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"The Rounds"
* * * * * * * * * * 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! * * * * * * * * * * I've deliberately withheld this week's column, to await developments from the pro-Thaksin [the embattled Prime Minister] rally Friday and the anti anti-Thaksin rally yesterday. Some -- but not all -- things don't look good from the ruling party's point of view. More and more respected figures are calling on the Prime Minister to step aside. It has been reported in yesterday's media that the Principal Private Secretary to His Majesty the King is asking for a royally-endorsed Prime Minister. Before anyone leaps to conclusions, there are several possibilities if those media reports are correct (which I've not been able to confirm): (1.) The Principal Private Secretary to His Majesty the King is asking for the King either to endorse P.M. Thaksin or to ask him to stand aside so he, the King, can appoint a caretaker P.M.; (2.) In a narrower interpretation, the Private Principal Secretary could be asking His Majesty the King to ask the current P.M. to resign (which he has said he will do if His Majesty asks) and appoint a new caretaker P.M.; (3.) Anti-Thaksin forces may be gaining enough ground to force him from office. It merits emphatic mention that numerous top military leaders have fervently vowed there will not be any military intervention. When I started this story last night, I was sitting in the company of a very dear and not-stupid Thai friend who is saying he hopes Thaksin remains in power because in his opinion, people have overall benefited under P.M. Thaksin's administration, adding he himself, as a civil servant, received a substantial pay increase after Thaksin came to office. Today, the news about yesterday's rally is somewhat confusing, with estimates of the number of people attending varying from around 50,000 to around 100,000. Further, Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva was interviewed by CNN's Senior Asia Correspondent Mike Chinoy a little after 8:00 o'clock this morning, and in that interview Abhisit made a reference to no opposing candidates to Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party for the election next month -- but other media are reporting that a number of small parties have registered 252 candidates, though some constituencies are reported to have no candidates registered at all. There are also reports that nearly a hundred from the nation's elite filed a petition with His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary yesterday asking His Majesty to appoint a caretaker government. All that said, the Prime Minister still enjoys considerable support, especially among the ordinary folks outside Bangkok. The most reasonable estimate of the number of people attending the pro-Thaksin rally this past Friday appears to be about 200,000. It doesn't really matter what each attendee's individual motive was, or at least it doesn't matter if he or she votes for Thaksin's TRT party on April 2nd. I do want to point out something that's sort of getting lost in the heated political chatter: both sides have avoided any violent confrontation, and both sides deserve kudos for that. No one really wants to see another 1973/1976/1992, during all of which people died or were injured. Yes, there have been reports in the media of some not-so-pleasant . . . um, "discussions" between members of the opposing camps -- but not violence. As a friend of the Kingdom and her people, I am happy (and relieved) about that. Again, good on both sides for keeping their disagreements verbal, not physical. We do indeed live in "interesting times." [Monday, March 6, 2006] * * * * * * * * * * Long-time readers already know I'm a huge fan of the Khemer Kingdom to Thailand's southeast. My opinion was not lessened in any way whatsoever during my most recent (and all too brief) visit there last week, when I flew down to Phnom Penh early Wednesday morning then back to The City of Angels mid-morning Friday. What a delightful city. What a delightful country. And most of all, what a delightful people. The folks there exhibit the rightly-famous Asian welcoming attitude -- in spades. (Of course, my Thai hosts are most excellent at that as well!) Made it to my two favorite haunts, Coyote Ugly Bar and the Golden Vine Bar. The owners and the staff of both venues can't be beat, in my experience. The drink prices at both are very reasonable by any standard, and Coyote Ugly offers a reasonable menu at reasonable prices -- including to-die-for cheesecake the owner, an American who hails from Florida named Robert, makes lovingly -- and fresh. You can order an entire cheesecake for takeaway. My buddy and I checked out a couple other places, one called "Woolly Rhino" (an odd name in Cambodia, since the nearest rhino is in Africa, as far as I know!), the other called the "Pickled Parrot Pub + Restaurant" in the front portion of the ground floor of the Thonle Sap Guest House." The Woolly Rhino is owned by an affable Irishman named Tony. We were in about lunch time, and there was only a bartendee, Miss Vy (pronounced "Vee") when we arrived. She, however, speaks excellent English, is very personable, and is quite lovely to boot -- a winning combination. Owner Tony came in a bit later and proved to be equally personable -- if not as lovely!!! ;-) The Wooly Rhino opens at 8:00 o'clock in the morning, but the kitchen doesn't open until late afternoon. Tony told us business is pretty quiet through the day -- but that he wants to change that. He's owned the place only two months, so needs some slack to get everything worked out. (Another thing that endeared him to us he he knows and likes both Robert, owner of Coyote Ugly, and Lan, owner of Golden Vine -- good recommendations we checked out, and they *did* check out.) The format is open-front, a pool table towards the rear, darts, and live sports, with a computer loaded with every imaginable kind of music. It's on the Mekhong River, an added bonus. Check it out:
Woolly Rhino Now to turn to the Pickled Parrot Pub + Restaurant in the Tonle Sap Guest House. It is fully enclosed with air-conditioning, some tables as you enter, a bar at the back (and a door leading into the hotel reception area), and pool to the left front. The interior is quite nicely done. We didn't have a chance to chat with anyone other than the bartendee, but she was very pleasant and efficient. Definitely a place worth visiting.
Pickled Parrot Pub + Restaurant [Monday, March 6, 2006] A lot of folk are scared away from visiting Cambodia, home to the World Heritage Angkor Wat, because of the searing publicity the country received during the reign of the Khemer Rouge, which now was many years ago. It's true that turbulence -- violent turbulence -- continued even after the Khemer Rouge fell. But for a bit over a decade, things have been improving, in some areas slowly, in others steadily, and in still others at amazing speed. But the Cambodians, like their neighbors in Laos and Thailand, are wonderfully welcoming people. (I can't comment on Vietnam, having never visited there.) And in Phnom Penh, the level of English spoken is astonishing -- more than in, say, Bangkok and Beijing. Right now Phnom Penh is in a situation comparable to that of Vientiane, Laos and Macau in China: it is still regarded as backwater worth a day-trip only. That simply is no longer true in any of their cases. Phnom Penh can be a center to visit Angkor Wat and the increasingly popular seaside resort of Sihanoukville. (As Vientiane can be for visiting other places in "The Land of a Million Elephants" and Macau can be as a launching point into The Middle Kingdom.) Things are coming together for the beleaguered Khemer Kingdom; to a small degree I can say that with some authority, as I have friends involved in various foreign projects there that will vastly benefit the citizens of Cambodia. Benefits, by the way, those citizens darned well deserve. If you come to this part of the world on holiday, or if you move here, make a trip to Cambodia. There are a number of regional international flights into Phnom Penh and Angkor Wat (well, into Siem Reap, the closest city to Angkor Wat), and there's talk of expanding the airport in Poi Pet and the one in Sihanoukville. [Monday, March 6, 2006] * * * * * * * * * * I've been reminded yet again twice in just minutes of the perils of dealing with traffic here. In the first instance, I was crossing at the top side of a T-intersection and the traffic signals for the side of the avenue I wanted to cross were ALL red -- meaning that vehicles are "required" to stop for pedestrians (yeah, ha-ha-ha, funny joke). The first couple dozen zipped right on by, but then a motorcyclist stopped to let me cross -- and drivers in vehicles behind him *instantly* began blaring their horns, a few of them leaning out their car windows and screaming at him. I could see the driver of the car immediately behind the motorcyclist ; that driver's face was black and contorted in obvious rage. Needless to say, I made a mad dash to get across. Adding to the irksomeness was that I was standing about a foot in front of a police traffic box, but the officers inside didn't come out to make traffic follow the laws. Just minutes after I made my way into Washington Square, a friend entered the venue in which I was ensconced. I had seen him driving up (he's Western but has lived here many years) -- driving the wrong way in the one-way traffic pattern that is theoretically the case here on the Square, so I razzed him a bit. But he explained he had tried to follow the normal flow yet couldn't because a car and run over a motorcycle pizza delivery guy, though my friend didn't know if the victim was killed or not. (The pizza delivery drivers have an especially notorious reputation for their dangerous driving, so there's not a lot of sympathy when one of them gets mown down.) Don't even think about coming here on your first-ever visit and renting a car; even angels dare not tread there. If you heed that, when you hire a taxi, make sure the driver understands he's going to drive YOUR way -- or you're going to get out but NOT pay him a baht. (Hotel doormen are good about helping with this, for those who don't speak Thai.) And if you find yourself walking anywhere leading you to cress even the smallest, sleepiest soi -- be fanatically paranoid and believe with all your heart "EVERYONE in command of a vehicle, even just a bicycle, is out to get me!" I don't mean this item to be funny. There's nothing funny about it. Please, please, please be careful. [Monday, March 6, 2006] * * * * * * * * * * Enough for one go . . . Until next time -- Mekhong Kurt
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