The ";"
click a letter to go
to the page with entries beginning with that letter.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X-Y-Z
|
The ";"
click a letter to go A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X-Y-Z
|
Click
here
for Search for: Please visit
|
"The Rounds"
20th Anniversary at Bourbon Street Reprieve in Park Admission Fee Hike in Phuket Exotissimo Travel Agency Specials Memorial Service for Gator a Success Music Cash Flow Inexorably Changing * * * * * * * * * * Just a reminder you can sign-up for free to receive the BangkokAtoZ.com Updates (plain text) e-mail to always know when I add something new to the site or modify it in some important way. A great way to be sure YOU don't miss something of interest, best of all is that this service is absolutely FREE! * * * * * * * * * * 20th Anniversary at Bourbon Street This extremely popular Washington Square restaurant will reach its 20th birthday next month, and to celebrate the occasion, Doug Harrison, the proprietor, plans a two-day special offering an all-you-can-eat buffet with over 25 items for only 220 baht per person (plus the standard 10% service charge and 7% VAT). The dates are September 15th and 16th, which happen to be Friday and Saturday. Bourbon Street has long been a favorite for many people -- and not just among Western expats; one can see a fair number of Thais and other people from East and Southeast Asia and the subcontinent there as well -- including one of the Kingdom's Princesses, one of the daughters of the King and Queen, who likes the place. It's clean, comfortable, with areas for both smokers and nonsmokers, offers an extensive menu offering a wide range of American, Mexican, and Thai dishes, and serves an abundance of various alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Another important consideration for many is that Bourbon Street is extremely family friendly. Heck, I don't have a wife or children, but I go there in part because I don't get hassled to buy "lady drinks." One sees a lot of family's there. One specialty is Cajun food -- Doug hails from Louisiana originally. If you like Cajun food (of which I've been a fan for decades), try one of the dishes offered. I especially like the blackened fish, chicken, and beef with black pepper sauce. In short, I love the place, and go there practically every day (or night), and strongly recommend it. Serving time on the buffet both days is set to start at 5:00 P.M. both days and will be available until whenever the food runs out or until Doug figures he better close up shop before the police start getting upset! [Saturday, August 26, 2006] * * * * * * * * * * Admission Fee Hike in Phuket A enormous increase in the price of admission into parks in Phuket originally scheduled to go into effect September 15th of this year has been delayed until late next year, according to a story in the Phuket Gazette headlined "Park fee hikes deferred." Clearly, the protest rally by some 500 people in the tourism industry in Phuket struck a responsive -- maybe a raw? -- nerve in the folks at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, who announced the increase in the first place. Under the proposal, fees would go up from 200 baht per person to 400 baht for foreigners, and from 20 baht per person to 40 baht for Thais. I say "would go up" instead of "will go up" for a simple reason: very often such delays here are a face-saving way of quietly abandoning a plan that meets stiff resistance, so the jury's still out whether the fee increase, now scheduled to take effect November 30th next year, will actually ever see the light of day -- or simply be allowed to die a quiet death. This obviously is an idea whose time has not come. A common topic of conversation around here is that while everyone could understand some of the prices increases in goods and services (especially imported goods) that were put in place as the baht sank to its all-time low of about 58 baht to US$1.00, it irritating that now it's trading at about 20 baht stronger than that now -- yet prices have continued to go up, even on purely domestic products and services. In the case of the two-tier pricing system that abounds here, well, it depends. If the parks in question are public ones -- i.e., maintained from the public purse -- then I can see foreigners having to pay more. (Whether ten times more is fair is a whole other issue.) As I recall, Disney World in Florida charges at least some residents of the state less than they do non-residents. And as far as I know every public college and university in the U.S. use a two-tier tuition system, some even a three-tier one under which state residents pay the lowest rate, other U.S. citizens pay a higher rate, and foreign students pay an even higher rate than do non-residents. I do have to dispute one passage in the story, at least generally. "The two-tier pricing system, under which visitors to Thailand pay ten times the fee for Thais, has itself long been an embarrassment for tour operators and others in the hospitality industry," the article proclaims." Huh? Who??? In over 12 years here not only have I never heard any of my Thai friends and acquaintances object to this system, but in fact have heard them fiercely defend it, sometimes quite heatedly. Nor have any of my foreign friends ever mentioned any of their Thai friends objecting, instead only mentioning one or the other of their Thai friends defending the practice. I sure there must be some Thais who do indeed object, maybe especially in the tourism industry, heavily reliant as it is on income from foreign tourists, but anyone making a broad, sweeping statement like the one above is going to have to prove it to me. As I wrote in an earlier story about the plan down Phuket way, it seems the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment were set to sabotage, effectively, efforts by the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the private tourism industry to increase tourism both in and to the Kingdom. A modest increase may well indeed be in order -- but a doubling is highly questionable, at best. [Saturday, August 26, 2006] * * * * * * * * * * Exotissimo Travel Agency Specials While I'm not familiar with the agency so have never had occasion to use it, I somehow ended up on their mailing list. The Exotissimo August monthly newsletter is showing offers some of you might be interested may want to consider, such as the one with a fare of 19,500 baht (return) to 15 European cities for a limited time the latter half of next month on Qatar Airways. There are restrictions, of course; the tickets are nonrefundable, non-endorsable, nontransferable, and valid for one month. Exotissimo is a Ho Chi Minh-based agency focused on travel in Thailand, Burma (Myanmar), Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Founded in 1993, their website says they have 14 offices around the region, offices in Barcelona, Paris, and San Francisco, and well over 300 staff members. This agency may well be worth checking out. If you've had any experience with them, good or bad, I'd be interested in knowing about it. [Saturday, August 26, 2006] * * * * * * * * * * Memorial Service for Gator a Success Yesterday's Memorial service for Gator at the Texas Lone Staar in Washington Square was very successful. In particular, everyone was glad that Gator's widow, Khun Sunee, decided to attend. She is still devastated, of course, though beginning to adjust to her new situation. She did burst into tears, briefly, when one of the ladies behind the bar took the 8" X 10" head shot of Gator Richard Diran took sometime ago that we had nicely framed and showed it to her, but she recovered quickly. More than one toast was raised, and the hat was passed around -- well, a cardboard box, literally -- and I later heard a rather nice sum was raised. The Thai wife of one of the American attendees presented the envelope containing the money to Sunee. As always when we have this sort of affair, despite the sad reason for the occasion, the event is far more a celebration of the person who has passed on than a time of mourning. I personally prefer that to family visitation ahead of the funeral, though I have gone to a couple of those here in Thailand when I felt I really should. It would be dishonest of me to say that everyone liked Gator, as some folks didn't. But even some of those paid him a left-handed sort of compliment (with apologies to the Lefties out there) when they told me they didn't like him in life and weren't going to be dishonest by going to a memorial for him. In other words, even as they avoided him in life, they avoided him in death. One attendee contributed to the occasion by cooking up Cajun food, his specialty, one with which he is intimately familiar. Riley, the Cajun friend -- he hails from the Bayou Country of southern Louisiana, the center of America's Cajun population -- is a superb cook, and his skill was yet once again demonstrated yesterday in his hit kubaya (I *think* that's right), a spicy tomato sauce filled with a variety of seafood served over noodles. The occasion stretched out a good while, running about three hours, breaking up only when Sunee took her leave. While I didn't keep a precise count of people attending, after talking it over with several other guys, we came up with a guesstimate of around 40-50 people came in all. Oh, by the way, thanks to the anonymous couple of strangers who contributed to the collection for Sunee. [Sunday, August 27, 2006] * * * * * * * * * * Thai Chamber of Commerce Calls for Legal Protection for Traditional Thai Businesses from Foreign Ones
There's a story in today's
The Nation headlined
"SMALL
RETAILERS ON THE WARPATH" While the TCC insists the call should not be seen as protectionist, what else do you call it if there is a legal framework limiting the degree of foreign participation? These foreign stores such as Tesco Lotus have a negative impact first on small grocers, then small suppliers, and finally giant suppliers, according to the TCC, who say local trade has shrunk 30% while the superstores' trade has gone up 20% in recent years. But what does that mean? Are we to take it that the superstores import each and every item? While I have no direct knowledge, I would be greatly amazed to learn that to be the case. That some of the items on offer are imported cannot be disputed. I suspect a fair proportion of what's sold through these superstores is domestic. In other words, maybe Supplier X is selling less to, say, local grocers as some of them call it a day, but perhaps that supplier is making up for it in sales to superstores, at least to an extent. Besides, what the eye see defies the notion that local shops are on the verge of extinction. I live only about a kilometer from two superstore complexes directly across Rama IV Road from each other, Carre Foure and Tesco Lotus, yet countless shops of every type and description -- including, yes, Mom-and-Pop grocers -- abound. To take a micro example, in the sub-soi in which I live, there is a block of just such shops of every description and even street food and clothing vendors, just beyond all of which is a 7-Eleven. While the 24-hour 7-Eleven appears to have a thriving trade, so do all the rest of the shops and vendors between my home and the 7-Eleven. There's another point. Unless a superstore happened to be the closest place to get a particular food or item, why would one go whatever distance to such a giant store for, say, a loaf of bread if there's a local shop right around the corner that has it? I rarely go to a superstore, and when I do, it's either to buy in quantity, or to buy something not readily available, if at all, in my immediate neighborhood, or to buy a big-ticket item for which I want a reliable warranty. Then there's the fact that foreigners aren't the only ones reshaping the Thai business scene. Consider, for example, the Central Department Store chain, many of which include a supermarket, by the way. To the best of my knowledge, Central is domestically owned, or at least majority domestically owned. If a Tesco Lotus devastates nearby small merchants, won't a Central installation have a similar effect on merchants in its immediate vicinity? Seems the economic forces would operate the same in either case. In past stories I've seen the argument against foreign-owned superstores brought up their impact on the local labor market, but I wonder about that argument, too. I rarely see a foreign employee in my occasional forays to the superstores. And some of these complexes are huge, housing many, many other stores besides the anchor superstore, with hundreds -- hell, who knows, maybe even thousands in some cases -- of people working in them who sure look Thai to me. It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out, both economically and politically. [Sunday, August 27, 2006] * * * * * * * * * * Surprise, surprise: as is old news by the time this column goes online, the case against John Mark Karr has collapsed in an utter shambles. The Thai government could be easily forgiven were its representatives to present a bill to the U.S. government for costs incurred by the royal government in cooperating with America in this legal disaster. More important than any of that is JonBennet's survivors are left wondering again whether the poor little girl's real killer will ever be apprehended and then brought to justice. Sad as it is to say, the people on trial in the court of public opinion continue to be U.S. law enforcement authorities and their brethren in prosecutorial chambers. The publicly stated reason for Karr's arrest that he might present a danger to Thai school children seemed pretty thin at the time as an explanation for the hasty arrest -- never mind Karr had "been observation for some time". The prosecution's own move to drop the charges against Mr. Karr simply underscore just how weak the case against Mr. Karr were. This case has been marred practically from the onset. Investigators assigned then removed. Self-contradictory evidence presented. In arguably the most bizarre twist of all, one of Karr's ex-wives insisting he was hundreds of miles away with her and other family members before, during, and immediately after JonBennet's untimely and terrible death. Even yesterday, just hours after the case against Karr fell apart in utter shambles, some of the more sensational news sources were already casting harsh lights of suspicion on the Ramseys, JonBennet's father and late mother. I doubt this case can ever be solved to much of anyone's satisfaction given all the contradictions it has presented. Karr himself damaged the credibility of any resolution by bizarrely claiming he was with JonBennet at the time of her death and that her death resulted from unexplained circumstances. Yet DNA results, which are pretty damned reliable these days, don't point as finger even a little towards Karr. Karr clearly is in need of counseling. His claim regarding the JonBennet murder stands as Exhibit A. [One not need be a trained psychiatrist to figure this out, right?] And the one exhibit is enough to open the question. Many have made much of his "look," but a person's physical appearance is, at best, shaky evidence. (Remember Pol Pot's summary executions of people who wore eyeglasses?) What a fine mess this is. [Wednesday, August 30, 2006] * * * * * * * * * * Music Cash Flow Inexorably Changing The times they are a'changing, and nowhere more so than in the music business. In what may prove to be a landmark deal signaling a major sea change, upstart SpiralFrog.com, a company seeking to make money purely through advertising, has reached a pact with one of the industry's major players -- no pun intended -- in inking a deal with Universal to offer the latter's extensive and impressive catalogue of music online for free. Well, free to the end users -- you and me -- that is. There will be no copyright-infringement issues in this deal, unlike, for instance, in the case of Napster. Would I like to be able to download any song I like anytime, and to be able to do so legally. You silly child -- of course I would. But there's a serious underlying issue here that rests squarely on the shoulders of us, we who surf the web. There's a demonstrably strengthening attitude amongst web users that it is somehow our "right" to have whatever can be delivered over the Internet, and to have it for free. How can we expect song writers (to take but a solitary example) to take up songwriting as a career if they can't reasonably expect to earn an income from it? Who's going to drive a truck, teach school, nurse patients, restore books to library shelves, police the streets, extinguish fires, etc. etc. etc. for free??? Though the music industry has been extremely ham-fisted in its response to piracy, the fundamental complaint of theft is completely valid. If the guy over there paints a masterpiece, no one with any sense will deny it's his work, and his alone, and as such, any money it may garner belongs to him as the painting's creator. Why is a song any different? Why should a song even be any different? If Spiralfrog.com can make a successful go of generating its income entirely from advertising revenues, all this may well become a moot question. It will not, however, mean we have a God-given right to have everything for free. Welfare-state thinking. I hope this model works -- not so much so I can have access free music downloads; I rarely even listen to music, at least at home, just as I haven't turned on my television in well over a month. (When I'm out and about music and television are ubiquitous, of course, but were they not, it wouldn't be bothersome to me.) Ain't nothing truly free. . . . [Wednesday, August 30, 2006] * * * * * * * * * * I'm still madder than a doused cat over the pitiful excuse of a story Fox News ran the other day effectively accusing Squaronians, denizens of Sukhumvit Soi 33, and bar owners in each venue of being pedophiles or harborers thereof.
One thing anyone can do is to
write Fox News and express dissatisfaction with the story. Of course, if
you don't disagree with the story, then you won't be inclined to write such a
letter or e-mail. If you don't disagree you will merely demonstrate that
you are no more familiar with either venue than is the esteemed reporter Rudi
Bakhtiar. 1-888-369-4762 is the toll-free number.
FOXaroundtheworld@foxnews.com
is the e-mail address. Think about it. While I've had no calls/e-mails/letters/in-my-face-questions, it's entirely likely some regulars of the Square and/or Soi 33 -- and, for that matter, visitors to anywhere in Southeast Asia -- may well be asked by shocked friends, family members, and colleagues "Are YOU a pedophile? Is that why YOU go to that disgusting place?" Late note: It's now coming up on 5:30 A.M. Friday as I write. Last night I went to Soi Cowboy and a complete stranger who said he recognized me because I put my picture on the top of this column got in my face, ugly and angry, demanding I stop being a pedophile. Thanks, Ms. Bakhtiar. I genuinely despise sue-happy folks. But the time may have arrived for a class-action suit. Fox News employees have besmirched no telling how many people's names. Is there a thriving, open sex industry here? Yes. Does that industry depend on people, mostly (but not entirely) men willing to pay for play? Yes. Are there instances around Southeast Asia, and almost certainly right here in the City of Angels, of some perverts seeking -- and finding -- opportunities to engage in sexual activities with children? Yes. Do any of the above mean that each and every visitor to Bangkok's Washington Square and Sukhumvit Soi 33 bars is a pedophile -- or even that any are? HELL NO IT DOESN'T. But anyone unfamiliar with the venues can easily be forgiven for thinking otherwise based on "The Big Story" as Ms. Bakhtiar presented it the other day. Though I'm far from being a lawyer, I do understand -- from a lawyer -- that the allegations made by Ms. Bakhtiar are actionable under U.S. law. I'm all for the bar owners and patrons bringing these unproven, slandering allegations to the attention of the court. Myword@foxnews.com is the e-mail address for Mr. Gibson's "The Big Story." By the way, I in no way hold Mr. Gibson responsible -- he did the proper thing as a journalist to ask Ms. Bakhtiar what she meant by the phrase "painter bars." So don't get on his case. But I sure hope you write. [Wednesday, August 30, 2006] * * * * * * * * * * When I a little boy, my Mother's youngest sibling and only brother, Uncle Jerry, lived with us for awhile on the ranch during his teen years. I worshipped him. He took me to learn the things I never would have learned on my own. Hunting. Fishing. Just walking across the land, reading the signs of animal passages, changing seasons, whatever. One night when I was maybe five years old Uncle Jerry decided to go to the North Pond -- one of eleven on the ranch at the time -- to fish. Me being the pesky nephew I was, I nagged him into letting me tag along yet again so I could hinder him. Years later, when I was a young adult, Uncle Jerry told me about that night, which I only vaguely remember. We got to the North Pond, and Uncle Jerry, according to him, was desperate to figure out a way to keep me happy and, more importantly -- remember, we were supposed to be fishing -- quiet. There on the trunk of the tree immediately beside us was one big, fat locust. Uncle Jerry snatched him up and told me the bigger the bait the better the fishing. Of course, I believed him. Uncle Jerry's words are writ in stone, then and now. Uncle Jerry put Mr. Locust on my fish hook and figured he was done with me for the night. Done because he had sternly told me no matter how good the bait I had to keep my running yap shut, which of course I was prepared to do. After all, this was Uncle Jerry talking. I clumsily cast the most unfortunate Mr. Locust out into the night. Mr. Fish sprang up as Mr. Locust descended to the surface of the dark waters. Mr. BIG Fish, I should say. When Uncle Jerry brought the story up years later, he was still all a-wonder that a locust, not your everyday bait, could attract such a catch. He even confessed to trying locusts himself as bait time and again after that, with no success. Uncle Jerry went to the North Pond again, as it were, almost exactly nineteen hours ago. I mean the North Pond upstairs, where time never ends. He lost his battle with cancer this time, after having beat it the first time a few years ago. You keep that locust for me, Uncle Jerry, you hear? . . . . [Thursday, August 31, 2006] * * * * * * * * * * Sports Schedule for The Office and Mojo's
* * * * * * * * * * Heck. Can't write anymore. And really don't want to, not now. . . . [Friday, September 1, 2006] * * * * * * * * * * Enough for one go . . . Until next time -- Mekhong Kurt
E-mail Change Notification Sign-up Sign-up here for e-mail notification when I add or change something on the site. Just go to the sign-up page. * * * * * * * * * * Where Is *Your* Name??? So you've been a slacker and still haven't signed up for the free BangkokAtoZ.com Updates Mailing List??? ;-) Well, get with the program and sign up right now to be notified via e-mail whenever we add something to the site -- that way, you don't even have to visit the Updates Page to see if there's anything new -- we'll let you know by e-mail. If you want to sign up, just go to the sign-up page. I'm pleased to say that more and more of you are signing up, and I urge all of you not to hesitate! * * * * * * * * * * Where is *Your* "Traveler's Tale"???
Got a "Traveler's Tale"?
-- send me a line! Just send me a *query* note at * * * * * * * * * * Linking to BangkokAtoZ.com If anyone reading this has a website and want to link it to BangkokAtoZ.com, you can copy-and-paste the banner and text link below into your site; they are live links to this site's homepage:
I'll appreciate an e-mail telling me the URL of where you placed it. If you want me to put a link on BangkokAtoZ.com for your site, do tell me where you have placed our link, and I'll give you a link in a comparable position, of the same nature (i.e., banner-for-banner, text-for-text).
* * * * * * * * * * | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 by Kurt T. Francis, except as noted otherwise. Materials by Christopher G. Moore, Dean Barrett, Richard K. Diran, Sonia Pressman Fuentes, and Hardy Stockmann are copyrighted © by those respective authors. All rights reserved. Please see the Copyright Notice for further information. Click here for our Privacy Statement Please direct all inquiries to MekhongKurt [at] BangkokAtoZ.com
|
