 at Ascot. He was serious. I was a little taken aback, but years later I understand exactly what he meant.
My brother and his colleagues working in the foreign exchange markets for big investment banks in Singapore continue to make a lot of money, as do other people working on the inside of the industry.
However, for little people outside of the industry, investing in stock or foreign exchange markets is purely gambling. There is no logic involved and when markets can be affected by weather or football results it is confirmation that you may as well put your money on a horse or spend a few days in Las Vegas. The odds of winning are about the same.
My situation in Thailand makes me feel very vulnerable, and I am not alone. I don't wish to invest or gamble my money, but when your income comes from one country and you live in another country you are held hostage to the foreign exchange markets.
If you are considering living in, or retiring to, another country and working out your finances, you also need to factor in potential exchange rate deviations ... and not just little ones. When I moved to Thailand one UK pound bought almost Bt75. Now, it is just Bt44.
Friday 6th July 2018
Not a great day in Thailand.
I was told earlier in the day that a helicopter flying above the Chiang Rai cave looking for natural chimneys into the cave had crashed and killed three people. However, I didn't find that story when I looked at news sites so I guess it was fake news.
Sadly though, someone did lose their life in the cave today.
Thailand cave rescue: Ex-navy diver dies on oxygen supply mission
Last week my wife told me that there will be a long weekend at the end of the month. Not only does she receive a pittance in salary, but she doesn't get any vacation time either. She therefore likes to make the most of public holidays and wanted me to book a trip somewhere.
We've been to Krabi a few times and I am quite happy to go back again. It's about a five hour drive away, which suits me, and it is very scenic. Phuket is further away and in addition to being a more tiring journey I don't particularly like Phuket, so Krabi is fine with me.
My wife's view is different. Whereas I saw quite a lot of the world before I moved to Thailand, she had never been outside of Thailand before she met me. Since then I have taken her to just Malaysia and Vietnam. She always wants to go somewhere different and doesn't like going to the same places, thus another trip to Krabi was ruled out.
We eventually settled on Samui island. It will take about 4.5 hours to drive to the ferry port in Surat Thani and the crossing takes about 1.5 hours. I went to Samui on my first trip to Thailand in 1987 and there was nothing there apart from coconut trees. No hotels, no airport, no electricity, no mass tourism, nothing.
The only accommodation options were very basic bungalows on the beach. Each bungalow had a single light bulb powered by a generator and there was no hot water. Inside each bungalow was a bed, of sorts, and a large population of cockroaches.
I only realised this when the generator stopped working one night, leaving me in the dark. I called to my friend in the next bungalow to borrow his torch. As he shone the torch my bungalow floor was covered in large cockroaches. They would hide when the light was on, but as soon as it was dark they came out to play.
My friend and travel companion on that trip, pictured below, died from cancer a few years ago. He was just a little older than me. Always make the most of life because you never know when your time will be up.
The only kind of accommodation option on Samui island in 1987
Backpackers and fans of 'The Beach' may lust after deserted 'Robinson Crusoe' islands, but after a day there I was bored senseless and wanted to leave. The next stop was Pattaya and in 1987 Pattaya was a huge amount of fun. The fun had ended when I went to Pattaya again in 1992 and by then it was quite a miserable place. "All the girls have gone to Phuket," everyone kept telling me. And they were right. Phuket was an enormous amount of fun in 1992, but by 1996 it was a very different place. Thailand changes incredibly quickly, and seldom for the better.
Before I moved to Thailand in late 2003 I went on one last Southeast Asian vacation early in 2003 and I made another visit to Samui. It had changed immensely and there were a lot more tourists.
Nowadays, it wouldn't be somewhere I would choose to visit myself, but my wife wants to go, the kids have never been, and I am curious to see how it looks 31 years after my first visit.
I booked the ferry crossing and hotel a couple of days ago and I was quite looking forward to the trip. As we are taking the car over it means being able to explore the island a lot more compared to previous visits. However, upon hearing today's news I now feel a little reluctant.
40 confirmed killed in Phuket boat accident, 16 still missing
Were I to be involved in an accident involving a capsizing boat I'm fairly confident that I could take care of myself, but when travelling with my family my two kids are my first concern and I'm not sure that I could cope with them and my wife, who is a very weak swimmer.
Boat accidents don't occur as frequently as road accidents in Thailand, but they aren't uncommon. Unfortunately, many boat accidents could be avoided. Boats often sink because they are overloaded and/or are driven too fast.
It seems that with today's accident the boat captain ignored warnings from the Thai Meteorological Department about the weather.
Prawit threatens legal actions against boat captain, owner
With many Thais, unfortunately, money is always the primary concern and they won't do anything that may result in them losing money, even if it means putting people's lives at risk.
I hope the captain of the Samui ferry we will travel on has a better sense of responsibility.
Thursday 5th July 2018
The British cave divers have left Thailand without spending any time relaxing or having a vacation in the Kingdom. A news report this morning showed them being given a VIP send off at the airport by their very appreciative Thai hosts. They have been invited back to Thailand next Songkran and if they take up the offer I think they will be shown a very good time.
Their quiet, modest and unassuming demeanor reminded me of when I worked for a big corporation. There were lots of people who talked well and played the corporate game, a big part of which was putting down their peers. They weren't particular good at their job, but that was a secondary consideration. Getting ahead of everyone else at all costs and climbing the corporate ladder were their primary objectives.
And then there were the people, like the divers, who knew the job inside out; the ones I would go to when my backside was in a sling and I really needed help. They too were always quiet, modest and unassuming, but I knew that I could rely upon them 100%. In many cases these were the people who missed out on promotions and stayed where they were for years, but that's often how life works.
You can probably guess which type of people I was - and still am - drawn to.
The boys in the cave have been given food and medicine and look surprisingly well. It hasn't been too rainy recently, but more rain is expected soon and if the water level rises in the cave it will be a big problem. Waiting for the water to recede could take months.
Water continues to be pumped from the cave, but there is a huge amount of water inside and more rain will only add to what is already there.
Thailand cave: Rescuers in race against weather as rains close in
There has been more talk of the boys using scuba equipment to get out. Instead of using standard masks and regulators, the suggestion is to give them full face masks. They will be able to breathe normally and will also be able to communicate with experienced divers. With an experienced diver holding the hand of each boy while they exit the cave, it won't be easy but it could work. Apparently, none of them can even swim, let alone dive.
I've read some reports from foreign media outlets about the psychological effects this experience will have on the kids. However, the authors seem to be writing from their own perspectives. Pampered children from a Western country may well be traumatised after such an event, but many Thai youngsters have very different lives and they are a lot tougher, both physically and emotionally.
Even where I live, which is a relatively affluent area of Thailand, lots of children live with guardians rather than their parents. Up in the northeast region of Thailand it is common for young kids to be brought up by grandparents or aunts and uncles while their parents work elsewhere in Thailand and send money home. Being away from their parents may traumatise Western children, but Thai youngsters just get on with life.
In fact, what often happens is that the parents split up after the children are born and the father (not wanting any responsibility) disappears to play snooker and drink beer with his male friends. It is then the mother who goes to find work elsewhere in the country so that she can support her children back home who are living with their grandparents. Over the years I've talked to lots of Isaan massage girls in various parts of Thailand about their lives and this is the story I have heard from many of them.
When I visited a remote part of Nong Khai province many years ago with an Isaan massage girl I had got involved with, there were no girls in the village in their 20's or 30's. There were only old people and very young children. All the young mothers were working in Phuket or Pattaya or Bangkok or elsewhere and sending money home. Her situation was exactly how I have described above.
Due to the lack of money, many Thai children work to help their parents at a very early age while they are still at school. Also, the journey to and from school is difficult for many. My kids get chauffeured to and from school every day, but I have heard stories of Thai children who have to walk many kilometers to school each day.
Many Thais lead very difficult lives by Western standards, but they survive and they grow up to be a lot tougher than their Western counterparts. This won't be easy for the 13 boys still stuck in a cave, but I think they will be fine long term. It has also helped that they have been in a large group throughout the ordeal and have been able to support each other.
This difference in emotional toughness is also one of the (many) problems with relationships between Western men and Thai females. Many Western men who go to Thailand to find wives are often lonely, fall in love very quickly, and are weak emotionally. In contrast, the Thai girls are tough as nails almost to the point of being cold-hearted.
This was always something that puzzled me as a tourist in Thailand. It was obvious seeing ugly old farangs with pretty, young Thai girls that the relationship was all about money. It was also obvious that the foreign man had all the money, but it was the Thai woman who controlled the relationship. It wasn't until I started living in Thailand, and especially after I got married, that I really understood why.
The Thai girls may not have much of an education and don't generally have any money, but they are extremely perceptive and can tap into the emotional state of another person very easily. Their emotional strength makes it very easy for them to manipulate and control emotionally weak Western men. By not bothering with the language and allowing their wives to do everything, Western men cede more power to their Thai partners.
In addition, Thai law does not allow foreigners to own land in Thailand. Foreigners can buy condos, which don't have any land, but not houses. If you invest money in a house in Thailand it needs to be in the name of a Thai person and if you are married the obvious person is your Thai wife. However, this means she can kick you out of the house that you bought at any time because it is in her name and she is the legal owner.
It's a different story if you marry a Thai woman and take her back to your home country, but in Thailand Thai women have a lot of power in relationships with foreigners for a variety of reasons. Anyway, I digress.
The cave story has mostly highlighted the good in people, but the opposite is also true.
Cave saga exposes the challenge of fake news
There has been a lot of fake news and on Thai TV a couple of days ago there was a warning about donating money to fake accounts that have been set up. I find it almost unbelievable that people would use a situation like this to benefit themselves financially, but we are not all led by the same moral compass.
After the 2004 tsunami an American friend wrote asking the best way to donate money. I wasn't sure and a little later stories started to surface of people who had been putting donated money into their own pockets.
Thais are very aware of what happens and I didn't see a huge amount of money being put into donation boxes that had been set up for the tsunami victims. Instead, local people cut out the middle men, loaded up their pickup trucks with food and supplies, and took these directly to the victims.
Tuesday 3rd July 2018
For several days I've really wanted to be able to write this post.
My wife woke me up at 5:50am this morning with the news that all 13 boys trapped in a cave in Chiang Rai had been found alive, safe and well. Fantastic news! They were found late last night or in the early hours this morning, Thai time. The cave complex runs for seven miles and they were found three miles inside. This has been the lead news story in Thailand all week, and this latest update is what everyone has been praying for.
"We're hungry"
Considering what they have been through, the boys looked remarkably well. None of them seem to have any serious health problems and their spirits are good. They each had a flashlight, but only used one at a time because they didn't know how long they would be down there.
I watched news reports of the boys being discovered and felt strangely proud to be English upon hearing the lead rescuer talking to the boys with a familiar accent. It was the voice of one of the cave divers sent from the UK. Sadly, most news stories coming out of the UK these days leave me with little to be proud of regarding my country of birth.
Cecil Rhodes once said, "Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first prize in the lottery of life." However, at some stage during my lifetime that all changed and having a UK passport these days certainly doesn't make me feel as if I have a winning lottery ticket. Whatever happened to my country?
I did a PADI open water diving course in the UK in 1996. PADI (Put Another Dollar In) train people adequately enough to look around coral reefs in tropical countries, but when I learned to dive PADI was regarded as something of a joke by real UK divers who belonged to the British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC).
I did my PADI open water dives in Chesil Beach, Dorset and it was very tough. I wore an extremely thick wetsuit to protect against the cold water and then I needed a massive amount of weight to counter the buoyancy of the wetsuit.
After my course I arranged a vacation in Thailand and did quite a lot of diving around Phuket and the Similan islands in a shortie wetsuit with hardly any weight. Subsequently, I returned to Southeast Asia for more vacations and more diving. Compared to diving in the UK, it was a piece of cake.
Me in the Similan Islands, Thailand in 2002
UK divers exploring caves and WW1 wrecks in Scapa Flow are real divers and there is no comparison with the thousands of vacation divers holding their PADI certificates. The rescue will have put the UK in a very favourable light with Thai people.
The British (actually Welsh) cave diving rescue organisation that the divers come from seems to want to keep a low profile. They don't seek publicity, but just do the job. It is believed that one of the rescuers previously helped in another cave rescue operation in Mexico in 2004. Real heroes. I hope the UK government does something to honour the divers when they return.
This story seems to be headline news with many media outlets around the globe, but there have been some things mentioned in the Thai news reports that maybe haven't made it abroad.
The cultural notion of being sabaay is very powerful in Thailand. There is no direct translation, but it's a feeling of comfort, good health and contentedness. Your heart/mind (jai) can also be sabaay and if you have peace of mind in Thailand it's known as sabaay jai.
Obviously, being trapped in a cave for over 10 days without fresh water, food or light isn't sabaay and this concerns Thais enormously.
The hospital the boys will be admitted to has already been prepared. The beds, doctors and nurses are waiting. There are helicopters and ambulances standing by to get them there and traffic police will clear the roads to make the journey as fast as possible.
Thais also get very irritable if they are hungry or tired. Your stomach (tong in Thai) also needs to be sabaay at all times and being hungry is a major offense in Thailand. It is absolutely no fun being around my wife if she is hungry or tired ... believe me. If I'm busy doing something I can delay eating, but she can't. She also gets upset if our kids don't eaten at their prescribed eating times.
One of the first things the boys told their rescuers was that they are hungry. They have been given military-type energy gel and a four months' supply of food will be taken into the cave. Of course, extricating them won't take four months but this is how importantly Thais take food.
As has been pointed out already, finding the boys was just the first stage of the operation and getting them out will be no easy feat. However, they're safe and well and can now be looked after while the authorities work out the best way to get them out. Medical personnel with diving skills will be sent in to check their health and they will have food and company.
Water is still being pumped out, although heavy rain continues to inundate the cave, and there is still talk of training the boys to use scuba equipment to get out. They will be able to follow a rope that has been put in place to guide people in and out of the cave.
I know this will sound naive and wishy-washy, but it seems so sad that only a potential tragedy such as this one can bring out the best of human nature. This rescue operation has been an amazing effort involving people from all over the world using their skills and technology to find the boys.
Elsewhere in the world, billions of dollars are spent on military action and weapons technology simply to kill innocent people, including children. If that money and skill and technology was used to do good instead of evil the world would be such a better place.
I've been reading a lot recently about the US deep state, which is where US foreign policy is really decided. This unelected 'government' is secret and permanent, which is why nothing ever changes whenever a new president is elected.
JFK had plans for the CIA, but history shows what happens when anyone tries to go up against the people in the world with real power. And who investigated Kennedy's death? Allen Dulles, the ex CIA chief who JFK had fired after the Bay of Pigs fiasco, was involved so much on the Warren Commission that some people believe it should have been called the Dulles Commission.
The book I am reading at the moment is called 'The Devil's Chessboard' (subtitled Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the rise of America's secret government) by David Talbot. There are other books on the same subject and there are actually a lot of videos on YouTube if you can get past the funny cat videos. It's not conspiracy. It's all fact, but up to now the truth has been hidden from most people.
"If the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem has to look like a nail."
The one glimmer of hope we have for the world is that with the communications technology now available, more people are becoming aware of how the world is really run and will force change. If not, and nothing changes, the world will always be constantly at war.
The other moral from this rescue story is never to give up. There have been times in my own life when I've felt really defeated, but if you keep going things always get better eventually.
Another foreign national has been killed in Thailand while cycling.
Singaporean cyclist killed in accident in Chiang Mai’s Hang Dong district
It's not the first time.
British cyclists on round-the-world trip killed in Thailand (the truck driver responsible for their deaths was fined just £18 - about 24 USD)
Hit by motorcycle: Australian cyclist killed
Round-the-world cyclist from Chile killed by pickup truck in Thailand
Thai cyclists also get killed.
Elderly cyclist killed by pick-up in Phitsanulok
Another cyclist killed, 2 injured in Bangkok
I've talked a lot in this blog about the carnage on Thailand's roads and cyclists are very vulnerable. If you visit Thailand, have a great time but be very wary of the country's roads.
It is one of those strange contradictions in life. This past week an incredible effort involving over a thousand people from around the world and requiring lots of money has been taking place to save 13 lives, yet every single day around 80 people lose their lives on Thais roads and nothing gets done. Nobody cares. Where is the logic?
80 lives lost every day: Why are Thailand’s roads so dangerous?
A few days ago one of my regular correspondents asked me why roads in Thailand are so dangerous. I have lots of theories and when I find some time I will discuss them.