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"The Rounds"
Headlines Dengue Fever Cases Soar in Northeast Charlie Brown Celebrates Birthday Sunday, May 22, 2005 Upcoming U.S. Consular Visit to the Northeast Two Tough Questions Worth Pondering World Health Organization Fears Bird-Flu Pandemic Possible Rainy Season Back with Daily Rains * * * * * * * * * * It is being heavily covered that this venerable news magazine has backed down from a story in its May 9th issue claiming military interrogators at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay desecrated the Koran (Quran) by flushing copies down a toilet. This is disturbing, just as disturbing as CNN's claim some years ago that the U.S. government went into Laos to murder military deserters, a story CNN had to back down from. Perhaps we Americans who live abroad are more sensitive to other people's wariness and criticism of the U.S. than are our homebound brethren. I choose to try to defend my country, but it's hard to do so when even our most respected journalists get it wrong. The allegation was so serious that in my view -- as I just wrote to the magazine in a letter-to-the-editor -- it was essential to go several extra miles to be sure of the story's accuracy. People have died over it. And that's not merely regrettable: it's reprehensible. [Monday, May 16, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * Dengue Fever Cases Soar in Northeast According to local media, the number of cases of dengue fever is soaring in Isaan, with the rate reported to be about 3 times as many as last year. The Nation has a story headlined "Dengue cases soar in Northeast" reporting the increase, a worrisome development, especially given there's no vaccine to immunize us against the disease. I've already reported on this, and while I in no way wish to discourage tourism anywhere in the Kingdom, I do hope people will take precautions to try to avoid mosquitoes, from which people contract dengue fever. Use a strong repellant and stay inside as much as possible. [Monday, May 16, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * Charlie Brown Celebrates Birthday Sunday, May 22, 2005 The affable Charlie Brown will be celebrating his 70th birthday come this Sunday. Charlie an Old Thai Hand dating back to the 1980's and is widely liked around Washington Square. Originally from California, he joined the U.S. Navy as a young man, an experience that lit the fires of wanderlust. Charlie can be found at the Texas Lone Staar in the early morning and from about mid-afternoon onwards; drop by and wish him a Happy Birthday! [Tuesday, May 17, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * Well, when I wrote the story above, I forgot that Sunday is the holiest day of the Buddhist calendar; it celebrates the birth, enlightenment and entry into nirvana of the Lord Buddha. In honor of the day, bars will be closed, so those wishing to wish Charlie Happy Birthday will have to do so another day. The day is observed by all devout members of Thailand's Theravada Buddhism, or Hinayana. There's an excellent discussion, in English, not only on this major day but a bout the Lord Buddha generally and the history of the religion on another web site well worth reading. (For that matter, the site generally is a good source for anyone interested in the Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai areas of Thailand; see http://www.chiangmai-chiangrai.com/. [Tuesday, May 17, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * Upcoming U.S. Consular Visit to the Northeast The American Citizen Services Unit of the U.S. Embassy here is Bangkok sent out the following announcement of a consular visit to the Northeast early next month. Here's the e-mail in full:
Dear Udorn and Khon Kaen Area
American Citizens, * * * * * * * * * * Two Tough Questions Worth Pondering
This has nothing to do with Bangkok in
particular, but it's something I got from a friend that set me to thinking about
our assumptions and prejudices. Worth thinking about, no matter what your
take on it may be.
No, none of my personal views on any of the trains of thought the following
inspires can be derived from the mere fact of my passing this along to you.
And in case you never saw this
one: Can you imagine working for a company that has a little more than 500
employees and has the following statistics:
(pause) Like I said . . . makes one think, doesn't it? Thanks to "California" Dennis for sending this along to me. [Thursday, May 19, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * World Health Organization Fears Bird-Flu Pandemic Possible The Nation is carrying a story in today's edition headlined "VIRUS SHOCK: Bird-flu mutates, adapts to humans." The WHO visited Vietnam at the Vietnamese government's request to assess the current situation. The data is scary: while death rates are down significantly (from 70% to 30%), it appears the virus has mutated to the point it can jump directly from 1 person to another. The report isn't surprising, since there have been reports earlier of occurrences of human-to-human transmission, but the numbers were so low there was some small hope the microbe might not mutate. The WHO's conservative estimate of the number of deaths globally in the event of a global pandemic would be about 7.4 million. Officials are saying bluntly that should a pandemic occur, reactions will be limited to damage control; national plans are said to be the key. Thai authorities are taking the report seriously and are taking steps to prepare as well as possible now -- before any epidemic or pandemic arises. You can see more information at the WHO Thailand avian flu page. [Friday, May 20, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * In good news for motorists, retail gasoline prices dropped 40 satang per liter this past Tuesday and are set to go down again over the next few months as world oil prices ease. Prices went up a few weeks back when world oil prices went up dramatically and rapidly. Fuel prices for both gasoline and diesel are subsidized by the government, though there are reports that the hope is to phase those subsidies out eventually, which would remove a major drain from the public purse. However, there were some protests from ship operators when diesel prices went up, and since any eventually removal of subsidies would mean higher prices for consumers, the government will have to mount an effective campaign to convince the public to cooperate. [Friday, May 20, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * Rainy Season Back with Daily Rains The rainy season is back, and has been for a week or so, with periods of moderately heavy rain every day and night. Many of us welcome it; it has lowered temperatures to much more pleasant levels than they were in the run-up to this year's monsoon. Undoubtedly, farmers whose land has received rain welcome it, given the widespread drought the Kingdom was suffering. This isn't a bad time of year to visit Thailand. It's the off-season, so hotel and other costs are down. I'm not a surf-'n-sand person, and I enjoy sitting in the cool along Jomtien Beach Road; even if it's raining this moment, I can always go to a friend's open-air bar directly across the road from the beach and sit under cover. There has been some flooding. For example, today's The Nation has a report "BMA says it has rainy season under control" that says a number of areas around Bangkok were flooded yesterday: Rama 3 Road, Soi Thonglor, Sukhumvit Soi 43 to Soi 49, and Asoke-Phetburi roads, all of which are major thoroughfares. One thing that is of concern is the state of the drain grills because the open spaces are often clogged, which of course prevents water from running into the drainage system. I noticed one such grill just today walking from my home to Washington Square. Cleaning them would be a Herculean task, to be sure, but it would help. And we can help; each year since I've been living at my present home, when I walk down my soi to Sukhumvit Road I have picked up a stick and cleaned the grills between my building and Sukhumvit Road. (Yes, I get odd stares, but if it helps even just a little, that's okay!) [Friday, May 20, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * A few weeks ago I wrote a piece about the hazards of being a pedestrian in Bangkok. Two days ago I got a sobering reminder that motorists face their own dangers, too. I was walking along Sukhumvit Road and at the crosswalk from near the corner of Sukhumvit Soi 33 to the south side of the road a pickup had crashed into a concrete power pole. The pickup was severely damaged. Apparently the accident had occurred some time before, as there was no one in the pickup, and both police officers and power workers were on the scene. Later in the morning a Thai-speaking friend came in and said he had spoken with someone at the scene and was told 3 people died, including 2 by electrocution. My earlier guess had been at least 1 serious injury or death because the windshield was badly shattered -- directly in front of the driver. From the appearance of the vehicle and the condition of the power pole -- completely broken in 2 places -- it was obvious the driver must have been traveling at high speed. It brought back to mind 2 stories I read some years ago the same day in the same paper, the first about the previous year's number of traffic fatalities Kingdom-wide, the second about the same subject in the U.S. On a per-capita basis, Thailand's fatality rate was about 8 times that of the U.S.'s. Yes, being in a vehicle can be dangerous, indeed. . . . [Friday, May 20, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * S I [Thursday, May 12, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * S . [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"???
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:
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Copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 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 |
