The ";"
click a letter to go
to the page with entries beginning with that letter.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X-Y-Z
|
The ";"
click a letter to go A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X-Y-Z |
Click
here for Search for: Please visit
|
"The Rounds"
Headlines Dean Barrett Book-Signing Next Month Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand Schedule Stickman Gives BangkokAtoZ.com Huge Surge in Traffic D'Pelican Inn on Sukhumvit Soi 22 Thai Baht Continues to Weaken, Slightly Disneyland-Hong Kong Soup Raises Environmentalists' Ire 10,000 Native English Speakers to Be Recruited to Teach English Book Club to Be Formed in June at Dasa Books Hepatitis Outbreak in Northern Thailand Traced to Contaminated Ice Guilty Verdict for All National Counter-Corruption Commission Members Raises Constitutional Concerns Housing Relief for Tsunami Survivors Set to Come Soon Office Bar & Grill Weekend Sports Broadcast Schedule Richard K. Diran, Locally-Based American Artist, Moving to New Achievements Intriguing Cruise in the Gulf of Siam * * * * * * * * * * Dean Barrett Book-Signing Next Month The well-known Bangkok-based American author Dean Barrett is having a book-signing at the Texas Lone Staar in Washington Square Saturday, June 18, 2005 2:30-4:00 p.m. Here's the announcement he e-mailed to me:
Expat author Dean Barrett's latest
book is the colorfully titled THE GO GO DANCER WHO STOLE MY VIAGRA & OTHER
POETIC TRAGEDIES OF THAILAND. He'll be signing books as well as some of
his other titles at the Texas Lone Star Saloon, Washington Square, Soi 22
from 2:30 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, 18 June. Free lunch begins at three.
Dean was in the States for a few months attending to a family health emergency
but is now back in the Land of Smiles and all areas of his website including the
Nightlife Roundup section are up and running. Check it out at:
http://www.deanbarrettthailand.com. Dean is also clever -- scheduling his book-signing at the same time as the Texas Lone Staar's weekly free Saturday afternoon lunch! Plan on dropping by. I'll be posting reminders along the way in case you want to come but it slips your mind (which is likely to happen, if your memory is anything like mine!) [Wednesday, May 25, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand Schedule Here's the upcoming schedule for the next couple of weeks. If you're in Bangkok and haven't visited the FCCT yet, you are missing a great opportunity to go to a pleasant place in the heart of Bangkok and, maybe, see and even meet some household names in the world of journalism. Worth thinking about!
The Foreign Correspondents' Club
of Thailand (FCCT) [Thursday, May 26, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * Stickman Gives BangkokAtoZ.com Huge Surge in Traffic People already subscribed to my BangkokAtoZ.com Updates Newsletter or in my personal e-mail address book already know this, but the popular Stickman, local Bangkok web master of the enormously popular http://www.stickmanbkk.com, gave this site a huge increase in the number of visitors this week when he made his regular weekly column that he puts up every Sunday at 6:00 P.M. (Bangkok time) an interview he had of me "The Man Under the Hat, Mekhong Kurt" as his entire column this week. Knowing his column is popular, I expected a significant increase -- but was hardly expecting the huge surge that came over the next 2-3 days (and which continues, albeit at reduced levels). By 8:00 P.M. Monday night, just 26 hours later, I have reason to believe that about 7,000 people had visited this site, virtually all coming from Stickman's column. Further, the number of subscribers to BangkokAtoZ.com Updates Newsletter increased about 17% -- in 3 days flat! This is one really nice quality shared by many web masters in Thailand: a willingness to help each other out. So let me give Stickman's site a boost here -- it already is on my Links Page, and has been for quite awhile. Stickman really covers the map, and while his site has a large nightlife component where it is frank enough parents probably should supervise the kiddies' viewing of it, he also covers a heck of a lot more than just that. Stickman is a rather private man who hails from New Zealand and now has made Thailand his home, especially since he married a local lass (whom I've not met) awhile back. He has many interests and is an articulate, friendly, engaging man -- and I thought that right from the first time I met him in Soi Cowboy years ago. We've been together only a few times, far fewer than I would like, and I've always thoroughly enjoyed our interludes. I hope you'll visit Stickman's site. If it is your first visit and you like it, I hope you'll let him know -- and tell him you heard about it here! By the way, I misspoke one matter of fact: the Texas Lone Staar was named The Saddle Rack previous to becoming the Texas Lone Staar, something that utterly slipped my mine but which Doug Harrison, the proprietor of Bourbon Street, called to my attention. On a second matter, several people have asked me who I spoke with at Nana Land about the future of Washington Square, saying they had read that in the interview. I checked, and I didn't say that -- I said someone else told me he had. [Thursday, May 26, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * Discount airline Air Asia has a promotion currently on I want to let you know about. Here's their graphic of representative fares:
You can book flights online by clicking the jet above. You need to read the Terms and Conditions of Carriage, the link for which is at the very bottom of the airline's home page. (For technical reasons I can't put a direct link to that page here.) I should tell you that the actual fares are considerably higher than the advertised ones, though they still are quite inexpensive. Several of the discount airlines have gotten into trouble with the government for what are seen by some as deceptive trade practices. For example, in this particular promotion, a Bangkok-Khon Kaen-Bangkok flight appears from the graphic above to be only 798 baht, but after taxes and surcharges are added, the fare is actually 1,602.86 baht. (Interestingly, prices still continue to include individual satang -- and the smallest satang coin is 25 satang, so the amount you'll pay is 1,603 baht for this flight.) Now, that's still a heck of a bargain; at today's exchange rates, it equals about US$40. Compare that to Thai Airways fare of exactly 3,000 baht for economy class. One thing both Air Asia and Thai Airways do well is to make it easy to find out what the final fare is -- something which can't be said for a great many airlines, though the situation is improving. I don't know about you, but I really don't like to have to put in my entire life story plus my credit card details before being able to learn just how big the bite is going to be. So, I appreciate this feature of being able to know before I've entered anything beyond my routing and travel dates (and class, where the airline has different classes). Air Asia has a number of domestic and international (regional) destinations, so it's worth checking out. [Thursday, May 26, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * D'Pelican Inn on Sukhumvit Soi 22
I made my first visit to D'Pelican Inn (in its present incarnation) just last night, though it has in fact been under present management quite awhile now. And am I glad I did. I was already had a passing acquaintance with Tom Norrdell, the friendly and affable Swedish owner of the place, because we both frequent a particular Washington Square establishment, though I learned only about a week ago that he owns D'Peilican Inn. Besides enjoying sitting with Tom during my visit, I found I really like the ambience. The place is clean, tastefully decorated with lovely architecture. The downstairs is a bar, restaurant, and lobby, all rolled into one. The music is varied, low key, and low volume -- something important to me. And the4 lighting is very good for those who might wish to sit and read. There are a couple pictures of the ground floor on the web site. Swedish and Thai food are also on offer, though since I had just eaten at nearby Larry's Dive, I didn't try it. The extensive Swedish menu promises Swedish meatballs, one of my favorites and one I've not had in a long time, so I'm looking forward to trying them. By the way, the menu is remarkably broad, offering 78 dishes, which includes half-a-dozen desserts. The Thai menu doesn't have as many offerings, but with 28 items just about any Thai cuisines aficionado ought to find something tasty. D'Pelican Inn also offers rooms, as the name obviously implies. (You can click on the pictures on the page to see larger versions.) The rates are a reasonable 900 baht per night, and rooms are available with double beds or 2 twin beds. The normal amenities are available, though I'm a little surprised -- pleasantly so -- that they include a mini-bar, cable television, and a phone. I didn't go up to check out a room in person, but from the pictures (above) each appears to be quite attractive. I didn't think to ask if there are weekly, monthly, and longer-term rates available. The restaurant-hotel doesn't actually front onto Sukhumvit Soi 22 but onto a driveway, and is located just a few meters from the soi. The web site has a good close-up map of the location. Based on my limited experience at D'Pelican Inn, I heartily endorse it.
Tom Norrdell, Proprietor [Thursday, May 26, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * Thai Baht Continues to Weaken, Slightly The Thai currency, the baht, has steadily declined relative to the U.S. dollar in the past several weeks, though at a slow pace. In a daily currency exchange rates newsletter I take, the weighted average the producers of the newsletter for the baht is THB40.1427630293/US$1.00. The weighted average the producers use does not reflect what one will get at a bank or an airport here in Thailand, though over the last several years I've taken the newsletter, the figure it has shown has been reasonably close to what one actually receives when exchanging U.S. dollars for baht, if somewhat higher -- weaker -- than the baht actually is. At least that's true with the relatively paltry sums that apply to me; I have no idea how one might fare -- other than he would fare better -- were he to bring millions of dollars into the Kingdom via Electronic Funds Transfer. While this depreciation of the baht makes the cost, in baht terms, of imported products priced in U.S. dollars a bit higher, it also makes Thai exports -- a major component of the national economy -- more competitive in global markets than the otherwise would be. I read somewhere in the past few weeks that some officials here feel a realistic value of the baht against the dollar is in the 42-43 baht to 1 U.S. dollar range. Hack, having no economic expertise, I haven't the faintest clue, and can only hope the Big Guys of Finance and Economics *do* have more than just a clue. That said, something becoming increasi9ngly worrisome even to the economically-challenged-when-it-comes-to-this-stuff (yes, my hand is raised!) is the heating of the residential property market. In some areas of Bangkok (and elsewhere in the Kingdom), prices for such properties are soaring. What makes this worrisome is that a comparable heating of the residential market was one factor of the collapse of the Thai economy in mid-1997. And that gives one pause for thought. For foreigners coming to the Kingdom with U.S. dollars in their pockets, especially tourists and businessmen here on a temporary basis, this weakening of the baht is welcome news. But even they need to consider the long-term effects should the Thai economy experience another serious dislocation such as it suffered during 1997 and afterwards. To wit: prices even for domestic products that didn't include expenditures for any foreign product or service went up considerably in the post-crash period, something for which there was absolutely no economic justification -- and one need not be an economist to figure out if the provider of a product of service involving no foreign expense then he need not raise prices of those products or services. For example, prices of foodstuffs went up -- even though they were locally produced and did *not* involve the use of foreign fertilizers, animal foods, or machinery. For tourists and businessmen here temporarily, these price increases meant they were paying more than they were before. It varies from case to case whether the increased domestic prices offset the gains in purchasing power (which I suspect is unlikely, but worth considering) or vice-versa (which I suspect to be the more likely scenario). Just last night I had occasion to chat with 2 friends involved in the local commercial property market; they told me the commercial property market is stable and doesn't present a threat to the nation's economic well-being. I hope they're right. Stay tuned . . . [Thursday, May 26, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * Disneyland-Hong Kong Soup Raises Environmentalists' Ire This may not sound like a story of the slightest interest to anyone looking for information on Bangkok or Thailand, but by extension it does, as the story reported by Al-Jazeera examines two types of conflict: cross-cultural and environmental versus traditional. In a story headlined "Disney park soup leaves bad taste," the Middle Eastern news organization reports on protests from environmentalists concerning the intention of Hong Kong Disneyland to include shark fin's soup on its menu in it soon-to-be-opened park, a controversial delicacy because fishermen catch the sharks, cut off their fins, then throw the sharks back into the sea to die. The fins end up in the treasured traditional regional delight (though it's often called "Chinese shark's fin soup"). A spokesperson for Disneyland defends the decision to leave the dish on the menu as taking into account local culture, and rightly points out shark's fin soup is indeed a traditional dish in Chinese banquets. Environmentalists correctly argue that "traditional" and "right" [in an ethical, moral sense] aren't necessarily synonymous. The waters get murky when one considers a brand with a global presence, which Disneyland certainly does. Some will conclude that since Disneyland plans to serve the dish it must support the practice by which the fins are obtained -- which leaves it open to criticism from quarters who object to the practice. When I read the story, I couldn't help but wonder whether Disney plans to serve other traditional Chinese foods in deference to local culture, foods such as bear's paw, stinky tofu (the smell of which runs most Westerners and many Asians right out of the room), dog, and cat. I searched the park's site, and while I did find a list of restaurants, I didn't find menus for any of them, so that question remains unanswered. I will be greatly surprised if the American amusement giant's accommodation of local culinary preferences extends so far. (If the are on the menu, one is compelled to ask "What next? -- monkey brains?") Some who agree harvesting only the fins is indeed wasteful, given that there are countries where shark meat is popular. But many varieties of sharks are endangered species. Given that sharks cannot be farmed, there is a real danger of over-fishing, driving sharks towards extinction. That said, perhaps if a balance could be struck, the controversy could, conceivably, go away. Consider what might happen if an amusement company such as Disney were to open a park here in Thailand, though probably less controversially than is the case with shark's fin soup. Would, say, fried insects be on the menu? -- after all, they are a delicacy among many Thais (and other Southeast Asians, for that matter). Given that there is a large Chinese influence here, would shark's fin soup -- which is available here -- be served, generating a repeat of the Hong Kong controversy? Such controversies can cut the other direction, too. I remember how surprised I was when I got to China in 1985 to live and discovered that a great many Chinese found consumption of milk products repulsive, even barbaric. I've got a hunch the executives at Hong Kong Disneyland will have more grief served up to them over this debate. [Friday, May 27, 2005] * * * * * * * * * *
10,000 Native English Speakers In a surprisingly bold move, it appears the government has agreed, at least in principle, to the recruiting of as many as 10,000 native speakers of English to teach in primary schools across the Kingdom, according to a story in last Monday's The Nation headlined "FOREIGN TEACHERS: Thousands to be recruited." The reported plan is to hire teachers, who must hold at least a bachelor's degree, to work in primary schools, mostly smaller ones (those with fewer than 200 students, according to the story). This shows a recognition at the highest levels that Thailand's people still sorely lack English skills, and further that the learning of a foreign language is easier when the student is young. As a teacher of English of many years, albeit at the university level, I strongly support this plan and hope it comes to fruition, and that it does so sooner rather than later. One innovative part of the plan is to rotate the teachers through 4 schools during their year. As stated in the article, this will help teachers avoid boredom and to see more than they otherwise would were they to stay at 1 school the whole year. From the students' perspectives, such rotations offer both a plus and a minus. The plus is they get to meet more people. The minus is that given children's natural shyness, the teachers will have to work quickly to establish rapport with their students when they take up a new assignment. The article gave no indication of the salary range, though it did state free housing would be provided. It did say advertisements would be placed on the web site of the Ministry of Education of Thailand, so I went to that Ministry of Education's recruitment page, but there's nothing there about this program yet; that's no surprise, since the budgeting hasn't been worked out yet. People interested in teaching at the primary level in Thailand and who are native speakers of English holding a bachelor's degree or higher might want to bookmark the ministry's pages and check back regularly to see if there's information yet. [Friday, May 27, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * Book Club to Be Formed in June at Dasa Books I got an e-mail from Don Gilliland from Dasa Books announcing the formation of a book club in June open to all. I must guiltily admit to not having visited the shop yet, despite the fact it's near my home and I love reading. Here's Don's e-mail:
There will be
a book club forming in June at Dasa Book Café, located on Sukhumvit Road in
Bangkok. Don's e-mail doesn't mention the fact that the shop also has a coffee shop as an integral part of it -- i.e., not an outside franchise, as I understand it. The store has over 10,000 used books on hand, a great trove for avid readers, especially those on a budget. As Don points out, the shop is quite convenient to the Skytrain's Phrom Phong Station (at The Emporium), so anyone near the Skytrain (or the subway, for that matter) can be from anywhere along those lines in a matter of mere minutes. The shop is on the same side of Sukhumvit Road as The Emporium, so if you come by Skytrain, go down the stairs on that side; otherwise, you'll have to walk up to Sukhumvit Soi 26 and cross over there before continuing a little further on the other side. And you don't want to have to cross there -- outbound drivers utterly ignore the crosswalk, even when all the traffic lights for them are red; cars in the curb and middle lanes fly blithely through. When I know a date, I'll put it up; you also can watch the shop's web site, where I'm sure Don will be posting updates. [Friday, May 27, 2005] * * * * * * * * * *
Hepatitis Outbreak in Northern On Wednesday of this week the Thai News Agency ran a story headlined "Freeze on ice production after hepatitis outbreak" about an outbreak of the disease is Lampang and Chiang Rai provinces in Thailand's far north. (I love headline writers here -- they tend towards irony.) The story says over 900 people have been infected so far. Luckily, the patients have contracted Hepatitis A, a relatively mild form of the disease that a doctor quoted in the article said normally clears up by itself in a couple of weeks. This event underscores the importance of being careful about dietary hygiene. As the story indicates, even commercial ice houses can get caught off-guard, with a Chiang Rai one being the victim. And it got hit despite taking water for ice production from artesian wells. Given problems with SARS and bird flu the past couple of years, I'm just relieved this latest public health episode is relatively minor, and wish the patients a speedy and complete recovery. [Friday, May 27, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * Guilty Verdict for All National Counter-Corruption Commission Members Raises Constitutional Concerns Heavy media coverage is being given to the guilty verdict issued by the Supreme Court yesterday against all 9 members of the NCCC for committing a criminal offense last year by awarding themselves significant salary increases without having the authority to do so. The 9 were each sentenced to 2 years in prison, but given suspensions of the sentence and placed on 2 years' probation. The verdict wasn't unanimous, with a 6-3 vote. The majority pointed out that it came to light that 2 advisory panels appointed by the commissioners themselves told them they had no statutory authority to award themselves pay rises. The crisis arises from the fact the Supreme Court was silent on whether the commissioners were automatically thrown out of office because of their convictions -- and there is considerable disagreement about the question. Further, if they are disqualified from remaining in office, the Constitution requires a 15-member panel composed of members of 5 parties in government advise the Parliament on replacements -- and at present there are only 4 parties seated in the government. Some observers have cynically noted the convictions are a victory for unscrupulous politicians; whether the commissioners are removed (or resign of their own accord), there is likely to be a period of turmoil, turmoil that would hamper, even prevent, the Opposition's push to launch a censure motion against the government. For further stories, see those below: Bangkok Post: "Graft-busters guilty of malfeasance: Pay rise ruling raises constitutional issues" The Nation: "HISTORIC RULING: Graft-busters guilty of abuse of authority"
Thai News Agency:
"Anti-graft
commissioners ruled guilty of arbitrary pay-rise" * * * * * * * * * * Housing Relief for Tsunami Survivors Set to Come Soon Thai News Agency has a story today "Housing for tsunami survivors nears completion" reporting that permanent housing for some 700 people who lost their homes in last December's tsunami disaster is nearing completion, with about half of the people already living in their new homes. This is welcome news for those poor souls, news they must be immensely glad to hear. The Royal Thai Army is doing the construction, and members of it are to be congratulated for their work. I don't know how many people lost their homes in the disaster, but I suppose it must have been more than the 700 Phuket-area residents benefiting from this project, and if so, I hope they, too, get new homes speedily. As a side note, I've read recently in several sources (including scientific ones) that the crack that caused the tsunami is the largest ever observed, both in length and number of meters of displacement. Further, seismologists have upped their estimate of the huge quake to between 9.1 and 9.3 on the Richter scale. Let's hope no more of those hit -- anywhere. [Friday, May 27, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * Office Bar & Grill Weekend Sports Broadcast Schedule Here's the broadcast schedule for this popular Sukhumvit Soi 33 bar -- turn in beside Degas and go back; the bar is on your left.
[Friday, May 27, 2005] * * * * * * * * * *
Richard K. Diran, Locally-Based Noted writer, painter, photographer, adventurer and Burma expert Richard K. Diran is moving swiftly ahead in his professional career. Just within the last few days he has completed the first draft of a new book. Despite now facing the onerous task of revision of the manuscript, he's already getting his paint brushes to start yet another painting. This coming Sunday Richard and his wife will be traveling to Shanghai, where Richard will be giving a speech on Burma to a group of high-end travelers, a speech he was invited to make. Also just in the last few days, someone at the popular local lifestyle magazine Bangkok Metro Magazine wanting to do an article about Richard's paintings. Richard's work appeals to an amazing range of people. For instance, 2 of his biggest fans are 2 ladies in the U.S., both unknown to him: a spiritual adviser based in the Los Angeles area originally from Brazil identified on one web site as "The Voodoo Queen of Hollywood" and the other my aunt in Central Texas -- a farm gal about as far removed from the lady in L.A. as imaginable! And he's never even met either one, though he (kindly) corresponds with both. Take a look at the Richard K. Diran web site and enjoy perusing his works. [Friday, May 27, 2005] * * * * * * * * * * Intriguing Cruise in the Gulf of Siam I've just learned about a cruise service from just south of Hua Hin aboard a traditional Siamese junk named the June Bahtra. The boat used to ply the waters of the Adaman Sea around Phuket before last December's tsunami led to its relocation to the Hua Hin area, where cruises on it are available exclusively through Evason Hideaway at Hua Hin and Evason Hua Hin Resort. There is a day cruise every day except Mondays, and sunset cruises. At 3,500 baht per person for the day cruise and 2,300 baht for a 90-minute sunset cruise (plus V.A.T. and service charge), it isn't cheap, but neither is it over the top. The ship carries only 20 passengers. Except to ride the hydrofoil between Macau and Hong, plus 3 ferry rides in the U.S., I've never been at sea, and have always wondered what it's like. Not knowing if I'm prone to seasickness, I've always been hesitant to go on a multi-day cruise, though I know people who put off doing so for the same reason as I do, then decided to take a chance -- and without exception they loved the experience. This cruise might be a way to find out a little more about my reactions, particularly if the seas were a bit rough. See the web site for the June Bahtra cruises for further details. [Friday, May 27, 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:
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).
* * * * * * * * * * | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
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 |
