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"The Rounds" Tuesday, June 17, 2003
Mekhong Kurt * * * * * * * * * * Stunning Novel Captures the Essence of Being an Expatriate I rarely feel compelled to trumpet a book I have read, but James Webb's Lost Soldiers is just such a book. Webb is one of America's most decorated Marine veterans of the Vietnam War, a former Secretary of the Navy and former Assistant Secretary of Defense. While Lost Soldiers is not about Thailand, it is a heck of an excellent novel about post-war Vietnam, but, more to the present point, puts into words what we who have chosen to make foreign countries our homes have so much difficulty explaining to those we left behind find so difficult -- impossible -- to explain. For anyone rooted in his or her native land who has a relative or friend who has chosen to be an expatriate, Lost Soldiers is a must-read for anyone who has such relatives or friends and who wishes to understand them. Understanding us expatriates is difficult for many people, not least my fellow Americans. Choosing to live abroad is not choosing to disown our native land, nor even to distance ourselves from it emotionally or politically. [Well, there are exceptions, true, but they *are* exceptions -- I met only two or three such in mainland China when I lived there back in the late '80's, none in Macau, and none here in Thailand.] We Americans can be quite . . . "provincial" is the word first to spring to mind. Because America has so very much good about it, including good in ways we who are expatriates lament regarding our chosen country of residence, it is sometime difficult for those who have not chosen an an expatriate life to grasp just why we who have chosen to do so make such a choice. Part of it has to do with fundamental shifts in outlook in us, shifts that set us somewhat apart from our fellow nationals, from wherever we hail. This extends even to citizens of Japan, to take but one example. I myself have known Japanese expatriates here who despite the strong cultural imperatives ingrained in them have, after enough time abroad in a place they came to truly love, broken the ties and stayed in a foreign land. One of the shifts in outlook is a broadening of outlook. To take a mundane instance, I don't know how many times I've heard my friends and relatives in America wax eloquently how much they would love to visit The Mysterious Orient, if only it weren't so far -- only to hear them in the next breath urge me to return to America for a visit. Somehow, in their minds, it's not so far for me to go 9,000 miles from Bangkok to Texas as it is for them to go those very same 9,000 miles to visit here. But to return to Webb's Lost Soldiers, it is most definitely a worthy novel. Reviewers have been universal in their praise -- though none, in those reviews I've read (which are many) have highlighted this capturing of the essence of "expatriatehood" he has done; in developing the hero of the novel, Brandon Condley, Webb has done this magnificently. Condley, a Vietnam vet, is a liaison between the Vietnamese and American governments in the latter's search of MIA's. Condley has a deep love for Vietnam, as it is evident Webb himself has -- it's clear that there is more than a little of Webb himself in his fictional character. You can buy this book from numerous sources; perhaps the best-known is Amazon.com; click here to visit the Amazon.com page to make your purchase (and no, I won't make any money from it!). * * * * * * * * * * Chilling Reminder of Terrorism In a sting operation set up by the U.S. Customs Agency at the American embassy here in Bangkok, Thai authorities were able to apprehend a man selling radioactive material suitable for what's called a "dirty bomb." Such a bomb does not involve an atomic or nuclear reaction but depends upon conventional explosives, such as dynamite, but it scatters radioactive material over the debris field of the bomb, thus endangering people otherwise unaffected by the bomb's explosion. See the Bangkok Post stories from Saturday and Sunday here and here, respectively; The Nation appears not to be covering the story, curiously enough. * * * * * * * * * * Libertarian Websites An e-mail from an acquaintance led me to an interesting think piece, "Other and Different Worlds" by one Fred Reed, whom some of you may know as a columnist for an American newspaper. [I was unaware of him previously.] It fits in with the recommendation above as it is a lengthy definition of expatriates; see the full column here. Reed's exploration of the meaning of the term "expatriate" makes all of us -- expatriates and those who elect to remain in their native lands alike -- give more than passing thought to just what it means to venture out of one's homeland, in some cases for good. The website I saw carrying Reed's piece is http://www.strike-the-root.com, a site I haven't explored more than superficially but one which is clearly contrarian in its editorial slant, taking a libertarian view. It quotes the American thinker and author Henry David Thoreau in this statement: "There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one striking at the root" -- thus the name of the website, "Strike the Root." Reed has his own website at http://www.fredoneverything.net -- note the ".net" as opposed to ".com"; the latter takes you to a completely unrelated website. I will be reading these websites further. Since my knowledge of them is now limited to a bit of browsing on each, my recommendation is qualified. Why? -- because sometimes such sites advocate the fall of the government of America, something I cannot brook. I'm *not* saying either site does this, only that if I discover either or both does I will withdraw my recommendation. One quality of expats, and not just American ones, is that they often are distrustful of their government. We find the never-ending regulation of the minutiae of life wearying, at best. And don't even *get* one of us started on so-called "political correctness," which is nothing but Fascism or Big Brother-ism parading under another, (ironically enough) "politically correct," name. I remember a few years ago when I had occasion to visit America to see my family. I had a layover of several hours at Los Angeles' LAX Airport. While there, I was required by law to go outside the terminal to smoke (which didn't bother me at all). On the public address system there was a loop tape, one that struck me by it's consistent negativeness: "Don't park in the yellow zone," "Don't smoke in the terminal," "Don't bring outside food or drink into the terminal" -- a never-ending litany of commands what *not* to do. It was clear the script writer for the tape never even though of casting the rules in *positive* terms: "Parking is allowed only in the designated parking lots," "Smoking is permitted in designated areas outside the terminals," "Food and drink are available exclusively from bars, cafes, and restaurants inside each terminal building." The fundamental meaning is the same, just re-cast into a positive statement. But such seems beyond the grasp of many of my fellow Americans. Visitors who know anything at all about Thailand and about me ask me how I can tolerate living in such a corrupt society as Thailand has, most visibly in its law enforcement. As someone who worked in law enforcement and security myself in America, I am not impressed, on the philosophical level, by the Thai standards of "law enforcement." But on some level I am. On a few of the rare occasions I've driven my motorcycle I've been stopped by the police for some infraction or the other, sometimes legitimately, sometimes fancifully. But the payment of a small "fine" -- undoubtedly a "fine" destined to go into the detaining officer's personal coffers, not into the public till -- eliminated the problem. Do I approve? -- of course not. Is such a practice convenient? -- of course so. After all, I'm going to be out some money either way, i.e., whether the money goes into the officer's pocket or into government funds, but at least this way I don't have a record of driving offenses -- and my insurance rates won't go up. And as badly as many people loather insurance companies, it is beyond doubt many of us would rather put up with petty corruption than to see insurance companies further enriched. And yes, I feel comfortable saying that; my late step-father spent most of his professional career as an insurance salesman, one who became disenchanted with the industry and ultimately quit, in part owing to his dissatisfaction. * * * * * * * * * * Tourism: Going . . . Going . . . Gone Saturday night I went to Soi Cowboy for the first time in maybe two or three months. I visited only four places: Pam's Bar, Suzy Wong A-Go-Go, Cowboy One A-Go-Go, and Shadow A-Go-Go. In the first and the last I was the *only* customer; in the second and third I constituted precisely *half* the customer base present -- that's right: no other people in two joints, and only one other in each of the two others. A friend went to Nana Plaza Thursday night and went to several of the more popular venues there. He reports that the *most* customers in any one place numbered five of six, with some of the places utterly void of customers other than he himself. Another friend went on a pub crawl in Patpong, including the ever-popular Pink Panther A-Go-Go -- and reports that even in that famed place there were only one or two other customers the entire time he was there. He further reports that even such places as the popular Crown Royale -- especially popular with locally-based farangs -- were doing okay, but thanks only to said locally-based foreigners -- not to tourists. Others report Patpong, Pattaya, Jomtien, Hua Hin/Cha'am, and Phuket remain relatively deserted, even given this is the off-season. The estimates of jobs lost as a result in the current downturn of tourism run into the millions, with worse to come. And for the most part, the downturn is both needless and senseless, and, thus, sad. A news story put out by the Manila branch of the AFP a few days ago mentions the "often deadly SARS" -- and that's a crock. SARS exhibits a fatality rate of around 6%, with the number of deaths to date around 800, world-wide. which hardly justifies the description "often deadly." But some here are fighting back. For instance, Thai Airways is launching a one-billion baht publicity campaign to lure tourists back to the Kingdom, as reported in Saturday's Bangkok Post (see the story here). While no details were given in the story, the funding includes 20,000 free air tickets for lucky travelers, a powerful incentive. The WHO [World Health Organization] has been quoted as saying that SARS is on the wane -- but I, for one, am not going to hold my breath waiting for any huge influx of tourists. SARS never *was* the source of concern it was made out to be; after all, in three months it slew only a few hundred unfortunate people -- compared with over 500 deaths on the highways and byways of Thailand alone over this year's four-day Songkhran Festival holiday. Globally, the number of SARS-related deaths averaged, at most, in the upper single digits most days over the three-month period the disease held the world hostage. It is said that turkeys are so stupid that they will look up in a downpour, getting water down their nostrils and thereby drowning. I sometimes have to wonder if we humans aren't just turkeys in another form. . . . It's one thing to read about and/or to visit a foreign country and to find it wanting for our desires; it's something else entirely to shiver in the shadows of our homes at invented, unnecessary fears. A meeting of health workers in China from around the world, about 1,000 of them, hope to make progress on the containment and eventual control, even destruction, of the disease, a meeting from June 17th (today). Interestingly, Taiwan, viewed as a province in rebellion by Beijing authorities, has a delegation attending -- the first time the mainland has agreed to allow Taiwan to participate in any U.N. activity since the mainland took over the Chinese seat in the United Nations. A less militant Beijing and Taipei cam herald only good for the region. Asia remains an attractive travel destination. Prices remain low, outside of the obvious places such as Tokyo, Seoul, and Singapore, to name a few. Right here in Bangkok one can have a *very* attractive room for as little as US$20-25 a night. If one shops around for air tickets, travel here, even from, say, North America and Europe, can be surprisingly cheap, especially compared to domestic and regional fares. Taxis are amazingly cheap compared to those catering to travelers in places such as New York City, London, Paris, and Berlin; to give but one example, I pay as little as a mere US$20 in taxi fare to go to or to return from Jomtien -- about 140 kilometers (100 miles or so) away from where I live in central Bangkok. Go ask a cabbie in any major Western city what he charges for such a journey -- if, indeed, he will make it at all; I can downright guarantee you it'll be a sight more than twenty bucks. Is it possible to spend money foolishly? -- of course it is, here just as much as it's possible just about anywhere on the face of the planet. But the attractive prices don't stop with accommodation and travel costs. A veritable feast can be had for ridiculously cheap prices. For instance, in Daliang, China, where I lived and worked 1999-200 and which I visited last year, there is a restaurant specializing in northeastern Chinese cuisine where we -- about ten people -- ordered far more food than we could consume, ordered for around US$15. And that was in a private dining room with two dedicated waitresses. Right here in Bangkok one can visit a number of hotel buffets for anywhere from about US$10 to US$20 -- and the latter figure is high-end. A most excellent steak, most excellent by *any* standard, can be had for as little as about US$6. WITH baked potato (and all the trimmings), salad, veggies, etc. Even in notoriously expensive Beijing I ate prime rib at the Australian chain steakhouse Outback for around US$8. And, of course, food can be had far, far cheaper than that -- witness all the on-a-shoestring backpackers who visit here, often for months on end, traveling all around the region, for pennies. In other words, a Grand Asian Experience can cost an American less than an equally long holiday in, say, San Francisco and a European less than such a holiday in *any* major European city. * * * * * * * * * * What's Going on in Burma? News reports here contradict each other on what happened as the meeting of ASEAN ministers regarding fellow member Burma the detention by the junta there of Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The Bangkok Post reports the ministers discussed the issue for three hours; see the story here. In contrast, the other leading English-language newspaper in The City of Angels, The Nation, asserts that while a Burmese official did give a briefing regarding the recent bloody clash in Burma between the laureate's supporters and pro-government elements, the rest of the ministers view it as a purely domestic affair and had no comment. However, the paper's article does go on to say the ministers would discuss the situation at a "retreat meeting" today. The latter story can be found here. The situation in Burma is of legitimate interest to Thai authorities as the badly impoverished country provides a large number of illegal workers who enter Thailand out of economic desperation. And it is of interest to ASEAN at large, as a growing number of non-ASEAN nations are becoming increasingly impatient with the grouping's never-ending pleas that non-interference in each other's affair is a fundamental underpin in the organization's structure, a plea wearing thinner by the day in many foreign eyes. * * * * * * * * * * Holiday Information Sources Don't forget to check out the "Horizons" section of The Bangkok Post every Thursday. The Nation has a comparable section, but I've discovered the URL doesn't show up in my browser's address bar; to link to the story about ASEAN, I had to alternate between my webpage-writing program and my browser, hover my arrow over the paper's link so the URL would show along the bottom, then memorize the next few characters, symbols, and numbers, then write them in my webpage program -- and that's far too time-consuming. To see that paper's travel information, click on its name above, then look down the side until you see "travel & tourism," without the quotation marks, and click it. Another good source of information -- especially about Bangkok -- it the slick, witty, often irreverent Metro Magazine. * * * * * * * * * * 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. * * * * * * * * * * Travelers' Tales Got a "Traveler's Tale"? -- send me a line! MekhongKurt@BangkokAtoZ.com * * * * * * * * * * Link Exchange If anyone reading this has a website and would like to place a link there for 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). * * * * * * * * * * Until next time -- Sawasdee khrap! Mekhong Kurt
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