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"The Rounds" Friday, October 24, 2003
Mekhong Kurt * * * * * * * * * * New Discount Telephone Calling Service The firm Calls In Thailand is now offering really deep discounts for people in Thailand to countries around the world and even within Thailand itself. I'm impressed enough with it that not only am I going to sign up for their services -- signing up is completely free, and can be done online -- but also join their affiliate program (since it's darn sure about time I make a few bob somehow!!!). For example, one can call anywhere in the continental United States from here for under 10 baht per minute -- less than half the local rate. People who have been here as long as I have -- nearly a decade -- can remember when the daytime direct-dial rate to the States was over 80 baht/minute . . . when the baht was 25 to the dollar. Put another way, back then it cost US$3.20/minute; with this service, today it costs about US$.23/minute -- or about 1/15th as much. Anyway, one can't complain about rates like *that*!!! * * * * * * * * * * Info From ThaiVisa.com A couple of truly invaluable information resources are provided by the fine folks at www.ThaiVisa.com: a list of public holidays and of telephone/fax numbers for immigration offices nationwide (in Thailand, that is). "The Glories Of APEC" -- Redux Security was *very* tight at the just-concluded APEC meeting. I have been rather astonished at the number of people whining, moaning, and criticizing Thailand in the wake of the numerous reports regarding security measures the government took. One friend who was complaining bitterly -- though he never goes to any of the places on particular where security measures were in place -- gave an amazing response when I pointed out that in our own national capital of Washington, D.C. (we're both Americans) similar measures would be taken if such an event were held there: "But I'm not in Washington, I'm here, and the Thai government is stupid to cause so much inconvenience to city residents," or words to that effect. Despite the 2-6 P.M. ban on alcohol sales in certain areas such as Patpong, bars were allowed to remain open. And that brings us to some of the more perplexing measures the authorities here took. There were thousands upon thousands of people who cameto the city during APEC, and one has to believe that a certain percentage of them were already well familiar with Bangkok and therefore weren't deceived by the largely cosmetic steps taken. Can anyone seriously suppose that people familiar with Bangkok believed it to be free of illegal immigrants simply because the authorities deported some? Or that anyone believed there is no flesh trade because the police cleared the streets of hookers? In my opinion, such measures will be judged to be purely cosmetic in nature, measures having no real meaning, in the long term. It would make more sense, I would guess, were the authorities to take such measures as part of a long-term, genuine campaign to reduce these . . . "social negatives." Given the fact that there was the drug-suppression campaign in the ongoing morality crusade, it appears there is some will, in at least certain parts of the government, to make genuine efforts to reduce or eliminate some of the major problems. The apparent genuineness of those efforts makes it all the more perplexing to see some of the transparently face-saving steps taken for APEC. Take, for example, the banning of alcohol sales I mentioned above. If the empirical evidence is there to indicate such a ban is beneficial, then why make it only around the time of APEC? That is, why not make it permanent? And why not make it universal? -- it hardly deprives anyone wanting a drink if he or she has to go to a restaurant instead of to a bar to get some brew. On the other hand, if there isn't any such evidence, then why ban it at all? But to go back to where I started, even the road closings did make some sense. We mustn't forget that Bangkok has about 1/3 of the surface transportation area that comparable metropolitan areas around the world -- roughly 7%, in contrast to the average of 22% (according to a U.N. or some such report a few years back). I personally accept that presidents and premiers, having other, never-ending, pressing business to take care of simply can't be expected to sit in traffic jams. And given the beast of traffic with which we ordinarily live, I don't see how the authorities could have been expected to do anything less than to take drastic measures to ensure APEC time-tables were reasonably met. I've already defended the security measures. Some things I haven't mentioned, such as beautification efforts. What's wrong with that idea? When we invite guests to our own homes, don't we tidy up prior to their arrival? True, a few individual ideas seemed far-fetched, such as the proposal to remove public rubbish bins in selected areas; after all, pedestrians do generate trash and need a place to throw it away, and removing the bins means they either carry it with them or litter. * * * * * * * * * * China and India Draw Closer to ASEAN In major economic, political, and regional security developments, China and India both took truly significant steps towards further integration of nations in the eastern part of Asia. At the recent ASEAN meeting in Bali, Indonesia, they signed free-trade economic accords that will lower barriers between their respective nations and other nations -- adding 1/3 of the world's entire population to an eventually free-trade area, the core of which is ASEAN -- not in the economic sense, given that no ASEAN nation's economy is a world leader, but in the sense of pioneering the way in this part of the world. It is pretty clear that Japan and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) are moving in the same direction, adding 2 more significant national economies to the pot. Of even greater significance are China's steps to ease regional security concerns. The Communist giant signed some agreements, albeit non-binding ones, not to use force to settle regional international disputes. This has direct implications for territorial disagreements regarding islands in the South China Sea, a sea that China has long considered to be Chinese property. Some of China's past claims have raised eyebrows globally, such as when the government there disingenuously argued that a certain South China Sea island belonged to it because a grave marker with Chinese characters had been found there. (At that time, I wrote a letter to the editor of a Hong Kong newspaper suggesting that if the presence of such a grave marker was proof of possession, then I guessed the entire city of San Francisco, to name but one instance, must in fact be property belonging to mainland China!) As a long-time China-watcher, I'm convinced there is a strong possibility these latest Chinese commitments also have the potential to affect what the Chinese rather delicately call "the Taiwan question." While Taiwan isn't mentioned in the documents -- and I took the trouble to read the official online English versions of them so I would know -- the commitments from Beijing edge very close to renunciation of the use of force to resolve territorial disputes. That doesn't mean the saber-rattling will stop anytime soon, or that China wouldn't give a swift military response were the government in Taiwan to declare independence, which would put the Beijing government in a lose-lose situation: if it did nothing, it would be refuting its own stand since its founding in 1949 -- but if it acted, the U.S. almost certainly would intervene, an action with terrible consequences for the entire region, even the whole world. In this same context, for India to draw closer to ASEAN is significant; after all, India is technically a nuclear power, if one of relatively limited nuclear strike capability. * * * * * * * * * * "Sumhumvit Soi 33 Update" A few nights ago I went to several Soi 33 bars I haven't been into in awhile, in one case not for about 3 years. Just sort of wanted to break my routine and refresh my knowledge. The bars haven't changed since I last visited them. All lovely hostess bars, as are all the bars in that venue, but all are suffering even though they are meant to appeal to resident expats and upscale Thais -- just as places oriented towards the tourist trade are badly suffering. Even the ever-popular The Office Bar and Grill was virtually empty at Happy Hour, rather to my surprise. Some expat business people have returned since the crash of 1997, but it appears that clubs catering to those clientele are having a rough go of it. Perhaps most telling of economic woes (about 3 weeks ago, not on my most recent scouting expedition) was what happened as I walked along the sidewalk in front of Renoir, once one of the most frenetic places on the soi. Until that time, never *once* had I been accosted by a girl to come inside -- the bar didn't need my custom, and I never really cottoned to it the few times I visited it in years past; too crowded, too noisy, too expensive, too plastic, for my tastes (but only for my tastes; lots of folks loved it). Yet on that particular evening I was hailed by several girls standing outside on the veranda, with them saying, "Come inside, Sir!" I was downright shocked -- no, "stunned" is a more accurate word. Hundreds and hundreds of times have I wandered along the same path with no one from Renoir paying me the slightest attention (and rightly so). The soi now has about 20 bars, considerably more than when I first found it nearly a decade ago. And there is construction going on next to Bacchus said to be the making of a new sub-soi lined with 8-10 shophouses, most destined to become bars. I would say the major problem (besides the absence of customers) with the bars is that they keep raising prices to compensate for reduced numbers of customers. Stupid, in my view. Not that my view means anything here, particularly given that I've never owned any business, let alone a bar. But I'm pretty expert from the *front* side of a bar, and when they keep jacking up prices without doing anything at all to make the bars more attractive, eventually I jump ship and move on to more reasonable outlets. To be fair, this is scarce restricted to Thailand. I remember when I lived in Beijing way back in the 1980's. The Lido Holiday Inn in central Beijing had a Western manager who decided that since his room-occupancy rate was running just barely enough for the operation to break even at a starting price for a standard room of US$70/night (with an occupancy rate just north of 60%), the answer was to raise the starting rate to *US$90*/night -- in the middle of a northeast China winter! He sure was moaning some weeks later when his occupancy rate fell down to not much above *40%.* "Business is down, we're desperate, so let's jack up prices." Pretty stupid, I reckon. Can one imagine if, say, a department store had made a misjudgment and ordered too many swimsuits for the season RAISING its prices at the end of the season for said swimsuits? All that said, let me say that Sukhumvit Soi 33 remains one of the most attractive venues in Thailand. While the prices are on the upper end for regular bars, they aren't over the top. Service continues to tend to be noteworthy, as it has for years. At the end of the day, the bars may be girlie bars just as those in Soi Cowboy, Soi Nana, Patpong, Pattaya, etc. are -- but unlike in all those venues, the bars in Soi 33 are low-key, low-pressure, for the most part. Not too much of the garbage "Buy me drink? Buy me drink?" -- only to have the lass so inquiring, once one gives in and indeed does buy her a drink, run off to the next customer, leaving her nearly-full drink sitting there, you stuck with the bill but no one with whom to talk. * * * * * * * * * * Switch to a Happy Gear Let's move over to something pleasant, a report on music. The Moonshine is Queen's Park Plaza [Sukhumvit Soi 22 about 100 meters off Sukhumvit Road] has some great musicians playing together Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights, Saturdays 5-7 P.M. Sundays 4-8 P.M., and Mondays 6-8 P.M. Drop by -- well worth it. * * * * * * * * * * More Music Taffy and Ray, owners of New
Square One Pub in Washington Square, * * * * * * * * * * Washington Square News The uncertainties of the economy, especially in the entertainment-eatery industry, doesn't seem to be keeping people from taking the plunge, at least in Washington Square. There are several new additions to outlets there. First are the two new (since I wrote about the venue in this context) massage parlors on the south (back) side of the Square, the Kazanka a Korean-style place, the other, Sunflower, a traditional Thai regular and foot massage one. A little west of those is the new (really -- about 2 weeks old at this writing) Alpine Steak House. Now, the name is a bit of a misnomer, as there aren't any thick, juicy beefsteaks to be had there; in fact, there is only *one* actual beefsteak, one that comes with mixed vegetables and a slice of garlic bread. There also are a pork "steak," a chicken "steak," and a fish "steak" -- I use the quotation marks (okay, "inverted commas" to you Commonwealth types) deliberately, because as a true-blue, steak-eating, raised-on-a-ranch Texan, only the meat of BEEF qualifies to be graced with the name of "steak." "Steak" means "beef," just as the gods intended. But back to the point. Alpine is more akin to a fast-food outlet than anything else. Not that I'm condemning it for that -- it's nice to be able to pop in and get a decent meal in a very few minutes. The first time I ate there was a bit of an experience. First, there is an open-front dining area, with a glassed-off dining room to the side. One presumes, given the laws regarding smoking here in public venues, that smoking would be legal in the open-front -- and thus open-air -- dining area. Wrong, according to my cute-as-a-button young waitress when I asked for an ashtray. (No e-mails on the evils of smoking, please! -- think about "Food, food food," not about "the Devil's Weed"!) She assured me it's against the law to smoke in *any* eatery, which simply isn't true (I checked with a local lawyer to be sure that all the news media and police hadn't gotten it wrong in the year since the restrictions were introduced). But things got even more interesting. I ordered the aforementioned beefsteak, and asked for it to be cooked medium-rare. The waitress went to place more order, speaking through the doorway into the cooking area -- I'm hesitant to call the former CP meat outside retail counter a "kitchen" -- and I was positioned such that I could see her. She got a perplexed look on her face, then came back over to my table and told me the cook had informed her the only way steaks are prepared in that restaurant is well-done. I told her that was fine (though I really normally prefer to go to the department store to buy shoe leather to eat if I have a hankering for such). In what seemed like only, oh, about 9 seconds but was in fact about 90 seconds (seriously), my food appeared. It was my turn to be perplexed. First off, though the steak wasn't very large, it was far too large to have been cooked to the well-done point unless it was prepared at Ground Zero at Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, or a nuclear test site -- right after detonation. Further, despite there being a small bowl of brown gravy (in itself unusual, as a sauce for a beefsteak), there was a dark brown sauce of some sort already spread on top of the meat. I decided to taste the meat without trying the gravy, not knowing if the gravy and the unknown sauce would mix well. The meat was tasty, and in fact cooked about medium, not well-done, which suited me just fine. The brown sauc e had a taste hard to describe, other than it had a hint of sweet to it, something I normally dislike when eating any meat, but which in this case was delicious. The mixed vegetables were done just about to perfection, as was the garlic bread. But I had to send the lot back before completing my meal. Why? -- it was cold. I don't mean refrigerator-cold, but I *do* mean room-temperature cold. Completely. From my vantage point, I could see a couple of feet through the back door of the cooking area, a view that included the back end of a kitchen counter, on which was perched a microwave oven. Now, I'm no chef, but to my way of thinking, the fastest, easiest, and most logical way of handling my particular request is to use the microwave to nuke the meat and veggies and to run the bread back through a toaster (if there is one) a few seconds. I don't know what the cook in fact did, as she was out of my view, but when my food came back, the meat was satisfyingly warm, the veggies acceptably so -- but the toast and the gravy both just as cold as when I had sent the lot back. I ended up scraping the dark brown sauce off a portion of the meat and trying the gravy, which, despite being cold, was delicious. The garlic bread was run-of-the-mill garlic bread -- perfectly edible, tasty enough, but nothing to write home about. My darling little waitress (with whom I was already madly in love, despite her being maybe a third my age and a quarter my body weight) was practically frantic with worry. She obviously had been cast into the midst of a sticky situation with which she had no experience -- this all took place on the second day the joint was open, and five will get you ten she had never worked in a restaurant before. She anxiously asked me if everything was all right, which I assured her -- each of the 10 or 12 times she came over to inquire -- it was. She was especially concerned that I didn't clean my plate, but, then, she doesn't know that ever since I went on a diet over a year ago to become my current svelte self, my appetite has shrunk dramatically, and I almost *never* clean my plate -- a child's plate is often more than I can handle at one feeding. Anyway, my new love went so far as to follow me out onto the street when I departed, nervously babbling (but charmingly so). Her last question was "Will you come back?" I assured her I would, to her visibly obvious relief. My take on the situation? -- easy: the cook had blown it with an earlier order and decided to pawn the stone-cold screw-up off on me. As for the fact the steak was medium and not well-done, well, one finds in Asia that local cooks have difficulty grasping the concept; except for the extremes of bloody rare (and still only half-dead) and burnt-to-a-cinder, they are seemingly incapable of distinguishing the differing degrees to which steaks are cooked. I always smile when I hear a tourist saying, "Could I have that, oh, say, a little this side of halfway between rare and medium-rare?" Little does said tourist know that s/he will be darned lucky if it comes out anything other than mooing or looking like an artifact from The Great Fire of Chicago. But go back I did, the second time trying the chicken tempura. tasty enough, but again, nothing to write home about; I doubt Japanese will be flying here for the weekend just to sample it. At least it came out piping hot! So, do I recommend the place? -- yes. A number of us have tried a variety of dishes, and we've found all of them good enough -- especially for the price. I paid an astonishingly cheap 69 baht for my steak and 49 baht for my tempura. The place is spotless, the service very good, and the food served *very* quickly. By the way, there are some Thai dishes on the menu. Alpine is owned by the CP Group; I guess they had the whole shophouse and decided to do something with it beyond maintaining the tiny retail outlet -- not much more than a carnival stall, really. Apline is open 11 A.M.-10 P.M. A bit west of Alpine is a Korean barbeque house, even newer than Alpine. I haven't tried it yet, but I did pop in and look over the menu. There were people eating and food cooking, and the aromas were wonderful. Prices appear to top out in the range of 300 baht, not bad for such an outlet. I intend to give it a try, and will let you know about it later -- especially whether they serve decent kimchi, the national dish of Korea I came to love when I lived in northeast China, home to countless refugess, refugees who, presumably, introduced the dish to the Chinese, despite the fact the Chinese always insisted to me the introduction was the other way around. Some time back another Japanese restaurant opened on the east side of the Square, immediately adjacent to the well-known Texas Lone Staar. I've never tried it. George, proprietor of the Lone Staar, has chatted on numerous occasions with the owner, who assures him the place is not only not Japanese-only but that he is completely cold to any Japanese who complains when a smelly gai-jin comes in, apparently telling them something along the lines of "If you want to see only Japanese, time to get on a plane and go back to the Nippon countryside." Though I've never tried the food, I've seen people order it from inside the Lone Staar, and it came beautifully presented, for sure. Everyone who has eaten it loved it, and said it is excellent value for money. (Don't ask me the name of the place -- the sign is in Japanese only.) Besides the Nippon restaurant mentioned above, there are two more Japanese places on the back side of the Square about the middle of the stretch, neither of which I've tried, in part because different friends have had different experiences in them, some friends being refused admission to both because they aren't Japanese, others admitted without a word. I understand they are nice, if pricey, places; at least one serves Japanese food. In general Square news, *maybe* business is picking up a [very] little bit. George "Fat Boy" Pipas is due back late this week from his normal extended stay in Florida with his belovèd wife Mary Anne, with whom he has been since back in the first part of May of this year. He had three "operations" on his back while there, though what sort of operations those were no one [here] knows, as George is very close-mouthed about it all. Apparently the treatment did him quite a lot of good, going a long ways towards easing the pain he suffered around the clock after falling in the restroom a couple of years ago and hitting his back on the sharp corner or the tile dais on which the commode perches. Rumors have been racing around the past week or two that Washington Square will be no more than a memory in 15 months or so. If that's true, either no one's telling the lessees, or said lessees are lying -- all with whom I've spoken have told me they've heard of no such thing. Doug Harrison, owner of Bourbon Street restaurant, felt compelled to join the fracas in the thread discussing the issue at www.nanapong.com discussion board (thread: "Washington Square Closing?" in the "General" category) and describ ing his lease, which runs a heck of a lot longer than 15 months. Several *years* from now, everyone fully expects it -- after all, when the Square first came into existence, the neighborhood wasn't developed. Now it is, especially with the developments of the Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, the Jade Pavilion Hotel, Regency Park Hotel (all on Sukhumvit Soi 22), the entertainment venue of Queen's Park Plaza, the bars and eateries along Sukhumvit Soi 33, the many new-ish retail outlets of all descriptions along this section of Sukhumvit Road, the UBC II Tower, The Emporium, and the nearby Queen Sirikit Convention Center, this general area has become hot property. There are unconfirmed reports that yet another major hotel is set to go up at or near the corner of Sukhumvit Road and Sukhumvit Soi 29, currently the site of the well-known short-time Crown Hotel (which, to be fair, has its share of straight tourists and even a sprinkling of long-term residents, not just randy boys and girls). * * * * * * * * * * Asoke Plaza/Asoke Corner News The seemingly true news is that within a few short months these adjacent venues will be history sometime in the next [very] few months. I've been in neither venue in some months now, as I'm not an aficionado of outdoor beer bars, which most of the joints are. I do plan to pay a visit to them and to Soi Cowboy soon, the latter of which I have visited, most recently about a month ago. * * * * * * * * * * Soi Cowboy Update I was in Soi Cowboy a few weeks ago, and was startled by just how dead it was; friends who are regulars there tell me that pretty much continues to be the case. Even the popular Suzie Wong, Sheba's, and Long Gun are hurting, according to reports. The inconsistency of the enforcement of the laws governing night spots can't be helping, something for which the Thonglor Police are particularly "famous." They've been known to swoop in, in force, and closing one a-go-go for having nude or near-nude dancers -- but departing without saying a word to the *other* a-go-go's featuring precisely the same sort of show. Whether or not such a show should be legal is an entirely separate issue; at issue here is just what *is* legal, anyway? -- if nude dancing is legal, then leave the dancers and their employers alone; if it is illegal, then close the lot -- nation-wide, including venues owned/controlled by the police (of which there are more than a few, if street intelligence -- usually the best source of information across Asia -- is to be believed). Country Road Bar continues to be the home of a good band that plays lots of 60's and 70's stuff, the singer doing a decent job with the covers. A friend reports he and his buddy checked out Tilac A-go-go a few days ago and that they were impressed; seems the management has gone to some pains to add a lot of new girls and to get the girls to actually pretend to *dance,* not just stand there slightly swaying, occasionally shuffling their feet just to show they really are still alive and breathing, as is too often the case in a-go-go's everywhere, at least in Thailand. * * * * * * * * * * Banking Miseries A friend is due to receive a check today drawn on a major local bank, a bank in which he has an account himself, though in another branch than the one where the account on which the check is written is. He inquired at his branch about just cashing the check -- issued by a major local medical facility -- at his branch, but was told he will have to deposit it and wait 2-3 days for "the check to clear." Now,
even Thai banks are computer-equipped and thus able to see at a glance that the
medical facility's account has ample funds to cover this quite small
check. The excuse that the account on which the check is drawn is in
another branch is just that -- an excuse, and a flimsy, completely transparent
one at that. The fact is that banks here continue to insist on floating
one's money, but refusing to admit it, since to admit it would involve losing
"face." As if they have any face in the first place. As
I've written before, it wouldn't be so bad if they were honest about it, as was
The Bank of China when I lived there in the late 1980's. Then, even with
electronic fund tranfers the bank staff would tell you quite matter-of-factly
that it didn't matter whether your money arrived in 2 nanoseconds, you couldn't
get it for a month. Ditto a check drawn on a foreign bank (in which case
the time was longer, to make sure the issuer didn't cancel the check). At
least one could plan, other than in emergencies. * * * * * * * * * * "Service" Tale Even after all my years in Asia, I continue to be amazed at the low quality of service in far too many businesses. At one of my favorite watering holes that has excellent food I was unpleasantly reminded of this fact yet again a couple of days ago. I ordered a burrito plus side orders of sour cream and guacamole, then went to sit at an outside table. The day cashier quite properly came outside a minute or two later to tell me they were out of guacamole, so I told her I didn't want any of my previous order, adding for her to bring me a hot roast beef sandwich instead. I stressed for her to be sure the cook knew *not* to prepare my previous order, to which she replied, "OK, OK, OK, OK, OK." I noticed it was taking quite awhile for my sandwich to be served, considering it was the special of the day. Then the night cashier, who was already there but not yet officially on duty and not party to my earlier ordering and conversation with her daytime colleague, came out to deliver my order -- of the burrito and sour cream, but of course no guacamole. Without getting into a lengthy explanation, I told her only that the food she was bringing wasn't what I had ultimately ordered. Confused, she started to go back inside, but I told her never mind, and went in myself, the tray of food in hand. I asked the day cashier why she hadn't told the cook not to make that order. She said she hadn't known I didn't want it. Rather than make a fuss, I told her to never mind, but make *sure* the cook knew NOT to *also* make me a hot roast beef sandwich, which she assured me she would do. I telephoned the owner to report the incident, as I have had repeated trouble with orders being mixed up at that particular place over the past 2 or 3 years, and frankly, it has gotten wearying. Imagine my downright astonishment when the night cashier came outside bearing . . . a hot roast beef sandwich. I told her to forget everything and to just bring my bill, then I called the owner back to report the newest development, telling him openly that I was pretty much inclined to just give up on trying to order food in his establishment, since numerous complaints from numerous customers over the past few years haven't made the slightest difference. About the time I finished my second conversation with the owner, the day cashier came out to argue I *hadn't* said I didn't want things. I pointed out I had cancelled the burrito order completely when I ordered the hot roast beef sandwich, and then had cancelled the latter when the former, sans guacamole, was delivered anyway. She immediately protested I hadn't said the word "cancel." Upon reflection, I realized she was correct -- but I pointed out that when I had told her to make sure the cook first knew not to make the burrito then second to make sure the cook knew not to make the sandwich, she, the cashier, had in both instances replied "Ok, OK, OK, OK, OK." She countered she didn't understand what I was saying in either case. Which brings us to the larger issue of communicating. Given that I don't speak Thai, I'm the last person to criticize a native speaker of Thai for not speaking English. But there is a tendency amongst Asians in general not to admit they don't understand; from what has been explained to me by Asians who recognize the problem, many Asians would rather screw up a task than to admit they don't understand what they are supposed to do, an explanation 18+ years' worth of experience of my own has confirmed many, many times, and just in the context of ordering food, but in getting anything -- and in getting anything done. Apparently the loss of face involved in screwing up a task is less than to admit in the first place one doesn't understand. I've had this happen even when I was speaking the vernacular (Mandarin in China) and knew good and well I was using correct pronunciation, grammar, etc., only eventually to discover that my foreign accent threw the listener (often because they were too busy being amazed that a Westerner could speak *any* of their language!). But in my view, when a business caters almost exclusively to English-speaking customers, then it is incumbent upon the owner(s) of that business to train their personnel to be able to understand the customers, or at least to be willing to tell a customer they can't understand so as to let the customer know he or she needs to find another way to get his idea across. To underscore the failure of owners to train their employees, let me mention another incident in the same restaurant that happened a couple of years ago. I had had several consecutive experiences of getting the wrong items when I tried to order Mexican food, and had mentioned it to the owner. (Actually, "owners" -- a Western husband and a Thai wife.) She clearly thought I was being picky, but was there one afternoon when I wanted to try yet again to order Mexican food AND get what I ordered. She asked me to let her take the order herself and for her herself to give it to the cook. The items are numbered, so on the order she wrote the item number, the name in English, and the Thai translation of the English -- she had long before provided a copy of the menu, in Thai, to the cook to try to make sure no errors came out of the kitchen. She then took the ticket to the cook, identified, both in Thai and by number, the 4 items I had ordered. But when the order came, not only were 2 of the 4 entirely wrong, but there was a 5th item, a sandwich, to boot! The owner just hung her head in her hands and admitted she had no explanation for such a major screw up. Though certain elements here seem to prefer the idea that tourism in particular and foreigners in general are not important to the Thai economy, nothing could be further from the truth; just ask the Tourism Authority of Thailand what they think. Foreigners overall *are* important to the local economy, extremely so, providing thousands upon thousands of jobs, including in the tourism sector. Yet communication skills here are abysmal, which I personally feel is not the fault of the ordinary citizen here but of the failure of leaders in government and the private sector to improve the educational levels. Anyway, I have told this story to a considerable number of denizens of the area, many who, like me, enjoy stopping by that particular establishment -- in my own case, I consider the couple who own it to be among my very closest friends in Thailand, indeed, anywhere. But I won't be eating there again; the hassles just aren't worth it. Why don't I name the establishment? -- because Thai libel laws are heavily weighted in favor of the person(s) who believed something to be libel, and the burden of proof falls, essentially, on the person making the claim. In the absence of, say, a videotape (with a soundtrack) of the incident, I can't prove the story to a Thai court's satisfaction, I suspect. On the other hand, to share experiences with friends has not, to my knowledge, ever been adjudged to be slander, particularly when other people in the same group have had similar experiences. The problem is pervasive. It's rare to find a taxi driver, for instance, who can speak English or any other foreign language. Ditto service personnel in stores outside major tourist areas, even in the heart of Bangkok. Ditto police officers, other than the specialized Tourist Police (who do have, overall, excellent language skills, to be fair). Ditto even large hospitals' staff members whose patient base includes few or no foreigners. It's rare to find true competency in any foreign language even amongst the ranks of university lecturers and professors. Of course there are exceptions, but the casual attitude towards to need to be able to communicate with foreigners is astounding. But enough about that! -- I've vented! * * * * * * * * * * Expats' Association of Thailand News The Association is coming along nicely, and moving closer to becoming a fully-registered non-profit organization. We now have a president, vice-president (me), and a governing board of me and eight other members. We now have about 45-50 registered members, with another 15-20 on our mailing list. We expect to complete the registration process by the end of the year. Recent events have focused on speakers. Authors Christopher G. Moore and Dean Barrett have spoken to us on their fiction and on being expatriate writers in Thailand (and each was able to flog a few books after finishing his presentation). People interested in these authors can see their websites at http://cgmoore.com, http://chrismoore.com, and http://dean-barrett-thailand.com. Next up was an immigration bureau official speak to us about immigration laws and the new visa schedule (under which visa fees went up drastically effective August 26th of this year). We then had attorney Dawn Kitt of the law firm Kitt and Murray make a presentation centering on rental contracts and the obtaining or mortgages/buying property (residential and commercial). Following her, this past Sunday sports medicine specialist Dr. Francis Nettl spoke to us about living a healthy life-style in Bangkok, giving us a whole array of cautions and pointers. This coming week (October 12th) I'll be speaking about the dramatic changes in mainland China since I first went there to live August 18th, 1985, since which time I lived three years in northeast China (1985-88), four years in Macau (1990-94), and southern China near Macau (1999-2000). The week after that Association member and board officer James Holt will make a presentation about doing business in Thailand and making offshore investments. We're in the midst of dickering with insurance companies about obtaining group medical coverage. We're also gearing up to go around and ask merchants of all types to give Association members a discount. Annual dues are 500 baht (for now -- we may raise them later) plus a one-time 50-baht fee for a laminated membership card. Anyone interested can e-mail us at exat@thai.com; just write "Membership" in the subject line. * * * * * * * * * * 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* "Traveller's Tale"??? Got a "Traveler's Tale"? -- send me a line! Just send me a *query* note at MekhongKurt@BangkokAtoZ.com. * * * * * * * * * * Linking to BangkokAtoZ.com 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). * * * * * * * * * * Enough for one go . . . Until next time -- Mekhong Kurt
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