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"The Rounds"
Headlines Correction: Bangkok Has 5 Subway Sandwich Shops Bourbon Street Restaurant Now Offers Wi-Fi Internet Telecommunications Reform in Motion Chuwit Kamolvisit Accuses Immigration Bureau Officers of Corruption Thailand Ranks 2 Places Higher in Competiveness This Year Soi Thonglor (Sukhumvit Soi 55) a Chic Destination * * * * * * * * * * Correction: Bangkok Has 5 Subway Sandwich Shops This is just a quick note to report a reader kindly informed me of a 5th Subway Sandwich Shop on Silom Road near the Sala Daeng Skytrain stop, i.e., near Patpong. Also, I walked past the one next to Villa Supermarket at Sukhumvit Soi 33/1 and it was indeed open, though I haven't yet tried it. [Thursday, May 12, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * Bourbon Street Restaurant Now Offers Wi-Fi Internet People who like to visit this popular restaurant and boutique hotel will be pleased to learn that it has joined the growing number of places set up to handle wireless Internet service. I don't know the rate, though my assumption is it's reasonable. Unluckily for me, my computer is 1 of 3 variants of a model line -- and is the only one not set up for wireless. But if I can get whatever I need to have installed, hardware and software, for a reasonable price (if it's possible at all), then I'll sure do so. And will do so not only because of Bourbon, though I am there frequently; I did a Google search earlier this morning and found a listing of 138 hot spots in Bangkok alone, and the number is growing. For example, Don Muang Airport has several hot spots, as do a number of luxury apartments -- some of which are wired throughout the building. Some higher-end hotels offer it, and it's available in many Starbucks and Au Pain outlets, perhaps all of them. I sure could have used it when I was staying at the Amanjaya Hotel in Phnom Penh 2 weeks ago; Kwest Restaurant there is a hot spot, and the connection is far faster than available in the rooms. Combined with wireless modems (for when you're not near a hot spot), one can enjoy complete freedom of movement while using a computer. I have a friend who has both in his computer, and he routinely does work while being driven to and from work and when he goes to eat in one of the several restaurants that are hot spots near his office. [Thursday, May 12, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * Telecommunications Reform in Motion There has been trouble simmering awhile in the telecommunications industry, despite numerous reforms and vast improvements in both areas of services and competition. However, despite the establishment of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) several years ago, it has not been authorized to operate as the overseer of the industry -- until now. But first a bit of recent history. At least 1 private phone company, Orange, has requested but been denied extra numbers by the longtime controller of numbers, the Telephone Organization of Thailand (TOT). Matters took a turn for the worse last week when TOT denied a request from the company, which claims it is running out of numbers to assign as its customer base grows, as reported in the May 5, 2005 edition of the Bangkok Post in a story headlined "TOT refuses to allocate new numbers: Says TA Orange's figures fails to match." The reference in the sub-headline is to TOT's claim that if Orange is running out of numbers, it has been paying enough in concession fees (which all operators have to pay TOT). But matters were taken over by the courts. This past Tuesday, the Administrative Court suspended TOT's regulatory functions and assigned them to the NTC, as reported in the Bangkok Post story "Court freezes TOT regulatory mandate: Private operators hail new ruling" and in The Nation in a story under the title "Ruling ‘will help NTC take power over concession deals’." Of course private operators are pleased, though it's not clear (not to me anyway) what financial implications, if any, the move signals. I never have understood why the NTC wasn't swiftly authorized to take over regulating the telecommunications industry, given that it was established for that purpose. Equally unsurprising as the operators' reaction is TOT's legal staff's plan to appeal the ruling, so the story is far from over -- the suit ruled on 2 days ago dates back to 2002. Stay tuned. [Tuesday, April 26, 2005] * * * * * * * * * *
Chuwit Kamolvisit Accuses The colorful massage parlor operator turned freshman politician was in the news again last week, this time accusing Immigration officers of pocketing hundreds of millions of baht from tourists, according the a story in today's Bangkok Post headlined "Chuwit: Immigration skimming tourist cash." (Curiously, The Nation has nothing about it, at least not in its online version I just checked.) Khun Chuwit has made allegations in the past but at least sometimes presented no evidence that was reported in the English-language news media as far as I know. Police Lieutenant-General Amarin Niamsakul of the Bureau is reported to have said he would bring a lawsuit against Chuwit for harming the agency's standing if he can't provide evidence. I have to say I have never been asked for anything other than the posted fees by any Thai immigration official in my nearly 11 years here. Yes, I have overstayed, and paid the fine accordingly, fines set by law, but even then, no offcer solicited money or anything else from me. [Thursday, May 12, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * Thailand Ranks 2 Places Higher in Competiveness This Year Good news for the Kingdom came in the form of being ranked 2 places higher -- 27th -- this year than it did last year in terms of competitiveness in an annual ranking conducted by the Switzerland-based Institute for Management Development (IMD), as reported in today's The Nation under "Thailand rises to 27th in IMD yearbook" and Bangkok Post in a story headlined "Thailand up two notches in world rankings." The IMD ranks countries in 4 areas: Economic Performance, Government Efficiency, Business Efficiency, and Infrastructure. Of the 4 areas, Thailand's weakest was Infrastructure (46th place) and its strongest was Economic Performance (7th place). The gap in those rankings isn't surprising. The other 2 rankings give food for thought: in Government Efficiency the Kingdom ranked 14th, while in Business Efficiency it ranked 28th. It's typical of members of the general public to complain about governmental inefficiency, yet the officials at the IMD obviously felt the Thai government does a better job in this area than does the nation's business sector. In the IMD's overall assessments the past 5 years, Thailand has moved steadily upward, from 34th in 2001 to 27th this year. With only 3 exceptions, the movement has been consistently up, and even in the cases where slippage occurred, the following years ranking not only rebounded the amount of the slip but improved so it was better than all previous years. In Thailand's quest to become a regional hub in a number of areas, such as transportation, education, computers, this has got to be sweet music to leaders' ears. In light of negative stories coming out, it bears underscoring that Thailand remains a place worth considering for business. * * * * * * * * * * The Nation has a less pleasant report headlined "MEDICAL ALERT: Dengue fever epidemic looming." You can visit the IMD's World Competitiveness Center and order the 2005 Yearbook (book or CD) or view results online at http://www02.imd.ch/wcc/. (Apparently there is a charge for the online service as well.)
The U.S. Centers for
Disease Control has a page with some information about the 2 types of dengue
fever,
which has resurged globally in recent years. That page mentions these
effects: Sudden onset of fever, severe headache, myalgias and arthralgias,
leukopenia, thrombocytopenia and hemorrhagic manifestations; The CDC says there is no vaccine for dengue fever, and advises using mosquito repellants, adding, "The most effective repellents are those containing N,N-diethylmetatoluamide (DEET)." A story in Malaysia's English-language newspaper The Star by The Associated Press headlined "Thailand warns of possible dengue fever epidemic" says, rather worryingly, "A total of 6,689 people have been infected with dengue so far this year, with 13 deaths, compared to about 4,000 infections and 51 fatalities for all of last year, said Dr. Thawat Suntarachan, director general of the Health Ministry's Disease Control Department." With the rainy season coming on -- a time of heightened risk -- it's a good idea to try to avoid mosquitoes as much as possible. [Thursday, May 12, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * To say I was startled to see a headline about this is an understatement. Given Bangkok's notoriously heavy and undisciplined traffic, it never occurred to me that anyone would consider using a Segway, the revolutionary 2-wheel vehicle that has splashed across the news media since its invention, for transport in the City of Angels. Just a day or two ago some friends and I were talking about it, all of us agreeing that Bangkok is a decidely anti-Segway city. Wrong assumption on our parts! According to a story in today's Bangkok Post headlined "Segway tours attain increasing popularity," entrepreneur Jeff Jarvis bought one from its inventor, American Dean Kamen, and started his business in Sukhumvit Soi 4 a year ago. Thailand Segway Tours even has its own web site, where 5 packages are on offer: Learn to Ride a Segway / 15 min. lesson, 500 Baht Bangkok Back Roads Ride / 1 1/2 Hour Glide, 1,800 Baht Summer Palace Ride / 1 1/2 Hour Glide, 2,800 Baht Ancient City Segway Ride / 2 Hour Glide, 3,400 Baht Corporate and Group Events / 4 Hours 4,500 Baht I was especially intrigued by the Ancient City tour, given how far away the attraction is from the company's office deep in Sukhumvit Soi 4 -- the Ancient City is located on the Old Sukhumvit Highway at kilometer 33. I looked at the page but there was no explanation regarding whether you start on Soi 4 or the Segways are already positioned there and you travel to the site by other means. I'm also surprised I haven't heard about this sooner. I'm not convinced I want to take a Segway tour, not in Bangkok, though I've been wanting to try one of them, so I may spend the 500 baht for a 15-nute lesson -- IF it is taught in a parking lot or somewhere like that, NOT zipping up and down Soi 4! (Well, with the machine's top speed of 20kph, I don't suppose you're exactly "zipping" along.) Segways -- and maybe private VTOL aircraft (Vetical Take-Off and Landing craft) -- clogging the byways and skyways of Bangkok??? The mind boggles . . . [Thursday, May 12, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * Soi Thonglor (Sukhumvit Soi 55) a Chic Destination I haven't been in Soi Thonglor in a long while, but a story in the Bangkok Post subsection Realtime last Friday has convinced me of the error of my ways (which I already knew anyway). Headlined "THE ROAD TO SUCCESS," the story is accompanied by numerous photographs of establishments that have sprung up in recent years, from restaurants to ice cream shops to shopping centers. A few of my friends make the occasional foray to Thonglor, previously perhaps best known as home to the Thonglor Police District Headquarters and to Camillion Hospital. That's no longer the case. From what the story says and I've heard, it is indeed upscale, not seedy as some of the other entertainment venues are. It also is home to 20 wedding studios that opened up soon after the bridge connecting the then-dead-end soi to Petchburi Road in 1995 -- developments I do remember, as I was on the soi frequently in those days. Heck, I need to visit it if for no other reason than to update my own Thonglor Online! If anyone has visited places along the soi and can make some recommendations, please drop me a line. [Thursday, May 12, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * In an announcement that will undoubtedly please many, the government is reported to have sent plans to the Cabinet to expand the Bangkok subway system. I read about the planned expansion in the news media, but the reports were rather vague, so I checked the Bangkok Mass Rapid Transit Authority (MRTA) web site to see further details, and they are encouraging. Based on the 2 sources -- the MRTA itself and published reports -- it appears that 3 extensions to the existing system, each consisting of 2 subsections, are planned to be completed between now and 2012 (some elevated but part of the subway system, not the Skytrain one). The extensions total 91 kilometers (about 57.33 miles, for the metrics-challenged) -- and more extensions to the total mass rapid transit system (the subway and Skytrain combined) are in the works. I haven't had occasion to try the subway, but if it's as nice as the Skytrain -- which friends who use the former regularly assure me it is -- then it's nice indeed. Some time back there were calls in the Parliament to cancel the extensions, calls based on their expense. Yes, such systems are very expensive, but with their efficiency, in the long run they're worth it. Apparently the government thinks so and is willing to put its money where its mouth is; I read somewhere it plans to buy back the subway system. I referred to Bangkok's horrendous traffic in the story I did on the Segway above, and for those of you who haven't been to a place like Bangkok, it's impossible to imagine the sheer volume of traffic, the . . . um . . . traffic laws that are more mere suggestions than actual laws, and the utter lack of both road courtesy and road discipline; drivers here are indeed Mad Max when they're behind the wheel. (Some claim cities such as Jakarta and Bombay are even worse, but I find that hard to imagine, perhaps because I've not been to either.) Mass transit is one way to improve the situation, something I've felt ever since I rode the New York City subway in the 1960's and was almost magically whisked clear across the city in a matter of a few minutes -- something impossible to to do Dallas or Fort Worth, the largest cities in the area in which I grew up, despite the fact both cities were far smaller than New York City. I've lauded governmental steps in this area in the past, and I continue to do so. I for one hope the Cabinet approves the proposals in short order so the builders can get busy. [Thursday, May 12, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * 1 [Tuesday, May 10, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * [Wednesday, April 20, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * T [Wednesday, April 20, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * I [Wednesday, April 12, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * 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"???
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