Joe, an American inside Suvarnabhumi, Joins PAD

I’m watching some American clown on Thai PAD TV named Joe. A “marine” from Boston, Mass. in the states. Quoting John F. Kennedy… telling PAD at Suvarnabhumi Airport they should continue to fight for Democracy and independence.

Apparently he’s the only foreigner in the airport - and he just stood up in front of the whole group on a microphone to tell them he loves Thai’s and he loves the King. A woman asked what he wanted to say to HM the King…I cringed… he said, POM LA RAK Si Luang or something like that. Nobody said a word. He tried again. Silence. The woman told the audience what he said…

He’s wearing a yellow shirt and headband.

One of first things he said to the crowd that he has been “sleeping with all you people”. He then went on to explain he’s been talking with many people there at the airport about the corruption in government and that Thaksin was the head of it. He went on and on… warning them against violence…

Then he said, there’s only 2 ways he’s leaving the airport:

1. He gets dragged out, forcibly removed.

2. The airport opens. He is NOT leaving until he can fly out of the Suvarnabhumi Airport he insists.

Jesus… It’s time like these that you’ve gotta question Americans getting involved in things they don’t understand. The guy doesn’t speak Thai - though he tried, so he’s not been in-country long enough to not make an idiot out himself… Oh well. He sat down now - almost 10 minutes standing up making the whole group uncomfortable. I thought it was a teacher, “Mark” that I worked with at one time - that would have been great.

Why is it always an American?

Another Perspective on PAD, PPP

There is so much resentment toward People’s Alliance for Democracy, but I must say I see can see their side. I understand what they’re fighting against. I don’t agree at all with their methods, but, if I were really incensed about something going on in my country where I felt like the whole country was being taken advantage of by those in government - whose to say what I would do?

Here’s an interesting article about a guy - expat maybe, that makes an argument for PAD based on his experience living in Thailand.

While his experiences with PAD show them to be non-violent and non-radical, events of recent days show otherwise. There is a lot of emotion behind their protests, understandably so.

The current government - the People’s Power Party (PPP) - I keep hearing people say, was “Democratically elected”. There is a shade of truth to this as elections were held - but maybe Thailand has never had an election free from corruption. Allegations are that PPP, like Thaksin did years before, bought votes and manipulated polls and polling stations. Allegations are that Thaksin is still pulling the strings of the PPP from abroad. Having Thaksin’s brother in law as the current Prime Minister probably is fueling those accusations just a little. Probably the PPP that exists now is no different in spirit than Thaksin’s Thai Rak Thai party.

PAD appears to really want a government free from corruption - at least the current brand, and is fighting for an idea that is very strong in their minds and hearts. Their real goal is to remove anyone associated with Thaksin so he can’t affect anything in the country anymore. Thaksin made billions of dollars for himself, family, and friends while Prime Minister… some insist it wasn’t above board. I don’t know one way or the other - neither do you. What we read in the newspapers is of course not 100% truth. Government controls much of what is released through the media, including TV, radio, and newspapers. Still the TRT government watched helplessly as huge allegations of corruption slipped into the media and gradually gained a following as charge after charge was leveled at Thaksin and members of his TRT party.

Before this current crisis I heard many expats that have been living here for many years complaining about Thaksin and how he’s corrupt through to the bone and they couldn’t believe the Thais’ ignored it and went about business as usual. Now - when there is a group fighting against Thaksin and all he stands for - these same expats want airports open and business to be as usual. Expat business ‘owners’ were prospering under Thaksin - but wanted to enjoy their prosperity AND have him ousted as PM. Now - he’s ousted and the country is dying economically.

Can Thailand have good leaders AND economic prosperity at the same time?

Now Thaksin doesn’t seem to have been that bad to many expats - and Thais. Some (most?) are willing to accept Thaksin’s return if he can turn the country around economically - and he probably can. The guy is brilliant in his manipulation of people and cash. Will he return? I’m betting he will. Apparently he has a few BILLIONS of US Dollars on lockdown in Thailand that the courts won’t release. That’s a lot to fight for. I think he’ll give it everything he’s got to return.

Probably today is going to be the day of action by PPP, police if Prime Minister Wongsawat can mobilize them, and maybe the Army will either be called in or step in.

What if Thailand had a government almost free from corruption? What if the government was transparent and all dealings were subject to scrutiny and punishment if found to be self-serving or otherwise corrupt?

You know how far we are away from that today? Wow. Every bit as far as in the 1990’s I think. Is PAD any better? Any less corrupt? The politicians, chiefs of police, generals, business leaders and more that have enjoyed a corrupt Thai society because it gave them freedom to do as they chose is still here. Everyone has their own selfish interests at heart - not really the good of the country or the prosperity of the country as a whole in mind. Those with billions of baht are still in charge. The people are relatively clueless about the level of corruption that goes on. It’s accepted most times - it’s the way Thai society “is”. Usually it’s nothing Thais’ get upset about.

Now PAD is upset about it - is it for reasons of self-interest or the good of the country?

Probably a little of both.

Thailand Videos: Culture, Food, People, Eating Gross Things

I’ve transferred over the video pages from the old site to this new one. ThaiPulse videos can be found here:

• Thai Culture Videos
• Delicious Thai Food Videos
• Thailand Places Videos
• Thai Wildlife Videos
• Eating Gross Things in Thailand
• Thailand Miscellaneous Videos

Is Bangkok Dangerous?

Many people are writing to ask me if Bangkok is dangerous at this point.

That’s a big - YES.

Should you continue with your plans to come to Bangkok during 2008? At this point I’d say no, just cancel plans. If you’re going to lose your life savings - then up to you. Bangkok isn’t a playground without danger lately and most say it will get worse as PAD has upped the ante with a takeover of the other Bangkok Airport - Don Muang as of midnight last night. Bangkok airports are dangerous now.

Maybe later the train station and bus stations will be affected too? Whose to say? Anything can happen at this point in Bangkok as it gets more and more dangerous.

Bangkok isn’t dangerous in the sense that you’re going to be sought-out as a specific target for pro- or anti-government protestors (PAD) but, the possibility of being in the wrong place at a dangerous time does exist.

Bangkok is the capital of Thailand and as such this is where demonstrations are held between groups that wish to sway the government or replace the government as is the present movement’s goal.

Is being in Bangkok dangerous for those of you passing through on the train or buses? I’d still have to say - yes, right now - it’s a bit dangerous. Maybe Chiang Mai is dangerous too. A pro-government group there pulled a radio station owner out of his car and executed him - presumably for allowing anti-government talk on his station. Chiang Mai was dangerous for him.

The chance of being caught in cross-fire or a stampede if the military or police are forced to take action isn’t anything you probably want to experience.

Bangkok is dangerous through 2008 as far as I can see. Cancel your plans through December, wait and see if January is going to be any better.

Suvarnabhumi Airport Closed and Bombs Exploding

Apparently 3 or 4 bombs have gone off (conflicting reports) at the airport and there are still 3,000 travelers stranded at the airport, some 7,000 of them being transferred to Don Muang Airport. Numerous reports of grenades being thrown into the crowds of protesters are also being reported.

Australia, Malaysia and Russia are the latest countries to issue travel warnings for Thailand. Singapore Airlines have canceled all flights to TH.

The current Thai PM is said to be in Thailand already by some, and others say he’s arriving this evening by Peru, flying to Chiang Mai, and then back to Bangkok in a military jet where he’ll hold a meeting to declare the state of emergency. He will declare a state of emergency because PAD (People’s Alliance for Democracy) is shutting down the country, as he called it.

When that happens the police and military will be mobilized to take control of government buildings taken over by PAD. Military leaders have continually denied plans for a coup.

I’d say today wouldn’t be a good time to come to Thailand. Arrivals are being taken at Don Muang Airport, after being redirected from Suvarnabhumi. There are no flights leaving Suvarnabhumi as far as I’ve heard this morning.

If you’re still coming to Thailand - and some of you WILL, I know… be prepared for lengthy delays, and possible danger in the streets as the people of Bangkok that oppose all the commotion caused by PAD may begin fighting back. PAD may also step up the drama before the state of emergency is declared.

Meanwhile Thaksin has been “banned” from calling in during this crisis, but vows to return to politics because the people need him to get Thailand back on track! That’s what he said anyway.

Is that what Thailand needs, Thaksin to return to get the country going again?

I think he’d need to worry about someone taking him out as the opposition is furious at him (finally) for corruption displayed on so many levels and his refusal to even acknowledge that he did anything wrong.

What do I think will happen? Hmm. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that in the next few months - Thaksin returns, the economy gets better - a little better, and then nearly everyone overlooks his transgressions in the short-term because the country is doing better economically and he’s playing it pretty straight from now forward. I think he’s had a good scare being in the UK and then being rejected. He’s living in Dubai for god’s sakes. I think when he comes back - and he will, that he’ll be Thailand’s savior… at least in the short-term and at least according to appearances.

Thais don’t have this strong idea that people need to really pay for their transgressions - once they’re known to the public the charges - the implementation of any punishment usually just sort of goes away - unless you’re a drug dealer. So, unless Thaksin brings back a planeload of cocaine I think he’s going to be the leader again and not suffer and real consequences for his past actions at all.

What do you think?

(anonymous comments not published)

Bomb Blasts Hit Bangkok, PM to Declare Emergency

Probably not a good time to come to Bangkok. Will update this as info becomes available.

Keeping Valuables Safe While Traveling in Thailand

Usually this doesn’t happen on such a large scale, but there was a story today in the Bangkok Post about a bus from Chiang Mai to Bangkok that stopped and 7 bags were taken. The bus staff disappeared and tourists were left sleeping in the middle of nowhere.

Full story >

If I’m on a train, bus, van, or ferry boat to Ko Samui, Ko Tao or wherever I’m going I have one small backpack that contains everything of value. Computer, phones, translator, external hard drives, USB drives, Camera, batteries, chargers, ID, almost everything. I don’t let that bag go.

If I’m on the boat sleeping on the floor as in the night Surat to Ko Samui ferry I wrap the straps of the bag through my arms and sleep with my head on it as a pillow. If I’m on the train I wrap my bag in a sheet and then wedge it behind my pillow tightly as I sleep. If I have another bag I have climbing snaps that I use to snap to the handles of the bag and then to the underside of the metal cage of the baggage holder. In the train there is a wire mesh - easy to clip onto. I make the clips very hard to reach from the isle - one would have to go through a lot of trouble - or knife the handle to get the bag.

At times I have put a string on my bag to my wrist so that if someone tries to take the bag - they’ll take me too.

If I plan on falling asleep in a bus I make sure my backpack is under my legs and wedged in tightly so if someone tries to pull it out - I’ll feel it. I don’t have a wallet - haven’t for 4 years. I keep my cash and ATM cards usually in my front pocket and the pocket is deep.

When I walk around Thailand I never have more than 5,000 baht on me at any one time (anymore). I’ve known 2 backpackers that had their shirts pulled over their heads near Khao San road because the Thais knew they had a money belt around their waist. I’ve had a friend lose his wallet on the bus as he slept. Another lost a bag while she was on the ferry.

I don’t leave my helmet unlocked. I’ve lost 5 helmets in Thailand so far, some of them WERE locked under the seat. I don’t know why - but, Thais love white helmets.

I don’t wear any jewelry.

In the last 3 years I’ve not used a wall safe at a hotel. The one time I did I walked in to find 2 thieves in my room. There’s a lengthy story about this that I’ll not tell here but, will be in the bio someday as it’s definitely worth telling the whole story. On that occasion I lost way over 100,000 baht and luckily that’s all I lost. No, the money wasn’t in the hotel safe, but some camera equipment was and they took some of that too.

I don’t sleep with the windows open as I know too many foreigners (teachers mostly) that left windows open and woke up to missing cell phones, purses, and cash. Even when there are bars on the window. Apparently a stick with a hook is pretty effective at grabbing things through the window.

I can’t think of anything else right now - anyone have any other ideas?

Bangkok Ready to Blow Like Krakatoa?

Here’s a great article about the situation in Bangkok as it is today.

Is Bangkok ready to explode like the ultra-violent Krakatoa volcano?

Amazing Thailand indeed! Amazing Thaksin if he pulls off a comeback!

Trust No One

I read a post this morning about an incident that may have been an attempt at an abduction of a child by a Thai man.

Thai man says to girl, “get into the truck”…

Thought you should read it too in case you have kids in Thailand. In my experience I’ve not seen many Thai men act overly nice toward someone else’s kids. I don’t see them play with them, talk to them, smile at them or anything else. Thai men pretty much ignore kids - especially someone elses kids.

Could be entirely innocent - but I don’t trust anyone here. Not Thai, not farang. You can’t. There are so many predators here - of all sorts, that if you let your guard down you might be had.

Who wants to be had?

re: Last Couple Photography Posts

As of this morning I had over 30 comments about the posts on photographers that I did. The posts were meant to be a private joke - just mine. I wanted to see how far I could turn up the volume on the few idiots posting comments about a story they didn’t have all the facts about. These commenters were like emotional balloons waiting to pop. They reacted with bizarre, and usually anonymous comments that really showed their anger at what’s becoming the sad state of pro photgraphy over the last 20 years.

I’ll address a couple things that came up in comments:

I wanted the photo in the sense that - I saw it. It would work at 200 pixels wide when I shrunk it. I asked. I was rejected. I thought I’d give her another chance because I could easily choose another photo from any of 10 different sources that wouldn’t have a link to her site and a mention of her business name. She still didn’t get it. It took me about 15 seconds to read her last email and that was it. I dropped it and went on to the next option. I looked at Getty, Dreamstime, and Flickr Creative Commons licensed photos.

Some of you made it seem like I was dying for this mediocre photo and that wasn’t the case. Did you SEE the photo? I didn’t ask her for a high resolution image - it was a 72 pixel shot on the site. It wasn’t a fantastic shot to begin with. It was convenient and I could have helped the girl out by using it. When she chose to charge for use of the photo to advertise her own business I found another business and another photo.

Who shoots themselves in the foot by charging someone to do something good for their own business? Apparently I know someone that does now.

It wasn’t a huge issue to me - but to all of you that latched on to a piece of the story, whatever piece you heard - you became reactive and posted some ridiculous comments.

I understand the frustration of being a photographer and competing with stock agencies. For about a year I considered returning to pro photography. Eventually I realized, the world is fast moving away from commissioned / assignment photos. There will always be successful photographers doing it - but the percentage of photographers making a living creating images that sell for more than even $20 each has really fallen off over the last decade or two.

I chose the easy way… shoot whatever I want, whenever I want - with a slant toward producing photos that would sell well in stock agencies and forget about trying to convince people to hire me as an advertising or travel photographer. I don’t enjoy that side of photography much, the business side. Stock makes it easy to dump my good photos somewhere and make a few pennies. Photography is a hobby now. It’s very difficult to make a go of it as a profession.

There are photographers that are making a living shooting stock photography. It’s a horrible way to go about life, cranking out a couple thousand photos a year, editing, tagging them, uploading them - only to see a percentage never even get past the screeners that don’t seem to have a clue sometimes. Now the stock agencies are getting very competitive. When I joined Dreamstime they had 1.7 million photos I think. Now they have more than 4 million. I’m surprised my images are still selling, but what about when they get 10 million? 100? It will get to that, and this is just one agency - not even the biggest.

It would be way too frustrating for me to keep chasing the dream of being a shoot on assignment photographer, and I don’t think it’s a good option for myself. Some of you might be doing it now - living the dream. I know it doesn’t feel very secure where you are and you’re afraid of the dream turning horror-show. I think that must be the reason for the tone behind the comments.

It’s depressing as hell that photography has come to this for most people. If you’re sticking it out and trying desperately to eek out a living as a pro photographer I wish you luck. It’s a much harder existence than it used to be when the majority of the world’s children and adults didn’t know how to go full-manual with their film cameras. Now the camera takes care of everything with shooting modes they can choose. A flower means macro. Depth of field preview is instant. Years ago the common person didn’t know where to develop or sell their photos, now they don’t have to develop them and they know where to sell them - though for just a couple dollars for rights.

I was disappointed in a way when the whole world became able to produce good photos. I knew it was a matter of time before the value of a photo would drop like a lead Leica.

A career in photography is still possible for those that bust their ass to make it work. You’ve gotta love it more than anything else though because there are trying times ahead even for those at the top. Is it going to get easier for professional photographers to continue doing what they love as a career?

Only more difficult. Everything is changing. Some photographers will adapt and continue creating photos that are in demand and charging high prices. They will always be there. Someone must be producing new photos that the world wants. Graphic designers are cranking out the most amazing images at Dreamstime.com for instance. Some of them sell better than camera-taken photos. What’s next? Taking photos with pieces of the photo animated and the rest static? I don’t know what’s next, but for most pro photographers the road will get much more difficult. Is it time to be realistic and start looking at alternative careers or ways to adapt to the trends?

By the comments I received there are still a lot of you out there trying to make it work. Good for you, I hope you do. Really - the last two posts about photography were meant to be funny. The latest was meant to egg-on the first couple idiots that commented - anonymously of course. I knew I could really fuel the fire by posting again and not letting anyone comment.

I’ll go back through the comments and try to verify email addresses and urls - to see if there is anyone that didn’t post anonymously. If I find some, I’ll approve the comments.

To the rest of the anonymous commenters - why would you waste the time to write something as a response to a post you disagreed with and then not use your name and real email address? Everyone knows my name. I’m not anonymous.

Do you think you’re going to post anonymously on my blog so I can let you rip me a new one? Do I owe you a forum to spread your nonsense? This is my forum. I spread my nonsense here. If you disagree with something I say - use your name and email and post a comment. If you resort to calling me a name - do you think I’ll post your comment? The mentality of some people posting comments approaches that of a spider monkey. Don’t bother to comment if you can’t say anything someone wants to hear. Don’t read this blog if you don’t like it. You won’t be missed.

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