Thai politics

Politically speaking, Thailand is quite weird. On the surface it looks quite free and Westernised, and democratic. Compared to neighbouring Myanmar, it's doing well but there are also some dodgy things going on. Lately, many people are trying to impeach the prime minister, Thaksin, because of some dodgy share deals that he was involved in. If I understand correctly, he basically sold off a bunch of shares in a Thai corporation to a foreign investor without paying any tax on the sale, and involved various lurky offshore companies in the process.

At the moment, he's dissolved parliament and is calling a new election next week. The opposition parties are refusing to take part in the election, and calling for his resignation. So the saga continues...

Apparently one of his mottoes is "Better to die than to live like a loser". In my apartment block, a cartoon version of Thaksin illustrates the lift rules card (check out the pic).



So there have been quite a few protests, and mysterious things going on... Some stuff that surprised me:
- one of the Thai TV channels stopped broadcasting during a speech against Thaksin due to a "technical problem"
- a high level police officer declared that protestors were harassing his staff, and said it was much better in the past when he could round them up in vans and beat them
- some of the main media critics of Thaksin have been fired from their jobs
- due to the complaints, the government has unveiled a bunch of populist policies, like giving poor people a certain amount of additional social money per day
- protestors are putting on traditional Thai/Chinese opera as a form of protest
- despite all the unrest, it's likely that Thaksin would get elected again apparently! I think this is because he has a lot of support in the poor, uneducated regions of Thailand.

The man himself (picture from Metroblog Bangkok, an interesting team blog based here)



A good source for news about Thailand - The Nation newspaper

First impressions of Bangkok

I've been here now for a couple of weeks, enough to get some first impressions about this crazy city. It's beautiful, noisy, polluted, exciting, spiritual yet consumerist. It's a huge clash of Western and Eastern values, rich and poor, pure and debauched.

Here's a few things I've noticed so far.

1. Thai people are very sweet, respectful and friendly. Until they get behind the wheel of a car, or especially, on a motorbike. Then they become psycho killers and want to mow down all pedestrians that might get in their way.

2. You can't escape fish. Everything has fish sauce in it. The seafood is fantastic, particularly the prawns, which are always cooked to perfection (Tom Yum ruuuuules). On the street, they sell fishball kebabs, which are about as enticing as they sound. Or if you're feeling adventurous, there's always barbecued octopus on a stick...

3. Lady boys. Yes, I know, everyone's heard about lady boys, or katoeys as they're called here. The really strange thing about lady boys is mostly you just can't tell! OK, some are overdramatic, but mostly they blend in freakishly well. Mainly because Thai women are not very curvy, and Thai guys are not super macho. I guess it makes it easier to fake it.

4. Rich Thai people, a.k.a. "Hi-Sos" are really rich. The posh hotels here cost more than in Europe. There's quite a few swanky malls full of designer goods, which always seem to be very well visited.

5. Many places here have incredible architectural design, and venues for going out at night are very glamourous. Like this places for instance, called the Bed Supper Club. Early evening it's a restaurant, then they get rid of the chairs and it becomes a club - and yes those are beds on the side, for people to chill out on!



6. Shrines and spirit houses are everywhere. Outside most buildings, people have a little shrine to the Hindu god Brahma (not Buddha as I thought before), plus a tiny house that gives a home to the spirits of the land that was built on. People make offerings to both, like garlands of flowers, food and incense.

A shrine


A shrine plus a spirit house


7. If you don't have a shrine or a spirit house, you can always leave offerings at a special tree, similar to the old wishing trees you get in Europe.



8. Flowers are everywhere... Even in the most dingy and poor neighbourhoods, people still grow plants and flowers on their balconies.


9. Sweetness. There is sugar in almost everything in Thailand, even the fruit juices. They love cakes and ice creams, and there seem to be little patisseries all over central Bangkok! There's little street shops selling deserts which look slightly strange to me - tapioca pearls, weird bright green balls and strange little jellies that go into coconut milk or other sweet liquids...

10. And sweetness extends to the graphic design, the Thais seem to have a similar 'kawai' fascination as the Japanese have. Here's an example.