The FARANG Speaks 2 Much (tfs2m)

Thanks to all those who made it out for the return of Beer Laos Wednesdays. This will be happening every Wednesday unless we run out of Beer Laos. Which is possible. Beer Laos will be 65 baht all day and some free snacks from 7pm-10pm.

Rumor is there are more tourists walking the streets. I hope so. Seems Thai Airways is doing their best to help out. This must be the first example I know of where a Thai company is offering specials during the tough times versus raising their prices. Rumor is they are getting ready to offer some inbound deals as well to boost tourism. Let’s hope so.

Seems the Ghost has started a little ruckus down on the Ghost blog. He is trying to beat BBB’s most commented post.

Quick political roundup. Lot of interesting stuff.

Check out this post by BP and follow the google trail for an interesting article that is sure to get someone banned from traveling to Thailand.

So what does the PAD want? They said they did not want Thaksin to come back. I think that is a reality now? However they will keep occupying government house because:

Government House was occupied in late August. Maj-Gen Chamlong said the PAD would continue its occupation of Government House until its demands are met - presumably meaning the fall of the government.

“Our goal is still unchanged. We oppose any change to the constitution and the government must step down to pave the way for new politics,” he said.

Okay. That makes a ton of sense. They want the government to fall, they want no changes to the constitution but they need to pave the way for new politics. Great. So the reality is they don’t really know what they want but they will keep fighting until they get it. Wow. Super productive actions on behalf of their country. Disgusting.

Crispin of the Atimes weighs in:

If perceptions gather among Thaksin’s pro-government supporters that royally endorsed Thai courts cannot be trusted to impartially and justly rule in cases related to their escalating political conflict with the anti-government PAD and their allies in the Democrat party-led political opposition, then Thailand is likely headed for even more extreme street violence in the weeks ahead. If and when that grim eventuality comes to pass, the only overarching institution left with the power to restore order will be the military - though likely at a great expense to Thailand’s faltering democracy.

I think the most interesting article right now is on Asia Sentinel and written by a Thai:

The courts are helping to do what perhaps the military cannot. They are pushing towards a civilian coup to topple the elected government. They may dissolve the governing party. Then there will be extra-constitutional moves to set up a special national government. The constitution will be changed to decrease the voting rights of the poor, if these elites get their way.

The only hope for Thai democracy is if civil society groups and academics refuse to take sides in this damaging conflict. We need to expand democracy and build a third alternative, independent from the TRT-PPP or the PAD-authoritarians. Unfortunately most Thai academics have disgraced themselves by their double standards. The hope must lie with some sections of the NGO movement, students, the Left and the more advanced trade union activists.

Seems a tall order but probably pretty sane.

Tech tidbits.

Seems Ebay is getting their ass handed to them. Finally I say. I used to work on some of the back end stuff of Ebay when selling some product to them. I never met with a more cocky group of people who claimed to know it all, do it all and would win it all. Seems their attitude is finally catching up with them? Kudos to Craigslist for staying cool.

Anyone catch the new Gmail feature? Auto responder based on filters. I smell a business opportunity here. You set up accounts for bargirls and have a bunch of sophisticated auto-responders based on filtered key-words:

And they’ve also gone one step further…you can also set filters based on emails that contain certain keywords, or are from certain people, and automatically reply with a canned response. The result is a sort of smart auto-reply that actually addresses the received email’s contents but doesn’t have the downside of requiring the recipients to open, read or respond to it themselves.

This could be huge. Anyone working on it?

Lastly…

ศูนย์วัฒนธรรมไทย - suun watthanatham thai-  Short Thai form for the Thailand Cultural Center.

It is located over near Ratchada - not far from the Peep Inn.

ศูนย์วัฒนธรรมอีสาน - suun watthanatham isaan - Short Thai from for the Isaan Cultural Center.

Do you know where that is? Right here.

Well there is a new cultural center under construction up in Roi Et.

ศูนย์วัฒนธรรมฝรั่ง - suun watthanatham farang

Rumor is it will be a cultural center dedicated to the Farang impact on the entire Isaan province. Some, but not all, of the highlights:

1. Star Maps - this will be similar to the maps sold in Hollywood where you can find the houses of your favorite movie star. This map will be similar in that it will highlight the biggest houses in Isaan built by farangs. The maps will cost 10baht for the Thais and 1000baht for Farangs. Show your work permit to get a discount of 1%. Show that you are teacher and you will pay the Thai price. There is a special section in Star Maps to show houses where a Farang has been killed and to show where some houses used to be but where destroyed for some reason or another. This ties in with the Hall of Horrors Exhibit.
2. The Training Room - the training room will be a multipurpose room used for training Isaan girls and their families in the art of FME - Farang Money Extraction. There will be lessons in how to catch a farang, get married, have children, work the pole and manage more than one guy at a time. Supposedly there are monthly classes taught by a lawyer detailing various legal situations. There are also weekly computer classes sponsored by HotMail.
3. The Hall or Horrors - an exhibit room with rotating quarterly exhibits to highlight when things go bad. From busted up relationships, bulldozed houses (Star Maps) to bargirls gone awry. The Hall of Horrors will showcase both sides of the story when things go wrong between bargirls and Farang men.
4. Lounge of Famous - seems they had a problem with the English on this one but the idea is a lounge that will serve Farang snacks to all the locals to get used to Farang food but the main draw of the lounge is to have a place for the locals to see the real stars of the biz. It will highlight the girls who have made the most money, built the biggest houses and the amazing stories of success. Some of the highlights: Somchai who after working soi boy toy for years finally made the switch to Jenny and now boasts one of the biggest houses on Star Maps. Or Aum. Aum was able to convince her Swedish husband that the caretaker and driver for the compound was her brother even though everyone knew it was her Thai husband.

That is all I have right now since it seems the building project has slowed down a bit due to the slowdown in mega project spending. We plan on a real trip report when it opens.

That’s it for now. Stay tuned for the weekly - YP, BBK and BBB.